That's How the Irish Roll!

It was a wonderful day at the Blue Pool with Jenny! Look at the pictures isn’t she  beautiful? Her energy is definitely “one” with nature. As I mentioned in my 1^st post, she introduced me to this gorgeous area of the National Park, a couple years ago.

By now, a lot of you are probably thinking all I do when I come to Ireland is walk in the park.  HA! Well actually I do a lot of walking, sometimes alone and it’s a great place to meet a friend for a good stroll and visit.  

Jenny holds a very exhilarating yoga practice in her home, the way she describes it is, “My yoga class will take you on a physical, emotional and spiritual journey that will energize you and enhance your wellbeing.” Can’t go wrong with that!

You’ll see from the pictures that we walked along very quietly and carefully because we were expecting to see a leprechaun or at least a fairy or two. I sat very still, but nobody showed their face. The moss, was so soft, we sat on it, it felt like we were sitting on a soft cushion.

The swirling, totally clear blue water was just amazing. We did do some energy work, calling in blessings from all the trees and leaves, the water and the clouds. We even praised the breeze and the mudd under our feet, it rained all morning but stopped when we got to the park.

The picture of the 40 shades of green you see below is another story altogether. About 2:30 Sunday afternoon, Eileen messaged me and said she had a funeral she had to go to and wondered if I wanted to go along.

Yep! That’s how the Irish roll.

She thought it would be nice for me to see the countryside and the village she grew up in. I said give me 5 minutes, she said I could have 15.

She was going to go to the funeral home to pay respects to the family of a neighbor of hers from years ago, who died suddenly. We would be driving to Scartaglen, a small village about 45 minutes away.

She pointed out the home her dad grew up in and where she lived, but the house she grew up in had been rebuilt over the years.  When we arrived at the funeral home, there must have been 2000 people there. They were lined up down the street, around the corner and then some. I figured we would be there a good 3~ hours, but it was amazing how quickly they got everyone through.

I’m thinking they encouraged everyone to move through quickly because it was very cold and windy being up that high. The man who passed away was a prominent figure in the community, had owned the post office there in Scartaglen at one time.

Below, you’ll see a picture of Eileen’s new book of poetry, which is now available on Amazon. I love her style of writing, so bold and brave. She’s able to express what all of us at times think or feel but could not bring ourselves to ever write

I was happy to also see Sinead and Lynda on my short trip to Killarney this time. I met Sinead many years ago when she was working in the Internet shop. That was way back when I didn’t bring my computer and would have to go to “Ri Ra” to send off an email to the family.  It was also before we used cell phones to call or do internet when out of the country. We’ve been friends ever since.

She and I went to the Killarney Lake Hotel Restaurant for lunch, the view that day of the glistening lake was spectacular, as well as the clouds and I love the sunbeam up above.  

I met Lynda one evening at Courtney’s Pub, the oldest pub in Killarney, I was actually in this pub with my son Jeff when we first went to Ireland in 1985. He was only 12 at the time. Kids have always been welcome in the pubs, they can’t drink of course but they are the ones that will be up dancing to the Irish musicians.  

Lynda used to work at Murphy’s, that’s how I met her many years ago and Courtney’s is just down the street.  

Amelie met me at “Jam,” one day after she picked William up from school. Jam is a wonderful place for coffee and a pastry or a delicious quiche or sandwich.

Amelie is a local artist, I met her about 12 or 13 years ago when she was working at the Killarney Gallery. She also makes jewelry and that’s one of her necklaces she makes that you see in that picture of me. I love the shamrock. She gave that to me for my birthday.

Her paintings are very bright and happy scenes of flowers and landscapes. You can see her work on Facebook at Amelie Gagne Studio.

The weather was nice the whole trip, it was cool but mostly dry except for one day. I usually go for longer than 7 days, but I have to say I snuck this trip in between a lot of other travel this year. I wasn’t going to go but I couldn’t pass up the very good airfare I happened to come across one evening when I was just looking for the heck of it.

Leaving Killarney is and always will be hard. Pulling away from the train station and watching the countryside go in the opposite direction never fails to choke me with tears.

Once I was back at the Dublin train station, I took the bus to the airport then the shuttle to the Hilton, I had a late lunch/early dinner and then just relaxed and looked through all my pictures. It's always wonderful remembering who I saw and what we did. It’s always magical being in Killarney.  

While the landing in Ireland is always stunning with its 40 shades of green, the view flying over Lake Mead when I was landing in Las Vegas, wasn’t bad either. It’s always nice to be home.