Last Day on the Emerald Isle Booked a HUGE tour for my last day. Early 5:30am breakfast and bus to Belfast in Northern Ireland where we picked up our guide and more passengers. First stop today began with the Carrik-a-Rede rope bridge, a 23M deep and a 20M wide chasm. This bridge was originally used by fishermen for checking their salmon nets. The views are great and it is oh-so sunny! Next stop was the Giant Causeway. These 37,000 basalt columns were sa...

Glorious Green I watched the sun rise this morning at 7am as the birds were singing a cacophony of happy songs. Had a relaxing breakfast and was packed and ready in no time. Evie drove me out to Skibereen to catch the bus to Cork, but not before we each got "I <3 Schull" stickers and an ice cream cone. It was not easy to say goodbye to my Irish family or to gloriously green Schull. A long bus ride to Cork and then on to Dublin has sobered me up...

Happy Easter! Vary's son Christy arrived last night, so I have met yet another Irish cousin! I went to Mass this morning in town and loved the softest, misty-est rain I have ever felt on the walk. Came back and took a nice nap and then went with Evie to the ocean and we jumped in a few times! Came back to relax on the sunny back deck and then wrote rhyming scavenger clues for all four of us to go around the house and find our chocolate Easter egg. It was good...

Picnic Day in Ireland. Evie planned a day out for us today. We started by packing up a yummy picnic lunch and picking up her friends Mave and Brid and driving to Baltimore. (Yes, this is where the USA Baltimore is named after.) The plan was to catch the ferry, but after having a pint of Murphey's and missing 2 ferries because the line was so long, we switched plans and met Michelle, her son Eraan, Susan and two students Angela and Julian in a close by park and...

Loveliness. Took a nice walk down along the sea today. Picked up seashells, said hello to the cows, watched some cute dogs playing fetch in the sea and enjoyed the sunshine. My cousin Evie arrived today and we had fun learning we have tons in common. I made dinner tonight for the three of us that turned out pretty well for substituting and modifying it. Fresh local asparagus, salmon, and farfalle pasta with sun dried tomatoes and a zippy Italian dressing with...