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Published: June 30th 2009
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Tuesday, June 30
We are in Ireland- finally! Our plane took off on time, without event. We had 4 seats together in the center of the plane. We all took “No Jet Lag” tablets, and they really have seemed to work- so far. We all feel a bit tired, but not totally exhausted. For this blog entry, I’ve learned my lesson and will not put “dot dot dot” anywhere. I saw that they displayed as all sorts of random letters on the blog, so -no more dots.
We arrived at Shannon on time at 6:30 a.m. Ireland time (1:30 a.m. New England time). After collecting our luggage, we had a light breakfast in the cafeteria (Euro sticker shock), picked up our rental car, and began our day. Since there is only one road leaving Shannon, going in only one direction, I did not need the GPS for awhile, but it has turned out to be less of a luxury and more of a necessity for us “Yanks” who have to adjust to driving on the left. I feel like I am always in the fastest lane on the Mass Pike, but everyone passes me on the right. I might
Corbalee
A view of the Atlantic Ocean from the road in front of our house. have a lead foot in the states, but the drivers in Ireland put me to shame (100 km per hour on narrow, two-lane roads). I didn’t dare blink. We have not had to stop for sheep or cows yet, but we have experienced being stuck behind tractors and hay wagons .
Our first stop after the airport was Kilrush. We had tea and home made Irish soda bread scones with Mary and Michael, our hosts‘ in-laws. They live in a row house adjoining Michael’s law practice. It has a lovely stone-walled garden that backs up to St. Sean’s Church where Father McSweeny is interred near the Blessed Mother’s Statue. Many coincidences with our family. After tea, Mary led us up to Corbally, with Jeff riding shotgun. Dean, Jackie and I had a bit of trouble keeping up. Fortunately, there weren’t too many turns, and she got behind a truck that slowed us both down. Some of the roads are so narrow!! Now I know why our rental car has so many scrapes and scratches on the passenger side!
Liz and Joe Nolan's home, where we are staying, is on a narrow, one-car width gravel road that runs through
the village of Corbally(formerly known as Casheen). If we are driving in at the same time that someone is driving out, one pulls off the road until the other passes. (Jeff says “Can you imagine that happening in America?”) One of the neighbours actually lives in the old school building, and some of the original cinder block and stone houses are still standing. We have four neighborhood dogs. The most colourful of which is a border collie named Rock who sounds the intruder alarm, and patrols along the top of the stone walls.
From our front windows, we overlook the Atlantic and a horseshoe cove. As I write this Joe’s cows are grazing in the field next to and behind the house. It is so quiet here, and the weather is ALWAYS changing- the sea winds blow the clouds in and out-we’re glad we brought our rain jackets, as we’ve used them 3 different times today.
After grocery shopping at Tesco, a cross between the Stop and Shop and the Wal-Mart of Ireland, we have decided is is much less expensive to live in the States. We thought things were expensive, but our Norwegian check-out clerk assured us
guard dogs
Our neighbor Chrissy and the neighborhood dogs welcome us to the house. that “Ireland had the best deals on meat in Europe”. I hate to think we’ll be paying more than 24 euros a unit for deli meat in France. Dean did his routine at the pool on the way back, but the pool is a bit shallow. Hopefully, it will be good enough to get through the week.
After a light dinner at home, Jackie and Jeff relaxed in the house while Dean and I went for a walk through Corbally and down to the water. Next to one old stone homes, I noticed a stone grave marker, “W.M.”. The next house had one too. Dean and I were surprised by the coincidence; William McCarthy and William Maloney, perhaps? Then, when we saw a third, we realized our mistake and solved the mystery- “Water Main”!
On that note, we’ve been awake for over 32 hours now, except for an intermittent 2-hour catnap on the plane, so we’ll say good bye and get some rest.
Tomorrow, maybe The Burren and Cliffs of Mohr. Good night!
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Ed Raftery
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Erin Go Bragh
Sounds great so far.Keep Dean out of the pubs and away from the coleens!!