Camogie

Got a message this morning from my daughter Kate in Ireland that she was sending granddaughter Charlotte off to her first Camogiegame.

I assumed this was the local pets club meeting - Kate was a Tamagotchi fan back in 1997 aged 7.

So the surprise at getting the above photo later in the day was great. It turns out to be another of these violent Irish games with balls and sticks. The women's version of hurling, an ancient, pre-Christianity Gaelic sport that also has it's link with shinty in Scotland.

Apparently, Camogie got rules and regulations in 1903. I haven't yet got all the details but Charlotte got home safely, Dad who had been along hadn't been arrested for attacking any of the parents on the opposing team and Mum and brother had prepared a welcoming evening feast to celebrate the event.

Judging by the photo, it looks like it was a 7-a-side game. I read a full team is 15.

On the home news, we were "wrapping up" another glorious day with an early dinner before doing a late evening dog walk. Much too hot for Flash to go out until shortly before dusk. Suddenly Angie noticed a car had pulled up at the gate and it turned out to be her niece, Steffi and friend Maria with her daughter.

They had simply "dropped by" to deliver Maria's wedding invitation. She has years ago had the civil registry office do but now her husband wants to have the full-blown church do. Very sadly the date is the same as that for Angie's nephew Tobias in August and so we are unlikely to be able to attend.

Angie in particular and I since the early 1990s have known Steffi when we lived near  Munich. In 1995 we moved away and coincidentally her parents also moved to the next village. So Steffi then aged 8 would often be over and hanging around in our horse stables. Maria also aged 8 who lived in our village would also come by as she loved animals and so the two became friends and also schoolmates. They grew up with our two horses and two young foals and naturally started to ride. Eventually many years later, we gave Maria one of those foals in 2009.

So both are like family and also for our dogs. They were the first people who played with Flash when he came to us aged 9 weeks, during a weeks autumn school holidays in 2003 when they stayed here. Maria's daughter Julia was especially taken with both the tractors and sat on both. An extra photo also but not on the big tractor as the photos were not good in the darkness of the stable. She has the most lovely smile ever.

So it was nice to have a chat and by the time they left, Flash and Luna had to do their walk in the darkness. But it was a lot cooler by then.