Going from Dublin to Ennis

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The first two images are from Dublin.  There are many bridges crossing the river and I thought this one was very interesting.

The ship in the photo below is one that transported Irish to America during the potato famine.  

We left Dublin on the morning of Tues, Sept 23, heading for Ennis, Ireland.  Along the way we made a short stop in Galway.  The next four photos are random pics taken along the cobblestoned pedestrian area of the city.

The last stop we made before arriving in Ennis was at the Cliffs of Moher.  Very impressive in spite of the thick fog and the drizzle which turned into thicker fog & actual rain not long after we arrived.  

The Cliffs of Moher--one of the locations of Princess Bride.

Walk About Through Dublin

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Yesterday we traveled south from Scotland, down across Wales and on the ferry across to Dublin, Ireland.  This morning we had a short bus tour through the city and then we were let loose to do our own thing.  I spent a few hours walking around photographing random sites.

Dublin is definitely a city of mixed peoples and architecture.  I heard all kinds of languages as I was walking along the streets and the architecture ranged from totally modern to hundreds of years old.

The weather was beautiful.

Christ Church

A random doorway

Wonky bike tyre

Ha' penny Bridge (used to cost half a penny to cross bridge)

Random Pub

Small section of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Continuing North

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We drove several hours north to York, England today.  The guidebook says it's "England's most complete medieval city".  York Minster is one of the largest remaining cathedrals in England. It's also known as St. Peter's, its full name being the "Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter in York".   The architecture is absolutely stunning.

The old city has all kinds of tiny, curvy streets made of cobblestone with shops and eateries along the way.

The interior of a Catholic Church just a block from York Minster.  Some more amazing architecture.

We Left London Today

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We finally left London today with the tour bus.  Heading north in England we went through Oxford, Stratford and Coventry, ending in Newcastle to spend the night.  It was a busy day, but I saw some amazing places and the biggest decision we (my small group of traveling companions) had to make was where to eat lunch--I won't bore you with all the choices we had to make and all the arguments we had in the previous days when we were completely on our own.

A scene in Oxford

Part of Cathedral Church of St. Michael in Coventry, England.  Almost the entire city of Coventry was destroyed in the Nov. 1944 air raid by the Germans.  The walls of this cathedral and the tower at the other end are the only parts of the structure that survived.

Street performers in Stratford, England, birthplace and home of William Shakespeare

Home of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife

A building in Oxford, England

Part of Oxford University

The First Day in England

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(this is a long read, but this post more for me as a journal entry than for my readers so it's up to you whether you want to wallow through the details)

The flight to London was great.  They served a dinner, which was amazingly good, and offered free movies.  I watched three, good grief!  "Mom's Night Out" (and laughed out loud AGAIN)  "Monuments Men", which I had been wanting to see anyway, and I can't remember the name of the third movie, but it starred Drew Barrymore and her love interest was an avid, obsessed, over-the-top  Red Socks fan.  Pretty funny.

Once again I didn't sleep a wink on the entire overnight 5.5 hour flight.  Okay.

So the plane landed at Heathrow airport on time, about 2 hours before the others were supposed to arrive on a different flight.  Great I thought, that gives me plenty of time to walk the bazillion miles from the landing gate to customs  schlepping my camera backpack on my back plus a messenger-type bag containing my computer, some cords, my kindle and a few other little items--which, I might add,   WEIGHED.  A.  LOT. 

After going through customs it was another hike to get to the baggage claim. Eureka, my bag was there, so I grabbed it and headed towards ANOTHER.   FAR.  AWAY.   destination--the bus depot.  I had strict instructions from my son to go there and wait for them.

The five other people in our group arrived shortly, at which time we discovered that the bus schedule Scott found online to get us to our hotel was only active  AT.  NIGHT.  and since this was high noon, we had to find alternative transportation.  Okay, we could do that.

Back into the terminal to find our way to the "tube".  There we were, all 6 of us, dragging our bags in and out of elevators and up and down stairs (yup, you got it, they don't have elevators for the different levels in the subway)  Our first train ride took about 40 minutes and then we had to transfer trains.

In her effort to help her grandmother onto the next train, the granddaughter was shut out of the train as the rest of the 5 of us zoomed away.  Fortunately, when the train began moving, mom was able to call out a station where we would get off and meet so she could follow on the next train.  

Of course, everyone, including grandma, was on a different car than Scott and me, so when we arrived at the afore-mentioned station, Scott jumped off the train, tossed his bag against the wall and scurried over to help grandmom get off before the very insistent and stubborn doors closed and the train took off with her.  Mission accomplished, and then around the corner came granddaughter.  Smile. Reunited again.

Hahaha, this is the stuff movies are made of!

So once again we schlepped the bags up the stairs only to discover that we were a VERY.  VERY.   VERY, long way from our hotel.  So we began walking.  I won't bore you with how far we walked, but suffice it to say that it definitely filled in the void of not hiking in the Adirondacks this week.  

We finally arrived.  I didn't have my wits about me enough to get my camera out and take a photo of the place, but maybe I will in the next day or two.  We then decided to go get something to eat at the advice of the guy at the front desk who said there was a great "pub" just two blocks away.  Hmmm.  So off we went.  You probably know where this is going....It was no more a "pub" than the Cordon Bleu is a deli.  I couldn't find a single thing on the menu that I was willing to pay for, let alone eat.

We were all very hungry by then, but a few of the group wanted beer!  Guinness to be  exact.  So we hung out there a little while.  The bartender assured us that there was a great place to get fish-and-chips (he named the "pub") back where we first got off the train.  Do you hear the warning signals???  We wisely decided to take the bus back there.

We finally found the "infamous" World Market where the pub was allegedly located. The market is huge and goes on and on and reminds me of the Night Market in Chaing Mai (which almost caused me to hyperventilate because of the crowds and chaos), but of course we couldn't locate the recommended pub in spite of searching for it for a painfully long time.

We finally just got food from the vendors and ate.  Three of us returned to the hotel and the other three went "pubbing".  Only 19 more days to go.

Seen while standing at the bus stop

The infamous double-decker bus

Seen in a shoe store window

Seating at the outdoor market

Random graffiti  

Restaurant decoration/advertising

What I've learned about England so far:

**I heard very few people speak English with an English accent--it seems like the majority of the       

                 people here are from other countries

**The English pedestrians seem to have NO regard for red lights and "don't walk" signals

**They drive on the left side of the road.  They drive very fast and very close to the curb

**Their hotel rooms are miniscule

**They provide one towel and no wash cloth

**The English people LOVE to smoke and must not have received the memo about it being harmful

              to their health

**This particular hotel doesn't have a "lift" to get bags upstairs or downstairs.  Tired by now.

The Ride

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So a couple of weeks ago the boy texted me to tell me he had just gotten his motorcycle permit.  My response to him was "awesome!"  My response in my head was "if you were my son, no way would you get a motorcycle permit".  But hey, his mom said it was okay when he turned 18, so who am I to argue!

Tonight the boy and his dad arrived in our driveway and the next thing I knew they were looking at helmets and the bikes and,   oh.   my.    goodness.   They were there for a motorcycle lesson.

Although I was internally hyperventilating, I played it cool, got the camera and documented the occasion.

I've mentioned this before...I thought I was done with the anxiety and angst when my kids grew up and left home.  Well, let me tell you....NOT SO.  It goes on and on.  Sheesh!

So yes, standing in the middle of the road is exactly the right thing to do when it's necessary to get the shot.  And I'm worried about him riding a bike, hmmmm.

June is Over!!!

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Every year it seems that spring gets uber-busy, and for some reason it's the month of June that almost does me in.  This year was no different.

Every event that was on the calendar was something fun....well, that is, except the doctor & dentist appointments which seem to be increasing exponentially as I age.  But really, every time I looked at the calendar during June I felt stressed.

I'm not normally one to wish the time away, but I was soooo looking forward to the end of June this year.  I remember the day I turned the calendar page to July.  There was such a sense of relief it was actually a visceral sensation.  The page was practically empty of events.  

Having said all that, I want to say too that I love being busy and am so thankful for the health and strength to do all of the things written on my calendar.  But I'm still happy that June is over.

For the past couple of days it been very hot.  Too hot to want to be outdoors.  But this morning it was about 70 with only a hint of a breeze (the heat is on the way though).  For the first time in a long time I was able to sit on my deck and do my devotions.  It was glorious.

My only concession to a flower garden this year is 4 potted geranium plants.  They are so pretty. 

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately--playing catch-up on ½ finished projects, of which there are more than I care to think about.

I recently finished a book called Orphan Train--a great read and one that I highly recommend.

My youngest son just graduated from Bible School and went back to Alaska.

My oldest grandson just graduated from high school.

Two younger ones just graduated from elementary school.

And me....I just keep wondering where the time has gone.  How did that all happen?

Graduation Day, 2014

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Well...the grandson graduated today.  I'm not quite sure how that could have happened.  It seems like only a few years ago that I was baby-sitting him when he was still pre-school.  And yet, here we are, on graduation day.  Oh dear.

He was an easy-going baby, a spirited but compliant toddler, a hard-working and conscientious student and he is now one of the nicest young people I know.  

It was a bittersweet day. 

Comfort Food

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When I think of comfort food, I think spaghetti, chili, burgers/fries, chicken fricasse (I think that's spelled wrong, but I can't find the correct spelling).  But today I got the idea to make chicken cutlets, which, upon reflection, was one of my favorite foods when I was growing up, and therefore a comfort food for me.  We didn't necessarily have rice or broccoli salad with it, but it doesn't matter what the side dishes are, the cutlets themselves are soooo good.

The main reason I wanted to make this is that I wanted to take photos of it.  That and the meat was already thawed out so I had to do something with it!

Okay, now it's time for dinner.

Once Upon a Time...

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Once upon a time there was a great little roadside farm stand not too far from my house--actually, it was right on one of the routes I could take to get to town.  It had been there for years and years.  They sold the most amazing produce.  I stopped there at least every other day throughout the summer and well into the Fall.

They grew their own corn and I have never tasted better corn on the cob than theirs.

Well, once upon a time there was a storm, unlike any that had hit our area before.  It rained and rained and the floods came and the waters rose and continued to rise until--devastation and destruction.  Some homes were lost, others were seriously damaged, one person lost his life and Pine's Farm stand was destroyed.

You might be thinking, "well, it's only a farm stand and compared to the homes and the one life that was lost, it's a small thing in the big scheme".  You're right.  But....it was an icon.  One that used to draw people from miles around, and it was, after all, the livelihood of the family that owned it.

So even after all theses years, I still miss it. Others do too.  Every spring you'll hear someone say, "gee, I wish Pine's was still around".  This spring was no different.