We’re all a bit tired from our trip up to NY, but Riesling is definitely the worst off: At this point she’s wishing for an early dinner and and an early bedtime for Christmas Eve. If she gets a new squirrel that would be fine too.

Merry Christmas everyone!

As many of you now know, my grandmother (gram) passed away last Friday evening, a mere two weeks after she spent Thanksgiving with the entire immediate family in Florida. I have been back and forth to the Tampa area three times in the last three weeks, once driving and twice flying.

Once I knew she was hospitalized with kidney failure, the decision to go back and spend time with her in the hospital was obvious, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do… it turns out that we were able to get her out of the hospital and into hospice care, so she was able to spend the last week of her life in familiar surroundings without tubes, blood tests and beeping machines.

She mentioned several times during the five days I sat with her both in the hospital and at Patrick Manor that she didn’t know what she would do without me. I can’t even describe how happy I am that I had this time with her and that I was able to honor her last wishes.

Gram, life just won’t be the same without you.

It goes without saying that we love and miss her so much already, but I know she is in a happier place and she wasn’t in any pain. I consider it a blessing to have had this wonderful woman in my life.

I have been painting a few hours a day when I’ve been home because I have five commissioned dog portraits to complete before we leave on Christmas holiday. I am effectively doubling the amount of commissioned work I’ve completed, ever, this month! Here is what my studio looks like at the moment…

I have three paintings about 60% done and two more to start. And yes, I am very much enjoying all of the painting time.

How’s that for a look? Leandra has been back in FL visiting her sick grandmother, and Riesling has sorely missed her. Lots of moping, checking every car that drove by just in case… and quite a few of these looks. Poor girl.

One of my concerns about driving in Ireland was the whole driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road thing. What I should have been concerned with was the width of the roads and the completely unrealistic speed limits.

I mentioned more than once to Eric that I finally understood the term speed limit.

Picking up the rental car took a while and frankly, I think they gave us our car because we were American.

See all those “x”s? The front left hubcap was missing, the front left mirror was busted, there was a huge scrape along the front left quarter panel as well as scratches and dings all over the place. Even the windshield had a small chip in it!

To be honest, I probably would have lost the hubcap sometime during our three days anyway and I’m not entirely sure all the dents in the rim were there before. So, it’s safe to say I didn’t feel too badly about the condition of the car. The brakes on the other hand, while they never failed, certainly sounded like they were on their last breath.

The roads were very, very narrow in places and Eric even noticed a few hedges with a swath missing at side view mirror height. It was often a stone wall on one side or oncoming traffic at 100kph on the other side, so it made for some hair-raising experiences.

Thankfully, I couldn’t go anywhere without being reminded to drive on the left!

In the end, I would totally do it again. :)

Even though it rained for most of our last full day in Ireland, we still enjoyed some scenic views of the Dingle peninsula coastline, Dingle Bay and the Blasket Islands.

This is nearby where Eric almost got blown out to sea.

Looking east from one of the many pullout areas. Amazingly, there were sheep grazing right on the edge of these cliffs.

This photo’s purpose is to illustrate what a two lane road often looks like in Ireland. I believe the Tobacco Trail by our house is wider than this.

We were able to drive our little rental car down to the beach. Turning around was interesting.  A closeup of those signs at the very bottom are on Flickr.

Eric and I on a very chilly Irish beach. And loving every minute of it.

This shot of the Blasket Islands was the last good photo of the day as the rain and wind began to pick up. After our delicious pub lunch, we got a shot of a roadside falls along Connor’s Pass on our way back to Limerick, but unfortunately the stunning advertised views were completely blocked by fog.