The Irish scenery often takes my breath away.
We are desensitised to nature in Dubai. Magnificent sky scrapers, enormous shopping malls, theme parks, opera houses, yes we have it all in the desert, and yes the swaying palm trees that line the streets ( that are obviously far from naturally occurring) are nice on a post card - but nothing prepares you for the way the Lough Swilly changes colour a dozen times while you are watching it, or the way you can see rain in Rathmullen even though it's dry in Lisfannon. It's not called the Lake of Shadows for nothing. If you look on a map of Ireland we are right at the top. A little inlet separates us from the Atlantic, and the next stop is Iceland. Our windows from the house look to me like a technicolour cinema screen, except it's real. You cant beat that. But I'm glad those windows are triple glazed, and the geothermal under floor heating is in now it's going to be cold up that hill.
So on the surface not massive changes, though roof tiles are all on since last I checked in and the stone on the outside is nearly completed. And oooohhh so much stone. many tons of Donegal slate actually, and every single piece hammered and chiseled to make it fit. To say that watching Cornelius and his team at work has been a privilege is an understatement. Skill like that is hard to find in this day and age. Well worth the cost and effort for sure. To know that slate will be standing long after we are gone is quite cool, but I'm not wishing my life away just yet.
Lots of stuff going on inside though, plumbing and electrics are all well under way. Decisions on light switches and light fittings has my head sore but I think Ive got pretty much everything and due to the fact that I thought all the bathrooms had pendant lights - i've probably got too many pendants and not enough wall lights. Anyhow I'm sure it will all work out,
Plenty to get on with. Check out how the interior is coming along in the blogs coming up