Mikael Fernstrom

>Still in pain. X-rays didn’t show that it would be justified to start drilling today. But, I had a very interesting experience. The dentist knocked on the teeth trying to determine which one was the actual problem, taking both my feedback (Ouch!) and what she heard from the impact between steel instrument and tooth.

A little research clue like this makes life more bearable when one is told to Go Home and take Two Painkillers every four hours.

>We had a great night out yesterday evening. Most of IDC showed up. The Tailrace Bar in Parteen has the most horrible old piano I’ve seen in a long time. We had a great session anyhow. I felt increasing pain in my lower jaw throughout the evening and today I finally got down to getting an appointment with a dentist. Yuk! Better get it done before Xmas…

>I’ve neglected my blog for some time. Sorry. I’ve been too busy with non-cyber life, including travelling to Glasgow and back. The last week seems to have just disappeared in meetings. Well, I’m back – writing and scribbling. My to-do list is almost endless with research reports long overdue and gazillions of people requesting help or a response. Today, Sunday, I’ve written a list prioritising things, hence if you get my response over the last few days, you’re one of the lucky ones. If not, you might as well forget it, as I intend to do.

After thinking about things this way, my blood pressure is better than in a long time and I intend to keep it that way.

Mona is gearing herself up to surgery, hopefully in January. It’ll be tough but if her quality of life improves that’ll be great.

>This evening we went to the opening concert of Sionna, the Irish and international festival for music, dance and performing arts. We heard Sabreen (from Palestine) a really great band playing very exciting and interesing music; and radio Tarifa (from Spain) who were good but working more on showmanship than music.

>The weather today is great, blue skies, sunshine and no wind. We packed our gear, cleaned the house, and went down to Lyon’s to buy fish to bring home. Then, we drove to Donaha beach. We spent a few hours there. It was so nice, no need for heavy sweaters, just shirt with short sleeves. Finally we headed back towards Limerick. This evening, back in my own kitchen, I cooked monkfish tail, with spuds and veg.

>Today we did Carrigaholt beach. As the tide was out we walked all along the beach while Charlie kept requesting us to throw his ball into the sea, as usual. We then went for a drive out towards Loop Head to check out a house for sale in Ross Bay. Then, back to Carrigaholt for a late lunch in the Long Dock – Chowder and Crab Salad respectively. This evening we cooked turbot, again, but this time as fricassee.

>It’s quite pleasant weather today as the fog is gone. It’s overcast and no wind. After breakfast I went down to Lyon’s and bought two fresh turbots. I guess one would be enough, but with all this lovely fish we might as well indulge while we’re here. The recipe I have in mind requires some fresh seaweed and the whole fish is then baked on a bed of seaweed in the oven. Hopefully we’ll collect some seaweed during today’s beach walks.

We did Donaha beach, found the seaweed and in the evening we cooked our turbot as planned. It turned out absolutely delicious! It’s one of these recipes you really can’t cook unless you’re by the sea.

>We had sushi breakfast. Went out for a walk with Charlie. Thick fog over the river Shannon, no wind. It’s amazing how different the soundscape is when it’s foggy. All sounds are more dampened and it’s quieter.

We made egg-and-sausage sandwiches and packed our gear for a day out. First beach was the one down by Donaha. A few times, the fog cleared and we got glimpses of sunshine, but as there was now wind the chill of the fog remained. After a couple of hours we drove to the other side of the peninsula, to Bridges of Ross, where we had our (late) lunch while watching the tide starting to come in. Still no real sunshine, but the scenery is spectacular in any weather. For a finish, we took the small back road out to Loop Head and then back to Lisheen house. Dinner tonight is stir-fried teriyaki salmon with vegetables and noodles.

>We had breakfast while listening to Mooney Goes Wild on Radio 1. I made a quick excursion to SeaLyons to get some fresh fish. Salmon, Brill and John Dory. We went down to the new beach by Donaha and spent most of the day there, at low tide, exploring cliffs and caves.

At early teatime we went by the house and made sandwiches and went back to the beach. We enjoyed our sandwiches while the tide was rising. Being such a beautiful day now coming to its end, we decided to go out to Loop Head to watch the sunset. We made it out there in good time before 6 o’clock and found a comfortable spot to sit overlooking the mouth of the Shannon and the Atlantic. We also saw some dolphins!

This evening we made sushi. The quality of the fish out here is just outstanding!

>and it is overcast, so far. Today, we’ll start with Rinnevalla Bay for our beach walk and dog swim, as the tide is now low around noon. Rinnevalla is probably one of the best places for beach finds, especially when the weather is rough. We had a lovely long walk all long the bay. Apart from all the usual seabirds we saw an Osprey, a very impressive creature!

Later on, in the afternoon, we found a new little stretch of beach just beside the village of Donaha. The tide was on its way in but Charlie had yet another go at swimming.

In the early evening I went up to Kilkee for some groceries and on my way back I saw the most extraordinary sunset I’ve ever seen in my life. In general it was overcast but out West it was clear. When the sun was starting to set, it suddenly appeared just between the cloud cover and an absolutely clear horizon. With the sun so low and bright, the shadows in the landscape grew really long and colours flamed.

Dinner this evening was Bouillabaisse.