Country Living Journal
My escape to Country Life

Today is a wild blustery and rainy day, and it feels pretty cool too. Not a pleasant day all round. One small thing sent my spirit soaring ... today our Crocuses burst open delivering a beautiful flower carpet of color in the bleak garden. In the last few days I noticed that they were close to opening, but today 6 or 7 of them opened up spectacularly delivering a deep hue of royal purple with a centre of butter yellow ... a glorious trumpeting that spring is finally here ?

RECENT COUNTRY LIVING stories/articles :

OK for mining irks Madison residents
Jackson Clarion Ledger
... APAC estimates 152 dump truck trips a day from the mining site. Neighbors
say the dirt pit will ruin what they have now - quiet, country living.

Since moving to the country, one of the things I have noticed which impacts our life much more in the country than in the city is the weather. A glorious sunny day in the country is a priceless gift which can only be truly appreciated in the wide open spaces. When I arise early in the morning on sunny days, I can see for many miles across the beauty of Bantry Bay, the rolling green hills and the stunningly beautiful mountain range that is the Caha mountains. In the city, I found that I very much appreciated and enjoyed sunny days, but generally it was a more subdued enjoyment, looking out over millions of houses and chimney stacks or apartment blocks just doesn't do it for me in the same way that the awe inspiring scenery of where I live today. Of course the opposite is also true, in the city when the weather was bad, it was more an inconvenience to be put up or grumbled about rather than something one really took any real notice of. Whereas in our lofty perch in the country, a wind storm is a different kettle of fish altogether, a noisy electrical storm in the country is both awe inspiring and not a little frightening, particularly for the young ones. When the rain and wind are sheeting outside in the country one hears the weather a lot more, as you don't have the advantage (sic !) of the shelter provided by thousands of buildings crammed close together in the city. In my humble opinion though, the rewards of country living far outweigh the downsides, the scenery, peace, tranquilly and sheer beauty are truly beyond price even given the odd noisy storm now and then !

RECENT COUNTRY LIVING stories/articles :

THE very picture of country living
Christian Science Monitor
By Sue Wunder. Our farm is nothing if not photogenic. By some definitions,
we're part of the Midwest here in south-central Indiana ...

ROGUE River Rustics Creates Beauty From Mother Nature
Jackson-County-News.com
... of a designer in Los Angeles, their work found its way into the pages
of many national magazines such as Architectural Digest, Colonial Home,
Country Living ...


ROCKFISH Community retains country charm
Fayetteville Online
... They can afford to live here and have a nice place to call their own.".
There's still a sense of country living in Rockfish. The ...

DEVELOPMENT blues
Tenterfield Star
... formally approved the development but has agreed to move forward on
a proposal to advance the rezoning of additional urban land to develop
the 'Country Living ...

... this seems like an interesting book about those who followed their dream of making a rural living

"Stronger Than Dirt: How one urban couple grew a business, a family, and a new way of life from the ground up" is the story Schaye and Losee, a married couple with two daughters, wrote about how they ended up in upstate.

The 320-page book, published by Three Rivers Press last year, is their story about raising a family, establishing a flower farm, and adjusting to country living.

Article from TheRegisterHerald.com

I've been away for a couple of days, hence the lack of updating, also my comment utility seems to have disappeared. Will fix that up over the next day or so.

On my return to an overflowing email box (mostly spam ...!), I found this interesting tidbit which made me smile ... and they say city life is better than country living ....

"Sex life 'better in the countryside' - Source : Ananova

"Living in the countryside can improve your sex life.

Some 41% of those questioned in a survey thought moving to the country injected a sense of adventure between the sheets.

And 39% said the quality of sex had improved or they expected it to improve if they moved, 26% made love more often or predicted they would, and 32% were more spontaneous or would be as a result of the change.

The survey, by Country Living magazine, questioned just over 1,000 people who live in urban and rural areas.

Overall, 82% thought a country existence was better for their health, 80% considered there was less crime and 61% believed they would live longer.

Of those who had moved to the country in the past four years, 44% said they spent more time with their partner, 38% had more mutual friends and 27% had fewer arguments. The level of satisfaction among people who had made the switch from urban to country living more than five years ago was even higher." - Ananova

Well today was a red letter day for the family !! The entire family has been inculcated into the rural community ... how you may ask ? Well, every member of the family is now the proud owner of their own pair of rubber boots (wellingtons or galoshes depending on where you live in the world !) ! With the weather having turned miserable, you cannot now walk accross the fields or indeed anywhere off the cultivated garden paths except by wearing wellington boots.

The kids have had their boots for some time, in red pink and baby blue if you don't mind. However today their parents finally gave in and both Una and I acquired our own personal pair of wellington boots. For former city slickers this is indeed a rite of passage ... we now really are country folk 'culchies' having own wellingtons. Una selected a very suave and sophisticated navy blue with matching soles and a "go faster" red stripe around the outside of the sole ! I being my old conservative self selected a very sensible dark green pair.

High fashion or what ? I can just see the Paris catwalks with Naomi Campbell wearing the latest Gucci galoshes with matching handbag ....

In my very humble opinion there is only one place to go to find out the latest in the World of blog and that is Blog Herald, an indepth and intriguing daily review of the latest from the world of blogging.
I make it a daily visit. If you like it, do give them a vote in the World Blog Awards (the bloggies !).

I've had a few emails from people asking about the best websites for homes for sale in Ireland, particularly West Cork property and houses for sale. These are the ones that I used to find our house, and I hope they are of some use to those of you looking for an irish country living dream home.

SWS Property Services
Celtic Properties - West Cork
Key Properties
James Lyons & Co property
Irish Property News
Sherry Fitzgerald Countrywide

... today is my first day back in the office since the holidays. Like many many others around the globe (I'm sure) I am suffering a "hangover" effect following all the merriment, over indulgence and frivolity of christmas & new years ... now reality bites and it is back to "normal".

Today, I'm struggling to get my mind back into gear and focus on planning for the year ahead. As the new year has dawned it is time to clear the cobwebs and let in new light through old windows ... to look at things a new. For me 2004 is going to be challenging and hopefully exciting from a professional perspective as I seek to develop new business opportunities without the need to spend my life on planes or in cars.

In the relatively short time I have been blogging, I am stunned at how kind and helpful the more experienced bloggers have been to newbies like myself. I am particularly grateful for the kind support and comments of far more experienced bloggers than mysel. The following is a brief list of my daily blog reads and am regularly inspired by their thoughts and highly
recommend a visit.

James at Eirepreneur
Nancie at Simple Country Living Blog
Bogie at BogieBlog
Jim at Parkway Rest Stop