Saturday Slight

Coming soon to a blog near you:  Love Family Tales of Ireland.  We'll be taking off in a few days for the "trip of our lives."  

Granted, there are the frequent-flying travelers among us---Annie's headed to Europe a few times this year, but this will be uniquely special because it's our Love family adventure, complete with Bill's twin sister Margaret.

We'll all meet in Seattle and then take the long flight over Greenland, across the "pond" to Paris and then on in to Dublin. 

I thought I'd post a map this morning and highlight our itinerary, which Annie has designed around geocaching stops. 

For regular blog readers, here's a disclaimer.  Your coffee/tea sipping blog reading may be off kilter a bit.  

Once we're where we expect to be each day, I'll do my best to post tales and photos, but one never knows about the unknown, and, for sure, with several hours difference, you may not be reading fresh stuff, just minutes old and, in some cases, unedited. 

So, consider that "Slight Detour" may be on some slight detours once we head out and until we return in April.  Thanks for your understanding.  I'll try to make up for the inconvenience with some neat photos and fun stories. 

Our overnight stops include Dublin, Killarney, Galway, Derry and back to Dublin.  We'll spend four nights in Killarney, two nights in Galway and two nights in Derry with some of us remaining in Dublin for some additional days.

This time next Saturday we'll be geocaching in the Wicklow Mountains and bound for Killarney after some Dublin sight seeing.  We'll do the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry.  We'll visit Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland as well as Belfast. 

I inserted Buncrana on the map because of its family heritage.  Our mother's ancestors came from there in the 1800s, and it's the site of John Newton's inspiration for his lyrics to "Amazing Grace," penned in the 1700s.   

In reading about Buncrana, I get the impression that it may be a little like Sandpoint---a beautiful tourist town on a lake (Swilly, that is).  It's about the size of Sandpoint also. 

Anyway, the excitement is reigning as well as the stress of making sure all segments, both home and abroad, fall into place for this trip.  It's good to have things to do because that makes the wait for our departure go much faster. 

And, of course, we're all thrilled with the ZAGS victory yesterday in the NCAA Tournament.  We weren't so thrilled with the marathon nature of the game, thanks to a record number of fouls, stopping the clock every half second.

Now, the ZAGS move on to meet a No. 1 seed tomorrow evening. The Gonzaga-Arizona game begins around 6:30 p.m.  Maybe, just maybe, they'll surprise the pundits and move on past Arizona into the Sweet Sixteen.  Now, that would be so sweet.

This morning, rather than doing chores, I went to the barn to get the cart for a load of wood.  It felt so strange to open that door and not hear Lily whinny "Good Morning."  I already miss them, but Monty wrote me a note this morning with a complete report.

He was quite pleased with both of them, even with Lily experiencing some separation anxiety when he took her from the stall area away from Lefty.  It was great to get a good report after the first day. 

The next separation anxiety will, no doubt, be more profound with the doggies.  That's gonna be tough.  Last time I left for a long period of time, I didn't even say "Good bye" to them, knowing it would be too emotional. 

They'll live, and we'll live, though, especially because we feel confident they'll be in excellent hands during our absence. 

This Saturday morning feels exactly like early spring.  The ground is a bit crisp, the sky is cloudless and birds are singing happy tunes.  So, I'll head out and take in some more of the great outdoors and wish everyone a great day.

Happy Saturday.