Inis Mor, Killarney~ A Love Life

I’m still thinking about Inis Mor, the writer’s retreat and what a great experience that was. I am remembering how fit we all were. How we climbed tall rock walls, hiked through thick grass, jumped streams and dodged cows, big cows as we walked around, the “Seven Stone Holy Well,” seven times with our guide Dara.

  

   

And then there’s Killarney, always warm and welcoming. I only had a week this time and it went fast. I’m happy to say I was able to see most everyone I wanted though. I also got to do the Yoga class one morning that I discovered a couple years ago and I was there for “Culture Night,” and enjoyed hearing some great poetry readings from the local Killarney poets.

Walking through the park is a must. The one day, I got rained on, but the rain in Ireland doesn’t seem to bother anyone. There were still folks on horseback, and the Jaunty Cars were clip clopping through the puddles taking visitors to see the gardens, Ross Castle and the Torc Waterfall.

The next day, I got to see the Red Deer of Killarney National Park. The Red Deer is Ireland’s largest native land mammal and they’ve been around since the last ice age some 10,000 years ago. They’re beautiful and I was able to get a pretty good picture. It was a beautiful sunny day that day, Ireland’s weather can change in a matter of minutes. 

 

I’m now sitting in Washington Dulles Airport waiting for my connection to Las Vegas and this thought occurred to me.

Remember when we were younger, and someone would say “How’s your love life?”

Well I’m thinking our love life is what we’re doing right now, how we’re living. Maybe it’s how we feel connected to the world or a place.  Perhaps It’s the conversations we have or how people respond to us. It’s the people we meet when we travel, the women, men and children. It’s the way we feel when we walk into the cathedral, a restaurant, or the pub. It’s the woman who works in the shop, or the older man who gives you a nod at morning mass.

In the end, it’s always the people, those at Murphy’s who welcome me year after year with open arms. Friends I’ve made over the years who are always home when I'm there and make time for a cup of tea, lunch or a pint.

I'm taking this feeling home with me.

 

 

Getting High On Inis Mor...

Oh what a week I’ve had!  

I am so happy to say participating in a writer’s retreat in Ireland, more specifically the Aran Islands is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

There were 12 women from all over the world, from places like Portugal, Panama, Montana, South Africa and California, Tennessee, England, and our leader, Irene Graham from Ireland. Everyone flew into Galway and took the ferry to Inis Mor.

Irene has created an awesome method and format for teaching. Merged with her casual and practical style, she effectively brings across “how to write a story”  

In between workshops, we walked and hiked the beautiful Irish countryside. Our guide was Dara Malloy, a wonderful man who knows the Irish landscape like the back of his hand.  Dara was once a Catholic priest and now calls himself a Celtic Priest/Monk. He is married with children. He studies Celtic mythology and celebrates it with Pre-Christian rituals.

The most beautiful hike of all was to the top of Dun Aonghasa. Dun Aonghasa dates back to 1100 B.C. and is the most famous of several prehistoric forts. It lies on Inishmore at the edge of a 100 metre high cliff. You'll see from the pictures how one would feel on top of the world looking out over the Great and Wild Atlantic.  

One of the events that took place in the midst of our writing retreat was a renewal of wedding vows. Riana and Johann, the couple from South Africa were on holiday together, they’ve been married 14 years and decided to renew their vows while in Ireland. Dara in all his loveliness officiated over the ceremony. Riana invited the 11 of us in the writing group to join them as her bridesmaids. It was held outside at an ancient church that dates back to the 7^th century.

Inis Mor is the largest of the three Aran Islands, located on the West of Ireland off the coast of Galway. It's about 8 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide. There are 14 villages and three cemeteries. We stayed at the “Kilmurvey Place” a lovely big bed and breakfast home.  There are a few shops, restaurants and pubs, and it appears everyone knows one another. Population on the island is about 840. As you’ll see in the pictures below, Inis Mor is an amazing beauty.   

We also spent two days in Doolin. We were scheduled to take the ferry from Inis Mor to Doolin at the end of the week, however due to gale winds and rain showing up that night and early morning the ferry was cancelled. After we arrived  by bus, and saw the port the ferry would have come into we were grateful it was cancelled. Due to the weather we missed the walk through the Burren as planned but the Cliffs of Moher the next day, more than made up for it.  The weather in Ireland has been known to change from minute to minute. 

Saying good-bye was certainly the hardest part of the trip. There we were, all of us with hundreds of pictures, emails exchanged and a story to write. We all promised to stay in touch, there was no doubt we had made friends for a lifetime.

I am still in awe of the fact that I spent the past week with such amazing women. All who have traveled, toured the world, to many places I too have been but so many more I have yet to discover. 

Wise women, passionate women, and oh such funny women… Never… ever have I laughed like this before. (you know who you are.)

Women who not only grace others with their presence as they walk through life but have made themselves part of this wonderful world we live in.

Oh what a week I’ve had!

   

 

Remembering...

 

I am from…

Green rolling hills

and shamrocks.

I am from…

Irish music

and storytellers.  

I am from…

The pub, Guinness,

thatched roof cottages and lamb stew.  

Irish whiskey, mashed potatoes,

red doors and blue.  

The Church of the Four Beauties,

The Cliffs of Moher

I am from…

leprechauns
and Irish writers.

Irish poets, the Burren,

gray skies and rain.  

I am from…

strong winds, faires 

and strong people.

I am from…

the roar that takes me home

and back again.

I am from the wild Atlantic Sea.

 

 

 

 

Start Spreading The News!

Well Denny’s 70^th birthday was this year, July 16^th to be exact, and we had a wonderful family celebration.  Our son Jeff, his wife Rose and our three grandsons Ollie, Joe and Vinnie were here along with our son Craig and my niece Meghan

We wanted this year, this birthday to be the best he’s ever had. I put together a “memory book” filled with birthday wishes and memories and pictures from family and friends.  Rose and I had more fun working on it together and the book was bulging by the time we had the last note in.  To say Denny was “moved” is an understatement. He heard from his children and grandchildren, old college buds, friends we made while in Rock Island, Lansing, California and Henderson, cigar buddies, golfing partners and sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews.  It’s really pretty amazing reading through an album like that, your whole life right there before you.

Jeff also honored a wish his dad has had for some time and that is to grow a couple of avocado trees in his yard.  They just don’t grow here in the desert. So now he has two avocado trees growing in Fullerton in Jeff’s back yard.  One of the things lost when we moved here from California was a geode Denny had and wanted to give to the boys one day, the boys surprised him with a new one.  It really was a fun weekend and birthday celebration.  

This weekend the two of us are in New York City! Like I said, we’re doing this birthday up good.  New York never changes, with all its deli’s, Irish pubs, theaters and the beautiful Central Park.  Like many trips, there would be sites to be seen that would take lots more than the three days we had.

Thursday evening, our first night there, we found our spot on 50^th and 8^th that we discovered on our last visit.  It’s a big courtyard behind the “Worldwide Plaza” that surrounds “Mother Burgers” and “Blockheads” restaurant.  Lots of folks were sitting and talking, kids eating ice cream, young lovers hugging and kissing.  It looks like it would be a great place for the locals to meet after work.  We picked up a bottle of wine from the shop across the street and Denny brought a cigar.  It wasn’t long and he was told there was no smoking.  It was hard to find a place for him to enjoy a cigar, there seemed to be just small areas where you would see a sign on a building that would say “smoking here only” hard to enjoy a cigar standing in front of a building.

We stopped in a cigar shop that night on our way back to the hotel and were told the place to smoke a cigar was The Carnegie Club, on 56^th and 6^th - just across from Carnegie Hall.  We decided we would go there the next evening, we knew it would probably be expensive but heck, one only turns 70 once, right?

A must do for us when we’re in New York is always Central Park, and since it was hot and humid, really hot and humid we took one of the bike rides through the park, you know the kind, where the guide peddles and we’re sitting behind him in the seat for two.

The best part of it all was he took us to the John Lennon Memorial. We've been to the park maybe three times before but never have we seen this part. Actually, the area he took us to is called Strawberry Fields. It's between 71st. and 74th Streets and is a large 2 1/2 acre area of Central Park that pays tribute to just John Lennon. He and Yoko Ono lived in the Dakota apartments just across the street from this area of the park and she still lives there. I have a picture below, construction is being done on it right now, but that is where he was when he was shot in 1980 in front of his own home.

There is the iconic black and white “Imagine” mosaic designed by a team of artists from Naples Italy, it lies in the center of Strawberry Fields, named after his songs “Strawberry Fields Forever.“  There was a man playing the guitar while we were there, playing Imagine, and other songs by Lennon.  We were glad we spent the money to have a guided tour.  We would never have found it on our own.

After our hour with our guide ZaZa, we walked all around the midtown area. We found Carnegie Hall and we ate at the “Majestic Deli.” In all the times we’ve been to New York, we’ve never eaten at the Carnegie Deli, it’s evidently the most popular one as there is always a long line of folks waiting to get in. It was just too hot to wait this weekend. The Pastrami sandwich at Majestic was delicious.

The Carnegie Club was dark when we walked in about 8PM Friday night, with beautiful small lights and candles, the young woman who greeted us was wearing a lovely black dress and long white pearls down the front.  Her hair was pulled back and up.  She seated us and brought us a menu for cigars, drinks and food. The other young lady who served us also had on a black dress with white pearls. The overstuffed leather chairs and couches were so welcoming and made for a cozy, intimate atmosphere in which to listen to the three piece jazz group, a guitar, bass and female singer.

Denny ordered a cigar from the menu, she brought it to him, lit it with a long match and brought us our drinks.  There were lots of couples, and a party of 12 young men celebrating a bachelor night.  I’m telling you I began to feel as though I were in the midst of a Woody Allen movie.  It was all so elegant.

I was curious to see what was upstairs, so I took a minute to explore.  There was more seating and fewer people.  There were two different areas along the way that were like libraries, beautiful shelves and books.  After visiting for a while with the couple behind us, the four of us decided to move upstairs.  The Carnegie Club is a real treasure for cigar smokers.  I would never have believed I would have been comfortable surrounded by cigar smokers indoors but this was a wonderful experience.  It was 1 AM when we headed back to our hotel.

We took the on and off city bus tour the next day, Saturday and Johnny the guide was wonderful.  He explained the rhyme and reason to the street numbers.  He told us how 5^th Avenue went right down the middle of Manhattan and the even - numbered streets went east and the odd numbers went west, lower numbered streets meant you were going south, larger numbers were going north.  It really does make more sense to have a number system rather than names of streets. For instance the name of our street in Henderson is Baton Rouge and one of our neighboring streets is Evening Star, now what relationship does that have to each other?

The whole city has historical significance and the buildings tell a story.  The older buildings go back as far as the 1700’s and were built with iron and had large windows. The newer, more contemporary ones were made of steel.  I found it fascinating.

Johnny told us he was a Communications major in college and “ended up as a bus tour guide.” as though that was something less than he should have become.  I can’t think of anywhere or anything that he could be doing that would be serving his community in a better way.  He knows New York City up and down, inside and out and there wasn’t a question he couldn’t answer.  He knew the city and its people, the history, and the best places to shop.  He was knowledgeable, informative, funny and entertaining.

We got off at the Ground Zero Site, now called the Freedom Tower. WOW! Beautiful. We walked around the grounds, and decided not to wait in the long line of people going in to see the museum.  We saw the tower itself, which is just extraordinary, and there is a building next to the World Trade Center, in the shape of dove’s wings.  That’s where you see Denny standing with the flag behind him.  St. Paul’s Church is amazingly gorgeous along with the grounds and the cemetery.

The subway system is very convenient and we got back to the hotel in time for a nap and to get ready for our reservation at Morton’s Steak House.  Delicious to say the least. We both had the Center Cut Prime Ribeye, sautéed mushrooms and the chopped salad was great. They knew it was Denny’s B.D. so they brought a complimentary dessert, bread pudding and took our picture and gave it to us.  

We walked back to the hotel after dinner, thinking it would help to walk off some of this big meal we had just eaten, but actually, I’m thinking it will take more than just one night to work off all the food and good wine, and desserts we enjoyed on this birthday weekend in New York.

I certainly can’t write without mentioning the hotel.  The Hilton is always our choice of hotels and they were especially kind to us this visit.  Our room was upgraded and Denny received a nice “Happy Birthday Card” along with a chocolate cake for two and chocolate covered strawberries. There was always something going on in the lobby so it was fun just coming back after a day of being out.  Both Friday and Saturday nights there was a Hennessy tasting which was fun.  We had complimentary drinks and h'ordeuvres in the evening and breakfast in the morning.  It’s good to be with the Birthday boy.

I wasn’t ready to leave at all when our last morning came and talked Denny into a quick trip over to Bryant Park.  We drove by it on our bus tour the day before and I was hoping we’d get back to it.  It is located just behind the New York Library. There are lots of events going on. Children were having a Chess tournament, people were playing backgammon, there is a putting green and a beautiful carrousel, tai chi and yoga.  There is a Reading Room and walking meditation groups.  I will definitely make that one of our first stops next visit. So now it was onward to Penn Station and the airport.  

I’m just so grateful to be celebrating 70 with this guy, we’re healthy, happy and planning lots more for next year.  Start Spreading the News - New York is always a good idea!