Blogs from Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland, Europe

August 18 – Saturday - For some inexplicable reason I woke up around 0600 this morning and could not back to sleep. So I finally got up around 7:30 and went downstairs and did a little homework on the train trip to Belfast from Ballinasloe. The ticket will be €80 and the trip will take about about 3 ½ hours. It goes to Heuston Station. Then you have to unload all your stuff and catch the LUAS tram to Connolly Station where you get the northbound train to Belfast. The West-East trains should logically go to Connolly Station to link up with the North-South train routes but they don’t. You have to make your own way to Connolly Station from Heuston Station in Dublin to catch the North-South trains. I’m sure it has something to do ... read more

July 21 The castle and the bike After putting flowers on the graves one of my cousins went back to work and the other showed me some more of the graves and we then walked back to the house. Another Irish 10 minute walk. On the way we passed a huge hospital, St Brigids that had been closed down and a castle that at one point must have guarded the river crossing on the River Suck. This huge hospital except for a small part is closed down. Such a shame. It’s surprising how austerity measures always involve things that serve the needs of the people and never eliminating perks for public officials….or increases in their retirement programs as they cut ours. The castle was in pretty good condition for the most part although one of it's ... read more

Friday 15 June - Drinking my tea and thinking things over. Cold and rainy day here. Hard to believe this is June. Good day to catch up on computer work. This weekend or Monday I will head back to Dublin and Wednesday catch that big bird back to Tejas. Quiet day here. It was raining earlier but should be over for a day or so. Christy, Noel, Maggie, and Wesley are getting ready to fly to Benidorm in Spain for a week. Sometime this weekend or Monday I will go to Dublin for a bit and then go back to Texas for a bit. I invested most of yesterday and today in setting up a new computer for Christy and Brian and catching up on my blog and doing homework on Dublin. Saturday – Another cold ... read more

June 12 Tuesday - Today I visited the battlefield for the Battle of Aughrim and then turned in my rental car in Galway then had a walkabout for a bit. I then got Mom some more dillisk and rode the 401 bus out to Salthill to enjoy the view a bit before getting the 401 again back to Eyre Square to catch the #20 bus back to Ballinasloe. When I got back to Ballinasloe I walked around the town for about an hour or so and then eased back to the house for the evening. It was sure nice to have a car again for a bit but at $550 for the week with the mandatory insurance it was a luxury I can’t afford but sparingly.... read more

Saturday May 19 - Today pretty much just drove back to Ballinasloe taking a roundabout route via Enniskillen because on the map the road showed to be hugging a lake but in reality it wasn’t and most of the trip all you could see was hedges and some fields. Picturesque enough but not a lake views as we had hoped. When we got back to Ballinasloe I invested most of the evening in trying to get caught up on my blogs and doing my wash.... read more