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JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL
MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

Out on the winding, windy moor ‐ it's dear cousins Julia and Richare. Jake, Paul and Vanessa down to the big smoke for Jake's birthday. Mohamed surfaces in the Philippine seas. Inherited books from Germany, many in poor condition. Our house in Bato. Building progress with septic tank projection. Little Lexi at school 1 of 2. Little Lexi at school 2 of 2. Our dear friends Mohamed and Janette Alfayad on holiday in the Philippines. Our house in Bato. Detailed plans for septic tank. Our house in Bato. The walls go up with supporting columns. Lovely tomatoes in Thamesmead. Marianne in Greenwich Park with her boyfriend. Lipstick and ducks. Our house in Bato. Height exceeded the plan so we had to dismantle the top blocks. Anna, Keetha, Mr Potato Head and some spaghetti. Our house in Bato. Revised projection for the roof. The Three Degrees at Rovi's house. My brother in law, Marcelino Jr, went to visit the church in Cebu. Another view of the church with Mars. Jehro, Perla and Josiah, RojCarl and Marcelino. Our house in Bato. Checking dimensions. Joe's pad in Hove, Brighton. Melanie, Bridget and Marianne. Chuchee face. Marianne and Melanie Marianne is pointing right at me. More of the Bryers and McCauleys. Marianne gets cool. Fun on the esplanade. Marianne vs the Brighton breeze. It's that bipitee bopitee hat again. What a cutey! Joe and Bridget Bryer and Malachy. Bit of a breeze but welcome on that lovely day. Jollibee, a very popular Filipino burger chain opens an eaterie in Earls Court. Our house in Bato. Great progress with lighting and projections. The three of us. A snap from the long movie (see below). More snaps from our enjoyable day with Joe Bryer. Bridget, Wendy and my brother Daniel.. but where? The wonderful Keetha. Melanie's batch class at DCC. Dear cousin Maria‐Theresia. Our house in Bato. Kitchen and electrical plans; progress is good. Do you believe in magic, Marianne? Marianne looking lovely. Don't worry baby. Fun at Maricel Lamasarez place. Keetha and Jennilyn. Our house in Bato. Melanie's lighting plan!


We flew over to Dublin using the nearby Docklands London Airport for the first time. We hired a car at the aiport and took the long drive down to our hotel, the Lettermore Country Home in Avoca, Rathdrum, Wexford. A lovely part of Ireland. The map shows our routes over the first few days. Where would Marianne be without her spotty and a bar of chocolate. Not nervous at all on take off. Hold very tight please. Out for the count en route. Down we go to Dublin. Daddy this hotel is very nice. Our hire car which was nice apart from a very short rear window. Marianne makes herself comfy. We enjoy the manicured gardens at the hotel as we venture forth on our morning expedition. This lovely riverside hostelry is "The Meetings" (The Meeting of the Waters by the River Avoca) where we stopped on our first drive out for coffee. Fat daddy is out for the count!

The lovely Melanie McCauley xxx. We set off for Greystones. There, we will meet up with Malachy's friend of 62 years and Irish resident Kevin Barton. The Irish Countryside en route to Greystones. A beautiful dress sent as a gift to Marianne from Margaret in New York. Fun with Mum while we wait near Greystones Station. More fun with mum. We meet up with Kevin who travelled by train to Greystones from Claremorris in Mayo. We dined in a restaurant called <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-happy-pear-greystones?osq=Restaurants" target="_blank">The Happy Pear</a> offering delicious vegetarian cuisine, all the rage at the time and still there, flogging greens. Dark sand on the beach. I needed a new electric shaver so I popped into McCauley's and bought a Remington! We all enjoyed the sea air for a short walk. Around the ragged rocks, the rugged rascal ran. Looking as sweet as sugar, m&m. A lookout with an exhibit about the wildlife in the area. Our route back to the hotel, no car navigation so we used our phones. Late afternoon back at the hotel. More Greystones Pix. Our house in Bato. Good progress.

We set out early for Athy stopping for coffe at Glendalough. After a precarious drive through the clouds and mist of the Wicklow Mountains we were warmly welcomed by John, Maureen and Siobhan in Athy. The photo is of John McCauley Jr. and Maeve McCauley. Marianne LOVED the slide, helped by Siobhan here. The beautiful home of John and Maureen with daughter Siobhan. John Jr. and Maeve. I've not seen John since he was a baby.
We are headed for Roney Point, visiting a piece of land that had been bought by my father, Frank and which I helped survey with him in the 1960s and visited from time to time; last time with my late brother Peter in the 1980s. The McCauley family wanted to sell it. Marianne and Daddy. En route to Roney Point in Gorey, we stopped at the Lavender Farm which was delightful. We bought a wall clock for the Kitchen in Bato. The Lavender Fields plus some ornate exhibits made the visit charming for Marianne. The Wicklow Hills in the distance. The slide and wooden tractor were popular with Marianne. Marianne in front of our land. My father made some interesting plans, especially a hexagon based holiday dwelling as well as a "Plan B" but could not get planning permission. We drove up and took a liberty to park in the end plot (Michael Herriot) but nobody was home. However I had a good chat with Shaw Hannon at number 4. Mr Herriot had purchased his adjoining plot to the left and wanted ours too, on the right, which he intended to clear to lawn, but his house was then up for sale. On the way back, we stopped at Brittas Bay and had to pay to go on the beach! It was as lovely as ever and almost deserted. We left when a few drops of rain fell. We drove on South to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerscourt_Estate" target="_blank">Powerscourt</a>. "In 2011, Lonely Planet nominated Powerscourt in the "Top Ten Houses in the World", while in 2014, National Geographic listed Powerscourt as No. 3 in the World's Top Ten Gardens." Fantastic mosaic in the ornate Powerscourt gardens. The torrential rain had cleared for our Powerscourt visit. Well worth the drive.
We arrived early at the airport after a circuitous rigmaroll of returning the hire car. Luckily there was plenty of play facilities for children in the airport. This is from our flight out! but the content is interchangeable.

Where did you go wrong Zion? :‐) Jennylyn with Ramesh and Sudipa's son. A photograph of Joe Bryer in Hove, by Jove. Or is that Newgrange behind him? The two youngest McCauleys in our family Daniel and Bridget. Our house in Bato. Septic tank and levelling. Jennilyn with Ismail and Yusef Alfayad. A happy looking Lexi Felix. A nice birthday pic from July of our Marianne. Marianne and Minnie. More Marianne and Minnie... and Keetha. Magic bubbles at Maricel's. Lots and lots of Filipino goodies. Maria‐Theresia ready to dine. New penthouse of Hackestrasse 7, maybe? Our house in Bato. Water purifying and rear of house projection. Beautifully bound German books ‐ inherited from my Grandparents. From the previous frontispiece ‐ Max and Lina Tuchmann were my Great Grandparents ‐ Max Josef Tuchmann born in Fürth 17th October 1859 died November 4th 1932, married Lina Rosenwald born in Bamberg 9th November 1867, died November 10th 1940 in London. This library series of German soft cover books of poems and short stories plus classics have wonderful colourful art‐deco covers. The Goethe works, I believe came from my Grandfather Hans, who purchased them in London, but the Heine series were from Munich, both sets deteriorating badly. Maria‐Theresia very kindly and generously agreed to take them back for restoration and storage. The volumes of 'Heines Sa&muml;tliche Werke' by <a href="Heinrich Heine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Heine" target="_blank">Heinrich Heine</a>. I wrote our relatives to see if anyone would like any of the German books I inherited... ..and photographed all of the covers to that end. More book covers. I scanned any family related pieces. Our dear Thamesmead friends. The Kneller family. Batch Mates of Melanie's College Batch graduate friends of Melanies. "ommmmmmmmm Michael and Tino meditate. Maricel and Dalton Felix get married! The Fuentes Family. Our house in Bato. Hatchway to loft requested. Preparation for drainage and services. Our house in Bato. Further projections including a hip roof before wall height was reduced. Marianne turns over a new leaf. A day out at Greenwich Park 1 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 2 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 3 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 4 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 5 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 6 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 7 of 8. A day out at Greenwich Park 8 of 8. The pretty Keetha. Marianne, Keetha and her mother Ladylyn. A wookie named Marianne. I thought you were taking a nap, Wookie. Marianne and Keetha. Time to settle down. Classmate of Melanie's with her baby son. One day you'll actually get some shuteye, Mummy! Dining at Bridget's: Sam, Patsy, Joe, Bridget, Claire, Chris, Little Chris, Sue. Lizzie, Daniel, Wendy and Rebekah. X Our house in Bato. Roof construction. Buck Pal with Bridget and Eve. There must be something to eat nearby, surely? Celia and Bridget. Our house in Bato. Water filtration. We tried it for a while and then realised it was cheaper to buy pure water for drinking. Our house in Bato. More on the Roof Construction. Off to school? Surely not yet a while. No.. but off to nursury school aka kindergarten. Our house in Bato. Roof Detail. Kitchen lighting. Anna Kneller.

August 2018 Video Playlist:
1. 6th Look out, it's Sam ‐ in Brighton 0:08
2. 8th Choo choo in Brighton 5:07
3. 13th The hotel in Wicklow 0:39
4. 15th With Maureen and Siobahn in Athy 1:56
5. 15th Soccer with John and Siobhan in Athy 0:52
6. 16th Brittas Bay 0:26
7. 16th Visiting Roney Point 1:55
8. 18th Marianne at playground in Thamesmead 1:00
9. 24th Picnic in Greenwich 1:50

JULY 2018 SEPTEMBER 2018