Lady of Leisure...

The harvest is officially over!! Finally, technically, physically and emotionally, all of the taters have been dug. In a previous post, I had mentioned the Irish farmers fall phenomena known as the Harvest Beard. Almost the whole crew Peadar works with have one since they no time to shave, but now that we've reached the end I feel we need to crown a winner. Congratulations Dermot Whyte, or should I say Paul Bunyan!

We saw D's harvest beard at an engagement party for Brendan Whyte (Pad's cousin) and Karina Smyth. Congratulations to the happy couple! I even got Catherine, who is 7 months preggers to have a drink with me at the party. Just kidding!! Well she wasn't drinking, but I was :)

The party was on in Drogheda, which is a medieval city about 40 minutes North of Dublin. There is a fab restaurant there called Eastern Seaboard that I highly recommend. It kind of reminded me of a place you would find in the states, with high ceilings and menus on clipboards. Great seafood!

While I was having a drink we were discussing our plans for a Sunday in the town. I hadn't been up there in ages but when I first moved to Ireland, Peadar told me about a few sites we could go see. One of them included Saint Oliver Plunkett's head at a cathedral in Drogheda. Yes, an actual 500 year old head, on display, for the world to see. I was so there. I had been begging Peadar to take me to see the Saint's dead head since he first told me about it, and today was our day. 

Peadar informed me that this was a bit of a pilgrimage for some people, so I needed to be very respectful. I checked to see if photography was permitted. It was. Below check out the door of the cell where they held Ollie until his martyrdom.

It wasn't fair at all to the old chap, he advocated educating Catholics and Protestants in schools together and accepted everyone. The British, who have oppressed Ireland for hundred of years, had him hung, drawn and quartered, which is not a nice way to go at all. Have you ever seen The Tutors or Braveheart? This includes having your nether bit cut off if you are a guy and also disembowelment.  

So, check out my picture of the head below! It was hard to get a good shot with a flash so I have included one from Google as well. Pad reckons the head looks decent for being 500 years old, but to be honest it is pretty moldy looking.

The church was amazing though, it had beautiful stained glass and the biggest organ I've ever seen. 

I have been living as a "lady of leisure" for the last two weeks since I am finished up with my old job and haven't started the new one yet. Part of that includes shopping and eating a lot, so when my friend Michlle Ryan and I heard there was a new Avoca at Malahide castle we were there in a heart beat. Avoca is like Anthropologie and Whole Foods combined.

Amazing shopping, clothes, food, kitchenware, etc.

They also have a bakery that is to die for. Look at the size of Michelle's eclair. I of course had Eton Mess which is like smashed up Pavolva in a glass. Delish. 

Our adventure to Malahide castle was all well and good until it got dark and closed. This wouldn't have been a problem for people who parked in the parking lot close to the visitor center, but unfortunately I had parked in the one by the playground  which requires a 10 minute walk through a forest. Not like a lit up forest. Straight pitch black. 

Michelle and I hung on to each other and used the flashlight app on my phone, but it wasn't enough. We got 25 yards into the path and started screaming our heads off and ran back out. It was one of the moments where you ask yourself "If this was a scary movie, what would you do?" We would be judging the characters for being dumb and going in the dark forest. We also called our signif others who so insensitively suggested we are babies and to simply walk through the forest. Well, it wasn't that simple.

Using our better judgement, we went back up to the now locked up visitor center, where a cleaner suggested we try the "Park Ranger's house". No joke, this is the door the Park Rangers. It was almost creepier than the forest. 

I was like, twist in the story, what if the Park Ranger turns out to be the killer and not a creepy guy already in the woods? Well we had to use an actual iron knocker (no doorbell) but to no avail, there was no answer.

In the end we called a cab to come get us from the main entrance. We asked him to take us the other entrance when he creepily goes "there are many entrances into the castle but only a few ways out." TWIST again, what if the killer is the cab driver?!

In the end, we found the car, behind some locked up wrought iron gates, so even if we had gone through the forest, we would not have been able to get out and would have had to go back through the forest to get out to the road.  Solution: leave the car overnight and come back in the daylight. Cabbie, take us home!!

Just another adventure in Ireland, exploring castles and creepy forests and living like a lady of leisure. Tonight Pad and I jet off to Thailand for 2 weeks of R&R before I have to report to Boston for basic training. 

Lots of Love, As Always,

Keats

Halloween in Dublintown

Happy Halloween! 

Tomorrow is Halloween in Dublin (and the world over) and there are many festivities on to celebrate. The Wax Museum has a chamber of horrors, and the Leprechaun Museum has a Celtic Mythology show that is meant to scare even the bravest adults! 18 & overs only! Check out this little creep show below.  The Bram Stoker Festival is on and the holiday happenings are everywhere. In my research of Halloween in Dubs I came across the tidbit that is was Irish immigrants of the late 18th and early 19th century that really brought the traditions and customs of the holiday to America. So yet another connection between my American heritage and my new Irish home.  I am hoping to get to some of the events on this week.

Speaking of Halloween and the dead, that was me last week as I was suffering the worst sickness I think I've ever had in my life. Hunkered down in the "bunker" (my bedroom) for 7 straight days with one thing after another. First I had a sinus infection, which I have come to realize the Irish call the "flu". The with my low immune system I caught a terrible stomach flu, which the Irish call a "vomiting bug". Even the sicknesses have different names over here. Either way they suck, and I was straight out of commission for 7 days. Now that I am among the living again I have some big news....

I have a new job! 

My current company is selling and I have a new job working for an Inbound Marketing Company called HubSpot. They are a Boston-based software co. opening EU headquarters in Dublin and I am one of their first 12 local hires. At the end of November I head to Boston for training for 4 weeks. So any Americans that want to come visit in December feel free. I am still determining holiday plans but may be home for Xmas! I am finished up at my current job today so I have actually have about 4 weeks off for the first time in my life. After going straight from HS > College > Job #1 > Job #2 I have never had this much free time, I am a lady of leisure! 

I am thinking of taking 2 weeks in Dublin then Peadar and I are going to make the most of it and head to Thailand for our first real, proper vacation together. I had a hell of a time convincing him to go since they are still stressed about getting the potatoes out of the ground and the harvest pressure is STILL ON. 

Basically the harvester drives along and drags the grader through the mud. Then the grader sifts through the mud and drops the potatoes into boxes in a trailer being driving by a tractor next to it. 

Peadar told me we can't go to Thailand until all the spuds are out of the ground and it has been too mucky and rainy to dig them. So I did the only thing I knew, and took over the job myself.

Peadar is a bit of a legend in my book. This hair and this harvest beard, recognized the world over.  My mom pointed out to me after reading my last blog that I forgot the most important part of the story of the drunk guy in the bar in Galway recognizing Peadar from years ago. "THAT HAIR MAN, THAT HAIR. I'D RECOGNIZE IT ANYWHERE."

To be honest I think Padman might be the antithesis of the Gym-Tan-Laundy motto. He has been too busy working to hit the gym, he has never tanned in his life, and laundry? We send that out. I may be a Farmer's girlfriend but that doesn't mean I have to do Farmer's laundry! 

There was a mass on for Granny Whyte last Sunday, and afterwards Peadar and I took flowers up to her grave. Many Whytes have been buried in the Naul and it really was a happy moment, because Granny and Grandad Whyte lived for many years together and died in old age. But we walked around and checked out all the graves and there were some very young people there too, and those are the saddest. Peadar told me the stories of the people he knew, like a 12 year old boy from the village who died of an Asthma attack, and I cried for them. It is a very old and interesting graveyard with chapel ruins. 

On a happier note, I have been keeping up with the swimming and water polo. There was a Celtic Masters swim event on with teams from all over Ireland last Saturday. I won gold in the 50 fly and bronze in the 50 backstroke. I actually won another gold for a relay I was in, but my good friend Laura Harvey has that metal... I'll have to get it off of her!!!

Have a safe & spooky All Hallows Eve!!!

XOXO

Amanda

Forever Fall

Someone recently described the weather to me in Dublin as "Forever Fall". So true! Sometimes the way it rains is more like spring but on the whole and whole it is like Forever Fall here. And Fall just happens to be my favorite season...

Remember my post awhile back about my 16 Euro dirty martini at the Westin? Well, I've topped it! At the Four Seasons premium cocktails are 20 Euro, and a Silver Margarita with Patron is 25 Euro! Now, I know it's the Four Seasons but how crazy is that! I'll tell you one reason why, alcohol is so expensive over here because they have taxed it to the max. A bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey is cheaper in America than over here. In Ireland. Wrap your head around that one! I think it's because there is a high rate of alcoholism here so they think if they keep taxing it that people can't afford to buy it. But I don't think that's working, I think the Irish authorities are just going to have a high rate of homeless, broke alcoholics if they keep this up. 

Fair play to the Four Seasons though because the dirty martini was delicious. Now if only I could find good sushi I'd be in heaven here.

The gardens at the Four Seasons are lovely, check out this man snoozing on a rare warm and sunny day here in Dubs. He's actually a bronze statue but looks pretty real at first glance.

Another shot from when my parents came and visited. My dad and the Whyte's dog Brandy. They look good together don't ya think?

Friend Brandy Whyte on Facebook, he's been blowing up the newsfeeds lately.

Yet another Keating to hit up Eddie Whyte for lessons in shot gunnery. Eddie was kind enough to bring my little brother Greg shooting when he was here visiting me. Greg wants to know who was better, himself or Kevin. Eddie was very PC and said they were both good, and we'll have to have a shoot out to decide!
  

I've joined the National Aquatic Center's master swim team. It has been a real struggle getting back into lap swimming, but it's nice to have a coach to give you sets and times. Plus it's been fun to meet new people. Most of the team are triathletes who want to get better at swimming, ex-swimmers like me, or even open water swimmers (open water as in the ocean... like people who swim the English channel). In the summer the NAC masters team trains in the ocean in Portmarnock ,which is right next to Malahide. Can't wait to try that out. The picture below is from the paper and is a bunch of people doing the Liffey swim. As in the River Liffey that runs through the middle of the city. Similar to the Chicago River for all my Illinois people out there. I can't even decide which one is dirtier.

Peadar got up one morning at like 6AM to watch Ireland in the Rugby World Cup, since they were playing in New Zealand. Think he could get any closer to the TV?

A couple of swans in Grand Canal Quay...very different to the flooding that went down in the Quays this past week.

I found a mini-Peadar by the crosswalk coming home from work the other day. See the resemblance?

I was being touristy on my way out of town and took a pic of the ole Samuel Beckett Bridge. I will put together a little list of all the check box places you must see whilst visiting in Dubs.

News update: I have friends now! Well 2/3 girls below that are not me are related to Peadar so they have to be nice to me, but one isn't! Her name is Michelle Ryan and she is on the left in the red. Next to me on the right is Pad's cousin Fiona Whyte and his sister Catherine. Together we form the Dirty Thursday club which meets every second week for some shenanigans. Sometimes it's on Friday at which point it becomes the Frisky Friday club. Anyway, great girls, great times, can't wait for this week! :)

This blog has some old pictures (shame on me for not being on the ball, no pun intended) but a few weeks ago Peadar's Gaelic football club won the cup final. Mass drinking ensued.

Pad came home that night at like 3AM and "murdered" a block of cheese. I took about 10 pictures of him chowing down until he finally looked up, caught like a deer in the headlights!!

To sign off, Ciaran (pad's bro) and Jane (his GF and my friend) stayed over recently and played a little prank on me and Pad by creating a full blown image of a blackhawk hockey player in the bed. Luckily it didn't scare me, which it easily could have seeing as how I've been watching too many true crime shows on TV lately. :)

Happy (belated)  Halloween! 

XOXO

Amanda