You Talk'n To Me?

Just a quick note to say that we have made a few changes around the ol' website. You will notice that at the bottom of each post is a link labeled "Comments". You can now click there and leave us a comment, message, or question about the post. Enjoy... And remember.... Keep it clean...

Travel Through Time With Me...

Several years ago I took a picture of an old rundown cottage that I thought looked awesome. It's roof was slipping away, and I wondered how long it had been since someone lived there. The picture turned out really well, and it quickly became one of my favorite pics. Well... A while back I had to go help a buddy of mine do a survey of some land out in the bog (long story)... We ended up going to a little town and into one of these tiny corner shops that really never changes. I doubt that many people go in there... And I really doubt that they get too many tourists. I stood there looking at some postcards when I found it. It was a really old postcard of my old cottage. I couldn't believe it... Somehow this old postcard had just sat on the rack for decades waiting on me. I think that is so cool to be able to see the old place in all its glory... And I am amazed that the picture was taken at the same exact angle that I had taken from. What are the chances of that?

The postcard:



My picture:

(Click picture to see it larger)

Movie News...

Hi all... We just wanted to recommend a good Irish movie that we saw for the first time last week. One of our good friends here suggested the movie - "This is my father" to us... And we really loved it! This movie, staring James Caan, Moya Farrelly, Aidan Quinn, and John Cusack really had us on the edge of our seats. The story is about an American man (Caan) who suddenly finds some hidden clues about his paralyzed mother's past growing up in Ireland. The search for his family's roots sends him to Ireland to discover who his father was. If you are at all interested in Ireland, (in our opinion) this movie is a must see!

Dee's Page

Here it is... Dee's pictures from Christmas. Stay tuned and I'll add a few more in the next day or so. Enjoy!

Today's Random Pic...

Sorry that I have been taking so long to put up Dee's Christmas pics. I hope to do it this weekend. In the meantime how about a random pic to keep you busy? This one was taken in one of my favorite areas of the country. The mountains of Sligo are truly amazing!

New Page...

Hi all... I finally sat down and scanned some pictures for one of our Christmas pages. You can go and see some of the pictures that I took over Christmas by clicking the new link here or at the top of the page. I'll create a page for Dee's pics in the next day or so.

2 Years!

Just a quick note to say thanks to all of you who come by our site. We just passed our two year anniversary and were have been amazed to see how many people come by the site each day. Thanks for checking in on us and drop us a note from time to time.

Here are some of the site facts:

Last year we had visitors from all over the world. Here are the top visitors:
Visits / Country
5856 / United States
81 / United Kingdom
71 / Canada
64 / Korea, South
31 / Germany
27 / Mexico
26 / Spain
20 / India
19 / Australia
15 / Thailand
14 / Uruguay
14 / Japan
14 / Vietnam
11 / Taiwan
10 / Switzerland
10 / Belgium
9 / Netherlands
9 / Hong Kong
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Our top visitor came 293 times in 2005!
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This is a graph that shows the unique visitors to the site this past year.

(Unique Visitors: The total number of unique individuals who visited your site during the report time frame. If someone visits multiple times, they are counted only once.)

W's Travel Log 3 (the final thought)

Being in the states was really nice, but I often was caught off guard by the things that are so different from Ireland...

I stood in shock at the variety as I examined the toothpaste aisle at Wal-mart...

I couldn't believe how many times I could get refills on sweet tea at the Mexican restaurant (we never get free refills here)...

The sound of wind blowing through the trees kinda spooked me out at first...

I don't remember there being so many birds and chipmunks in my parents yard...

I had forgotten that people will stop and talk to you even if they don't know you...

I always kept translating the prices from dollars to EURO to see how cheap everything was...

Several times I had to wonder, "Is there a street in America that does not have at least one blow- up Santa?"...

I don't really understand why Wal-mart gives you so many plastic bags with every purchase (It seems really wasteful)...

Why did people let Starbuck's coffee invade our town (Do that many people need a cup of coffee when shopping in Target? - Do that many people like to pay for overpriced bad coffee?) ?

I don't think that I ever really got to see the sky like I did in Ireland (I missed that) .

I spoke back to several people that were talking on those hand free cell phone things (that really freaked me out) - always thinking that they were talking to me...

In many ways I really went through culture shock in the states... Don't get me wrong - I still love my homeland... There were just so many new things all at once... I think that I was a bit overwhelmed.

W's Travel Log 2

As I have been sitting here thinking about what else I wanted to say I suddenly realized that every post before this one (regarding our trip to the USA) somehow talked about food. Despite the fact that I seem to keep mentioning it... it definitely was not the most important part of the trip. I was amazed to see all of the drastic changes in people. I guess that it has only been a year and a half since I was last in my hometown, but not really much had changed there. It was almost like driving around in a dream... things I once knew so well but have not given a thought to in years stood almost unchanged. Every corner we would turn would cause some memory to come flooding back out of the deep and dusty part of my mind. Like I said, it was like moving around in a dream. I could see the biggest changes (as I said before) in my nieces and nephews. All of them had grown much more than I expected. The change was so drastic that I almost could not take it all in in the beggining. The kids that I left behind years ago are now driving cars, going off to college, or even talking about what they are going to do afterwards! Nephews that were playing with stuffed animals are now only talking about college football, and nieces that were infants have turned into princesses! Thankfully I was able to really spend some time just hanging out, talking and playing with my family. There were a ton of people that I had wanted to see while I was back, but the time that I got to spend playing "horse" (ie. basketball) with my nephews or chatting with my neices over Christmas dinner were truly priceless, and something that I hope to do again more often.

W's travel log 1.

There was a strange feeling of excitment mixed with extreme exhaustion when I finally landed in my hometown. I had spent more hours than I cared to count on a plane or waiting for a plane... but I was so excited to see my family! I came out of the plane and walked down the long hallway to where I could see my parents waiting on the other side of security. It was so far away that I was sure that they did not see me yet (I was in a group of people). I stopped behind a large pole for a couple of seconds just to collect myself... It had been a year and a half since I last saw my father and about six months since I last saw my mother. Needless to say, I was just a bit overwhelmed with anticipation. I came down a set of stairs and into the arms of my parents. It felt so great to be hugged by both of them... a moment I will think back on forever. We walked down the hallway to go and collect my bags when suddenly my father put his arm around me and pulled me hard to the right. I remember looking at him doing this right as we rounded the corner. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw someone jump behind a big yellow piece of paper. The large banner read, "Welcome Home!" Hidden behind the banner were 10 of my family members waiting to welcome me home! What a suprise! It was around 11pm when I arrived and I really didn't expect anyone else to be there... After many hugs and almost losing my luggage we all went out to dinner at IHOP (my favorite late night restaurant). We stayed there until well after midnight. I loved having the chance to see everyone (just about) all at one time. It was truly a great suprise. I left with my parents and when back to their house where my sister (Jenny) was waiting up for us. She took me in and let me peek at her little girl - my little niece - that I had never seen. It is so strange to think that I have not ever seen her. I ended up staying up and talking for a long while with everyone. It was great to be home, and my old bed felt great when I finally fell into it that night.

Back In Ireland...

Hi all... Just a quick note to say that Dee and I made it back to our house in Ireland today. We had a wonderful time in the states, and we are sorry that we were not able to see everyone while we were there. Thanks for your patience while we have been away from the website. We will be updating it over the next few days... So keep checking in with us.