Bella and Bonnie

For a while now TJ has supposedly been on a mission to simplify her life and shed some of her responsibilities in order to be able to take longer breaks away from the farm. It's been met with only limited success. I'm convinced the donkeys are going to outlive us all. She lost a dog to very old age, but acquired another through strange circumstances - only to have that one run away and get adopted by someone else under even stranger circumstances. The cats are reaching old age too, and although their numbers have been halved recently, the remaining two seem to be in very rude health indeed. Worse still, she's now acquired these two adorable ponies. There's no hope for her! She's such a soft touch!!

It was lovely to be made to feel so welcome back in Ireland. The weather wasn't too kind to us, but it didn't seem to matter very much. As usual, the time ran away in the morning so it was all a bit of a rush to get to the airport for my flight home. The journey back passed uneventfully enough.

It was actually 21 years ago today that TJ gave birth to her youngest daughter. She shared the story with me on the drive to Cork and you can read a bit of it here. No electricity. No telephone. She's never been one to do things the easy way!

Happy Birthday Rachel!