My favorite kind of day.

Day breaks very early here - not as early as in Northern Ireland but 1.5 hours earlier than what Stan and I are accustomed to in Atlanta this time of year. Many of our rented apartments have black-out shades. This one does not. We woke a wee bit after 5 am - to say it like the Irish do. Honestly they really do regularly say "wee bit" in Ireland!!!

At home, the light would prevent me from going back to sleep but no, not here. The light shone on our faces but we ignored it. Maybe I am finally learning to relax. At last we stopped snoozing and got up around 8 am - which I have come to think of as a very civilized time of arising.

Today was Saturday, market day and glory-be! There was a market here in Limerick. It is held every Saturday at the Milk Market. We found it, and it was a good one. I love, love, love local markets and seeing displays of freshly harvested vegetables, the turnips, carrots and cabbages. The big attraction here at this time of year is strawberries! The treasured Irish strawberries are very pretty, but here's the interesting thing, they are not nearly as red as those grown in Florida or those grown around Bald Knob, Arkansas. Now, those USA berries, especially those gathered at a backbreaking pick-your-own farm are proper red and sweet strawberries! I saw gooseberries for the first time in my life today. The seller told me they are very, very sour and must be cooked with sugar to make a pie or jam. They were pale green and cute!! I wanted some.

Since our time here is waning, we bought no fruit or vegetables. Can you imagine how hard it was for me to see those cabbages and carrots and turnips and not buy just one???

Next we went to the Limerick International Food Truck Festival at Peoples' Park. The park is not so big, but it is really pretty. A garden of roses circles the park's central monument. There were beds of yellow roses and beds of red, pink and white roses. The yellow roses and the red ones were in full bloom; the pink and white were just budding nicely.

The Food Truck Festival was attended well but it was hampered by rain. Still more and more people kept coming. The weather is funny here. It can be sunny and then in five minutes' time the sky can change and rain falls. Then in ten minutes' time, it is sunny again. As folk here have told us: (1) You don't love and live in Ireland because of the weather. (2) We have four seasons, and they can all be one day. (3) If you let the rain plague you, you will never leave the house. And (4) All the rain in Ireland is what makes it so GREEN!!

We were standing in line at the Lobster Roll food truck waiting for it to open and start serving . . . we didn't want them to run out before we got our lobster. Then the rain started. We didn't care; we had a spot near the front of the queue and we weren't leaving. Naturally, under our umbrellas we chatted with others in line. One young couple, the ones who actually started the queue, was from Cork. They had driven to Limerick just for the Food Truck Festival. The food was worth the wait. Our servings were small but wonderful. Stan had King Crab Roll and I chose Octopus & Shrimp Salad - they corrected me and said it was octopus and shrimp chili. I said, "OK, that's what I will have." I dearly love trying new dishes. And I love virtually all types of seafood. We came for lobster but chose elsewise. Both of our choices were great. Stan's baby-sized sandwich was rich and delicious! My chili is something I am going to try to replicate. It had red beans, small shrimps and slices of octopus in broth seasoned with olive oil, red onion, fresh chives, Tabasco sauce and paper-thin slices of lemon peel. Unbelievable!!!

It was still early in the day. We drove an hour or so to the Glens of Aherlow. This is a valley at the foot of the Galtee Mountains and it is big, beautiful and green. The lands below are cut into squares of farmland and forest. A statue called "Christ the King" overlooks the valley and is said to bless the valley and all who visit.

Not ready to return to Limerick, we consulted TripAdvisor and set out to see Athassel Priory. We love the Navigation app; it can direct you to virtually any spot in the world. This 12th century, ok, let's stop for a moment. That still that flabbergasts me! The mere thought of seeing and touching something today that was built in the 1100's just knocks me out! Ok, back to the point, this 12th century monastery ruin is the largest medieval priory in Ireland, and it is not commercialized. There is no entrance. There is no parking lot and there is no ticket-taker. It's in the middle of a cow pasture and you must know about it and know how to climb the fence to get there. We were the only ones there. Please see the photos. It was one of the most moving, eerie, wonder-inspiring places we have ever visited. As we gazed on the structure, flocks of birds that we thought might be crows but are actually called jackdaws flew noisily about overhead. They gathered at the tops of the ruins and flew in to nest and roost in holes in the stone the builders created to hold wooden scaffolds many, many centuries ago. The sight brought on awe and chills!

We walked back across the pasture and back to the lane where we had parked our tiny car. We had barely started driving out of this farmland place when we met a gathering of men, their boys, their horses and ponies and their sulkies along side of the narrow road. We think they may have been out for a day's ride or maybe a race or two -- just the boys and men folk!!! Just the lads, ya know?? They were gathered for a few beers and the big yak-yak all men love to do after a great outing. What a sight!! Of course, I had to grab my camera. That set them all in motion! The young boys wanted photos of them with their sleek and black ponies; the men wanted photos with all their lads! I got out of the car and photographed them in as many ways as I could. They laughed and cheered and all wanted to shake our hands and see the photos we took of them. They were gents in the truest sense, having fun on a country road in the west of Ireland.

Wow!! What a God moment!