TEMPE...

The Perkins Family's beloved labrador, Tempe, peacefully passed away on the 11th of January around 11 p.m. After his long battle with cancer, his tired body finally gave way. Mommy Perkins was with Tempe as he took his final breaths on his big fluffy bed in 'his' room downstairs. As emotional as I was to hear the news over the phone, I know that if he was in any pain, he is no longer suffering from it. His life blessed us with so many memories over the past decade and he will be missed very much. Our family was graced with his wonderful life from the puppy stage all the way through adulthood. For those of you who spent time with him, you know his silly ways and the craziness that would come out when he was around, and all the ways he could make us laugh. We loved him with all our hearts and I know I will have a hard time adjusting to him being gone when I return to the states. Tempe truly was joy and love :-)

Holiday House!

Arrival at Broadmea Barn was picturesque and was the perfect start to a perfect holiday break. Our home for the next few days is a converted barn that sleeps 12 people (we have 10) and has a ground floor with 4 bedrooms and 4 half levels, 3 of which look out over the amazing kitchen/dining room and one contains a 5th room. We have really been able to make ourselves quite at home here and I know that it is going to be extremely difficult to leave on Friday.
Today we took a long walk out in the countryside, picture scenes straight out of the film 'The Holiday' and that is exactly what it felt like. The fields are all covered in a very thin layer of snow and the snow continued to fall as we trudged along. Even though the moment you step outside you want to run back in, the walk warmed us up and made us feel as though we had accomplished alot more than we actually had!
I am so happy to be here, yet sad at the same time because I know that our Christmas holiday break has come to an end and we will have to settle back into a very strict routine on our return, which is always good, but always difficult to start up again. Hope everyone had a very happy new year!

Thawing out...

I have returned to my 2nd home in England after a wonderful few days in Ireland.  After leaving the internet cafe on Friday, I headed out and thought I would be adventurous and go on a long walk out along the water and out of Galway, I lasted about 5 minutes before the cold got to me, so I headed into the Galway city museum for a quick warm up and was pleasantly surprised with what the museum had to say about the city's history and everything it had been through, including a mini exhibit on JFK's visit there just about two months before he was assassinated I think.  After a mini break in the museum, I decided to try and venture out into the cold, and was actually successful in surviving for a bit before I had to turn back.  Once back in the safety of the city's buildings, I found myself wandering to St. Nicholas' Cathedral.  It was a really beautiful cathedral, with impressive stained glass window and a massive organ, which was being played while I was there!  

From the cathedral, I wandered over the University of Glasgow and tried to imagine myself studying there....not very likely!  I made it back into the city center and wandered down the main drag of Shop Street and did a bit of souvenir shopping and finally decided it was time to eat and warm up a bit.  I had a very late lunch and early dinner, at Galways famous fish&chippery, of cod, chips, and mushy peas!  It was absolutely delicious and exactly what I needed before the crazy cold could get to me again.  I did some more wandering and popped into shops here and there, and even wandered into their version of a, very small, shopping mall.  Actually made a purchase of a hat because of course I had left my plethora of hats behind when I really needed them.  

 Hung out in a coffee shop and wrote for a bit and listened to 'Galway Girl' on the radio!  At around 7 p.m. headed to a famous pub called Taaffe's and listened to traditional music for about an hour.  It was so cool to just sit and listen to a very informal group just playing and enjoying the friendly atmosphere!  With my last night in town almost over, I walked the drag once more and walked along the water to take it all in again.  Headed back to the B&B to pack and get an early night.

  Waking up early has never been a strong point, so I was quite proud of myself that I made it to my 7:15am train with plenty of time!!  Train back to Dublin, then 30 minutes in Dublin, DART to Dun Laoghaire and rushed across to board the ferry to Holyhead, Wales.  On my train ride back to Manchester was pleasantly accompanied by a young guy who chatted with me for our two hour ride to Chester where we parted ways to catch our connections, but had a blast creating that memory and was kept well entertained  :-)   

  It's hard to believe that I left 5 days ago and spent the week in another foreign country, but I had such an amazing time, that I'm not surprised that it flew by.  It's still cold here in England, but I just don't think AS cold as it was in Ireland!!   Love to you all

IRELAND!!!

So, just imagine snow fall weather, but with no snow...that is how freezing it is here in Ireland, but I have to admit, it's kind of what makes me love it even more. I feel completely out of my element and in a different world...kind of the whole point of travel! It's Friday and my last full day here, the week has just flown by. I started with a ferry ride from Holyhead, Wales over to Dublin, and spent two days in Dublin sightseeing and doing all sorts of fun touristy things!! I enjoyed my first pint of Guinness at the Gravity Bar on top of the factory tour and spent time in, i know i know, another art museum...but hey I love it! I was able to beat the cold by just wandering around and spending the majority of my time just walking and taking in as much of the city as I could! I took the DART train down to Dun Laoghaire and spent two glorious nights in a very posh hotel right on the waterfront, let me tell you, it's worth it to take a little break and enjoy yourself on holiday!! Spent most of my time wandering along the waterfront and through the little town.
Yesterday, thursday, hopped on a train here to Galway and zipped through some gorgeous country to the western coast of Ireland. I was able to get a room in a very cute and cozy B&B and then walked down the the main drag to grab some food. After a very delicious dinner in an Italian restaurant, walked around, phoned home, then had dessert of Creme Brulee in a french bistro!! Finally, I headed out to find some music in a pub. As apprehensive as I was, I was determined to enjoy myself. I found myself sitting alone in Monroe's Tavern/Pub drinking my half pint of Carlsberg, when a group of girls warmly invited me to join them! I was delighted to join their fun and was quickly one of the girls...chatting away, laughing, and enjoying the music in front of us!
I woke up this morning and had a delicious breakfast at the B&B then headed out into the cold, once again. I'll have to let you all know what today and tomorrow consist of later, but just wanted to give a quick update! I can't wait to come back to Ireland again someday...any travel buddies out there?!?!
p.s. i love you all...

Netball!

ok...so, even though our team hasn't won a game, we still manage to encourage eachother and have a laugh while out on the court. Our last game before the break was probably the most successful game, and the most fun we had on the court all season! We weren't trailing by too much and had a lot of improvement on the court. The women on the other team were great players and extremely good sports, they were friendly and after our match, shared coffee, mince pies, chocolates, and other goodies with us! We were even able to invite them to Capernwray's Christmas production which was awesome! I would have to say that even though it was the COLDEST night and the court was icy and a bit dangerous, we had such a great time even with a bit of reckless slips. Wish us luck for next term...our coach is treating us to a pizza party if we win a game! We almost had him convinced on the return to make a stop, but we had to settle for a picture in front of the Christmas tree in Over Kellet.

Weekend Trips

About a month ago, Capernwray organized a day trip to Liverpool and shockingly the majority of the students decided to go ;-) The coach ride may have been miserable, but it was worth it just to have a break from school and get into a big city. I got to spend an hour and a half in the Tate Liverpool, a very contemporary modern art museum, but it was just fantastic to be in a museum and see some art that I studied a few years ago! After meeting up with some girlfriends, we left Alfred's Dock and wandered up to a new shopping area called the Liverpool 1 and then headed to PriMark....this crazy store that is huge, and super cheap! It was way too overwhelming but we were able to nab some good deals....including matching roomie pajamas for Christmas! After meeting up with some more friends, we all headed to Pizza Express for dinner then caught a taxi to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and spent the evening watching the Liverpool opera/philharmonic. It was so different than any opera i would have expected, but the music was amazing, and it was just nice to be spending so much time engrossed in art and culture. I'm looking forward to returning to Liverpool and doing some more sightseeing type adventures. I would love to see some sights of Beatles fame and some of the older architecture, we'll see what happens before winter school is thru.
A couple of weeks ago, a much smaller group went to The Trafford Center shopping center in Manchester. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun to be at a shopping mall, after I got over the first reaction at the size of it, I began to feel right at home! Our first stop was a massive department store called Selfridges and their food court for wait for it, Krispy Kreme donuts!!! Katie and I got to hang out and shop all day, we had an amazing lunch at a place called Barburrito....an attempt at being like Chipotle and Rubio's, but just not quite the same. We were just so excited to be eating Mexican food that was actually tasty! So, we had such a blast shopping and searching for Christmas Banquet dresses and shoes that the day simply flew by without us even realizing it. After picking up a few more Christmas presents, we headed back to the car pack and loaded up the coach again and started off on our journey home. Katie and I were able to occupy ourselves both there and back listening to her ipod and singing along...our return trip was accompanied by the soundtrack of Grease!!!

An Update..pre-Christmas!

So, the last time I wrote was quite a while back, and since then life has changed...as it always does. Our fancy dress evening was such a blast and it was awesome how much everyone got into it, a lot of very creative costume ideas were produced! My roomies became 3 members of the wizard of oz cast along with a neighbor, an R.A., and another one of our friends! Andrew, a member of staff, convinced me to where a pirate costume that was in a costume closet here...apparently created for an adult, but realistically the size of a 7 year old, hello leggings! So after lots of photo's and a very entertaining tea, we all congregated in the lounge and played pictionary/charades in our particular themed characters...of course, hilarity ensued.
The weather turned very cold over the past weeks, and we even had a day of snowfall, which was very exciting even though it didn't stick to the ground, but to have huge snowflakes floating down from the sky was incredible! One of the days, Kendal, a town 20 minutes north of us, had quite a bit of snow that actually stayed and we took advantage of the bus going up there and got to enjoy slipping around on the mushy, wet ice/snow! Katie, and two of our guy friends and I hung out in our favorite coffee shop, Caffe Nero for a few hours and just laughed and enjoyed being out! Capernwray became quite the winter wonderland with all the frost that arrived each morning and lasted all day, it was really quite magical!
When the weather has been more forgiving, we have had some wonderful opportunities to hang out and enjoy eachothers company. One of our favorite places to do that is at a local pub in a little town called Over Kellet which is just about 2 miles away from Capernwray. For about a month straight, we were going every weekend, and it became a really great little tradition. Only once have we actally walked there, simply because of the horrible weather, but the taxi ride isn't too expensive when we split it up! We have pretty much given up on actually ordering meals, and stick to our usual.... several orders of STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING that are split between the table and of course regular tea for us all!! One of the greatest desserts known to mankind....whenever you make it out to the UK.....be sure to have it, so delicious that words cannot even describe this moist cake like creation that is then served HOT with amazingly delectable custard!!! Can you tell i'm drooling over here! So several occasions have been had at The Eagles Head Pub, we can never spend less than an hour and half in our booth, and have on occasion spent a good 4 hours chatting, eating, and playing cards!
So, all in all, even when the weather is simply English weather (and miserable) we still have the ability to enjoy ourselves and create our own entertainment and have our own fun!