I don’t know where to start.  It’s like I have been transported into another world and have lived a life and now I’m back and am at the place and time that I left before my “little adventure”!  
 
I will try and start at describing my hostess- and I’m sure that I will go off on tangents, so please bear with me.
 
My hostess is a woman from South Africa. She is in the second half of her life, but she has the energy of a woman in the early first half.  I am in my late 40’s and she can run circles around me.
 
Her name is Noeline.  That’s all you need, for EVERYONE knows that name of Noeline-even people that have never met her-they all KNOW of her.  She has quite a reputation and the shock is that the majority of people’s impressions are from “good” all the way up the scale to “in awe”.  I have to say that I’m in “the awe” group. And I’m sure that by the time that I finally get it all out about her- you will also never have met her, but know about her and will be awe of her.  Let’s take a bet?
 
I spoke to Noeline a few months back.  Another woman, Mary in Westport, whom I did not know but met on the web, gave me Noeline name.  I was asking Mary for information on Westport and she obliged. I then asked if I could barter a bed from Mary and she declined, but turned me on to Noeline.  Mary told me lots of things about Noeline and I was hooked at that point, yet I hadn’t talked to this woman yet! 
 
I called up Noeline and she was larger then life.  She was passionate, excited, compassionate, nurturing and so helpful.  But she said she also was not able to put me up.  At least she did say, when you get into the area-look me up and I’ll make you dinner. (Which is funny-since she hasn’t cooked or even turned on her stove for many years!)  I was disappointed by her lack of ability to put me up- I really wanted to spend time with this amazing creature and see into her life and her passions.  Just talking to her, it touched something in myself that was missing – which I never realized it was missing.  I usually would tell you all the things that excited me in this conversation- but have no worries, it will all come out in the next pages in great description! (Do you really think that I withhold all this from you?)

 
But since I have had to find a way to convey my story, I had to by-pass this earlier information.  But on to the story.
 
I had a picture in my mind of what Noeline looked like- the way her voice felt, and the feelings that she conveyed. I expected to find a short, round, motherly type wearing a flock and an apron.  But the woman that met me in a flower/garden center/health food store (yes…all in one!) was nothing what I had expected – she was better.
 
She has long hair tied into braids. She was very strong looking, meaning she didn’t have a face that was soft and aging; she was firm, clear and radiant. She wore a pair of well-worn brown pants and laced boots and a very well loved yet worked flannel jacket with layers of shirts.  She looked like she had been out working the fields or tending the cows.  This was a REAL woman.  A woman that was right in the mix of it.  I felt the strength of her; it hit you between the eyes.  This woman knew herself and liked what she saw.  There was no airs about her- she was what she was.  She apologized for nothing.  A sense of energy flowed in the door with her and filled the air of the tiny flower shop. 
 
I said, Noeline? And she said, Yes – and took one look at me and said, “I hope you brought other clothes, you are much to fancy for my place!”  And turned and went to the health food side of the room. I was left looking down at myself, I said, “this is all I have” – but my answer was only heard by me.
 
 The owner and her daughter were whirled up in the energy of Noeline. She said, “I’m here for my coffee” and the owner came around the corner to see if she had liked the kind she gave her to try the last time?  She said she had as she pulled all the bags off the shelf and left it bare.  The flower shop owner said, that’s not it; I have it down here- saved for you.  The thing with Noeline is that she is addicted to coffee, but not just any coffee- only the coffee that this shop carries.  I can’t recall what is the difference, but knowing Noeline she knows EXACTLY what the difference is and knows how it is picked, processed and shipped.  Noeline told me that she has one thing that makes her completely happy- and that’s coffee! It’s also her one vise, she doesn’t drink, smoke, take any drugs (the good/bad kind) and she is celibate- so she thinks that coffee is just fine to be addicted too!
 
After this exchange she cleared the saved box of all it’s contents and moved to the counter.  On the counter was some information about a group of woman that riding around Ireland to raise money to go to a third-world country and help people.  Noeline pulled out some money and said, it amazes me, this is grand that they are going to do this, but wouldn’t it be better if they raised the money by going around cleaning windows of the elderly- something much more practical then riding around Ireland?  She put the money on the counter and turned and picked up her packages and we were off.  I was in her dust and it was just the start of being in her dust for the next 2 days…
 
She drives an odd looking car/truck.  Its paneled sides so you can’t see into the little truck. (I just realized what it reminded me of!  It was a dog warden’s truck) It is squat in length but tall in headroom in the back, which is good for animals!  And it completely packed to the brim!  She is a woman after my own heart!  We LIVE in our vehicles and Noeline has for a VERY LONG TIME! She said, Ok raise you legs – put one foot there and the other here! It was quite a feat for me to get in, but I did.  She said that her brother lives in England and is very posh. He and his wife have shown dignitaries around the area.  She said if the Prince of Wales was coming to Ireland I would have him get in my car the way it is! And if he doesn’t like it, he could walk! (I told you, she doesn’t apologize!) 
It also smelled like a feed store, which would explain the goat feed bags in the back! She said, “it probably has a bit of a smell, but I can’ tell, I have no sense of smell.”  Lucky for her!  But the sense of smell adapts and mine was doing just fine by later that same day.
 
We drove out to her home – it seemed like a long way out, but it really wasn’t- but it could have been the fact that I thought it would be the last drive of my life that confused me with the time- it was like in slow-motion.  I could see every stonewall that came inches from my side door.  I saw the headlights of the cars coming straight for me for they all looked to be in our lane.  My heart would drop as she would pull into the wrong lane (my American perception of course) and I was just waiting for the next curve to be my last.  Now don’t get me wrong- I’m certainly not afraid to die (I know that we don’t really) but I am REALLY AFRAID OF PAIN! And the worry that it WON’T kill me- just leaves me in really bad shape!  But the torture of the ride ended and we pulled up to a house with huge stonewalls all around and a big green gate locking out the world. 
 
Noeline says that she locks the place up because of the people (kids I guess) that come in just to kill her animals.  For no other reason then that.  They don’t see animals as living things- but as disposal commodities, things to own and to do with as you wish.  Someone came in a killed her chickens and put the heads on her gate pillars……….
 
The house is locked up tighter then Fort Knox!  The driveway is just big enough to get her car off the road.  You have to get out, take the huge ring of keys that are clipped to the gate that separates the cab of the car/truck from the back and go unlock the big green gate.  Push it open (EVERYTHING push’s IN, in Ireland.  In the U.S. we PULL- I never realized it before- until I have tried to PUSH my way in every door in Ireland and have been given dirty looks by EVERYONE for being dumb!)  Then you have to get back in the car/truck and drive in the yard then out again to lock up Fort Knox.  I was tired just doing all this – OH, No I was tired of being folded in to a pretzel in that cab as she got out and did all that!
 
Then the sweet sound of  BARK BARK, arkkkk, BARK,BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, bark, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, bark, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, B-A-R-K, arkkkkk, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, bark, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, bark, BARK, arkkkk, BARK, BARK, B-A-R-K, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, B-A-R-K, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK…..it came from the right, it came from behind me, it came from the left, it came from the house….it came from EVERYWHERE.  There were so many, in so many tones, in so many different accents (yes- they have accents!) it was all around me, I could hear them, but I couldn’t SEE them…..at least NOT YET.
 
These sounds excited me!  I felt my heart lurch up- I wanted to cry.  I missed my sweet Brandy so much!  I really wished one of these barks were hers.  I wanted to love everyone of these dogs….but I soon learned that loving one dog was one thing and loving 19 is a completely different matter.
 
Noeline told me to just wait and she would take me to my room first, then show me around.
 
I first want to describe what I saw around me. There is a driveway between a house and another stone house.  The house is long ways to the drive and the stone house goes the other way (like an “L” with a drive between the tall part of the L and the short part).  The house has a long veranda running down it.  The stone house, at least the part that I can see is just a big stonewalls. To the right is the stone wall with the green gate, a big stone wall that is one side of the stone house, another big green fence that is solid that is made of tin, then a fence that runs all the way down the rest of the driveway that is about 30 feet long.  I can’t see where it ends at this point.  To my left is the veranda of the porch attached to house.  The veranda is very long and has both end covered up to make rooms- one end is a room that house’s an animal that I have no idea what it is. – it has a sign on it, saying stay back.  Then the veranda is open for a large part and it is overflowing with boxes of stuff.  Then the door to the house, it is a sweet Dutch door but it has a huge green door over it that is made of heavy duty fencing that is framed in metal with a big lock on it.  Then the last part of the veranda is also boxed in to make a room with another big door with a screen on the top part with another big lock.  This room houses about 5-6 medium size dogs.

I’m mesmerized by what I was seeing (and hearing).  Noeline comes around and helps me get my big red monsters out of the back of the truck and we go through the big tin gate.  It is awkward to PUSH and it opens up to a very long corridor.  I see the main part of the stone house, low hanging tree branch’s and an old car that is completely stuffed with cut tree branches!  It looks like a tree grew in it and then someone shoved all kinds of wood into it.  The back hatch is open and wood just shoots out of it.  On the left three very large male dogs that are in a huge fenced in area that house’s a small shed and about 6-8 doghouses. They scared me at first, I didn’t know they were there! They wanted to play and I felt I was going to be the ball!  Everywhere you look in this area is covered by gravel (as is the driveway).  They are barking away at us and I see that they are very healthy looking.  We walk past the “wood car’ and there is very primitive green door with the same green metal grate in a frame covering this door.  There is no lock but a little hand made hook.  Noeline proudly tells me that she made the door out of old wood.  And that the gate needs to be kept latched because cats go in the house and spray. (good info) As we enter the building she notifies me that I have to be very careful with my bags, I might need to try and carry them in front of me. I don’t quite get what she means until I walk into the building and find that it is stacked to the brim with box’s and books and furniture.  I see that she is gingerly walking sideways down a very narrow walkway.  I try and get the big red monster in front of me, but with all it’s pieces and parts hanging off of it, I almost pull down a big drum of something off of its perch and Noeline catch’s it just in time before it falls over.  She said “Be CAREFUL!” with a bit more intensity then I think she meant.  She said that everything in here is box’s up and sorted for the big sale that she is having the Saturday before Easter.  It’s to raise money to send stuff to Ghana.  I really can’t see what the rest of the space looks like because I’m clutching the big red monster to my chest and hoping that it doesn’t knock anything over!  We gingerly walk past all kinds of dish’s stacked up, candles, picture frames, table clothes, pots and pans and an electric heater (the heart of an Irish home- remember) and step over a  vacuum cleaner and she points to another door.  She again said that she also built this door from some other recycled pieces and parts.  She opens the door and I hear a humming sound. (The humming is a de-humidifier, she said that it has to stay on at all times – if not, everything would be soaked! Plus it was also a heater to take the “chill” out of the air.)  The little door opens up into a wonderful stone room!  It is all white washed and has about 15-18 inch deep windowsills with delicate shear fabric draped across the windows.  There is a wonderful black metal bed with a crushed velvet coverlet in terracotta with 2 big bolster pillows.  There is an old sewing machine base for a night table with ornate wood pieces as the top (came from a 1700’s church).  There is a small wicker chair and a very old weather beaten wood trunk under another window.  In one corner is a huge beautiful wardrobe with a mirror in the middle. Into the wall is a wonderful little fireplace with a grate (but the flue is blocked).  There are old picture frames on the walls of birds and little pieces of personal treasures on the tabletops.  There is a Buddha, and her granny’s bush set, and all these little finds.  She introduces me to a very old stuffed sheep that she uses for a nativity set for Christmas that sits on the old wood truck. She said she has to keep it in her so the dogs don’t tear it apart.
Above the fireplace is a wonderful painting of a young girl with a bandanna in her hair.  She has such an amazing look on her face and it gave me such comfort when I was falling off to sleep in the strange and wonderful place.  (It turned out, it was a painting her when she was a young girl)
 
I could sense that Noeline was holding her breath as I looked around the room.  She wanted me to be happy with the room and I was!  I loved it- it was so peaceful, and had such a personality to it.  I loved the mix of the antiques to the little bits and pieces of her collections.  It was a room of things that a person could display that shows parts of their personality- even if they didn’t know it.
 
She gave a big sigh when I told her that I loved it!  She then told me that when I have to tinkle in the night she didn’t want me to have to burst- so she has a little chemical port-a-potty for me.  I loved the thought and hated it too!- I guess this is the country equivalent to “en-suite” (bathroom off bedroom – only this one was IN the bedroom!)- (And in the night to come, I was very grateful for my little IN-suite)
 
Noeline told met that this stone building was the original post office in this area back I the early years.  But when she bought the property the roof was all but gone and she had used this very bedroom to raise Turkeys.  She then started to make the repairs and it was turned into an office for her and the room that is packed to the gills was a sitting room. 
 
After I was able to get a bit situated, I looked around the “storage room” and found that it is loaded with wonderful antiques!  It is all decorated with hanging plate collections, and hutches.  It has a fireplace that can house a family of 6 and exposed walls of the stone.  It would be a great place to live – if it had heat and plumbing – which it has none of.