My Treasured Irish Girl . . .

My recent post WINTER WALKING stirred up
some interest and questions about our Garden House here in Michigan.

We visited Ireland for the first time in 1998. We stayed at a friend's cottage in Bantry, Co Cork and slept in the garden house. There were windows on the far side facing Bantry Bay and off to the left, we could see the Atlantic Ocean.

We fell in love with Ireland and feel fortunate to have visited there three times. We have seen much of the country from Dublin to Shannon, south along the coast and villages in between. We enjoyed going off the beaten path, searching the history, stone circles, grave stones. abandoned cottages, walking the hills. We have enjoyed visiting Dublin, Trinity College, Powerscourt, Newgrange, the Burren, Sheepshead, Ring of Beara, Donovan Castle.
We loved the coastal drives . . . oh my the sights . . .
And I loved discovering Paddy’s . . .

We have talked often about how much we would enjoy having our own cottage in Ireland.
Doubtful that will ever happen but we like holding on to the dream.

The cottage is below and my “Mister Irish” is fixing the stone wall in front of the “main house.”
We enjoyed doing some “cottage fix up” on our last trip to Ireland in 2007.
The garden house is below/behind where “Mister Irish” is giving the “thumbs up!”
The narrow strip of gray is the road . . . yes indeed, very narrow roads back in those Irish hills!
We love these memories and photographs . . .
We treasure our stay at the Donovan cottage the three times we visited Ireland.
The cottage, garden house, property, better known as AGMA was sold this past year.

Mister Irish, as I refer to my husband Jack in my Irish Garden House Blog, has done a fair bit of research on abandoned Irish cottages. We have seen many of them dotting the landscape as we have driven throughout the countryside.

My Irish Garden House blog was born out of memories of Ireland. My Irish Girl House, built near our home here in Michigan is a replica of the garden house we slept in during our first trip to Ireland. “Mister Irish” made it happen for me, he drew up the plan, laid the concrete floor and had the outer structure built. Michelle Bahr-Guinon laid the stone, I helped some too.. Stones we gathered in Ireland are placed in the circle piece over the entrance to the garden house. There are also rocks the grandchildren gathered here in Michigan and are placed in amongst the larger stones on the garden house.

I planned for the garden house to be more like a potting shed. Instead it has become more of a storage house for rakes, shovels and the John Deere. I haven’t given up yet though . . . Mister Irish has plans to build another building . . . If so, I plan to reclaim my space. I think it would be perfect as a summer art and painting studio.

A next trip . . . hopefully . . . We will go North to Belfast, down the coast. Giant’s Causeway and no doubt back to Dublin to visit “the girls!” Ursula, Marie and Lyla . . .

Wonderful memories we have . . .

Slainte’