Out and About

We will head for home on Sunday, so I thought I’d share a few last Dublin moments. That would be Molly Malone there with her cockles and mussels. People rub her bosoms for good luck, that’s why they are all shiny. I keep telling you these folks love their beer.  Not sure if these kegs…

Several people have mentioned to me that they were intrigued by the stone fences in Ireland.  There sure are a lot of them. The ground is clearly full of an over abundance of rocks that were put to good use dividing up areas of land that various families worked.  The house on the section of…

This weekend we drove out to Clonegal in County Carlow and visited Huntington Castle. As Irish castles go, I have seen more impressive.  There is no large National Trust behind this estate paying the bills. The descendants of the original family who have owned the castle for hundreds of years still live in it and…

We have moved on to Paris! This is a sight you see a lot in this city. I’ve been wondering which is the more astonishing construction, the Louvre or the Metro system.  The Metro surely is a remarkable system for moving people around a big city.  133 miles of multi level underground train tracks underneath…

This building is the world renowned Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.  They are famous for their customer service, attention to detail, high class accommodation, fine dining and….flowers.  My parents stayed there some years ago and loved the experience.  Recently my husband and I watched a documentary on fine hotels of the world which featured the Shelbourne.…

Do you remember the old John Wayne/Maureen O’Hara movie “The Quiet Man”?  Well, we went to see the little town where it was filmed. When our son heard our plan he was dismayed. “Oh gosh, Mom, are you sure you want to do that?  It’s so touristy”.  Well, we went anyway and it was delightful!…

My summer days with Eva are drawing to a close, with the start of school looming next week.  Today I thought we would take a drive to our county's main library.  Our town library is pretty pathetic, but the library at the county seat is rather impressive.  Definitely up to my university town standards. Eva…

This photo was taken by Alexis Reese, of a reservoir/recreation area near us.  The upper photo was taken one year ago, and the bottom photo was taken a day ago.  Same place, different air.   I tell you the smoke from the fires in California is so bad I want to put on a face mask…

I had a birthday last week, and have been celebrating it ever since.  Check out the cake my nephew and his wife provided for my birthday dinner!  It was layers of carroty goodness with yummy cream cheese in between the layers, and was just dreamy to eat. Then my husband whisked me out of town…