Dingle (An Dangean - in Irish)

I had been traveling all day by bus from Galway to Dingle, making my way South. I was really tired by the time I got there, but had seen lots of beautiful countryside on the long ride, so was grateful for that. We passed through lots of little towns and villages, picking up folks at the edge of pastures, and roads that lead off into the horizon. I am really getting a good education about the folks in Ireland riding the bus. How different they are from region to region. How similar, too. I could've rented a car, I guess, but that is expensive, and I enjoy listening in on conversations, and people watching on the bus. The bus is just another social event to these folks. A chance to talk, and gossip. Young and old alike, everyone wants to know the haps. 


I arrived in the evening and my host, Angela, picked me up at the bus station. She and her family fun a B&B in Dingle. I dropped off my stuff, and walked into town.

new homes built on the strand

fishing nets

Dingle sits on a peninsula. Aside from tourism, fishing and farming are how these folks get by. It's a fairly big town, actually. Lots of school kids, and folks of all ages. There were lots of tourist here. I ran into folks from the US, Germany, Egypt, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, and England. I mostly met these folks at The Marina Inn, and John Benny's a couple of pubs on the strand. My personal favorite of the pubs was Dick Macks. I met locals and tourist alike here, and the bartender was a sweet heart, saving me from a local boozer that had decided I was "his american girlfriend". I heard some pretty good trad while I was there, and had dinner at an amazing restaurant called Global Village. The salad was one of the best I've ever had in my whole life. Seriously! 

Sunday was Mothers Day, in the US anyway. The Irish don't celebrate it. I guess everyday is Mothers Day here. :)

I took a long walk around the peninsula and thought a lot about my Mom. I stopped at this little beach, sat on the rocks and took in some sun shine thinking about how much she would've loved to be here with me. 

Several times a couple of swallows flew by me chasing and diving through the wind. I would like to believe that's what the spirits of our loved one are doing - flying around the most beautiful parts of the universe on the wings of birds. Maybe she was there with me - I felt her in my heart, for sure. 

I took a short boat ride in the harbor that afternoon whose main objective was to find a dolphin. The boat was packed full of annoying kids yelling "Funnggggiiiii" (the dolphins name is Fungi). 

the ships mascot. i found her just as interesting as the dolphin.

We passed some kids learning how to sail. The dolphin followed them for a little while. You could hear the squeals of the little girls when it would surface. I think the dolphin liked freaking them out.

let's go sailing - great band by the way..

remains of an old light house

We traveled around looking at cliffs and shoreline caves. It was another gorgeous day, and after many shots of water, I finally got one of Fungi.

fuuunnggggiii

The next morning, I booked my self on a kayak tour of the same harbor, and caves I had seen the previous day. It was very cold and windy, and I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. I have never kayaked before, and was pretty sure I didn't have the proper clothing. I met up with Noel, the guide from Irish Adventures, who, thankfully, had all the gear I needed. He handed me a wet suit, booties, water tight jacket, and a life vest. I wasn't sure I could fit my ass into the size small wet suit he gave me - but he assured me I would be fine, with a wink and cheeky smile.  "Are you supposed to wear anything underneath the wet suit?", I asked. "Nope!", he said.  I wasn't so sure, but it felt kinda good. The wet suit is really supportive, if you know what I mean. The ladies looked pretty good, and my ass didn't look too bad either. "Do you need help with that zipper?", I hear from the boys side of the changing room."No, Noel, I don't need help with the zipper", I responded. For the first time all morning, I was warm! Wet suits are ok, after all. There were two other folks going out with us, Pavel and Jonas. Swedes from London out for a bit of father and son bonding time. Noel gave us a quick lesson in kayaking and we were off. I was pretty nervous, and wobbly but he stayed close until I figured it all out. The next 3 hours were super fun, and super beautiful. The water was clear and you could see the rock and seaweed on the bottom of the ocean floor. We didn't run into Fungi, thank goodness. I'm sure I would've been like one of those little girls and screamed my head off as I fell out of the kayak. We headed around into the caves. That was super cool. The colors of the rock inside the cave, the sea creatures attached to the sides of the walls, the sound of the water lapping against the cave walls, the echoing of our voices - it was all a great experience. At one point we all backed into a cave, held each others kayak side by side and just looked out of the opening into the ocean. Magical. Noel told us about how may millions of years it took to make this perfect moment. (another wink and a smile - I thought, watch out, don't believe it.. this is what got you in trouble the last time you visited Ireland). I didn't bring my camera, remembering what happened at the pub in Dublin (see the Pub Crawl posting). Noel took pictures and said he would email them. I hope he does, because that was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Inis Mor

Today I took a boat out to Inis Mor. It's the biggest Island of the Aran Island chain. It was another spectacular sunny day. The boat ride was full, mostly of school kids on a day out. But I managed to find someone to talk to. This gentleman was heading over the Inis Mor for a date. He spoke mostly Irish, but I managed to understand a few words. We only spoke for a moment, but I think I will always remember him.

anticipation

I couldn't decide if I wanted to rent a bike, do a van tour, or ride in a horse drawn carriage. All sorts of folks are waiting for you to get off the boat and take you around the Island, for a price, of course. I felt a bit overwhelmed by these folks shoving brochures in my hand, and asking me to go with them, so I decided to walk. The short walk was about 5 miles and it took you along the coast, past a few sites, and ended at a cafe. I was the only one that took this option, and it was really, really nice to get away from all those kids! The only folks I saw on my walk were Islanders, and the occasional bicycler. 

 

room for thought

no stained glass necessary

I think I could fix this one up

There are so many old homes left to ruin. Makes me wonder who lived there, and why they left. I'm told there are presently only 700 people that live on Inis Mor. The Islanders I saw were mostly farmers, or drove the horse drawn carts. Some, of course, work in the pubs and B&B's.

urban sprawl

"hey, that girl is making me nervous"

"yeah, I'm outta here"

Along the road I came across another one of these:

gotta take it..

marsh

Have I mentioned yet, I think that I have, how infatuated I am with the dry stack walls. So cool!

must learn how to do this

genius!

I saw these watering troughs in almost every pasture. How smart is that for gathering water?! It took me about 2 hours to walk the road. By the time I got to the cafe, I was a little concerned I wouldn't make it back to the docks in time to catch the boat back. So, I took a horse drawn carriage. 

heading' back into town

The driver lived on the Island. He didn't have much to say, except to the horse, and was a bit on the rough and tumble side. I'm guessing he spends a lot of time at the pub. He had lived on the Island most of his life. He was really concerned that I was going back to Dublin. "Drug addicts are takin' over that place. You watch yer self there. People get killed!", he said to me. 

looks like people "get killed" on the island too..

Cliffs of Moher

I took a tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher today. Our bus driver, Eamon, was a talker! I can't begin to retain all that he told us about the areas around the Cliffs of Moher. But I do remember a couple of things: Did you know that back in the day, the government used to tax the amount of daylight that came into a home? yeah.. me neither. That's why some of those old stone cottages have such small windows. He also told us about fairy rings. Fairy rings are circles of trees, or rocks. You are never to walk down the middle of one, or break one up in your garden. You simply go around it and let it be. Otherwise you have bad luck and die. I didn't notice him drinking - but he sure did mention it a lot. Here are some pictures of our journey. 

rock walls - these things are fascinating to me - must learn how to do this

happy cows

this green stuff is why the cows are happy

We drove through several little towns and villages, and saw lots of old stone houses that had been left to ruin. We drove through a place called the Burren. The Burren is a hillside of layers and layers of rock, lime stone, and sediment that has built up over the years. It's amazing that anything will grow there. According to Eamon, the farmers would remove the rock from their land and use it to make their homes and surrounding walls. They would then move in tons of seaweed from the ocean into the field as fertilizer and till it into what little soil is there. He told us how they would go into the water at low tide and cut the seaweed, then tie it together in huge bundles and wait for the tide to come in to raise the bundles of seaweed up to the pier so they could load it into their carts. Lots of time and effort into making, what some thought was barren land, into the lush greenery you see in the picture above.

part of the Burren that leads out to the sea

a wee castle

Eamon stopped the tour for a "lunch" break in a place called Doolin. It was a really cute little town right on the water. I ordered a Guinness. The bar tender made me a lucky charm in the foam. I bet he does that for all the tourists.

liquid lunch

Next stop, the Cliffs of Moher. Gorgeous! 

the cracken lives in that cave. that's what Eamon said anyway...

watch out for dumb people

check out how blue the water is. 

There was a path. The lesser road. I had to take it.

this path led to beautiful things

looking down from on top of the cliffs.

Walking on top of the Cliffs of Moher was a bit unnerving. (see warning sign above for dumb people). I really didn't realize just how high about the ocean I was until I saw the seagulls underneath me. There were some folks that were actually sitting on the very edge and taking pictures. (see warning sign above, again, for dumb people). I'm not one to temp fate quite so much, so I kept a safe distance.

Bunbeg, Ireland

It's a good thing my camera dried out because I've happened upon a really gorgeous place in Northern Ireland. I am staying for a couple of nights in Gweedore, Ireland at the An Chuirt. I came up this way originally to go to Leo's Tavern. They were having a show in support of keeping their hillside power line free and some pretty good folks were on the bill. (ok.. I was following Glen Hansard and Mundy, not so much to support the power line thing.) I traveled all day to get there, only to be turned away at the door. Sold out! I tried to beg my way in with the door man, Barclay - Enya's brother, he said to come back around 10:30 or 11 and maybe I could get in. Back in the states a show would be over by then, so I decided not to go back. I had a nice hot bath and tucked myself into bed with my book about Yeats and Gonne. After a long day of traveling, I was pretty worn out. The next morning, in the Hotel lobby, I overheard a conversation about the how the show at Leos had gone on until 3am. I was totally bummed I didn't try to go back. Oh, well.. I got to see Glen in Dublin, and Mundy in Mullingar, so, what- evs. Whatever the reason was to get me to this part of the country, I was completely happy to be here. 


This morning I called for a taxi, run by a local man, Popeye (no relation to the sailor- so he says), and his family. Maureen, his wife, picked me up at the Hotel and we had a lovely conversation about how much of an impression I had made on her son, Padraig, with my story of Texas tornados. I had met Popeye, and Padraig the night before when they took me to Leos. Padraig, a red headed, freckle faced 8 year old, has aspirations of being a meteorologist and is infatuated by Storm Chasers. She dropped me off at the beach in Bunbeg.

gorgeous morning walk

ship wreck 

I was the only person on the beach for most of my walk. The tide was out, and I walked pretty far out into the bay. I saw lots of clams, and other little creatures in the tide pools. The water is really clear. Really colorful. I couldn't capture the color on camera. It was really beautiful.

gorgeous blue even on a cloudy morning

I walked all around the cove then climbed to the top of the hillside.

wee village in Bunbeg

I ran into one of those walking path things, and you know the rules, I had to follow. This is where it led me:

pac man?

I saw a couple of wandering Jack Russell Terriers on my walk. They belonged to a man named Hugh D'Bugs, at least that what it sounded like to me, it could very well be something else. He owned the local Pub. We talked about music, he plays the fiddle and piano, and how his family had been in that area for generations. His brother, funnily enough, is married to a woman from Klamath Falls Oregon! In my quest to understand the history of Ireland, I started asking some questions about "the troubles". He seemed to get a bit uncomfortable, and didn't want to talk much about it. Shortly after that, we parted ways. Hmmm - I bet there is a good story there. I continued back down to the beach, and ended my walk at the local cafe for a late lunch, then contacted Maureen for a ride back to the hotel. She had both Padraig and Molly, her daughter, in tow. Molly wanted to meet the American, and Padraig was hoping to hear more details about the tornado. 

It was a lovely day in Bunbeg. I had a great time walking the beach, picking up shells, climbing rocks, and wandering the hillsides. I returned to the Hotel in Gweedore and watched a futbol match in the bar, had dinner, and a pint. There were lots of oldsters watching the match. Every other word out of the "ancient one" was "feck!" or "feckin ref!". When the Celtics made a goal he would yell "feckin' good craic!" (translation: craic is pronounced crack and means good time or something like that). I have met a lot of great folks here, and have felt really well taken care of. They will go out of their way to show you how proud they are of their town, and culture. I'm very fortunate to have experienced that. Next stop - Galway!

Mullingar, Ireland

The weekend found Katrina, her family, and I in Mullingar, Ireland. This is a small town about an hour outside of Dublin. Kats husband grew up here, and his Mom and Dad still have a home there. We arrived on Saturday, had a nice visit, some tea, then headed up to the Festival of Fires. This event hasn't happened in over 1400 years. Folks gathered on a hilltop that had been set up with a couple of huge, Burning Man type, wooden fires that were lit at dark.

There were more of these fires set off miles away on other hill sides across the county. As one went off, the others were lit as well. It was very pagan-esque, and very, very cool! Lot's of dancing by folks dressed in druid garb, fire stick twirlers, stilt walkers, lantern carriers, etc. 

Quite the event! One of the druids offered to carve the rune symbol for peace for me should I have a piece of wood or antler. I didn't... but I think according to druid culture, we may be promised to each other after that exchange. 

There was also some great music. I discovered a trad (traditional Irish music) artist named Sharon Shannon. Nice stuff. Mundy also played. There was some local wine, food, and craft tents. All ages attended. It was a really, really fun night with Kat and family. We drank excellent wine and danced to good music. Walked around some of the most gorgeous hill side, and watch a beautiful sunset from the center of Ireland (literally). Folks were sending paper lanterns fueled by candle light off into the horizon. I will have to post  pictures at a later date (see previous post about the Ha' Penny Pub). The night ended with the unfortunate event of getting Kats Prius stuck in the mud, but we were rescued and all ended well. 


Sunday morning started with a delish breakfast, a washing off of the muddy Prius, and a trip to the local manor house and gardens. Kat and I walked around the gardens talking about the stuff of life, and dropping some silver wishes in the garden fountain. I am fortunate to have such great friends in my life. We had a great dinner that evening, lots of stories, lots of laughter. The Corcoran men took us on a pub crawl in Mullingar after dinner. The first had a grocery store in the front, pub in the back. The sold Wellies, too. One stop shopping. Well, not one stop for us, actually. We had a pint, then headed to another pub about 5 miles away. When we got there, I realized I had left my bag at the first pub! Argh! He who must not be named was on the phone and to the rescue in minutes. We drove back to pub number one. No worries in a small town, my bag was in tact, and back in my possession. We headed back to pub number two, again, and had another pint. 


Monday found me at the train station saying goodbyes to Kat and he who shall not be named. Hugs, kisses, then on the train to Sligo, bus to Letterkenny.

Musical Pub Crawl

This will be a short post. I'm presently in an internet cafe in Bunbeg Ireland, where there is only one small cafe/computer repair shop for miles. Luckily, I am in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, so the long walk was enjoyable. I heard about the place from Sharon, the bar maid at the hotel. Her son  Eamon works here. I think I might've embarrassed him a bit when I said sort of loudly " Your Mom says Hello!".  


I went on a musical pub crawl last Wednesday in Dublin. A group of us followed these fellows around to a few pubs while they played some traditional Irish tunes on banjo and guitar. 


Here are a couple of videos:
 Eugene and Des doing their thing
Eugene rockin' the four string banjo


It was ok. Just ok. I guess seeing some of the best Irish musicians the night before put a bit of a damper on these lads. Sorry guys.

des and eugene

You might be asking yourself why I don't have as many pictures as I usually do. At our second stop of the evening, my camera found it's way into the toilet at the Ha'Penny Pub. Lesson, don't set your camera on the shelf above the toilet of a pub from the 19th century where almost everything is at a slant. After a few choice words I was able to fish it out, and over the last several days, it has managed to dry itself out, and I am very surprised, and happy to say that it is back in operating order. 

An evening with Glen

So, most folks know that I am fan of The Frames. They hail from this fair city that I currently find myself in, Dublin. It all started in 2002, when I saw them play at a small club called the Blackbird, located in the Hollywood district of Portland. Tony Starlights is the current tenant of that space. Some Portlanders may remember Uncle Butchies Low Carb Kitchen, which inhabited that address in between the Blackbird and Tony's. :)  Anywho, I liked what I saw, bought the record and have been a fan of Glen Hansards words ever since. To me, he is a sincere and honest song writer who isn't afraid to show you how passionate, sappy, or silly he is. While I like the plugged in version of the Frames, or Swell Season - not much compares to Glen and Guitar. No bell, no whistles - just the voice, the melody, and the words. 


I didn't know if The Frames, Swell Season, or Glen would be playing while I was in Dublin. The website didn't show any dates here, so I emailed Claire, their manager, and asked if, by chance, there was anything going on while I was here that wasn't posted on the web. And, if not, and Glen if was in town, what were the chances of me meeting him for a cup of tea. (pretty bold of me, I thought, to ask Glen on a "date". All she could do, after laughing out loud in her office, was tell me "no". So, might as well ask). I was just about ready to write the dream of me seeing Glen solo off, when she replied to my email! Glen was playing the Odessa, in Dublin. Small room, unpublished solo gig, Glen with Guitar. WHOO HOOO!!! I was so there! Until I called the club. The show was sold out. Bummer. I emailed Claire back, with thanks, but the show is sold out. Hours passed. Dinner and wine. A quick check of my email before settling in for the evening with Kat and family... WHAT! OMG! Are you kidding me?! Claire had gotten me on the list for the show at the Odessa! Kat and I rushed over to the club and there was my name, on the list. We had to do a bit of fast talkin' to get Kat in, then we were there, in a very small room full of local musicians, friends, and political activists. Maybe 50 or so folks total. The gig was in support of tribe of Kenyans, and getting them a truck for their village. Glen would match the money taken in tonight. Rad. Good to see an Academy Award hasn't blinded him too much from what is happening in the world around him.

singing Lay Me Down. the mic went away after that, much to the sound guys dismay. 

You never know how fame is going to change a person. I was glad to see that Glen still performs with the same sincerity, honesty, and passion he always has. He was genuinely having a great time at the show, singing new songs, old songs, covers, and telling stories. 

a very much loved guitar

He shared the stage with everyone in the room. Mundy, Ollie, and Gavin Harte, all stood up and did their things - Glen taking a back seat to play along on guitar, or just quietly singing along while watching them - as the rest of us did. 

Mundy. another popular Irish singer songwriter, balancing himself on two stools. silly boy.

Glen wondering if Mundy will fall or not..

He talked to folks in the audience, and encouraged all - in typical Irish tradition - to sing along. So fun! 

Katrina and I have come a long way from Rage Against the Machine mosh pits!

I want to mention that for most of the show there was no amplification. He also broke two guitar strings during the set and changed them while playing and singing. I've only seen Mike Watt do that!

It was a wonderfully intimate night. I feel so fortunate to have been there. It was one of those shows where you walk out of the bar and the world looks different. That's only happened a few times in my life. Once after a Thelonious Monster show at McCabes Guitar Shop in Santa Monica CA, another after a Pete Krebs/John Doe show at Satyricon in Portland OR, another time after a Geraldine Fibbers show in Olympia WA. Oh, there was also the Ray Charles show at the Oregon Zoo. There are probably more if I think about it...I love music. 


Here are a few "movies" I took during the show. I didn't get whole songs because my battery was running out. But you will get the idea of what we saw. 
Gavin Harte - Political Activist
Glen- part of All the Way Down
Glen - part of a trad song I don't know the name of
Glen - i can't remember the name of this one either-may be a medley
Glen - part of Say It To Me Now
Mundy - tonight was the first time i had seen him. not sure of the name of this song.