Getting Up, Staying Up, and Wandering Around in the MIst

This morning, I woke up a little before 7:30, thinking that it was quite early enough for me to go back to sleep for another hour or two. Then I remembered that we'd planned to take the earlier bus into Donegal Town today and my heart sank. I proceeded to talk myself into getting up and staying up. I told myself that if we took the 9 o'clock bus, we'd get home earlier than if we take the 11:45 bus. I reminded myself of the library books waiting for me. I encouraged myself with the thought that Lidl might have some watercolour pencils and pens left from last week's ad. I bribed myself with the thought of the seeded soft rolls they sell in the bakery section of Lidl, which we love. 'If you wait for the later bus, you won't have time to walk to Lidl and back,' I reasoned with myself. Finally, I got up and I stayed up.

I had some crocheting to pass the time on the bus so even though we sat for several minutes at the road works, the journey seemed like it was over in a flash.

Our first stop was the ETB (Education Training Board) building, where the library is housed. There's a bookshelf upstairs that serves as a wee free library of sorts and we brought some books to leave there. We're working through our pile a few at a time. Yesterday we left a few in the wee free library here in town. Somehow it seems as though no matter how big the 'pass along' pile gets, there isn't any more space on the bookshelves/book piles. This is what happens when charity shops are overflowing with books and a certain someone lacks willpower when faced with such abundance. 😉

After we left the books (and did not pick up any others!), we went down to the library, returned a few and I picked up the 5 that were waiting for me. Then it was off to Lidl on the opposite edge of town, about 1 1/4 mile away. It was misting by then, which I did not mind--the bus and library are always roasting, so it was nice to get outside.

Bill commented that his head was dry in his hat knitted (with love) using Donegal Tweed and I reminded him to thank a sheep. I got this yarn in a yarn shop I used to teach/work in over a decade ago--well before I had any idea I would someday see it walking around in Donegal! You can see the water droplets forming a sort of halo--I love wool!

 There was plenty of green to see:

We got what we wanted at Lidl and I was pleased to see that they did have a few packs of watercolour pencils and pens left from last week. They also had a few other items that had already been on the 'let's clear this stuff out' shelves weeks ago, when I was there last, so it was a happy surprise to see those. I rewarded myself with a jelly doughnut--I haven't had one of those in years and it was tasty.

We loaded up the backpacks and headed back to the town centre. Since we had some time before we had to catch the bus home, we called in at the tourist information centre and I picked up this booklet.

 It will come in handy as we start planning day trips.

I asked the woman there about the Bluestack Trail and she gave me these cards with maps. It's a 65 km trail, so I don't expect we'll do the entire thing, but we can do parts of it at either end sometime this spring/summer.

After that, we headed for the bus and home. We had a quick lunch of reheated leftovers and then a cuppa. I have not yet looked at my library books and they are still on the couch where I dumped them. I'll look at them in a while and decide which one I will read first.

In spite of my early start, it's been a pleasant day. It's nice to be home with the errands done. And if I wake up at 7:30 tomorrow morning, I will be happy enough to turn over and go right back to sleep!

I hope your day is pleasant, too.

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