Kilkenny

Is our time in Ireland really drawing to a close? We're in a small town called Kilkenny until tomorrow, when we head back to Dublin for our last night here. At this point, we're definitely lagging in energy. Instead of pushing ourselves to do touristy things, we have spent most of the afternoon hanging out at the hotel, reading and relaxing. This has been a much-needed vacation for us both, and winding it down in a leisurely manner seems like a fantastic idea to me.

There have been quite a few highlights on this trip. The Gap of Dunloe stands out as my favorite so far. Killarney in general was pretty fantastic. Not having a laptop or writing any code has also been a highlight for me. Hooray for thorough and effective vacations!

Photos and better updates will certainly follow at some point after I get home, when I'm not stealing Jesse's G1 and typing with my thumbs. Until then, I'll likely be occupied with a last order of fish 'n' chips and a pint or two of Smithwick's. Yum.

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Killarney

We drove the very narrow roads between Galway and Killarney via The Cliffs of Moher, which you may know as The Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride. They were, as expected, fantastic. One thing I didn't expect was cows. There were cows at the top of the cliffs, munching away on the greenest grass one can imagine. Why doesn't anybody tell you there are cows at The Cliffs of Moher? Facing one direction, you see rolling hills with a town nestled in among them, and pastures where cows graze. Turn around and you will see stunning cliffs dropping into the blue-green sea. It's pretty amazing.

We are in Killarney now, winding our way back to Dublin. We did, in the end, make the decision to stay in the Southwest, rather than drive up to Northern Ireland. I'm especially sad to be missing The Giant's Causeway, but am having such a lovely time that it's hard to get too worked up about it. We're off now to rent bicycles and ride up to The Gap of Dunloe. Jesse's been telling me about it since we met six years ago, and he's as anxious to see it again as I am to see it for the first time.

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Galway

Dublin was pretty neat, if a little colored by jet lag. We toured the Guinness Storehouse, gazed out at the city for quite awhile sipping our pints of "the black stuff," and marveling at how messy Dublin looks from up high. Streets and buildings are a bit haphazard. Two buildings next to one another aren't necessarily arranged in the same direction; their rooftops are at odd angles relative to one another. We also went to the Viking exhibit at Christchurch Cathedral. I thought that was pretty neat, not having known much about the Vikings or their role in Ireland's history.

On the way to Galway, we stopped in Athy for the big ploughing festival. I had high hopes for this, but was a little disappointed. The website mentioned a bio fuels village, but the festival was basically a giant farming tradeshow. I had expected more of a small town festival, but it was huge. We got to see a little bit of ploughing, which is actually (this will surprise nobody except me) not a great spectator sport. All in all, I was a little disappointed, but I did get to see a lot of farm equipment I've never seen before and it made a good stop on the drive from Dublin to Galway.

We're in the process of deciding the rest of our trip, based on where we are and how much time we have left. Do we stay in the Southwest and skip Northern Ireland? To be determined. But I'd best go and help Jesse figure that out.

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Dublin

We're here, if a bit sleepy. Previous attempt to post was lost, and I don't love typing on the tiny keypad of Jesse's Android phone, so updates may be sparse. We've had our celebratory pint of Guinness, and are back in our lovely hotel room trying to stay awake in the hopes of adjusting to the new time zone quickly. Sooo sleeepy...

Zzzzzz...

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100 things, part eight

24. I'm glad I don't have to be hot to do my job. Honestly, I can't think of anything worse than getting up earlier to put on makeup or try to get my hair to do something interesting. Every day.
25. My house is a mess. Really, I've been too busy lately to do much cleaning, and although Ransom has kept up with dishes and laundry, there is some serious sweeping, vacuuming, tidying, etc. to be done. I was just talking to my sister and she advocated for paying someone else to come clean. I'm intrigued by this notion, but I don't actually feel like my house is worth it until we get the floors refinished and get some of the trim sorted out. But then, if someone else is cleaning, doesn't that give us more time to refinish floors and install baseboards? Hmm...
26. Last weekend, Ransom and I went to The Joinery. For the first time in my life, I saw furniture that looked like it was worth what the price tag said. Even the $1200 coffee table. It's just that pretty. When our wood shop is up and working (we've been building a wall in our basement for about a year), I hope to make something that is 1/10 as pretty.

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100 things, part seven

21. I like the flowers in my garden better than the vegetables, which sort of surprises me. The veggies are nice and all, but it's the flowers I go look at every morning before I leave for work. The bright oranges and yellows atop the lush green foliage that is (mostly) hiding our neighbor's hideous hedge make me happy. Since I've hitherto killed most of what I've planted, each colorful blossom is a wonderful little surprise.
22. When I was little, there was an apron with a Dorothy Parker quote hanging in our kitchen. It was white or beige with black writing that said, "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think." I kept asking my mom what it meant; she just laughed and said, "Look it up." I must have looked up the word horticulture about sixty times and that darned apron never made sense.
23. One time, I was at a stoplight in Salem, OR with my Comma Dot Comma friend. There were two lanes going our direction. Ahead of me, there were two pickup trucks right next to each other. Just before the light turned green, the guys in the trucks got out and started fighting. Then the girls got out of the trucks and started fighting. It was mayhem! Sometimes, when I hear that Tom Jones song about everybody Kung Fu fighting, I think of this strange moment in time. They weren't doing Kung Fu, unless hair pulling is a new technique I haven't seen in the movies, but it would have been so much more awesome if they were.

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What's up, pussycat?

I've really got nothing to report. I've been working a lot. When I'm not working I'm mostly, well, working on another website I volunteered to do. I'm happy I am making the website, and it's actually turning out to be pretty neat, but I remember now why I stopped picking up freelance/volunteer web work. It's not so relaxing to basically do your job in your free time.

Here's a funny scene from last night. I was not in the mood to drink, though everyone around me really, really was.

T = small spitfire of a girl
J = pretty big guy

T: (Hauls off and hits J in the arm with a running start)
J: (Holding his upper arm) Ow! Ow! That really hurts! That's the exact same spot where he hit me! Ow!
T: (Laughs, dances around, staying light on her feet like a boxer)
J: (Pointing) We're not friends anymore!
T: (Pointing back) You've said that before!

Good times, good times.

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