Westport Part Two

These pictures don't show the detail I would like them to. I am hoping on a larger computer that they would show the rock fences better. I am still amazed at the human spirit. The glacier that covered Ireland removed the top soil and deposited it farther south. All that was left behind, basically, was a layer of hard rock. They picked and chopped at that rock, moved it out of the way, and then made soil with seaweed and sand. On top of that, this area was the hardest hit area when the potato famine hit. Over all a million people died in Ireland, over a million people left. Mayo County (which is where we are right now) still hasn't recovered and the famine was in the 1840's. I need to read up on the famine. I knew it was bad, but wow!

Westport has beautiful flowers, like all the cities we have visited. The garden art was cool. It was a series of plates suspended on a pole with red gazing balls added too. I have a feeling that this little city really celebrates art. There are more pieces of art work, for example, in our motel here than any other place.

We took a ferry ride today. They served coffee, tea, snacks, espresso, and Irish Coffee. I had a coffee and a latte. The coffee was great, but I miss the Storyteller's coffee and the size! Little bitty cups of coffee of any sort isn't enough for a coffee drinker like I am. We were hoping to see dolphins, but they didn't want to show themselves today.

When Ireland joined the European Common Market (or is it called the European Union?), they had to change what they raised for crops All along this fjord you could see where the farmers were harvesting seaweed and mussels.
This photo is going the wrong way, the little roundish balls of the kelp should be heading south. I took this photo because it could become a pretty cool quilt one of these days.

Dave our tour guy sure is super. He is knowledgeable and I wouldn't take a car where he drives that bus. His sense of humor is almost greater than his wealth of knowledge. He is holding peat from a bog. We all stood on this peat and jumped. Forty of us made the ground shake. An art teacher from California was gracious enough to let us think that we created an earthquake. The peat is gathered, dried for six weeks and used as fuel. It is very smokey, but I bet is warm in the winter. Each farmer has their own space that they harvest the peat. A foot of peat cut from the land took 1000 years to grow--it is a plant! Grandma would have had a problem with this. We couldn't even pick her flowers, let alone cut up her plants!


This was a summer home for a rich couple built in the 1800's. It was purchased by nuns who used it as an Abbey. They had a school for girls that just closed. I don't know what will happen next. I bought a piece of needle felting here. I couldn't afford the one I wanted and it wouldn't fit in a suitcase anyway, so I got a small one. I wish I could find the roving as well as the art. I did get a web site, but Lucy's Sheepcamp always has what I need. It would just be cool to have a piece of roving from Ireland.

This bird looked like a crow, but had a black face. Kind of made him/her look grouchy.

Well, on to Dublin. We tour the Guinness Factory tomorrow and maybe ride an open air bus. It should be fun, but I don't want this trip to end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Westport

I am sitting in the cockpit of the flying boat. If only Dad and Ken could have been there with me. I bet I enjoyed the Irish Coffee more than they would have. It was invented at this airport to serve to tired and freezing cold passengers. It was very good and I'll have to try to make some at home!

We stopped at some pretty cool castle for a bathroom break. I asked one poor person in Kilkenny where the restroom was, she didn't know what I was talking about. The restrooms are marked toilets and that is what you ask for. Somehow the way Archie Bunker said toilet always comes to mind. Anyway, I loved this red phone. Somehow I see Harry Potter entering the booth to go to headquarters.

This is a picture of a golf course we saw on our way to the Cliffs of Mohr. The course was huge and looked like a challenge. This was pretty level there. We were told that movie stars come to visit and play here.

The Cliffs of Mohr was a pretty spectacular place. This is just one part of the horseshoe. It was very windy, but beautiful.

We had a long drive today through some beautiful, lush, green countryside, In fact the bus is so comfortable that I fell asleep. Mary told me I missed 150 sheep and 20 castles.
I am so impressed with the history behind the buildings and the fact that even if the roof is no longer there that everyone respects them. I have seen graffiti in the cities, but NEVER on the old buildings. The rock walls were impressive along the coastline. They wanted to have sheep and farm so they carried the rocks away and built fences with them. It took many, many years to do one little place. Then they brought sand and seaweed and mulched it. Wow, man can sure be stubborn when needed. The fences are very, very old. I can't remember for sure how old or how long it took them to build them. I think the fences took maybe 100 years to build and they have been around for many, many more years than that. I should have kept a diary, thought this would take it's place. I'll post some photos.
I really thought about my brother and dad today. Ken finds all the strange airplane places and dad was a pilot. We visited a flying boat museum today. Ireland was the landing place for the first transatlantic flights. The airboats flew across the ocean and landed on the water. Pretty cool. They built a replica that we could go in. Far more comfortable than planes now, it even had a honeymoon room. It is also the first place to make and serve Irish coffee.
There's so much more to Ireland than this trip. I hope I have time to do a better job sharing soon.

I Miss My Will the Pill!!!

Tomorrow is my darling Will's birthday. He'll be five and there will be a party at his house. I hope I found something for him that he will like!!!

Happy Birthday Will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you like what I found for you. After all, Thomas the Train lives just across the Channel from here.

Kilarny, Night Two

Here are my partners in crime just about ready to kiss the Blarney Stone. We only had about 3,000 more steps to climb, well it seemed like that anyway.

Photos of our buggy beginnings to the national park. While there in the park we saw a pretty fancy thatched house. The top of the house was amazing. I wonder if there is a quilting pattern in there somewhere?

Peggy, thanks for the many excuses for a pint of Guinness!

Today was a beautiful trip. I'll post more pictures later. We got to see some dogs herding sheep, and we got to see some types of sheep. One had four horns, sheep have horns The dogs were amazing The only thing that bothered me about the whole thing is that they sold sweaters, but no roving anywhere we went. What's a quilter who needle felts to do? Our bus driver sure was amazing. He sure could get that bus in tight places, I know that's what he is paid to do, but wow. The Atlantic Ocean is beautiful. Our day was perfect, rain in the morning and fog lifting so that we could see the highest mountain in Ireland. It is almost 4,000 feet. Strange to think that we are far away from mountains in Thermopolis and we are as high as their highest mountain. We saw some Celtic ruins but I didn't take pictures as we didn't stop. There were walls of houses around that were sad to see. When people either died or left because of the potato famine, the houses were left alone. Now all the wood is gone and only the stone walls remain. They are all over the place. The other thing that was great was a place called Skellig M____ (I need to write things down). There are two islands off the coast that are really just two big rocks out along the coast. Monks carved out homes on these islands and lived there 500 years after Christ was born. They had to carve 600 stone steps into the cliff side just to get to their monastery. What a hard, long job they had. The places they built to live in were of course small and looked like bee hives. We saw pictures of them, we would have had to go out by boat and climb the 600 steps, I complained about the 101 at the Blarney Castle, I don't think I would have liked those steps, no rails and one slip and it would be the ocean for you.

Two things I have noticed that I find interesting. Little things, but fun. First of all, the roads are marked just the opposite of ours. The sides have the dotted lines and the center is a solid stripe. The bus has the right of way, so no one tried to pass us so far, I wonder if cars pass each other The other small thing I noticed is that people here pronounce the "th" sound as just a "t" so thirty, for example, it tirty. I think it makes sense and it is a delight to hear.

Again, the flowers were beautiful.

Kilarny, Night

Killarney

I am sitting in one of the most beautiful hotels ever, flowers all over!! We even have a huge tub in our room that I hope to try out tomorrow. It is in Killarny. Guess there is some major golf tournament starting soon, so the streets are busy. They said who was here, but sorry, I am not a golfer and I don't remember the name of the famous golpher guy who may be walking all over today
Before we got to Killarney, we stopped at the Blarney Castle. I walked up 100 or so steps with Anna, Curtis, Kelly, and Sue. The castle was really beautiful and I took pictures, I'll put the on the blog tomorrow. (This picture business isn't as smooth as I would like it to be!!) Any way kissing that stone was kind of scary, but one must be a tourist on a tourist trip. I will share the photo with folks when I get home. My photo from my camera is awful, I look dead, truly dead--yuck!! Not only was the Blarney Stone there, but also the woolen mills. Mom, sweaters were not that expensive, but I got your leprechaun instead. We had a beautiful drive to Killarney after our shopping trip.
Killarny is beautiful. Nearby is a national park, much smaller than Yellowstone, but just as beautiful. We took a brief tour (you can't drive a car, you must walk, ride a horse, or go by horse driven buggies) on a horse drawn wagon and of course ended at the Castle Ross. Beautiful, beautiful.
Dinner was superb and I had a Guinness for Lynda and Bob. We also went Pub hopping and listened to beautiful music.
Pictures tomorrow, It's late and we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

Part Two

Kilkenny is a beautiful place. I walked all over looking for a quilt store, but was unsuccessful. I did go and visit a castle. Just think, two blocks down from our beautiful hotel was a castle!! It is owned by the government, and you can zip through it, or take a tour. Since I wanted to revisit a bookstore and see the craft museum, I zipped. I was hoping that the folks at the craft museum could tell me where quilting supplies might be found. They couldn't, oh well, it was great to see this city with narrow streets, colorful buildings, and all sorts of interesting people. The first photo is only a small part of the castle, the second is of a pub. I am sure that the pub is a very wonderful one, but when I saw the name and the color, it was sort of amusing. Just like the Left Bank (a bank of course) was on the right the first time I saw it.

There are so many different types of beer. I had a guiness for Peggy the first night and didn't get a picture. Sorry Peggy, I know I promised, so here's a Harp for you!!

What a wonderful day, on to the next town after kissing the Balarney Stone.