Belfast - boats, birthdays, and more

Ok, so for starters - I can't believe that it's been 6 weeks since my last post!  I think that's a good sign though, right?  It means we've been busy having some adventures (and going to work and school)!  A few weeks ago, we had a VERY full weekend of all sorts of Belfast fun.  For starters, there was a tall sails ship festival in the harbor.  There were wooden ships, more modern coast guard type ships and even some that looked like pirate ships.  We had fun climbing around looking at the galley, sleeping quarters, captain's bridge and more. 

Here's something worth importing my fellow Americans: group birthday parties!  3-4 times a year, all the families with birthdays around that time in the school class team up and throw a class birthday party.  Everyone is invited, gifts are the same for all the kids, and you don't have to run around to a different birthday party every weekend or juggle between conflicting dates!  I'm sure it's not perfect, but I'm finding it to be an execllent idea!  Another great grade school export is the class WhatsApp group.  Particularly for less well connected families (aka the lorbers), it's an instant way to ask questions, find out key information about school and activities, and not have to run around trying to collect people's phone numbers.  I'm a fan (Abe could use a bit less of the chatter but oh well). 

Ariana with her P1 classmates at May's birthday bash

The final excitement of the weekend was a trip to the Stormont Estate which theoretically is the seat of the Northern Ireland government (which is current defunct but that's a whole other tale).  It is also a giant estate open to the public with loads of nature trails, a playground, and more.

So far we're doing a good job of balancing some Belfast adventure weekends, travel weekends, and just hangout at home weekends (cause CrossFit, laundry, and screen time are important too).  Two highlights hopefully coming to the blog soon - our trip to Paris, a look at the first term of school at Inch Marlo and Victoria College, and Ariana has a loose tooth!

Beetling, you say?

 

 

Wellbrook Beetling Mill - Mid Ulster Northern Ireland

Last weekend, we hopped in the car and made our way to the Mid Ulster region near Cookstown, Northern Ireland.  We were in search of hill forts, rolling sheep pastures, stone circles and the only water powered linen beetling mill in Northern Ireland.  Beetling? Thanks to Google Dictionary:

1. ram, crush, or drive with a beetle.

   • finish (cloth) with a beetle.

Origin: Old English bētel, of Germanic origin; related to beat.

Apart from being a scenic and generally lovely place, the tour hosted by the National Trust guides was super informative and interesting (don't ask Ariana, though, because she thought the whole thing was very boring, very smelly, and overall NOT FUN).

Small sidebar about the National Trust/Royal Oak Foundation, it's a super cool conservancy non profit organization.  So far, we have been very impressed at the quality, accessibility, and in depth information at the sites. It includes over 500 sites across the UK and - BONUS - it's tax deductible for US members.  Check it out if you're planning a UK trip! More relevant is that it comes with a very detailed guidebook and map which is how we came to find ourselves at this water-powered beetling mill in the first place!


Ok, so now we know what beetling is and all about the awesome National Trust - on to a little more about Wellbrook, green technology, and child labor.  Our guide Oina (pronounced like "onya") shared with us the scandalous story of the land's acquisition, intrigue of original family who ran the mill, and toured us around the last functional part of the original operation.  Oina especially captivated Zev telling him tales of the work he would be assigned from 6am to 7pm working in standing cold water and constant high decibel noise conditions.  She walked through the entire linen production process from planting and harvesting the flax, through to stripping away the "tow", and spinning and weaving the fibers.

Oina showing us how to create the linen yarn.

  All that before you get to the very end process of hardening and making the linen fabric shiny by beetling (or beating the wet febric rolls repeatedly and in specific patterns)!  She then turned on the mill and we got to see and hear firsthand the rather impressive, if crude, machinated process. It was very loud and very cool.  We failed to take a picture of the actual beetling machine (oops) so I have included two other pictures I found online.  All in all, we learned a ton about the linen production process, industry, and history.

view from the top of the beetling machine - NOT MY PHOTO

View from the side of the beetling worm - NOT MY PHOTO

Bonus picture! A very small viewing of Beaghmore Stone Circles, the largest stone circle grouping in Northern Ireland