The photos are from our last full day in Dingle, which I'll tell you about later. First, I'll give you a bit of a weather report from our neck of the woods.
The wind picked up during the night, no doubt blowing some sort of front in. All night long the wind howled and whistled through our bedroom hopper (the small top window in our bedroom which we leave open just a tad for fresh air). At times we could hear it driving rain against the pane; at other times it was just the gusting wind. This morning we have blue skies again, although it's quite cloudy and cold. Tomorrow morning we're to have sleet, Monday and Tuesday, heavy snow. Brrr. Good thing I got out my jigsaw puzzle yesterday.
Yesterday after quite a workout at Aquafit, I wasn't fit for much for the rest of the afternoon except matching puzzle pieces. I am happy to say, though, that for all my efforts and diligence on the diet I have lost another 2 lbs, for a total of 9. Yay!
Tonight, we got into Crieff for the annual Burns Supper, a celebration of the life and poetry of Robbie Burns (not "Rabbie" and never "Robert"). In past years, Don has gone with Haig Hamilton to a men-only event held at an historic inn in Stirling. This year, he wanted me to be able to join him so we are going to the one in Crieff with many of the folks who belong to local music societies. I must be careful in both eating and drinking, for I am the designated driver.
Today I will tell you about our last full day in Dingle. It was perhaps the warmest and brightest day of the whole week, although it ended up clouding over in the afternoon. Still, the morning right through til about 2 pm was sunny and mild (temperature in the 50s). We took a walk up the hill behind the town and then back down Goat St. to browse shops all the way back to the cottage. Dingle has a great variety of nice shops with some local crafts and artwork, music, books, jewelry, woollens, and a great variety of other things besides. We didn't usually buy much, if anything, but it was fun to browse.
We had lunch at the Goat Street Cafe which we had tried to get into the day before. It's quite small and always packed. The rave reviews in the front window made it tempting indeed. Once we had eaten there, we knew why it is so packed most of the time. The menu is quite different and the food is both delicious and stimulating with all sorts of interesting colours, textures, and flavours in each dish. We were well set up for the day.
In the afternoon, we went to visit Edna again. We had run into her and Aodan as we were browsing in the shops earlier in the week and she had asked us to come back to see her Saturday afternoon. This time she wanted us to sit in the sitting room and so led us into that room and turned on the electric fire in the fireplace. Jack, Dairena's 8-year-old son was there, playing with his new Game Boy, and Dairena was there as well as Aodon.
Edna served glasses of red wine and we all settled back for a chat. In course of conversation, Edna mentioned that her eldest son, Michaeil, had recently given a speech at an academic conference. She had a tape of the talk and played us part of it while she, Dairena, Aodon, and even Jack began ferrying in salmon on buttered brown bread, tea, and more of Eilis's Christmas cake. It was a most fascinating speech about the need for further scientific study of the seas, very well delivered with forceful arguments. His was a common-sense, laid-back approach and yet quite persuasive. Listening to the speech gave us a good opportunity to be exposed to yet another of Edna's remarkable children.
Then Dairena told us more about the simultaneous translating work she will be doing at the EU Parliament as well as the EU Commission. Heady stuff! And in between times she writes the most lyrical and pithy poetry and takes care of Jack. (Jack's father and his partner will take care of Jack while she is in Brussels.) Jack is a gorgeous and precocious child with big expressive eyes and a fair amount of cheek. He made a few choice comments about the current occupant of the White House in salty terms which embarrassed his mother but had us chuckling in agreement despite ourselves.
Dairena mentioned that she and her girlfriends were going out that night because it was Nollaig Nman--"Women's Christmas." According to Irish custom, the 12th day of Christmas is designated "small Christmas" and a time when women get a break, supposedly, from their usual cooking and cleaning chores. Pubs and restaurants cater to the women and promote celebrations for Nollaig Nman. Edna had made up a small verse for the occasion: "May the man do the dishes and the woman get the wishes."
Dairena told us of another custom for the festive season, "The Wren's Day." On St. Steven's Day, 26th December, there is a parade with people dressed as wrens. Neighbours go from house to house and there are house dances. (Such dances in tight spaces are, in part, what led to the Irish dancing custom of keeping arms down at the sides.)
Yesterday after quite a workout at Aquafit, I wasn't fit for much for the rest of the afternoon except matching puzzle pieces. I am happy to say, though, that for all my efforts and diligence on the diet I have lost another 2 lbs, for a total of 9. Yay!
Tonight, we got into Crieff for the annual Burns Supper, a celebration of the life and poetry of Robbie Burns (not "Rabbie" and never "Robert"). In past years, Don has gone with Haig Hamilton to a men-only event held at an historic inn in Stirling. This year, he wanted me to be able to join him so we are going to the one in Crieff with many of the folks who belong to local music societies. I must be careful in both eating and drinking, for I am the designated driver.
Today I will tell you about our last full day in Dingle. It was perhaps the warmest and brightest day of the whole week, although it ended up clouding over in the afternoon. Still, the morning right through til about 2 pm was sunny and mild (temperature in the 50s). We took a walk up the hill behind the town and then back down Goat St. to browse shops all the way back to the cottage. Dingle has a great variety of nice shops with some local crafts and artwork, music, books, jewelry, woollens, and a great variety of other things besides. We didn't usually buy much, if anything, but it was fun to browse.
We had lunch at the Goat Street Cafe which we had tried to get into the day before. It's quite small and always packed. The rave reviews in the front window made it tempting indeed. Once we had eaten there, we knew why it is so packed most of the time. The menu is quite different and the food is both delicious and stimulating with all sorts of interesting colours, textures, and flavours in each dish. We were well set up for the day.
In the afternoon, we went to visit Edna again. We had run into her and Aodan as we were browsing in the shops earlier in the week and she had asked us to come back to see her Saturday afternoon. This time she wanted us to sit in the sitting room and so led us into that room and turned on the electric fire in the fireplace. Jack, Dairena's 8-year-old son was there, playing with his new Game Boy, and Dairena was there as well as Aodon.
Edna served glasses of red wine and we all settled back for a chat. In course of conversation, Edna mentioned that her eldest son, Michaeil, had recently given a speech at an academic conference. She had a tape of the talk and played us part of it while she, Dairena, Aodon, and even Jack began ferrying in salmon on buttered brown bread, tea, and more of Eilis's Christmas cake. It was a most fascinating speech about the need for further scientific study of the seas, very well delivered with forceful arguments. His was a common-sense, laid-back approach and yet quite persuasive. Listening to the speech gave us a good opportunity to be exposed to yet another of Edna's remarkable children.
Then Dairena told us more about the simultaneous translating work she will be doing at the EU Parliament as well as the EU Commission. Heady stuff! And in between times she writes the most lyrical and pithy poetry and takes care of Jack. (Jack's father and his partner will take care of Jack while she is in Brussels.) Jack is a gorgeous and precocious child with big expressive eyes and a fair amount of cheek. He made a few choice comments about the current occupant of the White House in salty terms which embarrassed his mother but had us chuckling in agreement despite ourselves.
Dairena mentioned that she and her girlfriends were going out that night because it was Nollaig Nman--"Women's Christmas." According to Irish custom, the 12th day of Christmas is designated "small Christmas" and a time when women get a break, supposedly, from their usual cooking and cleaning chores. Pubs and restaurants cater to the women and promote celebrations for Nollaig Nman. Edna had made up a small verse for the occasion: "May the man do the dishes and the woman get the wishes."
Dairena told us of another custom for the festive season, "The Wren's Day." On St. Steven's Day, 26th December, there is a parade with people dressed as wrens. Neighbours go from house to house and there are house dances. (Such dances in tight spaces are, in part, what led to the Irish dancing custom of keeping arms down at the sides.)
Donald and I told about the Flambeaux Parade in Comrie for the driving out of the evil spirits as well as the old Scottish custom of "first footing" on New Year to bring good luck. (The first black-haired man to put a foot across your threshhold in the new year brings good luck. He brings a lump of coal for the hearth and, in return, is given a dram. (First-footing was widely practiced in Comrie until people who weren't exactly neighbours or even friends began "crashing" such parties for the free whisky. Now the parties tend to be by invitation, although not necessarily formal invitation.) Edna said they used to do something like first-footing in Ireland many years ago.
Edna's fourth child, Garoid, came in briefly from his house next door. He was introduced all around and then chat sort of broke down into small groupings. Edna and I chatted for a while about various things. As we were leaving, she shook us warmly by the hand with both her hands and invited us back whether with Boris or Kay or on our own. As I said in a previous blog, we felt privileged to have been introduced to this wonderful family.
The evening was spent in John Benny's Pub for both our evening meal and the music. Another duo, mandolin/vocals and pipes, played in the pub as John Benny was preparing for his family's week-long skiing holiday in Austria. The music was very good but we didn't last very long as we were tired from another full day.
Today's photos show a cluster of shops down a lane that runs off of Goat St. As you can see, much signage is in Gaelic. You'll also notice just how much colour is used in Dingle. I don't know about the rest of Ireland but we found the area we travelled through to be amazingly and refreshingly colourful. We had expected lots of green grass and white-washed cottages but a white-washed cottage was a rarity, at least in this part of Ireland. The same was true for County Kerry and County Clare as you will see tomorrow.
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