I'm Baaaaack

I hope all my Irish and non-Irish Friends and family alike had a fantastic St. Paddy's day last weekend. Peadar and I sure did, escaping to the west of Ireland in beautiful Connemara.  Today, however, is apocalyptic.  There are umbrella carcasses littering the streets. I hope we aren't in for a flood of October 2011 all over again!!

I realize it has been months since I've posted last (Nov. 11th to be exact) but I have had the busiest time of my life recently. A new job, lots of travel and new club activities have been taking up an incredible amount of my time. But as Peadar said to me "We have done so much amazing stuff since you blogged last, you have to get on it ASAP!". 

So here goes...

Pad and I aren't big Valentine's Day people. The last few years we have both had sports practice on, or something or other. I think it's romantic if I get flowers. But St. Paddys day, now that is a holiday. Surprisingly enough we didn't stay in Dublin with the big parade and tourist central, but we did manage to have a very Irish St. Patrick's Day. I'm not a huge fan of people who post ecards on Facebook every day to express their feelings, but in the case below, I had to make an exception. Pad's friend Philip "20 Pints" Daly posted the following ecard:

St. Patrick's day is like Valentine's day for people who love Jameson and bad decisions. Like us. 

So on St. Paddy's day we decided to head down to the Delphi Mountain Resort in beautiful Connemara. I had been as far west as Galway, but hadn't gone so far out into the mountainous country as Delphi. There is literally no mobile service, no wifi, no TV's in the rooms at the hotel, etc. But it is beautiful and you can go hiking and adventure type activities and most importantly, chill out in the spa.

Connemara is also a land of bogs. Have you ever heard of blog snorkeling? Yeah, I didn't think so. National sport of Ireland ;)

So on the drive up, we passed through a bunch of little towns like Moycullen, and got to see their St. Patrick's day parades, which was great. We even came across this car that was dressed up like a sheep!

There are loads and loads of sheep in the west of Ireland. It's all sheep farms and some dairy farms, because the soil to too rocky for farming. The sheep wander the roads so you have to look out for them!

Once at the resort, we had a healthy morning walk! There was actually snow on the mountain tops, we have had a pretty cold spring.

In keeping with the tradition of this blog, it wouldn't be a good post unless I put up a funny picture of the Padman.  

So happy, freezing cold Spring to you all. Hopefully as the saying goes, March will be "in like a lion and out like a lamb."  Peadar and I are headed to Belfast this evening for a water polo game of mine, staying at my favorite hotel, the Merchant.

We were also up North at the beginning of the year when all the flag controversy craziness was happening, so you will hear about that in my next post, which I think will be all about Belfast!  

Have a good week this week,

Amanda

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

The Parents Are Coming, The Parents Are Coming!

Actually, they already left! I was lucky enough to have my parents, the ultimate American tourists, Kev and Suz visit me in Ireland last week. They had a lovely time for Kev's 2nd visit to the Emerald Isle and Suz's 4th. My parents have seen the surrounding Dublin and Wicklow areas pretty extensively, so this time we decided to travel west to Galway for the International Oyster Festival.

Shouts out to our dear friend Maggie Rutledge, who is from Gort in Co. Galway!

Turns out we got there fairly late on Saturday during the day, and missed the main tent event. So we pretty much wandered around the village and ate at local restaurants and ordered plates of oysters and lobster. Galway is Pad's favorite city in Ireland. He says it has it all: good people, good pints, great craic! The whole main part of the village has pedestrian-only streets and a big square which gives it a unique feel.

You never know what you will see on the streets of Galway, case in point, a one man band... well one man if you don't count Marilyn or Obama. 

 

Galway is a bit of a college town, and on weekend nights pubs like The King's Head can get a little rowdy. After dinner with the parents one night Pad wanted to go into the aforementioned establishment, and I suggested that it might be a bit "too much" for my parents. Well, at least, my mom. Peadar insisted that my parents weren't that old, and in we went. Funny story, within 5 minutes of sitting down, this guy starts screaming "Peadar! Peaaaadaaar!!" We look at each other like, is this guy talking to you? Pad says he doesn't recognize him. Turns out this guy did know Peadar, comes over, and starts screaming in his ear about how they use to go to school together. Every other word is feckin' this and that, and you can just see my poor mother sitting there uncomfortably, all while Kev is too distracted by the Ryder cup to notice what is going on....  We thought we were rid of him when he goes and sits back down at another table, finds some other Americans, and starts arguing with them about the merits of Michael Jordan (his opinion- hero) vs. Kobe (child molester) with this couple from San Diego. 

It was classic.

Anyway, the guy comes back over to us and keeps slobbering and hollering, so eventually we moved the party back to the hotel bar. We stayed at the Radisson Blu, which was lovely. 

Mom and Dad also did excursions to the Cliffs of Moher, and Kylemore Abbey, check out the pics below. 

The best part is the below pic:

Yeah, sheepys in the road, pretty standard for the West of Ireland. Gotta love the juxtaposition between the modern GPS and sheep cruising down the lane. Oh and by the way, in Ireland they call GPS "Satellite Navigation", or "Sat Nav". Kev kept accidentally calling it Nav Sat which Pad found pretty funny. 

Pics my parents took. Pretty & Pinterest worthy:

http://pinterest.com/pin/1759287325686211/

Kev looks comfy with his pint of Guinness. 

We also bought the new puppy, Max, a four leaf clover bandanna, so he can represent!!

That's all for now folks... I leave you with the follow gems:

1. A LoveSpud

2. Tee shirt I bought nephew Joey. Yeah, I want him to be a player.

XOXOX,

Amanda