Prairie Home Companion meets Lawrence Welk

 Class as usual during the day, well kind of like usual. We had the opportunity to see a performance by traditional Irish dancers with traditional Irish instruments. That evening we walked to town and I had the best Indian food! It was some kind of potato dish with a side of spicy lentils (yay). And then the decision whether to go to the 9:00 PM evening performance. Normally in the U.S I would have skipped it, but we are in Ireland so I went.

Dave had the opportunity to join me but as he put it "I hate Irish music":-) They were brilliant musicians. First a fiddle player that has performed in Carnegie hall, her sister played a variety of percussion instruments (in my opinion she was the one to watch). They mixed up the show with Irish step dancing. The whole shebang looked like a performance from a Prairie Home Companion but then out came Barry as one of my classmates called him. He sang two Irish Ballards with piano and if Lawrence Welk was still around he would have snatched this guy up.

Our school group lowered the average age in the audience to about 70. The young dancers pictured above performed traditional Irish step dances. The two boys on the end are 13.

Wednesday's field trip to Flaggy shore and many, many monasteries

 Cristopher uses his new soccer ball.

Our fist stop was Coole Park. This is where Yates wrote many poems during the summer months at the home of his benefactor. The scone on the left is one of the reasons that I will return with the scale reading the same weight as when I left even though I have been walking 11 miles a day. The tree that is in jail on the right has Yates and 14 other famous individuals initial's carved into the trunk.

 Stop 2: A very famous Monastery (I will look up the name later and insert). I am leaning against the tower pictured above because I need something to hold me up.

 The tomb pictured above is housed in the monastery pictured below. Stop 3 on our very long journey.  It was at this point in the trip that we started to think that the old buildings were all starting to look the same. The structure below was constructed after the monks came to town.

Stop 4: The beach. We walked 4 miles along the beach, stopped for ice cream and continued on to the bus.

 Flaggy shore is pictured above and the sweetest calves ever are pictured below.

 Stop 5: Dinner at a restaurant with the largest thatched roof in Ireland. We ate inside but this horse and dog were not allowed to eat inside (life is so unfair). This is one of the many conemara ponies that we encountered during the day.

 We got back to school at 9:00 Pm. It was a 12 hour day as any one of my many aching body parts can confirm.

Monday: A field trip to Inish Bofin

 You have to be a tough sheep to survive out here. The wind blows strong! There are pink sheep and blue sheep, it just depends on who you belong to.

 This memorial was erected for two 18 year old boys who drowned in 1976 while trying to swim across the inlet. The tide had come up and they swam rather than waiting for the tide to go back out.

 This cave opens out on the other end to the ocean. It is an adventurous climb down to the sea.

 This fort turned prison has a long exciting story and sits at the entrance to the harbor. The fort was built to keep this island from being captured during one of the many long invasions. After it's usefulness as a fort was over it was converted to a prison. This would not have been a pleasant place to do time.

Sheep were everywhere. One member of our group tried without success to pet one. We suggested a petting zoo. The boat on the right took us back to the main land. It was a very windy and exciting ride!

A last visit with Noreen, Julia, James and Hannah

 A final photo in front of the back door at the Lucy's homestead.

Hannah and Sarah in front of the hibiscus and fussier in the back yard.

We took a walk down the road to look at the trees. There are one hundred acres of pine trees planted down the road. The trees take 30 to 40 years to mature but the crop begins to produce after 15 years when thinning begins. During the last hurricane a large number of trees were blown down and had to be harvested early. This open field will be replanted soon.

Sunday Hike up Torc Mountain

 The hike begins with an 800 meter walk up to Torc waterfall. Because we were here early (10:00 is early in Ireland, either that or they were all at church) we had the waterfall to ourselves. When we returned at 2:00 on the trip down it was a crowd of people. Yes, Cristopher needed both the hat and gloves at this point in the hike. It was chilly.

 But.... the sun came out for a stupendous day! The wooden planks in Ireland are covered with galvanized mesh wire so that when it rains you don't slip on the wet wood.

 The views were stunning at the top.

 And gorgeous all the way down too. Notice Dave off in the distance and Cristopher is showing the world c.

Dave and I at the top of the mountain!!

Saturday Tea

 Two cutie cousins. She followed Cristopher's lead as they drank tea, colored, and played peek a boo under the table. Kids have fun no matter what the age.

 Our second tea of the weekend at Churchview with Margaret and John.

And what would a visit be like without a picture by the door of the old family homestead. Still occupied by Margaret a distant cousin:-)

 
 And our third cup of tea for the weekend was with Jerry and Mary McCarthy, direct descendants of the McCarthy clan who came to the U.S. and made our lives possible. We spent many hours talking about family history and photographing records for my Mother.

 This is the local school. There are currently 30 students with one principal/teacher and one teacher. One teacher does the age 4 - 8 classroom and the other teacher does 9 - 12. They switch off every 2 years so that the students can see a new face every once in a while.

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to walk from our bungalow to Jerry McCarthy's dairy farm. This road can accommodate one car at a time so it's best to keep your eyes on the look out for pull outs!!!

Friday's Trip to Visit the Family

 We took a long trip down south to Killarney (actually a village 15 min. West). We stopped for lunch along, called Noreen and James came and met us to lead us to their home in the country. Above are Hannah Mary, Cristopher, James, Noreen, Julia and Sarah, framed by the lovely day lilies. We had a wonderful visit and our first cup of tea for the weekend (start counting).

 After tea they took us down the road to their wonderful bungalow, piano included. We each had our own bedroom and bath, how luxurious!! It was spotless, at least when we arrived:-)

 The view of the mountains outside of the front window of the house. Yes, that was the loner soccer ball that James ended up giving to Cristopher so he could use it for the rest of the trip. Somehow we will figure out how to get it back to America. It has become a vital part of our trip.

 There were even a large selection of DVD's. Cristopher stayed up late (11:00 PM) to watch a movie.

Well if there are cows around you know that they will be featured in a photo. These young beef cows belong to James and are housed in the back field.

Noreen helped us to set up our Saturday visits. Thank you Noreen!!