My St Patrick’s Day 2012

I hope wherever you are in the world you had a great St Patrick’s Day.

Usually I attend the St Patrick’s Day parade in Belfast, but this year I had a much better alternative….to spend it with my bloggy friend Elizabeth from America.

We met online a few years ago, and in 2010 met for the first time in Belfast.

This year we were delighted to meet up with them again, and in exchange for the use of our cottage for a couple of nights, the talented and lovely Elizabeth offered us a family photo shoot. She is an amazing photographer.

Now, regular blog readers will know I am MUCH happier behind a camera than in front, but I really wanted some photos of us all as a family as well as some individual photos of the kids.

Of course ….. having to be in front of the camera meant that I didn’t take so many photos myself! I have a few of Elizabeth “in action” but overlooked the opportunity to take a proper photo of Elizabeth herself, of her husband B, and their two lovely friends who were travelling with them.

It was lovely spending time with all 4 of them. Being St Patrick’s Day I made a large pot of lamb-free (I make it with beef) irish stew, and we introduced them to the joy of potato bread. This was all followed by some birthday banana bread for B and brownies too.

Elizabeth loved the derelict cottage near our own cottage – lots of texture and decay, rust and flaking paint. Lovely to be with someone else who enjoys peeling paint as much as I do! Maybe I am not quite so weird after all …… or we are both just weird!

(It took these photos earlier in the morning before our visitors arrived)

We headed down to the beach at Runkerry Strand for some more photos, and had the unusual problem of having too much bright sunshine and not enough shade!

A few photos of Elizabeth “in action”.

A few more pics I took on the beach

After the photos our kids introduced Elizabeth and B to the delights of our sweet shop – favourite chocolate and sweets were recommended!

I then was able to share the delights of my favourite abandonned cottage – not sure how much longer it will remain standing!

We returned to the cottage and relaxed by the fire with a jigsaw or ipad, and the men went for another walk.   I regret I didn’t take any more photos.

There was quite a bit of discussion / debate about who would get to sleep in the bunk beds! Even when they realised the double bed with the ensuite had the electric blanket!!! Not sure who won in the end, but there were some ingenious plans to deter the other couple from the bunks. Who knew bunk beds would be so popular!!!

Thanks to our ever-helpful neighbour who stayed with the kids, the 6 adults went out for dinner at Tartin in Distillers Arms. A beautiful meal …… and again no photos!

Our family returned to Lisburn last night – leaving our American friends to explore a bit more of the north coast over the weekend.

I am already looking forward to meeting up with them again in Belfast tomorrow, before they return to the States.

Hoping we will maybe see them again soon 🙂

Thanks Elizabeth, B, Laurie and Chip for a great St Patricks Day.

If you have any blog posts related to St Patricks Day I would LOVE you to link up to my St Patricks Day Blogging Carnival – there will be prizes (or prize if there remains just one entry!!!) Not sure why there are so few entries, as there has been a tonne of traffic. Maybe everyone is just Pinteresting!

As I blog this, my Mothers Day dinner is being cooked – Happy Mothers Day to all mums out there, yes, in N Ireland it is in March.