Lehighton Folks at the Folk Museum

This morning we all took showers; nice, hot showers. But when we started dishes, the water was ice cold.

Huh.

Oh.

I wonder if I have enough money in the gas.

In Belfast, there is a card  that I take to the Spar store

 and put money on it. Then I  put the card in the 

but it still didn't work. I followed all the instructions in the manual and did troubleshooting online, but no success. I called the Accommodations Office and once again they were very accommodating (sorry. I can't help making the joke.) and said they'd send someone to fix it. A very nice man came, pressed a reset button and I told him that reset button is not in any of the paperwork and he agreed and said they don't usually tell people about it so they don't mess it up. I was chagrined, but happy to have instant hot water.

The adventure of the day was the Ulster Folk Museum, Viv's pick for the activity. It didn't disappoint! The weather was cold, but not frigid, and we walked the whole museum and saw all the buildings.

When the girls went on their day trip to Giant's Causeway, the bus went through this tunnel, but is far taller than this carriage.

Judge Vivian

This is some old plaster:

Hey, girl!

She's getting taller

What a great idea! Pussywillow branches are perfect for this:

Eileen had a relative named John Kelly

Fancy old timey clothes

Oh, look. Another picture of nothing I intended to capture.

Mrs. Rodgers teaching Vivian in an old timey school:

The animals were out! And they expected to be fed grass.

We obliged.

Shirley looks lovely walking on a pretty road.

This is a random stream meandering through the property.

And these are gorgeous purple flowers blanketing the woods.

Viv used the scarf in different ways depending on what body part was cold.

Moo.

Moo. Moo.

Look at the size of this thing!

Vivian is a stern teacher.

Seriously. Northern Ireland is beautiful.

The horses saw us, knew we were serious about feeding them grass and clomped over to make it happen.

That's a magpie sitting on the column.

This was maybe the best part of the day:

Vivian and I had taken the ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan, Scotland about a month ago. The ferry has a playroom and Vivian met a girl, Johanna, who was making the trip with her family. The kids hit it off and played the entire trip. Her mom saw us in port and gave us a stuffed animal Vivian had forgotten in the room.

There we were in the restaurant of the Folk Museum and Vivian waves to people outside. I didn't think anything of it because Vivian frequently waves to strangers. Then Johanna walked in. What are the chances?? The girls were reunited, Vivian gave Johanna a mood ring to remember her by, and I have a feeling the luck of the Irish will reunite these two again one day.