Hi! I'm Emily McDonald

I'm Emily McDonald. Thank you so much for visiting my website.

I just want to tell you a bit about myself so that you know whose words you are reading, whose pictures you are looking at!

This website is an on-going work of love! I love putting it together and really spend far too much time nurturing it (according to my husband!).

It's my hobby and great fun. And more importantly, it keeps my brain cells alive a bit longer - very necessary these days!

My background:

I was born in Northern Ireland and childhood memories are full of picnics with family and friends on Irish beaches - the sand dunes of Newcastle, Co. Down; the long shores of Portrush on the Antrim coast, or the strands just south of Dublin, where my grandparents lived.

This is an old family photo I found recently from the 1970's.

Summers were spent 'camping out' in the garden or exploring the adjacent glen with friends, taking whatever we could beg from our mothers' kitchens to eat in our play-huts, made from branches and leaves. Then the Girl Guides taught me campfire cooking and I was hooked!

At 18 I left Ireland for university in England and cheap, student picnics ensued. These were mainly during the long summer breaks, when I traveled and worked in various parts of Europe.

In due course I organised picnics with my husband and children - and now grand-children too, who have discovered that there is no better way to eat!

These days I am more likely to be found picnicking on a hot Spanish beach or in an English park - and my campfire has been largely replaced by a portable barbeque - although I still prefer charcoal to the modern gas equivalent!

As well as picnics, I’ve shared many of my life’s adventures with Kerry, my husband. Since meeting in the early 1980’s our lives have twisted this way and that. Never a dull moment, as they say!

Unlike the majority of people I know, we have worked together most of that time.

I’m sure some people would find that difficult, or even impossible, but it’s worked out well for us – with just the odd stressful moment!

My working life has been very varied and I've loved every minute of it. Well, of course there have been a few rather horrid minutes (hours or days even) but then that's life, isn't it?!

I love cooking and we both enjoy traveling, whether by car, RV, boat or plane - and that naturally leads to a fair number of picnics!

2013 Update -

We're living in Spain but also traveling in Europe with these new wheels.

It's our "Adventure before Dementia"!

I am so lucky that I can work on this site "on the road" so to speak. How the world's communications have changed in the last ten years!

How this site was born:

This site came about because I had to give up working in the office and sales environment I enjoyed, because of a hearing problem.

Yes, both my ears are broken! Maybe because I listened to too much loud music in the 1960's and 70's (my Dad warned me!) - or maybe because of a car accident in the 1980's. I'm not sure which.

So, in my fifties, I discovered the web. Back in my office life, I’d used a computer for correspondence etc. and I was able to send emails - but the internet was a new experience.

With time on my hands, I started to investigate what I could do on-line, and I found this wonderful company that teaches people how to make websites, which turn into e-businesses.

And that's how I learned how to create this website - and now I'm helping others make theirs too.

It’s enormous fun, allows me contact with people all over the world (visitors and fellow website makers) and, most importantly, it has helped keep my old brain cells alive a bit longer!

I've published some of the facts and figures of this site if you are interested.

So, that's it in a nutshell!

I'm having fun in the back office here and I hope you enjoy what I've published so far.

Thank you so much for dropping in to see me and please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have anything to say, ask, or contribute.

Bi for now!

Emily