Weblog

In the shadow of the phone again. She’s right to look worried, there will be a lot more of this in the years to come! At least until she gets her own phone! (2 years?)

Marc and Owen after dinner. Great to have everyone home so soon after Christmas. I’m flying back tomorrow to Dusseldorf.  

Just come home to granddads funeral today. A really nice service and a good send off for Paddy with lots of his old friends. Even a guard of honour from his old football team! We are in the Dunderry Lodge having dinner. Here are Helen and Dad. Great to make it home for this. Just a pity Jean and Sophie couldn’t be here.

Went to Kaiserswerth today. Also got some sad news from home. My granddad Paddy boyle died this morning. Will be flying home tomorrow if I can get a flight. Still he made it to 93…..

Hi Kate told you you’d be famous. This is Jean taking a call from Kate – blast from the past or what!? Kate & Trevor (and now Cormac) have just returned to Cork from Vienna after what, three years? Don’t think we’ve spoken since then. She tracked Jean down after Googling us on this site! So it isn’t a complete waste of time! Just as well I’m not on the run from the law, or my creditors.

Latest update. I’ve put up quite a bit here over Christmas but haven’t had a chance to review on the web. Sophie is 10 weeks now and really coming on well. She’s been smiling for about 4 weeks now and has started exercising a range of coos and squeaks that keep us amused for hours. It was a real pleasure to be off for the full two weeks over Christmas and be with Jean and Sophie all day. Her cranky hour starts about 7 in the evening just as I get in from work so it’s nice to be there for the smiley bits too.

In other news. The Ginger tinge disappeared at some point over christmas, which was a great relief to her mother and I. Internal investigations had begun, with initial blame being directed at the Talbot side of the family. Then my grandmother confessed to having a few redheads on her side so I had to keep my mouth shut for a while. Strangest of all was to see some slides of a two month old Helen (my sister) that my Dad took in Aug 1974 – dead ringer for Sophie! If I can get them copied I’ll run a separated-at-birth section here later!