Until my parents come to visit!!!
~ Irish Rain ~ The Journal: May 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
It is that time of year again...
Each summer loads of fishermen descend upon this little island with the hopes of catching Ireland's famous trout and salmon. The only problem is that in modern Ireland nothing is free. All lakes and rivers are privately owned/controlled. The best spots to fish always cost the most... and their is usually a waiting list to get a spot. There is a river near where we live that has a waiting list a year long! In honor of this season here are a few pics!
A while back I observed something that struck me as really funny. As I stood and watched the crowds of people shopping and enjoying the day I realized that even though we are a continent away from where I grew up the teenagers here are just like the teenagers back home. It does not matter if you are in America or Ireland the result will be the same if you give a couple of teens a bit of freedom... time on their hands... and a mime:
Don't feel too bad for the mime. These two girls helped to draw a lot of attention to her act and a load of coins in her hat.
This weekend I happened upon the mime taking a break.... Her silent appreciation of a peaceful moment in the fading sunshine really made an impression upon me.
Everyone in Ireland is talking about Dustin this morning....
Last night was the annual EUROvision song contest. Each year every European country selects and sends a musical act to an 'American Idol' type contest. This song contest started back in the early 50's and has produced such musical acts as: Abba, Celine Dion, and even Riverdance. Ireland has won the competition more than any other country but has not had much success since the contest was opened to Eastern Europe. This year all of Ireland's hopes were pined on a puppet named Dustin. The performance - if you can call it that - was a blatant attempt to get laughs, mock the contest, and win votes by playing to every country. Dustin's song 'Irelande Douze Points' contained such riveting lyrics as: "Hello Abba, hello Bono, hello Helsinki Ola Prague, hello sailor, se la vie Alvida sein Mama Mia, and god save the Queen Bon joir Serbia, good day Austria You know what I mean?"
or
'Eastern Europe we love you Do you like Irish stew? Or goulash as it is to you?
Shake your feathers
Listen Bulgaria we love you Belarus, Georgia, Montenegro, Moldavia, Albania, Croatia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Love you Turkey Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia, Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina And don't forget the Swiss!'
Needless to say... Dustin was disappointed when he did not get past the first round last night. The final contest will be held on Saturday night. I don't think that we will watch it... I think that we will go see the new Indiana Jones film.
Here is a youtube video of Dustin's performance. Enjoy if you dare!
. . It is really hard to believe... but Dee and I just celebrated our fifth anniversary of living in Ireland. We moved here back in May of 2003. Wow... I can't believe it has been that long! I look back over the past few years and can't believe the changes that we have seen both here and in ourselves. I have to be honest and say that there were times in the beginning that I did not think that we were going to last very long here. It was so hard moving away from family, friends, and everything that we knew. I will never forget how cold and wet it was during our first week here........ and I remember feeling so overwhelmed with the changes and feelings of isolation as we tried to settle in. There were times that it was very hard and very lonely... and the whole process was far harder than I would have ever imagined. Thankfully, we have settled here. Thankfully, we have made a home here and have friends that we can rely on. Dee and I really have fallen in love with this place and the community where we live. I have said it many times, but I really feel as if my life is a pilgrimage. And as I look back over the past five years I can see that I have been challenged in ways I would have never imagined, and I have (hopefully) grown and changed. I feel that this journey has deepened my faith... my trust... and my love for Dee and the people around me. I pray that as we continue this journey I will become more patient... be more trusting... see better the beauty that is all around me... learn to worship in spirit and truth... and know what it really means to live by faith.
As it turned out my little leprechaun was not on his own... oh... and he didn't disappear. He was soon followed by two other leprechauns, a tiger, and a monkey. They actually stood on the street corner and waved at cars for a while. Now you might be wondering why this strange assortment of creatures would be seen walking the streets in Ireland... It turns out that my leprechaun was not a shoemaker for fairies, but rather was a cereal maker. He along with his two friends, Pop and Snap, make some kind of cereal. I forget the name but it is supposed to be famous. The tiger's name was Tony and the monkey seemed to be cookoo for 'Coco Pops' (yes, he is in Ireland!). The small gang was pointing the way to the finish line for a bike race that was sponsored by Kellogg's.
I don't think I will ever forget how funny it was to see that first guy (I think that his name was Crackle) walking down the road. I laughed so hard that I cried.
I also need to add that despite the fact that someone obviously staged having all these guys on the side of the road, I am still convinced the little person that I saw in the wood was INDEED the real thing!
----------------------- I need to say this first of all... I did not in any way construct or stage the following post. It all happened just as I say it did!!!
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Over the weekend Dee and I went shopping in the city. Well... Dee shopped while I walked around taking pictures. After about an hour I was tired of all the shops, and I decided to leave the city center and go to the University campus. It is a bit of the city that I have often wanted to photograph but never have had the time/weather to do so. I'm so glad that I decided to go on that day... I NEVER would have guessed what was waiting for me there!
I walked down one of the busiest streets in the city and was planning to turn up a little tree- lined road that leads up to the main administrative building. As I was walking I was also halfway watching a group of guys playing soccer in a field to my right. To be honest with you my mind was a million miles away, and I was just zoned out to the world. It was at this moment when out of the little tree-lined road ahead of me popped a real leprechaun! I nearly died of laughter and surprise. I fumbled around in my camera bag and got out my big zoom lens. I was just able to fire off a few quick pictures before he rounded the corner and disappeared.
Mom - I hope that you had a great Mother's Day! I miss you and I love you!
I wanted to let you know that I have been really busy taking pictures of the wildflowers for you! I'll be printing them out and putting them in the post soon!
Dee and I are counting the days until we go to FLA (60 days from today)!!!
are temperatures in the 60's (F) called 'Caribbean type weather'.
No joke - They said this on the news last night! I have to admit that the weather is really nice this week.... but I'm not going to go jump in the freezing North Atlantic!
The craic was mighty down on the ol' diving pier the other day. I stood and watched these guys (some with less grace than others) fling themselves off the top floor and into the crisp water below. As I stood their watching these guys jump I was taken back to my own childhood. To those countless summers spent in the local swimming pool where we would make up our own dives off of the diving board. These guys showed me that there are some dives that are just universally known.
May first was the first day of summer in Ireland... and it was glorious! The sun has burned bright and there has virtually been no rain for the past week! Needless to say - this is a strange event in Ireland! I even went as far as to break out the shorts today! I can usually plan on a dozen days each summer where I can wear shorts - if I'm lucky... so it is really a treat to have a shorts day so early in the summer!
I had a meeting in the city today and I decided to take my camera along just in case I saw something interesting. After the meeting I spent about half and hour out walking along the promenade overlooking some beaches. I was not the only one to have had this great idea. The prom was packed with several hundred people out enjoying the sun and freezing North Atlantic!
Adam asked a very good question about the last picture. He wanted to know why the sheep had been spray painted. Adam - I am actually a bit surprised that no one has ever asked me that question on the website. That is always one of the first questions people ask me when they come to visit Ireland. The reason farmers (here) spray paint their sheep is because different farmers' sheep often mix together. Sheep get out of fences... farmers share fields... and often sheep are just left to wonder the mountainside without any shepherd to watch over them. I'll tell you... seeing multicolored sheep running around on the mountainside is quite the funny site. You have to act quickly to get a picture of the new lambs before they are tagged... But when you do - you can be assured that it is very young! Here are a few pics in Adam's honor:
