Take care when you step out your front door. Still, it was worse in Lisbon where a tram went past some folks front door less than a metre away.
Did Obama give it back?
Workers went about their work as we looked on. Blow man, blow.
Fashionable or not, crystal really is quite beautiful.
What is this tall building in the mural?
It'd be Blarney Castle.
What do you do at Blarney Castle? You kiss the Blarney Stone of course, that is if you are young and agile and can lie on your back after climbing quite a number of stairs. A couple of people in our group did, including the ex marine from New Jersey. Sorry, no photos of the ex marine pashing (passionately kissing) the Blarney Stone. We didn't pick up any good luck there, but then we didn't contract some horrible disease either.
I am not sure if these gardens were at Blarney Castle or nearby but they are very nice.
Wonderful stone bridge.
This was interesting. One river crosses another. I better go back and find the plaque.
It may well be that this wedding was at Blarney Castle.
But an ashtray provided just in case you tend to anarchy.
Serious lack of blue hydrangeas in England.
These are what I mentioned to the Asian Canadian woman and said they looked a little like the Canadian Indian inukshuks. She stared at me blankly and then said she did not know what an inukshuk is. That's the non English speaker from Montreal in the photo.
I hate to generalize, but since I have visited Quebec several times I will tell you that a large portion of their French Speaking population really refuses to assimilate to a Bilingual Canada! They can be rather rude about it too!
ReplyDeleteNow, for our first wedding anniversary I bought Jack a set of Waterford Crystal Liquor glasses. Still have them and they are lovely.
Maribeth, that is as I understand it. There are always the separatists active there too. French speakers are so well catered for in Canada.......well perhaps not so much in British Columbia. I'd like to see the glasses. Can you send me a photo please?
DeleteWe have, and use, some Waterford crystal wine glasses. Fashion be damned (and yes, we handwash them).
ReplyDeleteLove the gardens, and do see the inukshuk resemblance.
Snogging a rock? Perhaps the people who do so are grateful that said rock isn't squirming to get away from them...
EC, make sure you appreciate them every time you take a sip. I think some people would be grateful that the rock could not escape, but the rock would probably be quite happy with the ex marine.
DeleteI been to a few princess house crystal parties, when I was young. Don't know if there in business any more.
ReplyDeleteI have my great grand parents crystal glasses that got when they were married.
Dora, that's nice that you have those glasses. Do you use them? Pass them on to children or sell them.
DeleteI have conversed with several French Canadian speakers, and I found it quite difficult. Their accent is very pronounced, and they use a very old version of French which can be confusing. Still, we managed.
ReplyDeleteCro, I am not surprised to learn that. I've heard the same from Italian and Greek children immigrants here. While they can speak their parents language when they visit the aforesaid, their language is very old fashioned and different.
DeleteWish you had written this a week ago. Just put my waterford crystal in the dishwasher! It survived the ordeal but I won't do that again. Oh yes I remember kissing the Blarney stone in my youth. I won't be doing that again either.
ReplyDeleteOnce in the d/w might be ok Marie. You didn't contract some horrid disease from the Blarney Stone, so that is good.
DeleteThat's a beautiful area. Off to google inukshuk now...
ReplyDeleteRiver, I certainly had to google the spelling, and type it almost letter by letter.
DeleteCan you sell Mother's crystal on ebay? Would she notice? I'm sure she'd be grateful for the bit of cash it might bring in. I have a few crystal pieces, packed away somewhere safe.
ReplyDeleteRiver, she wants to sell it at garage sale and Tradie Brother has finally agreed to do it. I really don't think you would get much for crystal now, but maybe you can.
DeleteThere are only a couple of things I have kept that can't go in the dishwasher. As you say, it is hard to sell, use it, enjoy it, run it in the dishwasher. Silver plate (EPNS) is another item our parents collected, that today you have a hard time giving away. Sterling people will buy, mostly for the silver value, but plate no one wants.
ReplyDeleteTravel, you are quite correct about EPNS. No one wants it.
DeleteHeavy Waterford crystal products may be out of fashion, but the fine wine glasses are still totally beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHels, fine wine glasses appeal to me.
DeleteGreat photos. I laughed about Blarney Castle. As a child I would ride there on my bicycle, not too far from my home but a good ride nevertheless, and go underneath the stone on the grounds and wait for the coins and stuff that would tumble out from people's pockets above. One of my uncles collected coins so I always got fair shakes for the foreign ones. :D
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
WWW, ever so funny about the coins. Very enterprising of a young you.
DeleteI gave away most of my Waterford crystal that my aunts thought was so nice to buy for me. No one wants the stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow can you live in Canada and not know what an inukshuk is?? Although, clearly, spell check doesn't either.
Soap box - I can't understand how/why these people can live in Montreal and not speak English!!! They are ridiculous.
Jackie, whole subject on people giving you gifts that are clearly not appropriate. Don't they notice your furnishing style? I had to guggle inukshuk to get the spelling correct. At least your Jussy is bi......lingual.
DeleteI knew where you would be as soon as I read your title Andrew ☺ Yes my mum had loads of Waterford Crystal also, I think Aimee inherited most of it when she moved into her own house. I can't imagine she ever used it.
ReplyDeleteGrace, I guess you were happy your mother's crystal bypassed you.
DeleteI wouldn't know crystal from glass. So I looked up the difference between crystal and glass and found this: There are three primary criteria for crystal as established by the European Union in 1969: a lead content in excess of 24%, a density in excess of 2.90 and a reflective index of 1.545. However, outside of the European Union, this definition is usually disregarded. In the United States, any glass with more than 1% of lead content is termed as crystal.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Strayer. Thanks for the info.
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