What did I just say?

Here are a few things that I never would have said before I moved to Ireland:

Said to a group of friends: "How are ye?" (This is one of my favorite things that is said here... but I miss a good southern Y'all from time to time)

Said to a friend: "Look at the pretty hooker out there!" (A hooker is a fishing boat in certain areas of Ireland)

Said to a friend: "Are you going to hurl this year?" (Hurling is a sport in Ireland)

Said to the shop keeper as he stood behind the main counter: "Do you have any craic?" (Pronounced 'CRACK' - it is Irish for good news/fun times)

Today's Random Pic...

"Winter's Sun"


This picture was taken this morning around 11am. The sun seems to hang in perpetual sunset during the winter.

The picture makes it look like a peaceful day... but the wind was blowing about 30mph and I was run off the beach by stinging rain and hail.

In the News...

If you were ever wondering what is going on over here.... here are a few exerts from the news here.


It is being said that this week is the most depressing week of the year. The lull after the holidays mixed with the depths of winter darkness makes this week the week where most people suffer from depression on varying levels.



Will Farrel has been seen around Ireland. He is here researching his family roots. We have not seen him.



Irish movie "Once" staring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova has been nominated for an Oscar. The movie, about an Irish street musician and a Czech immigrant who strike up a friendship based on their mutual love of music, has been nominated for Best Original Song. Dee and I both bought this movie for each other for Christmas. We love it!! And the soundtrack!!



Grey's Anatomy's star Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy) is said to be looking to buy a home in Ireland.

Ireland is the world's friendliest country, according to a survey drawn up by the Lonely Planet travel guide group. Ireland beat the US and Malawi as the friendliest travel destination in Lonely Planet's 2008 Bluelist. Irish people have 'a deliciously dark sense of humour' and 'a welcoming attitude towards strangers,' Lonely Planet said. 'The famous ability of the Irish to find craic or fun times with convivial company, in boom or bust times means you're always in for a treat,' the survey added.

The Archdiocese of Dublin has approved a new school enrollment policy, which will see schools for the first time setting aside a quota of places for non-Catholic pupils. Until now all schools belonging to the Archdiocese were obliged to enroll Catholic applicants first. Last year, an emergency school had to be set up to take in the non-Catholic children they could not accommodate and most of these were the children of immigrants.

Voting has opened for the first ever world edition of the board game Monopoly. The manufacturer of Monopoly, Hasbro, has set up a website where people can vote for cities from a prepared list or nominate a city to feature in the game. Just 22 cities will make it on to the new game, which traditionally listed street names in each spot on the board. Dublin is the only Irish location to appear on the list and it stands alongside other major cities like New York, London, and Tokyo. Dublin is currently ranked 6th on the leader board with 2% of the total vote. Paris and London jointly lead with 2.9%, followed by New York, Paris, and Rome.

The most popular children's names (2007) in Northern Ireland are Jack and Katie. The most popular names in Scotland are Lewis and Sophie.

And that's about all the random news I can come up with for now.

Source for news: www.rte.ie

Today's Random Pic...

Airgead / Money

Happy Anniversary!

Our little website turned four years old this month! I can't believe that we have been posting so much for so long! I have had fun taking time this morning to look over past posts and seeing how the website has changed over the past few years. I wanted to say thank you to everyone that drops in on the site and to those of you that leave us comments! It is always fun to know that friends are stopping in and having a glimpse into our lives here. I can't believe that the site has had nearly 20,000 visits!

Here is a map of the visits we had in 2007:

(click on the pic to see it larger)

Today's Random Pic...

Mom's Beach



I am still under the weather. I went to the doc yesterday.... and he gave me some medicine. Hopefully I will be feeling better in the next couple of days. I am really getting tired of being sick!

I'm posting a picture of my mom's favorite beach (in Ireland). It does not look like much... but this quarter mile of rock and sand has (literally) millions of little shells and pieces of coral. We have spent a lot of time here over the past few years... and I always think of my mom when I'm there. The day we were here (see previous post) it was quiet and abandoned. The sand was untouched and the only sounds were of the breaking waves and the wind blowing.






PS - I took this with my new lens. ;)

Sunshine!

I was feeling a lot better today... I'm not sure what I have... just some kind of sinus infection that seems to be sticking around longer than I would like. I am the first to admit that I am not a good sick person. I don't like to take it easy. I don't suffer in silence. I have to complain to someone (sorry Dee). I usually rush the healing process and push myself before I should. Having said all of that... today was a beautiful day. The sun was out, and there was a welcomed spring feel to the day. Dee got me out of the house and office for a while this afternoon, and we went for a drive. I recently got a new lens (thanks mom and dad!), and I have been itching to try it out. Here is a picture that I took from the side of the road this evening.

Brittany, France (Cont. - Cont.)

I have a really bad cold right now... so please pardon the fact that I am not posting a lot of written posts this week. Here are a few more pics from our time in Brittany.


A Celtic Monk





Another Gargoyle

Brittany, France (cont...)

A few random pics by Dee...

More Pics from Brittany...

We are back from our little trip to France.... But we took a ton of different pics... I plan on posting a few of them over the next couple of days. Enjoy!



Gargoyles:

Celtic Cousins...

Brittany France is a really cool place. This peninsula, a little arm stretching out towards Ireland, is the home to a unique and an awesome people. Historically they are celtic cousins with the Scottish, Welsh, and Irish.... and this fact has not been lost. This magical place feels so different from Ireland, but yet in some ways seems to have more in common with Ireland than with France. Needless to say... we have taken a ton of pictures while we have been here... and we have loved our little bit of time here with our friends.




A prehistoric Celtic Dolmen
This site is believed to have been used for pagan worship and burial.


The dolmen from the side... (click to make it bigger)






Dee inside the dolmen
You can see ancient carvings on the rock to her right



More pictures to come...

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great New Year! We celebrated French and American style this year. We spent a quiet evening talking, laughing, and eating with our friends here in France. The girls cooked a really nice meal... complete with black eyed peas! The French twist to the meal was that we had exotic meats with the dinner. Yea... that is a tradition here! We had antelope with kangaroo on the side! I know that does not sound really good... but it was! At midnight we went outside and watched B open a bottle of nonalcoholic carbonated fruit drink and laughed in the New Year! Needless to say... we had a great time and made some really fun memories!




(no... that is not snow! It is sticky juice going all over all of us!)