Irish Stew--A Little of This and a Little of That

It is Saturday morning around 9:00. My computer says that it is 1:59 A.M. in Arizona. I am having breakfast downstairs in the hotel. As I am sitting here, guests from the hotel are coming in for breakfasts. You hear so many different accents and so many different languages. Patrick is still asleep. I think the jet lag and going non stop for the last many days has started to hit us. We need to be out of the hotel by noon. We will be staying at the airport tonight.

Last night we were able to eat dinner in the hotel dining room. It was interesting how they set it up. I mentioned yesterday about pubs being closed on Good Friday and how no liquor is sold. However, if you are a hotel guest, you can eat and drink in the hotel restaurant. They had the doors to the outside locked and the window shades down. In order to get into the restaurant, you had to go through the lobby and past the desk clerk. After hearing the story of the ferry boat and the drinkers yesterday, I don't know why they don't just check into a hotel!! Things were quiet and not much was going on. I started reading "Trinity" by Leon Uris again. This has always been my very favorite book. Leon Uris wrote historical fiction and he always did much research before writing a book. He wrote several books about the Holocaust such as "Exodus" and "Mila 18." He has always been one of my favorite authors. "Trinity" was written in 1976 and I have read it at least four times. I wanted to wait to read it again because I wanted to have this experience.

I mentioned that we had dinner in a thatched pub in County Mayo called The Shebeen. I put a picture of it on an earlier blog. As I was reading, I came across the word shebeen in the book. I don't remember this word at all. During the British rule the Catholics were not allowed to have alcohol so they made their own called poteen. It was a white mountain dew stilled in illegal stills which could be broken down and moved in minutes ahead of the tax collectors and the Royal Irish Constabulary. The actual partaking was done in shebeen, a converted byre buried in the village. Just a piece of trivia for you.......

There has been so much to see and tell about. One thing that I forgot about and remembered when I saw the picture was at the Waterford Crystal Factory. They made the most incredible scene from September 11th. It was the firefighters carrying the body of Father Mychal Judge, the priest and chaplain for the New York Fire Department. I am going to put the picture on today. The picture is great, but it is something to really see in person. I think they should put it on display in the U.S.

During our drive around the country, we saw sheep everywhere. They are even by the side of the roads like you see cattle down in southern Arizona. The sheep had different colors sprayed on them and I am wondering if this is some type of a "brand" so that they know which farmer the sheep belong to. They go up the sides of the mountains to graze and seem to be everywhere--inland, by the coast, etc. There are a lot of woolen mills around and with the cold weather I can understand why. Patrick bought a woolen sweater jacket in Blarney and has worn it most of the time.

The computer battery is starting to run down so I better close. I have really enjoyed writing this blog and think I will continue when I get home. Not sure what the theme will be. Thanks to you, Carol, for encouraging and then teaching me how to do this!!