Clifden is a charming town on the west coast of Ireland, about an hour away from Galway in Connemara.
On a family trip a few years ago, after saying good bye to Willie and Debbie who had to head home for a convention, Bill, his sister Margaret, Annie and I drove into Clifden and fell in love. After spending about an hour strolling around the town, we knew we wanted to come back some day.
So, we have with each successive trip to Ireland. When Bill and I came in 2018, we discovered Sharamore House, operated by Sue and John Brittain. Once again, we decided we needed to come back.
In Bill's mind, Sue's pancakes are a highlight of each Ireland experience; plus, they're fun and helpful people who, last trip, dubbed us "the kids." We'll take anything that makes us feel younger.
And, so, we have spent our first night at Sharamore House, and soon Bill will once again bite into one of those pancakes which Sue serves for breakfast.
Last night after rolling into town from a busy day on the road, we dined at Manions where Bill had his usual fish and chips, and I enjoyed a hamburger. We also splurged for dessert, sharing a piece of orange almond cake with ice cream and whipped topping.
Guess I'll have to try this flavor of pound cake when I get back home cuz it was pretty yummy.
We drove through a lot of rain yesterday after leaving Kenmare, feeling a bit handicapped with only my cell phone serving as out outlet to the world. Bill's phone wasn't working because of a Simm card problem, and my computer showed no life.
Twas kinda scary thinking about one cell phone having to provide us all the necessary documentation and tools to get through the country and out of the country next week.
A stop in Killarney at a phone repair shop calmed our fears when the clerk simply opened Bill's phone, took out the card and reinserted it. Bingo! The phone was back in commission.
When we asked if there was a computer store in Killarney, the clerk answered somewhat disgustedly, saying no, all there is in Killarney is pubs. He suggested stopping in Tralee, which we did.
Two computer stores were just across the mall from each other, and we received helpful advice from the first techie, should I decide to buy a new laptop. He suggested going to the other store to see if someone could figure out if my laptop was a live or dead.
Harvey Norman's computer store and Matthew O' Brien will both live long in my life of heroic and helpful entities. Matthew, who will soon assume a managerial position, came to help us.
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Matthew O'Brien from Harvey Norman's in Tralee, a techie hero. |
When he saw that my old laptop was a Hewlett Packard, he said not to give up on it because it's a quality product. Then, he suggested hooking it up to the Hewlett-Packard laptop station. That necessitated a trip out to the car for the cord and adapter.
Matthew plugged in the cord, waited a minute and miraculously the computer lit up. To say I was happy would hardly describe my instant inner relief.
The culprit had something to do with the plug-in back at the B and B. We still don't know exactly why this happened, but we do know that another of our cache of electronics suddenly stopped working one morning but didn't think too much about it when I plugged it back into the socket.
All I know and all I care right now is that our three items linking us to the outside world are in working order. Such a sense of relief and such appreciation for a young man named Matthew whose persistence in my behalf paid off.
I told Bill that Matthew is one of the many angels of Ireland that we're so fortunate to meet along the way.
We moved on from Tralee, overjoyed. Our next stop was Adare, a cute little Norman town not far from Limerick. We had stopped there on the last trip, and Bill wanted to spend some time at the church we had visited on the previous trip.
Another highlight of our trip through the outskirts of Galway and on into Connemara came during a relief stop at a hotel. We saw food trucks and dozens of cars parked all about.
Turns out the event was the weekly Monday cattle auction. A woman walked with us briefly, asking us if there were lots of cattle in Idaho. We said there were, and then she advised us if anyone asked, to say, yes, we were interested in buying cattle.
"Wear your mask in there," she said, as she went on her way. Turns out she was one of the clerks.
The auction seating area was filled to the brim, with mostly masked men. A few stood in stations right next to the arena. A gentleman next to me asked if we were going to buy some cattle. I said we only had a trunk in our car so couldn't haul them off.
"We'll find a way for you to do that," he joked.
As Bill said, we got a touch of the true Irish rural life with that visit to the auction. And, once again, that's what we love to do on these trips. I'm sure there'll be more similar experiences, as we spend time in Connemara, visit a couple of islands off the coast and eventually move on north.
For now, we've established a daily routine with organizing our bags and cords and pulling out a knife each morning to open the coffee packets. Items, like instant coffee, mayonnaise, ketchup and such are tightly packaged, and one can look like a total idiot at times, trying to get them open.
Last night at Manions, the server provided us a set of scissors, to spare us frustration as we opened the condiments.
Lots of little things for making daily adjustments, like how the shower works and whether to flush the toilet with a button, a handle or maybe even a chain hanging from the ceiling.
And, of course, we were not alone in the world yesterday when Facebook went down. The first comments we saw regarding the outage came from none other than CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, who noted that even his family in Ireland had no Facebook.
We all survived, but it is nice to have the medium up and running this morning.
These interludes all contribute to the charm and fun of being in a different country, and we are enjoying every minute and every nuance.
This morning I'm including photos from our Sunday travels along with some from Adare, the auction and Clifden. Hope you enjoy.
Happy Tuesday.
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Benjamin Barber, a tequila maker from New York, has visited Ireland 20 times so far in his life. He inherited a house near Slea from his grandmother, for which he is very appreciative. |
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