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Pamela Emberley - DeeDee, my daughter, and I left Montreal in 1977 and spent a year in Brockville, Ontario while waiting for
my visa to the US. We moved to Boston in 1978, and met my current husband, David, in 1979, and we
were married in 1980. He was living in England at the time I met him, but was born in Ireland. We spent a
year in England, and then we moved back to Boston. We moved to Texas for a year in 1983 and
headed back north to Boston as soon as we could. We stayed in Boston until 1995 – long enough to see
DeeDee graduate from college and get somewhat settled. We were both working in high-tech jobs – I was
a systems analyst, and David a computer salesman. But we gave it all up, and moved to David’s hometown
in Ireland, and went low-tech. Didn’t know exactly what but I was able to continue working my Boston job
via the Internet, while we explored other options. DeeDee stayed in Boston – she had done enough moving
around!
We live in Kinsale, Co. Cork, a tourist town in Ireland’s sunny south! (Everything is relative!) We have lived
in 5 houses in 6 years – renovating two of them and building two of them. We ran a B&B (in the first house
that we built) for two years, until someone came along and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse! Then we
renovated another house out at the Old Head of Kinsale – a wild and windy spot. (If you’re a golfer, you’d
love the Old Head Golf Course – people compare it to Pebble Beach (http://www.oldheadgolflinks.com.) We
sold that house as soon as we could, as I couldn’t stand the wind out there. We started to build our current
house, and rented a house for a year while we were building.
We now have a small building company. We employ four men, and sub-contract out for skills our crew
doesn’t have. Our house is not finished, though we’ve been living in it since Oct 2000. It’s like the cobblers
children with no shoes – I can’t get our workers back to finish up here, as we’re too busy doing work for
other people!
Life is good. Kinsale is a very social place, and despite what they say, I love the weather (most of the
time). It sure beats the heat of North American summers and the cold of NA winters. We get back to
Boston and Toronto once a year, and usually have a holiday someplace warm in January or February. If
anyone is planning to visit Ireland, please look us up. We have a web page – though
it's really out of date. I hope to redesign it and bring it up to date – if I ever get the time.