So that was 2007.

It's always strange when you actually start writing a new year when putting dates on things. Still remember the whole '99 to '00 oddness. '07 to '08 feels like a major one for some reason. Proximity to the end of a decade? Or maybe it's because I feel that Liverpool will return to winning the big one again soon. Perhaps. Unlikely mind you but I cling to the slim hope.

We had a few days up at lovely Noosa a few weeks back. Just Alissa, Aibhe and I in our first family only holiday. Worked out wonderfully as the crazy one wore herself out on the beach and in the pool everyday and slept for Ireland thus allowing Alissa to get some badly needed rest. Take out for dinner every night really aint so bad. I'd often thought that parents who get their kids shades (sunnies) were tossers. However, in order to save your own it's a necessity. I've also been told that it is being recommended to get your kids wearing sunglasses early on to protect their eyes from the seering sun. Thus this photo was not unusual.

2007. When Aibhe went from a basic beginner in the walking stakes, to a sprinter & stair jumper and general all round nutter who knows what she wants and gets it most of the time. From cot to bed at 18 months, to current toilet training. In case you didn't know, part of toliet training requires wearing ones knickers on ones head every now and then. It's a hellova cliche, but Christ they grow up fast and I am so glad I get to see so much of it from day to day.

The house went from 1 to 2 floors, and from some putrid combination of dirty blue and pink to grey and white. Just realised I had not put up any pictures of the finished product - see above and below. "My" garden went from dusty brown to a lovely lush green. Fantastic. Mucho back breaking work went into that. Would love to say its finished, but alas, there is still work to be done on the re-rendering the upstairs cracks after the place was lifted. Long finger. And when there is some money lying around somewhere.

Work, well, lets face it. It's only work. Pays the mortgage.

Baby, Godson and nephew Eoin joined the world. And slept peacefully for the most part, while eating and growing up for the rest it seemed.

It was a sad year for many - losing Georgia and Jen so close to Marian's anniversary and the birthday upon which Marian would have turned 40 is difficult to talk and write about. So I won't. What I said here earlier in the year stands.

Christmas was a lovely day. Goes without saying there's a sadness not being with one's own family and in thinking of the ones we've lost. Next year, all going well, Christmas in Dublin is in the plans. But Alissa & Aibhe are my immediate family now and Christmas morning is all about Santa again which is so good for all involved. No point in even contemplating mentioning the number of presents received by the queen of the house - an easel being the simplest but most utilised. She also quite likes dolls (ALL of them) - so we have a girl on our hands. Having had brunch at our place with Alissa's family, we spent the afternoon with extended family at Alissa's uncle's - I may have mentioned previously - it's a very VERY large extended family. Involved catering for about 40 - and there were quite a few absent. As I stood looking at all the kids from Aibhe's age to 14 jumping and messing around in the pool, it brought back how different it all is here - but in this particular regard, different good. The kids can go ballistic in the good weather with all the new gadgets and gifts and it's simply taken for granted that plenty of time is spent in the swimming pool on Christmas day.

So, it's babies galore happening in the old Malahide group at the moment with Fiona, Lyn and Michelle going together for their first one (or first AND second for one in particular). Congrats to Lyn and Fiona on the arrival of Ciaran and Gracie. Trips to the coffee shop will never be the same again. And Louise with number 2 on the way. Of course we're looking to join the ranks with 2 on board - hopefully - come the end of May, we will be there.

A safe and peaceful New Year to you all. Slan agus bliain úr faoi shéan is faoi mhaise dhaoibh go léir.

Straddie and the winds of political change sweep through

About 7 and a half years since I first visited the lovely island of Stradbroke just off the coast of Brisbane. I remember at the time writing and thinking how good it was that so few backpackers bothered their arses to go over there on the traditional east coast trek. The same still applies in that it's still very much a weekend retreat for the Brisbane greater population, but there's just so much more going on there now than in 2000. Its still unspoilt, practically untouched and very raw - which is the major draw of the place. The beaches and the transparent water - stunning. Like it's more famous cousin - Fraser island further up the coast, it's a large sand island so really, the marine life don't really treat it as 'pure' land and therefore get very very close to the shore believing themselves to be in the middle of the ocean. Not a great thing when sharks are involved. Dolphins are grand.

Anyway, reason for the visit was that Alissa's work (i.e. her Dad's company) treated the whole office to a weekend away for their Christmas party and invited partners and kids. How fricken generous is that? They're having a good year am told.

Aibhe was in her absolute element with the attention from Geoff and Barb and the activities based around the beach and the pool. Had a cracker is all I need to say and is at such a fun age now it just keeps getting better.

While we were there, the Australian federal election took place and after almost 12 years of relatively right wing conservative government, Labour got voted in, Tony Blair first election landslide fashion. The changes will ring through with the big international hits on withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the signing of Kyoto - both of course I fully agree with - there are few Australians I have met who don't agree with this. The interesting thing will be to see what happens within Australia and whether these guys are as 'New Labour' as was the case in the U.K. when Tony the man rose to power. The last couple of times Labour left government, it took the country years and years to get out of debt afterwards so the general hope is that they just continue to manage the economic boom with some degree of spending restraint and keep a leash on the trade union bigwigs. We shall see.

So then. The Irish health system. Lets talk. Bertie. Lets talk. Housing sector. Lets talk. It was all happening in the 5 days I spent on Irish soil. Hopefully its a soft economic landing/correction across the board. Thanks to Adam McAuley, I now know all about David McWilliam's 'breakfast roll man'.

Hey get this. I went to the dentist a couple of days ago for the first time since moving here so it was all very newby'ish with x-rays and creating your file history and the like. But he proceeded to 'scale' my teeth for 15 minutes which absolutely KILLED to the extent there was a tear dripping from one of my eyes. Afterwards he asked me how many times I have had that done coz it needed a pretty severe job - I had to answer none (that I could remember). He was pretty shocked to say the least as he said it should be done at most visits and makes me seriously question my old dentists capability. Apparantly it should be standard practice for pretty much all visits. So if like me, you haven't ever had it done, next time ye go......

We have about 2 days left in our house exterior repainting exercise (not done by me of course) and its all looking very nice indeed. Will post blog pictures next time round when all done and dusted. Plain sailing aside from Aibhe falling into a paint tray today which am told was funny aside from the clean up exercise.

There and back again. 5 days.

Good mother of Jesus. I think I have discovered the definition of 'whirlwind trip'. Not sure if I actually 'landed' in Dublin as opposed to ghosted through it. To everyone who pulled out the stops to catch up, thank you. Special mention for Mr Moore even though the beer and whiskey till 5am caused a great degree of hurt the day after. As for Ken and Gavs respectable dinner evening in Siam Thai? The 'see the friends' batteries that lurk deep beneath the skin have now been charged with Guinness fuelled conversations. And being with my family again so soon after their visit here was lovely - a special mention for the smiley sleepy nephew Eoin. To all those pregnant bellies that were around - just beautiful to see. To have squeezed in all I did in 5 days was quite a gargantuan achievement and one which necessitated minimum levels of sleep. Just aswell given the jet lag. Visiting the graves of my sister and then Jen was a sobering and surreal experience. It's just impossibly difficult to accept that those names are written where they are. And always will be. Left on a cold Tuesday afternoon choking back the tears.

How cold was it though? Christ.

By the time I finally got to Istanbul for the work part of the trip, all I was fit for was the very comfortable king sized bed in the Ritz-Carlton.

As for Istanbul. A 17 million person dense concrete mass straddling the turbulent and "mighty Bosphorous" (as Cake would say). The old town area was pretty impressive, the blended history of the epicentre where east meets west coming out of every ancient pore. The romantic skyline of a multitude of domes and minarets at night. The intimidating shopping bazaar (imitation crap, gold and haggling never my cup of tea so not really somewhere that attracted me). The constant gridlock. People actually get into ferry boats with their cars to get across the strait rather than funnel through the few bridges.

But it's quite hard to get past the utter lunacy and complete ignorance of the taxi drivers. In the few days (hours?) I spent in the Turkish melting pot,

• I was in a cab travelling at 140kmph in a 2 lane 90k zone, overtaking a cop car (the same one - twice)
• I was in a cab that got into a running battle with another car to the point where we were being run off the road
• I was in a cab that travelled between the lanes in which there were other cars for about half a km
• a cab had no change to give me
• a cab had no receipt to give me

The beeping of horns is constant, Lord help you if you dont get going at a set of lights within a milli second of them turning green. Its unfortunate that these tossers represent the principle part of my memory of what is one of the most historic cities in the world. Maybe am a bit over the whole over crowded city thing? Maybe I have developed a touch of claustraphobia? Maybe I'm getting too old to appreciate the danger factor of a place like this? Brisbane feels like a wonderfully peaceful open expanse of Serengeti proportions after that.

Oh yes. The conference, the raison d'etre for the entire trip. Average. And thanks to some shit organising by Boeing and Friday afternoon traffic mayhem in the city adding 50% on to airport trip times, I did not get to present. Typically, my flight was delayed, and in Dubai I had another 17 hour stopover, 10 hours of it delay time. Airports are really not pleasant places to spend ones time. But, at the end of it all, I could not wait to get home to my girls. All over their illnesses and ready for Dad.

And of course our next little one is now due in May '08.

Weird...

to think that I'll be in Ireland next week, without my own little family. Genuinely, it's going to be bloody hard not seeing Aibhe and her Mum for such a long time. Can't think about it yet. Too sad.

Plans for home. Well, by all accounts there is going to be some Guinness taken. According to Ken and Gav anyway. For anyone interested in my whereabouts, it will be Malahide predominantly of course. But am planning a trip into de big shmoke on Friday the 9th - so those of you who are around and can't get out to Malahide at any point - do let me know and a rendezvous will be established. Am seriously thinking about a pint in the Cobblestone at some point on that Friday, given we couldn't get in there last time we were home due to us being with screaming child. And it being closed at 11 in the morning.

Kieran & Peter - seriously contemplated the trip to Ennis for the trad, but alas, so little time and family comes first, even over the diddly-eye.

News from here? Well. We had a very pleasant few days in Noosa staying with Geoff & Barb in what can only be described as a millionaires mansion ON the Noosa river (with its own private jetty). Most impressive gaf I've ever stayed in by a long way. It' s not theirs of course, they just treated themselves as their gaf is currently undergoing 6 months of renovation (i.e. smash and rebuild) work, so they needed a "place with space and tranquility". Mind you, being woken at 3 in the morning by the sound of someone jumping off the roof with cops screaming "GET DOWN, GET DOWN, DON'T MOVE" (a paradox when one thinks about it) and torches flashing all over the shop, was none too soothing. Some punter was obviously on the run from the coppers and hopped into our place to get away - his mate was caught next door. For one second I contemplated sticking my head out to see what was going on, but fortunately the good sense of my lady wife reminded me that a stray bullet would potentially hurt me as would being taken hostage by some desperado. Aibhe didn't wake up.

And now Aibhe is still shouting "beeeeeeeeeeeech" regularly - such was the craic she had. Every big body of water, including the ocean, is now a "booooooool". It's certainly now time to starting making the most of this hot weather existence and proximity to some of the best coastlines around by getting out there at weekends. This weekend coming we're off with a couple of work heads to the Sunshine coast again.

No mansion this time, but I guess I'll put up with it.

Real bed time

She just decided. One night. That was it. No more cot thank you, I'm going to sleep in the big bed. Man. So like her parents with that determination and single-mindedness sometimes it's a bit scarey. But it is a very cute thing. And quite a step in fairness, the first one to moving away from being a baby to a little girl.

We've been to a couple of weddings recently, both in the centre of Brisbane, and both in lovely locations along the river. And I got pretty pissed at both of them so all very enjoyable altogether. For those that may remember it was Kate (who married Sam) and Robbo (who married Claude). All bar Sam were at our wedding. I guess we haven't put up a picture of us for a while, so in case yis forgot what we look like...... that pole really hurt.

So on to other things. When I don't have too much to say, I tend not to say anything for fear of talking crap or just plain and simple boring people. So the blog has been quiet of late. That said, most would know there are few occasions when I have little to say. I was sparked into reminiscing last week as I sat watching some wonderful musicians plying their trade in the Queensland Irish Club nearby (in the city). I got to thinking, while surveying the predominantly over 50 crowd, how did I come to love this flute'n'fiddle stuff? And how come, after 10 years of listening, do I now, again, like to hear the "song" embedded firmly in the midst of the powerful, goosebump and whoop inducing "tunes"?

(Note - song = music with words, tune = instrumental)

A not so short description of my personal trad (traditional Irish music) journey follows, so zone out those who couldn't care less about my indulgence. Growing up, there was the occasional ceili band bit of vinyl lying around which my Dad had managed to either fall upon in his teaching time, or were given by his son who did all his Christmas shopping in a record store and who thought that since the Kilfenora ceili band were from Clare (near enough his Ennis childhood home), played diddly-eye, they were an easy gift selection. Now don't get me wrong, the Kilfenora ceili band were (are?) a wonderful group of musicians, but to me back then, it all sounded like loud bagpipes in a large pot of vegetable stew. So David Soul (aka starsky) and "Don't give up on us baby " remained my number 1 choice as I went to the record player. Did you know that the b-side was an inspirational "Black bean soup" which never made it big strangely enough?

I digress.

The mid 90's saw me in Prague of all places being exposed to trad in the Irish bars occasionally and then a little more closely through the Barleyshakes who adopted a friend of ours while we were there and thus I "rubbed shoulders" with the muso's. At this point songs with words were still all that mattered to me. It was a slow but very certain ascension to the love of the tune. I think it cemented during that trip to Milltown Malby with Kieran for the Willie Clancy week. The word craic was made for occasions such as that. As was Guinness for breakfast and sessions in the dressingroom of a local GAA football club at 3 in the morning. Defining times.

I reckon the fact that over Kierans flat on Capler lived one Alan Doherty, now with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack on his resume, who plays flute like a man possessed and obsessed. Weekend after weekend, the trad would kick in after midnight. 2 choices for Kieran. Complain or join in. Kieran and I drank a lot together back then.

After that, we were hooked on the tunes. Songs became a necessary evil to break our foot stomping momentum. The Bothy Band were the natural hook (though the break songs were just bloody awful, I mean seriously, who sings a song with the lines 'Do you love an apple, do you love a pear.....'?). However they had tunes that we often said were like speed metal trad. The genius of Michael McGoldrick and then Lunasa followed and wrapped it up. No songs. Just tunes lads thanks.

Been a bit of a fan since, as our wedding demonstrated with Lunasa's Kevin Crawford playing through the emotional maelstrom. Being over here can make it hard at times just to stay connected to it all but Lunasa and Grada coming to play this year went a long way. Then last Thursday came along. I kept forgetting the date having read it some time ago in the Irish Echo, and it was only at 4 in the afternoon I remembered that Sharon Shannon, maestro McGoldrick, Dezi Donnelly and Jim Murray were playing that evening. I was knackered and the temptation to go to bed and watch a CSI Miami rerun was tempting. But I got off my lazy arse got in the car and got into the city (in 10 minutes so not really that major a journey).

These 4 musicians are legends in their own right, as individuals. And its not too often that a combo of individuals can produce a band sound but Jaysus holy Mary, these guys do it with ease and obviously have a ball doing it. I was introduced to McGoldrick beforehand, shook the mans hand, thankfully didn't do any damage despite my enthusiasm. "Howarye Mick" I think I said. Then Dezi Donelly asks me "is the Guinness is any good here". Ah jaysus lads, I can't be giving advice to a fiddle virtuoso. Even if it was a Finance question, am sure he'd still know better. Think I said it was drinkable.

Back to the reason for this detour. After 10 years skipping or avoiding the boring ole tune breaks as I'd call them, songs are well and truly back on my radar after hearing a couple of fantastic renditions of well known songs on this bands new Renegade album. I actually skipped tunes to listen to them.

And McGoldrick sings one of them the talented f$cker.

Frozen peas for breakfast. Anyone?

Who are we to say what you should and should not eat when you wake up? I mean, there have been times when I've had a leftover Vindaloo in the morning - never the best for the gut or the toilet, but it helps expedite things from the previous night. But Aibhe has taken to requesting, sorry, demanding, a handful of frozen peas when she opens the freezer door first thing in the morning. She of the never ending snotty nose. She of the beetle obsessions. She of the 5 am starts. While the approach of summer means rising temperatures, it also means the f&cking birds start off their morning concert earlier and earlier. Can't really chop anymore trees down at this point, so its back to trying to get my hands on an air gun.

Ye might remember a while back I mentioned the new English neighbour, "buttercup" as we called her. Well, she has disappeared. Nobody in the house for almost 2 months now and the back garden shows it. Alissa has actually called the cops with what I assume becomes a missing persons report, but we've heard nothing back. All very strange, given her car is still there, mind you the worrying thing is that an overgrown unkempt garden is a breeding ground for snakes. Nice.

We all paid a visit to Lone Pine Sanctuary yesterday, only 10 minutes drive from us. It's a mini-zoo type thing, with a heavy concentration on Koala bears. Kindov means the place stinks of stale p&ss most of the way round, but of course the little stoned bears themselves are all very cute. Mind you much of the initial excitement was around the lizards and bush turkeys (gobble gobble) freely wandering around, which really, ye could see anywhere. Aibhe and Stella (Bec's little girl) befriended a couple of kangaroos when we went into the 'roo reserve and within seconds, each had developed their proprietry instincts and "owned" a little marsupial of their own. Thus followed cries of "myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyne" and tears when the creatures dared to bounce away a little. Stella showed her early loyalty traits by following and standing still as a post right beside her new found pet for about 10 minutes, probably 20 or 30 yards away from where we were.

Oh and we fed a sheep. How terribly Australian.

I won't mention my golf.

The Virgin Blue annual birthday bash passed off successfully again last weekend - Las Vegas themed and all very well put together. Tell ye what though, for a single male (regardless of orientation) on the trail of a little eye candy and maybe some action, THAT was the place to be. All our trollie dollies (male and female!) were out in force and bedecked in whatever pieces of string they could lay their hands on. The one thing that became very transparant though, aside from some items of clothing, was the bloody ridiculous taxi situation in the city on a weekend night. I thought Dublin was bad. At least if all comes to all, ye can get the nightlink home. Here, people wait for hours in taxi-lines hoping and hoping that they bother their a%se coming back into to the city. Certainly does put a dampner on a night, and talking to people at work about it all - they pretty much say they avoid the city at weekends because of the taxi situation. Bit of pity given the activity, though, at this stage of our lives, why should we care? It's not like it's actually a relevant problem.

After the visit

And so the house goes quiet again and the downstairs area becomes practically dormant. For almost 3 weeks, the house was busy with activity (not full mind you, there's now plenty of space for everyone) and Aibhe running around to see who was available at the time, desperately looking for "Baba" Eoin, who invariably was either sleeping, feeding or just chilling quietly and happily on his mat. Such a quiet peaceful child I have never come across. And lovely of course. Aibhe was quite obsessed with him though her enthusiasm bordered on assault at times. No doubt the young lad will grow to take her on at her own game quite quickly.

From the moment they all landed, I had it in the back of my head of how hard it was going to be when they left, and of course, when they did depart, it was even harder. It broke our hearts the following morning and many times since then to listen to Aibhe calling their names and then going through each room to see where they were. Dom (Tom), Nana (Granny), Nay (Sinead), Baba (eoin). Ferg, she has finally got to saying "Gus" for you. We should have concentrated on that from the start!!

We had a few days in Hamilton island on the Whitsundays, which was absolutely beautiful and pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the stay. Very chilled out and relaxing for all. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a gigantic luxury apartment over looking the marina, which, despite the JCB and jack-hammer going off from time to time only 50 yards away, proved to be a fantastic stroke of luck for us all and the space it gave us. The mode of transport on the island is the golf buggy, which Aibhe would have been quite content to spend all her time in. Alissa now has serious problems getting Aibhe out of the car - she has to spend a few minutes each time in the front seat, tooting the horn and ripping the sh&t out of the gearbox.

When the family left, it rained for almost a week, how appropriate. Though the best winter rains for a long long time is very good news round these parts. All that grass we bought after the renovations has returned to life, the pool is full again and so is the water tank. And Georgia's garden is now complete - with all our families contributing beautifully to it.

Over "the pond".....

......being the Tasman sea, we finally got to go to New Zealand. Obviously, we didn't make it last month given the circumstances, but the badly needed break eventually came along. Aibhe stayed at home with Barb (Baba) and Geoff (Jess) for the few days and appeared to have a cracking time. So then, New Zealand, a new country for us both. A few words on the myths that go with the territory.

1. Sheep. Yes, they are everywhere. 40 million of them in fact, 10 times the human population.
2. Cold. Yes, fricken freezing in Christchurch, but then it was the equivalent of January/February in Dublin.
3. The accent. Oh man. The Aussie accent can be funny, but the NZ accent is actually quite hard on the ears. It's the vowels, they're all over the shop. Almost the German of the antipodes. For instance:
- Check-in desk = Chucken disk
- Six = Sux
- Ticket = Tuckit
4. Rugby. Yes. Obsessed. Totally. 4 pages in the main paper on it pretty much every day.
5. Stunning. Yes. Quite breathtaking scenery once ye get out of the "city" (Christchurch barely qualifies I reckon but anyway). Snow capped mountains practically jumping out of the flat plains of Canterbury to really give an idea as to why the Lord of the Rings was filmed here.

Did I mention it was cold?

A few days of eating, drinking (though we got so pissed on the first excited night that it pretty much took another two days to recover), driving through mountains, jet boating (very cool and very cold), wine tasting and sleeping. Pretty much covers it. Next time (and working for Virgin Blue, there will be a next time) we'll probably try get further south on the south island to Queenstown and Dunedin which are meant to be even more spectacular in a swiss Alps kindov way. I thought parts of Ireland were relatively unpopulated, but Jesus, we drove for HOURS without seeing another car on the road on several occasions. One bit was a little over hyped - Akeroa on the Banks peninsula. I'd compare it to driving through the Wicklow pass to arrive in Baltinglass. Nice, but not knock me down amazing though to be fair, time of year probably didn't help in that there was barely a soul around.

We of course missed Aibhe, and it was pretty cute that she was eagerly anticipating our return, as we walked through the arrival doors at the airport, there she was, swinging off the bars trying to attract the attention of others around - but thankfully, didn't ignore us....... and the requisite hugs duly arrived.

Not much to add right now.

But photos of Aibhe have been requested so here goes..... and we're finally getting to New Zealand this week - didn't happen last month for obvious reasons. Will give a decent report on our return.

For Georgia, Jen and Marian

For a while I thought about whether or not the recent events should be written up on the blog, and whether or not it would belittle the scale of what has happened. But I believe that this has been a pretty consistent, occasionally flippant, account of our lives here, so it would be pretty much a false restart if I were to begin writing again without somehow "verbalising" in writing what we've been through.

The last week of June has certainly become the saddest time of the year for the Foley family. The 26th is now the anniversary of the passing of Georgia Foley, our little girl who was born prematurely after 22 weeks with us. Following the 18 week scan, we knew she had been sick for some time and had developed a condition called "Hydrops" - an extremely rare occurance. We knew then that the outlook was bleak and that it would be a matter of time so we had a little time to prepare ourselves for the worst. However, having to go through the entire labour experience in this kind of circumstance is something I would not wish on anyone. We had a hell-ish 24 hours which included some post delivery complications for Alissa (requiring some minor surgery). We spent 12 hours with Georgia then had to let her go.

Battered and bruised, Alissa badly needed to spend some time sleeping and resting, but of course, about an hour after we arrived home from the hospital, little Aibhe came down with a fever which lasted 3 days (she's actually still not quite over it yet), resulting in 2 GP trips and a visit to the hospital. She also developed an obsession with her Daddy, which given Alissa's fragile state was probably not the worst thing. There's something to be said about a child of such a young age being able to pick up on the vibes of her parents and of those around her. We fortunately had plenty of support to help us get through the few days. I'd also just like to say now, thank you to all of you who sent such beautiful and kind words to Alissa and I, I know I didn't get to text or call or e-mail back, there really wasn't much I could say.

The news of Jen's passing on the 29th needs no words. The fight she put up was nothing short of astonishing. I'd rather remember Jen not as the girl who fought with cancer to the bitter end, more as the intelligent, straight talking, party-loving and smiling girl that she was. And the one responsible for getting me so into skyping with the rest of the world. She gave us sunflower seeds when we left Ireland, we'll be planting more in our garden for her. These are the times we wish we could be home with you all.

Marian's 3rd anniversary came a day later. The memories of that day and the ones that followed are so raw and clear, and probably will be forever. And she would have turned 40 on the 1st July. We all still miss her incredibly.

That week is over now. Am currently looking outside the window at the clear blue skies (and the weird English woman next door who sings that "why don't you build me up" song at the absolute top of her voice late at night REGULARLY - so we call her buttercup amongst other things).

The family arrive in a few weeks time. Things should get better.

Georgia, Jen and Marian you won't ever be forgotten.

Next stop New Zealand

Well, we kindov reckon this is our last holiday of its kind, as Aibhe will be left with her Aussie grandparents for a few days - who will camp out in our new home to take care of her. I guess the place feels new at the moment, aside from the spilt Thai green curry on the carpet which Alissa's pregnancy enabled heightened sense of smell manages to pick up every time she walks by. Christchurch it is, not the one on the south side of the Liffey, the one on the south island of New Zealand. We get to stay in a nice posh hotel in the city, get to go to wineries and visit some of the landscapes of Lord of the Rings. It'll be fricken freezin' mind you and we have no warm clothes, so we'll have to see the place either from the hotel room, the car, the restaurants or the spa baths. Also, apparantly its very foggy this time of year over there so we might see f&ck all, but sure it'll be almost like home. I'm sure.

Am sitting here in our new study room and its positively p&ssing down outside. There's been talk of the upcoming rain "event" for the last 5 days. And, unlike the last time when we were meant to get a cyclone to fill the dams and got NOTHING, this time the event has happened and the good news is our water tank will get nice and full as a result. 4,000 litres of water under the gaf - that should keep the grass green in 53 Alexandra St for a wee while.

Had a trip to the dermatologist yesterday morning, almost like a dentist trip to be honest, except rather than numbing the gumbs, he numbed a little section of my back before removing a mole and sewing me back together with a few stitches. Was in work just after 9.30. Gas. Pretty standard stuff over here, and unlike in the case of getting a tooth out, I can't play golf for at least 2 weeks after this extraction. B&gger.

By all accounts, my newest nephew at home - little Eoin, is not so little anymore. Horsing through house and home so he'll be in a position to take his cousin Aibhe on when he gets here in August. If he keeps going he'll be able to fly on his own, or at least will need his own seat on the plane.

And lastly, the house. Budget completley blown asunder, not to worry. Its great to be finished, aside from the painting outside and the auld garden thingy. We need some half daycent grass along the side where the excavators ran a-muck (get it? God I'm hilarious). Now I'm all new to this lark, I mean, whats wrong with going out and getting some seeds, sprinkling it along the dirt and waiting for them to sprout up nice and green? In Ireland, you woundn't even need the seeds, grass seems to grow in concrete. But there's lots wrong with that over here apparantly. I'm told we have Sir Walter Buffalo grass or something along those lines, so to get anything else and have a mixture would look "shithouse" as they say over here. So, best be on the lookout for that stuff. Secondly, this is not the time of year to be throwing seeds into the ground due to the lack of daylight hours (a mere 11......ha....) - ye need "turf" and be well able to water it. Tick to the second one after tonights rain anyway. Now, given I HATE pebbles and concrete - Jesus, if the folks had done what they have to our garden back home while I was a chisler, I'd have had many more broken bones and probably smashed even more windows than I did - so I'm just going to dig deep (there I go again!!), tramp the dirt down and turn it all green again. Sometime. My back hurts at the moment so it'll be a while yet.

Before.... and almost after - just the odd bit or 20 left

and lastly, up top where the front door used to be and where it is now underneath

Here comes winter again

I laugh as I write that. Whatever. Just means longer chilly nights and therefore sleeping without the aircon. So then. Whats been going on then over here. Ah yes. The house. At least the painters have been and gone. The carpet was going down today. Plumber and electrician due to complete by the end of this week. THEN it will be all done. Aside from moving all our stuff. In fairness, while not easy living through the dust and the dirt and the grime, it will be worth it when its all done. Honestly. Latest status photo's coming shortly.

The little one went on a bug-free, sleep filled few weeks till she came a cropper last week with an ear and throat infection. Now all good again though trying to get her back into the nice sleeping routine she was in prior to the sickness. God help us with two little ones.

I gave blood recently for the first time. Ashamed as I am to say it - I never bothered in Ireland. There was always something. Always is eh? Isn't that the ad? Over here they actually come round in their big mobile van and park it right outside our office - so really, there's no excuse for not doing it. This was my 4th attempt at giving blood since I got to Brisvegas - things like gastroscopies, recently being on anti-biotics, having had some injections amongst other things blocked me on previous occasions. Anyway, this time I was determined to offload my red corpuscles so I tried once again. Initially, they had trouble getting a nice vein - my right arm blew up like a little balloon so they whipped the IV needle out, watched as the whole area bruised up to a nice yellow/purple and asked if I wanted to pack it in. Heroically I rolled up my left sleeve and demanded they try the other arm. It worked. Nice veins aplenty there.

It would be great if I could say that was it and that I marched out proudly with my cheese and cracker crumbs on the edge of my lips and returned to my desk to finish my days work as if nothing happened. Alas no. As soon as the blood bag was filled to the brim and they took out the needle for the 2nd time, the nauseau and sweats kicked in. Apparantly I went quite green and had to stay on the bench for a good 15 minutes till I looked less like Herman Munster, all the while sipping my cordial through a straw. I managed to fight off the whole fainting thing, that would have just been too much to bear. As I sheepishly left with my chocolate in hand, I asked if that was it for me giving blood to which I got "No, of course not, lots of people are wusses on the first go, see you next time!" Damn it.

Welcome baby Eoin

My 2nd nephew arrived yesterday at about 11am Irish time. Eoin O'Neill weighed in at just over 7lbs. After a long day of texting back and forth with Daddy to be with the latest dilation results. All extremely well and getting even better. Congrats to all and especially well done little sister.

We raised a glass to the arrival over here.......... wine had to do the job. A pint of Guinness will be the order of the day when the family arrive over here later this year. Slainte.

Hope the sun was shining for Easter

I wonder do others have the same Easter memories as we do? Staying up late past midnight on Good Friday so ye could finally eat again after the whole 3 meals thing (or was it 1 meal and 2 something or other of a lesser size than a "meal")? Then finally getting to eat chocolate again after 39 days of Lenten abstinence (excluding St Paddy's of course) and absolutely horsing through your eggs (which were usually made of cheap crap chocolate coz that meant you could buy more, but anything would do at that point). And of course, there was "The Passion" on Good Friday. Warm, Spring afternoons, the first rays of summer starting to penetrate through the winter grey, finally kicking balls with those new boots ye got for Christmas, all of the Easter holidays ahead of you. But to enjoy such an Easter experience, one had to first suffer through an hour and a half in a jam-packed church, standing for the majority of the time, lining up to kiss the cross and then right at the end, when tantalisingly close to getting out, a decade of the rosary. 10 Hail Mary's? Ahhhh Jaysus...... the Passion. Mother of God. Literally.

The house renovations trickle along progress wise. Lots done, lots to do. Over the long weekend I spent a few hours under the house putting down a gravel and sand bed for the bladder water tank we've got. The things I would not have done in Ireland eh? Back-breaking and dirty work and have several cuts and bruises to prove I did it. Now whether or not it does the job is another matter. I decided not to believe the spirit level. Since there's no more watering the garden or filling the pool from the tap, this is now our only option for green stuff and a pool with actual water in it. Level 5 water restrictions kick in today - ye can't even wash your car now. Seriously, this is a fricken desert.

Little sis is now only a few days away from mammyhood. Exciting times.......

Speaking of which. Come November hopefully, there will be another Foley here in Brisvegas. Yes indeed. The 10 week scan (as they do it here) showed up only one kid in there so Aibhe will have another toy to play with (and attempt to batter) come Christmas time 2007. And life in general gets put on hold for a little while again. Can ye see him/her?

We're taking the "whip the band-aid off quickly" approach to all of this. I'd like to say Alissa has been well, but, alas, she's been sick as a small hospital. Now diagnosed with whooping cough of all things and FINALLY getting some drugs for it. Drugs that will do no harm to the above of course.

So there yis have it. Sure isn't this what the aul' blog is for wha?

Moving house

All brought to a new meaning for me in these past few days. I had heard of it, but witnessing it was a new experience. Well am sure you're all aware that because of the style of home here in Queensland ("the Queenslander" no less) one has the ability (if one so desires) to take ones house with you. Literally. Put it on the back of a large truck (largeness determined by size of gaf) and take it away. I assume they request that you clear out the furniture. So I arrive home Thursday evening with Alissa telling me to go have a look at the gaf at the back and to the left a bit. Sure enough, there is was, propped up on the back of a truck. That night, at about 12 midnight, it was like that bit in ET when the entire US military arrives into the young lads back yard. Lights blazing, machines grinding, engines revving and guys barking instructions all over the shop. Armagheddon had arrived. For 3 fricken hours. Apparantly, they can only physically do the moving of this kind during the midnight hours so there's little traffic on the road to contend with. We woke a couple of hours later to find that the house was no more. Goneski. Here is the place the house used to be. And thats not the end of the tale.

On Friday evening the news had a piece on a house that had fallen off the back of a truck on Waterworks road.... I'll bet there were no knackers to hand to try offload it for a quick tenner.

Other news sinks into the background with that one. Except to say that St Patricks day was good craic in the end, and quite a beautiful pint of Guinness was had in the Irish club in Brisbane at 9am that day. The Irish club itself was an interesting experience it must be said. I had visions of somewhere in Hells kitchen in New York in the early 20's - plastic Paddy's everywhere - and a smattering of Meath, Wexford, Cork and Clare GAA geansai's scattered around the gigantic ballroom. Then the ringleted multi coloured Irish dancers arrived - which was bloody fascinating to Aibhe bless her. There will be no Rose of Tralee out of here again for some time I'd venture. But thank God. I have found good (I'd go as far as to say, VERY good) Guinness. Aibhe seemed partial to it aswell. And they have sessions every Wednesday.

The house. Well, lets just leave it at this shall we?

Le fheile Phadraig gan dabht

This year, I'm going to see just how Brisbane celebrates the day of the Oirish. Plan is for a breakfast in the Irish club in the morning, maybe hang around for the freaks in the parade for a half an hour. Then home for a while to pile all the cr&p in our yard into the skip and then out for a couple of hard earned Guinness in some Irish bar in the city. Thats the plan anyway, and I've even managed to recruit a couple of heads from work to join the festivities so I shall report back on the relative success of the mission in the next update. Its a long time now, but I still retain fond memories of the best Paddy's day I've ever had. Sydney with the boyezz back in 2000. Pedro, Nolo, Breno, Dayo. All bedecked in black. On fire we were back then.

We now have a front door in the place where its meant to be, and where it will stay. The renovations have come along quite quickly over the past week. We have walls. We have stairs. We have most of the wiring complete. I believe we will have ceilings shortly. Getting there. Pictures tell the story.

Spent last weekend down in Sydney, staying in Quay Grand on circular quay (not messing with muck here) - mind you that was purely thanks to the fact that Barb came down with us as she was looking at some interior design places that only had outlets in Sydney. So we crashed in her private suite. With Aibhe. In the master bedroom. Aibhe seemed to have some serious craic over the weekend, doing the hotel lift run as regularly as we could manage.... up and down, up and down (rather fascinated she was with this little moving mirrored room), running around the steps of the Opera house yacking her head off as the tourists watched her flying by, chasing the multitude of seagulls on the banks of one of the most spectacular scenes in the world and quite importantly - sleeping quite well. That said, the hour and a half trip on the plane with her was.....interesting. Absolutely NO IDEA how one would manage the long trip home with a child of Aibhe's age and current desire for mobility. Nightmare. Drugs perhaps?

While there I spent a bit of time with Murt of Malahide - great to catch up with a face from the old sod - and we even met his folks (over for a month and left to head home on Monday I think) and Shelley and little Molly the next day. Am sure the kids will see plenty of each other in the future. To cap it all we attended an engagement party on Saturday evening (the primary purpose behind our visit). On Circular Quay staring out at the Opera house and the coathangar (the Harbour bridge which this weekend celebrates its 75th year). Not a bad party location.

Slan agus Slainte.

Nearly there. And Aibhe hits 1.

5 weeks on and we now wait for a wee bit of plumbing to be done so the water from the toilets/ taps etc, goes where its actually meant to go as opposed to spilling out under the house. Wouldn't be too popular with the neighbours I'd imagine. We're good to go back home once thats all done and dusted. Yayyy. Spent just over 2 hours cleaning the place this morning - given the big hole cut in the hall floor and the new stairs we now have, there was just a little bit of dust here and there. Hard to describe the state its in at the moment so I'll just have to let the pictures do the talking. At its "worst", just over a week ago, the place look like this (above). Difficult to envisage that it would be possible to turn it into something that we could actually live in within about 8 days.

First the floor supports......

then, the floors and wall structure....

And now we have a stairs to get in. That little piece of genius, coming from our unpaid architect (Geoff) who dreamt up the eureka notion of having our front door downstairs. How traditional I hear you say. A long way to go yet, but once we can move back in with functioning electricity, plumbing, phones and aircon, we're laughin.

And "little" Aibhe has turned 1. Had a party for her at 10am in a nearby park last weekend. By 12 I was shattered. She appeared to enjoy herself, mind you she barely needs all the other child company at times as she's quite content to bog off on her own to do her thing, whatever it may be. 1 year ago eh? Tell ye what though. All that shite about the first 6 months being rough and then it all gets easier? Steaming poo. I reckon Aibhe breezed the first 6 months and once she decided to start really participating in life and all that was going on, THATS when it started becoming "interesting" for us.

Sicknesses, messed up sleeping patterns, frustration at lack of mobility (short lived) ya-di-ya-di-ya. But, right now, it has to be said, she's on fire. Spends most of the day laughing, or looking for an excuse to laugh, pegging round the place just begging to be chased and eats for Ireland. She's also very partial to dancing like a freak to practically any kids DVD we choose to put on. She starts on the guitar next week, I figure some basic scales won't hurt at this point. Maybe I could even get her going on some low whistle. Which takes us on a natural segway into Friday just gone. And the Lunasa gig here in Brisvegas.

As usual, they were bloody brilliant live and Kevin, the flute man and speaker in between tunes was flying, had those in the audience that could pick up his knife like Clare accent in stitches laughing. From the first strum of the guiter, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt like I was home, just for a while. The Aussies I brought along were gobsmacked at the speed the lads play at. As we said before, Lunasa are trad on speed. I went to say hello to Kevin afterwards and it was nice to see that he remembered myself and Alissa very well from when he played at our wedding in Killaloe. I guess nobody who was there can ever forget.

Next up, Grada in April. We'll have another posse lined up for that one.

Living in the Hills

Ahhh builders. The same all over the world. And while ye never believe a fricken word they say, there's still this little part of your head that does and thinks it will all go like clockwork. As most of those who read this will have experience with builders first hand, I'll have no need to go into our experience in any great detail. Obviously the fact that it actually rained has set "us" (ie the builders) back significantly - nobody banked on our getting the big downpours we've got in the last week (this is good news on a broader scale - we're still in the middle of a drought but of course right now I don't want rain). The fact they couldn't be arsed redirecting the run-off water pipe from next door that they cut and left open onto the excavated site, thus flooding the whole fricken area and (in my humble opinion) risking the subsidence of our gaf has only a little bit to do with the set-back. There's the usual crap (like the need for a new gas and heating system) they find that has to be fixed before anything else can be done. Yes, its all part of the process, but those who know me well know patience was never one of my strongest virtues. This is a new experience form me. I have lots of others virtues of course.

Suffice to say, its 3 weeks in and we're still here with Barb and Geoff - in Kenmore Hills. Hills being a very important part of the location name. I'm still commuting into work through sh&t traffic and therefore leaving before 7 - thats probably no big issue to most of those who commute at home - to get in for 7.30. As opposed to leaving at 7.15. Those 15 minutes I tell ye. One of the advantages of staying out here in the countryside is the things you can see when ye wake up in the morning. How about a kangaroo on the lawn?

Old hat and so what I hear you say. I mean it is Australia. How about a couple of deer? A doe and a deer.

As for Aibhe. Well of course she's being spoilt rotten with the level of attention she's getting. And a right little girl she's becoming - a bruiser of a girl, but still a girl. She does like her dolls though which is fortunate. Still wakes at 5am at the moment, but now that the darkness is being to eke into the morning a little more day by day, perhaps she might lengthen the sleep to daylight? One can but hope.

Not much else to report. We await some progress on the house, and then, well it will be home sweet sh&thole-building-site home for a while.