Behind again

I've discovered that it's difficult to deal with photos and write posts when it never gets dark outside. We get going at a reasonable hour in the morning and 'do' something touristy till 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening. Then we have some wine and think about dinner. Then we have some more wine and maybe a nightcap, and by then it's well after 11:00. The weather has been spectacular for a almost 2 weeks, absolutely unheard of in Ireland and we should be paid to stay forever, (I think I've mentioned in previous posts that we always have good weather when we travel. It's true). Spectacular weather means clear skies, of course, and an awareness that it is still broad daylight at 10:00. Even when I've gotten up during the night (all that wine) at 12:00, 1:30, 2:00, it's not actually dark. We're only at about latitude 53 so I'm surprised.
So, back to where I left off, which was in Waterford in case you've fallen asleep waiting...
We backtracked from Waterford to Dungarvan so we could stay at Lawlor's Hotel for Ed. never mind a Lawlor hasn't owned it for yonks, it's fun to find your name on something, like when we went to St. Ives in Cornwall. The hotel was a bit tired but in the centre of town so well located and well priced. We found a cooking school/restaurant in a lovely old building. The owner/chef was friendly to us but a bit imperious with the too-few staff, like he'd been watching more reality television than was good for him. Anyway, the food was great and that's all we really cared about. That and a good night's sleep which we got.
We moved on to Cashel in the morning, another of these many many ruins, some of which are religious and some political. There was a lovely line in a book I've been reading, along the lines of  "anyone who had a hill and 10 animals was a king". Then they spent their lives either trying to acquire more hills and animals or fending off invaders. It is said there were 3500 castles on Ireland. That's a lot of kings.
After Cashel we pushed on to our night's accommodation in Castle Durrow, Durrow, via Kilkenney for a Kilkenney which is not that easy to find.. It seemed extravagant at the time of booking, but in the end was very good value and a KING size bed. Bliss!
Please note all the blue sky....

Cashel

loved the lichen

things grow in strange places!

the proud namesakes

in Kilkenney for an appropriate beverage, except for Pat who just does NOT like beer.

P&E's room at castle Durrow.

the south terrace at Castle Durrow. Loved it!

Having circumnavigated the Ring of Kerry we landed in Kinsale at the Old Bank Town House, not prepossessing from the outside and, as usual, a choice based on internet reviews. I had tried to get rooms at the Trident because Fergus (partner of Clare) said to, but there was a sheep shearing thing going on and the hotels were full, and the Trident is not as well placed as the OBTH so it worked out well indeed.. It was great and an affirmation of online reviews. Kinsale itself was GRAND. We wandered a bit and decided to eat at Crackpots because Fergus  recommended it; thank you Fergus.Then we dropped in to Kitty O'Se's for a pint and some music and all in all it was a lovely place. Next morning we avoided Cork and drove on to Waterford, specifically for the crystal factory. I have to say that I've never understood the cost pf Waterford crystal but having been to the source, I get it. Wow. It actually is "hand cut", or at least 95% of it is. The only pieces that are machine cut are some new designs that are overlapping circles that are more accurately produced mechanically. There was the 45 minutes of frustration while we tried to find the place and my utter amazement when Jim told me he had seen it as we drove into the city, but we won't "go there". We asked one man how long he has been cutting crystal: since 1971! Sure, I understand that they have a show group of guys and production for the tourist market, but at least it's convincing and interesting. So between Kinsales charms and Waterford Crystal it would be hard to pick a winner.

Downtown Kinsale; LOVED the colour in the south!

at Kitty O'Se's (which I translate to O'Shea)

a panorama view of Kinsale

that's a serious champagne flute!

This bowl weighed about 4 pounds and the guy was free-handing it on a diamond saw.  All day.

Every kid needs Cinderella's carriage. Gorgeous

Adjusting

I suppose much of this travelogue will be about the roads and the driving since every time we set out their are challenges. Our rental car was a Toyota Aurensis which I learned to manipulate thought some tiny spaces. I'noted a few gasps and quiet expletives from the passengers. Our present car, a Toyota Avensis, is bigger and I am not quite so cavalier with it.
We left Galway and started our odyssey south by way of the Cliffs of Moher. It was a spectacular sunny day, 'fresh' mind you, and if the weather was at all good we were "doing" the Cliffs rather than Bunratty Castle. Once there we weren't long because, really, it is a gorgeous view but not much else and we had a longish drive ahead to the Dingle Peninsula. The GPS took us across country into some very minor roadways and landed us about 100 meters from our Shannon River Ferry destination. From there we continued to Country Shores B&B on the northwest side of the Dingle, a cash only/no receipt operation of considerable opulence. The place was full and we had booked ahead a few months ago so we got a 1 bedroom cottage plus a really lovely room for absolute peanuts. Proprietor Annette sent us off to Spillane's for a dinner of fresh-caught crab claws and the best (apologies to the River Rock Pub in Quesnel which has finally been bumped from top spot) chicken curry in the universe. My opinion. Spillane's is at the end of a 10 km sand dune and the wind was howling, so getting there was quite an adventure.
Next morning we went down to the beach and met the most aggressive cows I've ever encountered. I think they were way overdue for milking the way they bawled at us.
Then there was the Connor pass. We don't  have any photos of it because everyone was holding the collective breath and then it was over; cliff on one side, ocean on the other and only one lane. We were on the inside so pulled over to allow several vehicles through and then I closed my eyes (not literally) and went for it. Phew.
Down the winding and very benign other side to Dingle town which was charming and where we bought a replacement electric adaptor, and on to the Ring of Kerry and Maureen and Noel at Ocean View B&B in Caherisiveen. Mildly disappointing was that Maureen was from New York but theirs was a nice love story and they were very attentive hosts and super proud of their area and new venture together. The "en-suite" bathrooms were minuscule which was very funny, but again the fresh crab at the local eatery at the end of the road made up for any deficiencies. Yum.
The weather has been a bit of everything but generally warmish and dryish for which we are grateful. We wore shorts on two days and apparently those were the best two days for the last YEAR!

Cliffs of Moher

Near Caherisiveen

There's an electric cord coming out of the end of this building! Added in when?

The beach at Castlegregory

The cows at Castlegregory who were very unimpressed by us.

Most of the stone walls, buildings or fences, have beautiful lichen and/or plants growing on them.

on "the Dingle"

Overdue

It's not that I'm getting lazier or less interested, just haven't been getting the blog job done, so here's a start. We're in Ireland and it is decidedly more Irish than I expected. In the sense of less English. Yes, everyone speaks English, but the road signs are often in Irish which doesn't match up to what you might be looking for; there seems to be little connection between Irish spelling and English phonics. We've been touring for a week and now are settled into our house exchange location in Navan, near Dublin. The only negative we've encountered, at all at all, was landing at Dublin airport. I won't go into it but it took 2 hours to clear immigration and get our car.
Applause, applause for the GPS or we might still be going in circles and certainly we would have been more stressed.  Mind you there were some moments when we weren't sure if we were on real roads or in someone's lane-way. Our host, Tim, left us a bottle of wine appropriately called "Lost Sheep". The road designations seem to be M(motorway), N(national highway), R(rural road), L(local lane) and the more important the road the fewer numbers they seem to have: M8, N72, R171, L4305. N roads are not necessarily any batter than Rs. If I'm focusing too much on the road system it's because I am the designated wrong-side-of-the-road driver so I've been hyper-alert. Happily I can report that we managed 1500 kms without any dings or scratches and the only near misses were caused by other people.
We started in Galway, and travelled the southern perimeter. So far my favourite area would be the Dingle Peninsula  and then Kinsale, but if we were looking for another exchange Galway might be the spot. We've warmed up to Navan, a lot, having first thought it a bit tired and underwhelming.
All that said, I'll do a few posts, chronologically, and tease you with some photos and a few stories.

Kylemore Abbey, home of the Irish Benedictine nuns. We decided they're unfriendly despite the spectacular location.

Dipped and ready for something, the sheep just wander, including on the road.

The first of many bar photos.

In Salthill, and this was a landmark that alerted me that we were going the wrong direction.

On the "Prom" in Salthill, an adjunct to Galway and where we stayed for 2 nights.

An L road! We were on our way to a ferry across the Shannon River. This 'road' was so untraveled the grass scraped the bottom of the car.
More to come....

St Patrick's Day in Vancouver

We're getting in the mood to go to Ireland, good thing since we are. Soon-ish. Not even thinking about St. Patrick's Day, Jim wanted a break from Victoria and found a Hotwire deal at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver (we recommend it), so off we went. We put on our big kid knickers and left the car behind, in favour saving a couple of hundred dollars in ferry and parking fees, and used transit. Easy peazy and also recommended. Note to self though: check the Canuck's home schedule before assuming the Saturday morning ferry will be quiet. It wasn't. In fact in both directions there were HUNDREDS of foot passengers. Aside from all the interesting diversions I could go into, this is a photo post of Vancouver on St. Patrick's Day, 2013. You have to love the whacky west coast for having as many Asian participants as people who might have passed for Irish. This is the same city that came up with Gung Haggis Fat Choy created by Todd Wong aka Toddish McWong) to celebrate Robbie Burns day And Chinese New Year. Back to the photos...

Granville Street closed off

A green and white dragon

A very Irish lotus flower

you do not want to meet an Irish wolf-hound on a dark night

a rough looking bunch but really
good-natured and loving the attention

lots of bands

don't know what the character is but we saw him for 2 days on his stilts

An Irish Korean drum corps

lots of pipe bands

There were about 300,000 people downtown for the parade on Sunday (who counts!), the bars were open at 9:00 am and, of all things, the sun was out! We liked our room at the Sheraton, with a great view of the city and north shore mountains. And for a bonus, as though we needed more, we were able to see friends and family for a catch-up. Yay.

the view from our room

Colouring Up February

Maybe at some point in my life I was chastised or teased about being a show-off, all I know is that now I don't love being the centre of attention. Maybe I just know that lime-light equals scrutiny. Whatever. My birthday falls just at the right distance from Christmas/New Year, that Jim is bored. And if it isn't Jim it's Mary (they share the same birth-date and say what you will about astrological signs they are forces of nature, singly and together!) The outcome is that my birthday is often used as an excuse to have a party. This year the start of Chinese New Year was close enough to my birthday to allow me to divert attention. And there were two invitees with b'days within a few days of mine so I was good to go, having side-stepped centre stage.
We made an excursion to China Town for decorations and picked up a take-out menu from Fonbo's at Royal Oak for food (I definitely recommend take-out or Costco for any party. Why exhaust yourself beforehand?). We thought there would be about 20 people which ended up being 29; maybe we should have ordered a bit more food but people were polite about it and the dessert seemed to make up for any lack. Next day I found a full order of ginger-fried-beef in the fridge which I had thought was a surfeit of fried rice. Oh well.

the rubber snakes holding the cutlery together grossed out one phobic guest 

Since our friends hail from various parts of our lives and history we often include a mixer/game/activity of some kind. People groan and complain but inevitably they have fun despite themselves. Admit it; you know who you are!
Chinese New Year is a no-brainer as a mixer. Most people wore red or pink for good luck and a few had on Asian styled jackets or jewelry. Guests identified their animal year (goat, snake, horse, tiger, etc.) got together with their animal group and then entertained the party by telling us why their symbol is the best, with varying degrees of success. We had only one Rat but he took huge pleasure explaining the special attributes of rats, and no dragons at all which was interesting. Otherwise there were at least two people in each group and some of the presentations were hilarious even if they had nothing to do with the purported animal characteristics.
  
 
 
 
If you go by the noise level the party was a success. Our other-side-of-the-wall neighbours say they didn't hear us so I figure we can do virtually anything in our house and not disturb them. Good news, since I think we made quite a racket. The food was really tasty and fresh (don't go by Fonbo's decor as it's dire; the walls look like mustard yellow brains).

I had fun!

Commitment

We’ve had a great family sadness that I feel the need to talk about; I was a counsellor for 30 years so talking about ‘stuff’ is something I think people should do. Generally in these posts I steer clear of anything that upsets me, but I’m making an exception today. Many who might read this post already know what happened and I hope I don’t upset someone else in the telling.

The story is about James William (Wil) Griffith, born January 5, 2012, died January 7, 2012. Wil had a genetic anomaly which his parents knew about early on in the pregnancy but none of the “typical” indicators showed up in multiple ultra-sounds and other tests. The medical community was optimistic and the mother had a happy pregnancy.  She was advised to be in Vancouver 3 weeks ahead of her due date so the birth would happen at BC’s Women’s Hospital.  Baby Wil would need surgery within a week of birth and the most experienced team is at Women’s.  The parents were well informed and knew the baby might not live or that they might have to make a decision to let him die. They didn’t show the rest of us any of their anxiety although they did tell us, the grandparents, that there were potential problems.  And there were problems; despite a healthy weight and strong heart Wil’s lungs couldn't sustain him and his parents had to make the decision not to prolong his struggle.

Vancouver is the centre of our healthcare universe and BC Women’s Hospital, attached to BC Children’s Hospital is a massive conglomerate of buildings and services looking after normal health issues for Vancouver and the most vulnerable and at-risk situations for the rest of the province. Wil spent his short life in the Newborn ICU and he and his mother got the best care possible. Lining the walls of the many sections of BC Women’s are commemorative ceramic tiles celebrating or in memorial for babies born there. It’s a fund-raising initiative for the hospital and, for us and many others, a way to leave a concrete marker of an important event. The required donation for a tile for NICU is $1000.00 and it took our family and friends about a heartbeat of time to double that amount, an outpouring of support that was overwhelming.

As with any difficulty there are positive things to think about: the strength and commitment of Mark and Melynda’s relationship as they walked this path together, the expertise and commitment of BC Women’s Hospital, the practical and financial commitment of the Ministry of Health and Easter Seals House Vancouver, and the love and commitment of our support system of friends and family.  Alive less than 48 hours Wil had a big impact and I find myself, again, with tears in my eyes as I think about this dream that didn’t become reality.