My days off work

 It's getting to the peak season now in my day job (on the Valentia ferry) so I'm at the stage of year when I try to do as much relaxation as possible on my days off -- so here's a bit of a summary of my last two days off :)

 I've added a few more listings to my Etsy shop - just sea shells and one more of the little treasure bottles; the only crochet I've been doing just recently is making the hats for Barbara's artists and also a pair of crocodile stitch wrist warmers for when I want to take my crochet out with me (lugging a great big cone of wool is fine as long as I don't go outside the garden/house!)

 I spent part of yesterday afternoon trying to fit in all my new yarns into my wool cupboard! I managed it finally (with a bit of rearranging) and now all my King Cole Country Tweed/Riot is on the bottom shelf.

It won't take me long to work my way through it all once I finish all the hats for Barbara - I ALWAYS have a crochet project on the go and I do get through a lot of wool.

I've gone through my Etsy shop to remove the wrist warmers that Jaye wants to buy from me - these eight and then I need to get some of the King Cole riot yarn in ''neon'' for another pair and she wants a further two pairs but hasn't made her mind up on the colour just yet.

I'll have to order some more wool soonish as I don't have any of the 'neon' yarn in my cupboard -- it's always the way; I never have the right stuff in there...

So my Etsy shop is looking a bit empty at the moment; but it's all good! I'm thrilled that she wants to purchase so many pairs -- I think a couple are for presents for her friends and the others will be going to be sold in her friend's shop. She'd bought 100% cotton scrubbies for her friend's shop from me last year.

This afternoon I headed over to Derrynane beach in search of a dead dolphin - yes, you read that correctly ;) I am a volunteer with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and there was a recording of a very dead dolphin earlier in the week.

I had a lovely long walk along the beach but couldn't find a trace of a dolphin -- I asked the lifeguards who were on duty and they said that they thought that the maintenance staff at Derrynane House had probably disposed of it already as it's such a public beach. 

 All my life I've loved this ship house! They mustn't have much privacy but it's the most wonderful design and is unique.

 It always amuses me to see how different the beaches in the locality are - you tend to find very little rubbish on this beach in Derrynane; it's more down to the tides and prevailing winds more than anything else, but it was refreshing to be able to look down and just see sea shells...and the occasional jellyfish ;)

On the way back I saw the rescue helicopter buzzing about but it didn't seem to be doing anything specific (like landing or searching) so I guess it was probably on an exercise.

I love all the wild flowers in Derrynane National Park - you could spend ages taking photos of them all...

 ..and a quick snap of Derrynane House on my way back to the car...