An Irish Proverb...

The man who wears a boot
does not mind where he places his foot

A Long Walk Home

Well.... what was going to be a quick errand turned into an all day event. I took the car into the city to pick up a few things... but before I left the house I though to myself, "Hey... I'll wear these new shoes - they are not all that comfortable... but they need to be broken in".... everything went very smoothly, but when I got into the car to come home I noticed that it was acting kinda strange... To make a long story short... the alternator went out... and I made it to the local mechanic's garage... I knew I was spending too much time and money there when the mechanic (Larry) waved and called out my name with a big smile. I left the garage and started the 10 mile walk home. I planned on flagging down a bus... but ended up walking about 2 miles before I saw one... I raised both my hands (Which is what you are supposed to do here to stop the bus)... and the bus just kept on going... a little disheartened and a little tired - I kept walking. about a mile down the road I saw another bus coming.. I waved again but this time the driver indicated that he was going to turn around... I watched as he did this... and smiled and returned a wave as he drove back by... -here is the kicker - as I stood there with a big goofy grin waving, a second bus passed by me.... I totally didn't see it... It just blew right by me.... I ended up walking about 3/4 of the way home before I caught the fourth bus... but I could hear my mom saying - "count your blessings" the whole way... and I did. 1. I made it to the mechanics 2. It was a beautiful sunny day without rain 3. I was able to smell the smells of Ireland - and hear the birds singing. 4. The car would be repaired soon and I wouldn't have to make the walk again.

St. Brigid's Day Massacre

Another ironic day in Ireland.......... Last Sunday was St. Brigid's day - the first day of the Irish Spring season... St. Brigid is the patron saint of farm animals and butter makers (Not to be confused with the ancient pagan/Celtic goddess Brighid who previously held the same position)... This day is usually marked as a day of blessing the farm animals that play such an important role in the life of the Irish... BUT... This St. Brigid's day was marked by horrible thunderstorms which tragically... killed two local cows... that's right... two cows were hit by lighting and killed instantly on their Saint's day. Here are a few pictures In honor of our four legged friends.

Our multi-cultural experience

We just got back from a two week trip to Germany. The first week was taken up with meetings for work… but we then took another week to travel around Germany (with a couple of day trips to other countries) with some of our co workers & their two year old daughter. Germany – an extremely timely/organized country was drastically different from our beloved Ireland where no one “makes a hurry”.
We did eat out a lot on our trip, and we usually try to eat authentic food in order to add to our whole cultural/European experience. Keeping this in mind, we ate Italian in France, South American/Mexican in Germany, and we found an Irish pub for lunch in Austria. We also ate at a lot of McDonald’s (Elyse needs her “chicken fries.”). It is amazing the amount of nonverbal communication needed to order cheeseburgers in English with someone who only speaks German. We did watch some T.V. while we were gone. We have now seen FRIENDS in French and German and Spongebob Squarepants in German. We are not sure what is funnier, Spongebob in Irish or German. We did have a “lovely” time, but we are very glad to be back in Ireland to hear the great accents and eat our fish and chips.

A land flowing with milk and gummy

The most interesting (quirky) thing that I observed in Germany was its Gummy Bears. We were greeted by little packages of gummy bears on our hotel beds… we were overwhelmed by the free packets handed out at every McDonald’s… but the strangest place that I saw them was in a little pharmacy. We were both a little under the weather… and so we went in to get some over the counter meds….. and there they were…. A rainbow mound of gummies piled on a large silver tray. As I stood there looking at people picking out their favorite colors I suddenly had a thought……… why would a pharmacy pass out gummies? I just stood there imagining the microscopic germs bouncing and clinging to the little gummies… placed there by a sick person seeking help from the pharmacist who had heard the siren’s call of the gummy tray…… and then gently infecting an unaware person whose only crime was having a sweet tooth…. Gummies gummies everywhere… that is one of the strongest memories that I’ll take away from Gummery… I mean GERMany…

Bonjour

Ah, France... O.k., so we only spent one night there, but we loved Strasburg. It is a very beautiful town right on the French/German border. The city is nestled right on a river providing a great view no matter where you turn. The whole city has an amazing atmosphere where people are zooming past you on bikes while an old man plays the squeeze-box on a street corner. We bought huge pretzels from open air shops and walked along the river at sunset. We loved being able to say “bonjour” in our very southern accents. Visions of the movie “French Kiss” kept running through my head. LACTOSE INTOLERANCE!! We had just enough of France to give us an itch to go back.

The hills are alive...

We drove down to Salzburg from Munich for a day. It was beautiful driving through the Alps and seeing all the snow. In Salzburg, we hiked up to the fortress on the mountain and were treated to an amazing view of the city. Throughout the day there were bands from surrounding countries parading through the town. It’s an interesting experience to be standing in Austria and hearing a Switzerland band play American music. We ate pizza at an Irish pub for lunch. It’s the only Irish pub we’ve ever been to that did not sell chips. I don’t even think they had fish. They did, however, have beans on toast, so there was a little bit of an Irish influence there. Mozart was born in Salzburg, and they have lots of shops selling chocolate with his picture on it. I haven’t quite figured out the connection there, but would be glad to hear from anyone who can explain how Mozart relates to sweets.

The concentration camp

We awoke early to discover over 7 inches of snow…. It was a quiet drive from our hotel in Munich to Dachau… The small village of Dachau was almost picturesque…. But then we came to the camp. The first thing that I saw was the large guard towers that stood silently overlooking the buildings and foundations that once held a tortured people. The whole place was eerily quiet… There really are no words to express the extreme sorrow and sadness that hung over that place… To walk through the crematorium; to see the stacks of bunk beds; to stand and stare at the barbed wire fences & guard towers– made us almost sick. I’m glad that we went… and I don’t know that I’ll ever forget that awful place.