Blogs from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, Europe - page 3

Rainbow Garden Centre Kilmlihil, Ireland (near Ennis) Very Early Monday, June 22, 2009 I think I might be the story behind a new saying in this area of Ireland (see the title of this post). You see, even though I really don't act much at all like someone from Texas, people around here definitely have an idea of what a Texan is. And today I got to live up to one of those stereotypes. This weekend is, as you may know, the summer solstice. And people who live with 7 hours of daylight during some parts of the year really like to celebrate the longest day of the year. This resulted in two parties thrown this weekend, and both were quite good bashes. Yesterday was the party of the Gardeners. I'm not really sure what Bill's ... read more

Fearless readers, I'm apparently a good salesman when given the chance. At least, this is what several of the other vendors of the Ennis market noted yesterday at the close of market. I was able to go in to town with Chris and help him setup and man the market booth, where he sells plants and preserves. Chris also had several errands to run, and left me in charge of the booth for hours at a time. This was my 'work' for the day, and was quite nice. Sure, I'm not 100% on the soil conditions and the needs of some familiar plants in this unknown environment, but I'm picking it up. For example, I now know that neither peppers nor cucumbers will grow outside in Ireland. They will, however, grow in a polytunnel or in ... read more

I'm Off To Join The Circus! Well loyal reader, after a week and a half visit home with the 'rents and sister's family, I'm finally over the pond. Not much to report as of yet, as I just arrived this morning. Of course my ass is dragging lower than a pregnant warthog's, but that's to be expected when you jump ahead 5 time zones (6 if you count the TX - NC transition) and the previous night was spent dodging the motherly tendancies of Aer Lingus flight attendants. I must say, I was quite impressed by Aer Lingus's plane. We flew over on a A330, which was decked out well in the latest of tech gadgets. I, of course, wound up trying my best to sleep instead of re-watching "The Watchmen" or some such movie. Got ... read more

As if we didn't have enough nights! I headed out for a few quiet drinks at home in clare the friday before i headed off. Eddie came down from galway and Amy from Cobh and along with Elaine, the girls from home and Sham & Annmarie we had a grand few drinks in the weavers in newmarket and then into Ennis to Cruises. Very sensible night but was lovely coz got to chat to everyone properly. Unfortunately being the fairy that i am i forgot my camera so ive no photos to accompany this blog but said id write a quick one anyway not to miss out on any details of the lead up to the farewell!! I said goodbye to the girls after the pub, we manged to keep it tear free! go me!! Saturday ... read more

I will get to what happened in a few minutes but tell ya's what else I've been up to since Cork. The new hosts that I was staying with in Limerick all decided one day to take me on a tour of County Clair which was real nice of them, they all took a day of work and two car loads latter we were heading for the Cliffs of Moher about one hour drive towards the west coast. Luckily it was a sunny day for once so we had great views of the cliffs and the Islands out on the horizon. The cliffs are the highest in Europe I think about 200m above sea level and really spectulier. People used to be able to go right to the edge only last year but it is all ... read more