Storms and exploring

When I woke up on Saturday morning after our pub adventures from Friday night (see blog below) I had a crazy desire to go for a good run and explore the area. It could have been my body yelling at me for all the calories consumed in a 24 hour period, but I decided that a good run would wake me up. So I got all ready and bundled up in my running gear and headed downstairs to let Sarah (the only one awake at the time) know I was going for a run. Her reaction involved the words, "shut up, bloody hell, you're crazy..." and with a British accent you can't help but believe her. Needless to say it looked like a tornado was coming into town. Despite the rain, wind and tree branches falling from basically every tree I ran around the neighborhood and found the ocean! I only got so far until the rain and wind mixture felt like needles on my face and then turned around and went back toward the house. You know it’s bad when you see birds getting thrown against houses because it's so windy they can't fly!

We had all decided we were going to stay in and bear the storm with some frozen pizzas, drinks and movies. As soon as there was a break in the weather we walked to town to pick up what we needed from the market. On the way home it was getting dark like normal, however when we started to approach Abbeyside (our neighborhood) we noticed it was almost pitch black along the street. Besides the occasional car headlights we were walking in darkness using our phones for light. We noticed all the houses were dark as well and figured all the power had gone out around us. We got into the house and fumbled around for a flashlight and started lighting all the candles we had. I built a fire and we suddenly regretted all the food we had just bought from the store. So about 20 minutes later, still in darkness, we decided to order a pizza and hope they could find the house. When the pizza showed up about 40 minutes later the power had just come back as well but continued to flicker in and out the rest of the night.

But all the wind from Saturday must have blow most the rain and clouds away because this morning it was sunny and beautiful...at least for most the day (it is currently raining and storming again at 9 p.m.). When Stephanie and I noticed the sun coming through the blinds we decided it was the perfect day for exploring. We walked all around the neighborhood and found the "Abbey," the old but still active church and cemetery right along the water, the shoreline of Dungarvan Bay where the river and bay lead to the ocean, almost got attacked by a killer dog, met some purebred greyhound puppies, and other things here and there.

The walk to find the Church

You can see the church through the plantsIt was really low tide along the bay
Walking up to the Abbey and cemetery
Horses just hanging out
Me and Steph on our walk

The Abbey
The creepy entrance and side room that Steph did not like at all



This is the way we walk to town/work...over the bridge and the row of buildings you see is town

Steph found her favorite Canada tea...she was excited
My street!