Executive decision made

I have come to the conclusion that winter makes me feel sleepy.  Maybe I was an animal that hibernated in a previous life and something in my DNA still calls for that.  If I was an animal that hibernated I hope it was a bear.  Other than that I am feeling rather chipper today.  Plus I’m just going to go with the taking it easy thing that winter seemed to have forced upon me.  Go with the flow right.

I have also made a rather important decision.  I have just decided it I have not yet made any inquiries into it.  What brought me on to this line of thinking was Pink Hair Girl’s post yesterday.  It’s not urgent for me right at this point in time so it can wait a bit but it is definitely something that I am going to do.  I always say “don’t breed” right.  And I don’t use contraception.  I refuse to put all that crap into my body.  So there always is a risk of falling pregnant no matter how careful you are.  I know for sure that I do not want any more children.  So aside from taking my insides out which I really am not very keen on, the other alternative is to get my tubes tied.  So I have decided that that is what I am going to do.  Boom!  Breeding machine shutdown.

I might be a bit hypocritical telling people that they shouldn’t breed seeing as though I did it.  But I feel that I can speak from experience.  I understand the irrational need to have children.  It’s instinct in a way I guess.  But since we are all evolved beings that don’t just act on instinct and we were given the gift of rational thinking.   I urge people to use it.  Having children is a commitment you can never get out of.  Your life changes in ways you cannot imagine.  Besides that there are financial and emotional implications and when you decide to end your relationship it ads a host of other complications.  Having said that, having children can also enrich your life in ways you cannot imagine.  They teach us so much about life and remind us of things that we have forgotten.

But the reality is that the world does not need any more humans.  I think we have kind of reached the saturation point. But you know, each to their own.  Live and let live and all that.  Just don’t come crying to me afterwards, I told you so already.

Until your shadow fades

Can you hold on a little longer
do you think you can
Walk around this mountain
where you can see the sun again
Can you come a little closer
close the distance between us
cross the border of the wasteland
into the circle of my arms
Spill your troubles in my lap
free your shoulders of their burden
I can’t fight your battles for you
but I can listen
Can you sit with me here for a while
with my head upon your lap
and I will whisper I love you
until your shadow fades from my doorstep

© N Kruger – 12 May 2012

All I want…

It’s nearing full moon.  You know that time of the month where I normally go slightly psychotic.  I’m obsessing about things I shouldn’t as I do sometimes.  But at least it’s manageable.  I’m working very hard to keep the insufferable romantic in me quiet.  Because we all know, in spite of what Disney and Hollywood would like us to believe, that real life isn’t like in the movies.  Some people assure me that it can be but I’m not so sure.

I’m feeling a bit bored with myself lately.  And god forbid, you all know how I feel about that.  Did you know that the Zombie apocalypse has started?  Yes it has.  There was this naked guy on a highway yesterday in Miami that was eating another man’s face and the cops killed him.  They blame drugs.  Totally a Zombie.  Then today there is this ridiculous march in Joburg about the painting of the president’s penis.  I really don’t get the rage about it.  Surely there are more important things to focus on?  What is the justification, the pay-off for disrupting the city because of a painting?  Brett Murray you can paint me naked anytime, you can even draw me with a penis if you like.  For fuck sakes.  Priorities people.  It just seems like large scale ego stroking.  Is our president so over sensitive that something like a painting of him would bother him so much?  Surely his ego (among other things) get stroked more than enough by his 4 wife’s at home…it’s ridiculous.  They also found radio active tuna in California, tuna are the ocean’s great travelers and they came all the way from Japan where that nuclear plant leaked all it’s crap.  They reckon the tuna is safe to eat and scientists said they were surprised, it confirms pollution can travel that far.  That was a bit of a eye rolling statement for me.  How much more evidence do you need to know how far pollution can travel?  I thought we had established this a long time ago.  A real cool thing that is happening is that SA won the bid for the SKA (Square Kilometer Array), it’s a giant telescope, the most powerful one ever, they will put it in the Karoo and will allow scientists and astronomers to take a look back in time to the formation and evolution of the very first stars and galaxies, soon after the Big Bang.  Cool huh.  It also means that a big chunk of the Karoo is safe from fracking.  A good thing yes.

Normally I live in my happy bubble and I don’t pay attention to the news.  It’s depressing.  It can be.  I do like to know what goes on in the world around me though so I listen even though I don’t pay attention.  There is a difference you see.  Between listening and paying attention.  Listening means I hear all that’s going on, not paying attention to it allows me to not get upset and enraged.  People get upset and enraged about so many things they see, read or hear.  But what does that help?  It doesn’t.  Why don’t they rather use the energy to actually do something.  Even if it’s something small.  Because every bit helps.  No matter how small it is.  And just imagine how awesome the world will be if everyone does a small thing every day to make the world a better place.  If everyone would stop moaning and start doing.  Just a small thing.  But we are all a bit egocentric aren’t we.  People won’t do something easily if they don’t also get something.  Which is where the problem lies in my most humble opinion.  Everything is an ego battle.

I don’t care if I get something or not.  It makes me happy to help.  All I want is love.

Weekend roundup Plus edition

OK so clearly I’m still a bit hormonal.  I also don’t think I had my vit B12 injection last month which would explain why I’m so tired.  Anyhoo so weekend roundup.

This weekend I was at the Olive in the early evening to get some take out and drop off the banner and posters for the market with Tom.  Then went home got into bed and watched Spartacus.  Saturday morning was up early to get ready for the Market.  With Laura being in hospital and me being out of the country we didn’t have much time to really promote the market this time.  But it still went off great in spite of that.  After the market it was home and a late afternoon nap which needless to say left me wide awake when I should have been sleeping.  I watched some more Spartacus and tossed and turned until who knows when.  Sunday morning got up early to go on a breakfast run with some friends from the conservancy.  It was awesome.  Got back and spent the rest of the day with the kids and Christian and I watched the F1.  Also visited with a friend and had to go to town, yuck.  Last night I was going to watch Spartacus but went to sleep instead.

Mrs Rautenbach brought me her pole that she’s not using anymore.  It’s a bit dinged but I will see if I can use it.  So that’s cool.  I am also eagerly awaiting something I ordered online and I’m being cryptic on purpose lol.  My tenants for the cottage also moved in this weekend.  So ja, life is chugging along, nothing to complain about really.

I feel like I’m stagnant at the moment though.  I don’t like it.  But on the other hand I also just don’t have the energy right now to drive things.  Sometimes even super girl needs a break right?  There just is so much I still want to do and accomplish and it’s June already (ok almost).  I suppose when it’s your life you have a internal perspective and it may seem or feel like you aren’t going anywhere.  Maybe I’ve become accustomed to all the constant change and now that things are a bit more chilled I miss it.  Maybe I want things I can’t have, maybe should listen to my own advise…my heart can be bothersome sometimes unfortunately.  Anyhoo I’m making things sound way worse than they are aren’t I.  And they are not, bad that is.  Everything is just fine.

Let go

Curse the gods

I thought that I had missed the temporary hormonally induced madness this month.  Yesterday I was still fine.  Then BAM!  Last night it hit me.  Today I’m vascillating between the urge to scream at people and staple their ears to my desk and sitting in a heap and crying.  Beautiful.  Lovely.  That’s just grand.  Got to love it.  It’s one of those days where I should just remove myself from society and be quiet.  But alas.  That is not to be.  Have meetings at work, last minute market things to sort out.  Life happens ya know.  Got to deal with shit.

All I want really is to be told everything will be ok.  Get a hug and some love and tea.  For all my intentions, even I sometimes want to hear “I love you”.  Just every now and then.

Whatever.

OK.  So as I pull myself towards myself and brace myself for the rest of the day.  I shall focus upon things that make me happy.  Like the market tomorrow.  And the fact that it’s Friday.  And the plan that I’m working on for someone’s birthday and my trip to Cape Town.  Oh and it’s payday.  And I have a tenant moving in.  So I don’t really have anything to complain about.  I just feel emotionally unstable.  But all is good.

And also curse the gods for bestowing this wretched infliction on us woman.

Happy Friday.  And come to the market on Saturday ok.

There are no accidents

Is it just me or does it feel to everyone like time is going faster?  I can’t believe is Thursday already or June for that matter.  Half the year gone *poof*!  Or maybe it just seems that it’s going faster because my life is filled with living and not getting by or surviving.  Things seem to have taken a slower pace with the onset of winter in terms of achieving goals and such.  But remembering that this is my year of patience I am taking the time to just let things play out in their own way.  I think I have learned that by now.  Trying to force things just never work.  Everything happens exactly as it should when it should.

Like my note from the Universe said this morning – “There are no accidents, Nicci.  If it’s appeared on your life radar, this is why:  to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have power to fix what’s broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you’re already the person you dreamed you’d become.  And believe me that was one heck of a dream.  There are no accidents”.

A nice reminder I think.  It is really easy to forget, while we get so busy chasing goals and dreams and aspirations to appreciate where we are, what and who we have right now.  While it’s important to keep sight of one’s goals it is also just as important to remember to live in the moment.  To not get caught up and start living in the future or the past.  To find happiness and contentment with the space we find ourselves in and not be unhappy because we haven’t reached our destination yet.  Afterall, the most fun happens on the journey.  The journey is the most important part of the destination for without it you wouldn’t go anywhere.  So we may as well make the most of it!  Including the detours, dead ends and obstacles.

Everything will be just fine.  Everything will be all right.

Going Red

It’s amazing how quickly you can fall out of a habit.  Like blogging for instance.  My head is still full of travel stuff.  I learned so many new and interesting things.  I also learned that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  The whole of Europe’s economy is in a complete mess.  And an entire generation of people, the young people, are leaving Ireland because they just can’t find work.  So we aren’t that badly off here in South Africa.

The kids and I and my Mom had a great time catching up.  They were full of stories and very excited about their presents.  Christian has his first loose tooth and declared yesterday that he is in love.  Lila was very excited because the woman who did her ballet exam is from Argentina and now she wants to know everything about Argentina.  She also told me that she is growing armpit hair, which she is very excited about because it means she is getting big now.  I’m going to have to buy roll on and deodorant soon.  They are getting big.

Our next market is this coming Saturday.  So I’m busy with that, I would love to have a lot more exhibitors.  But like with our theme, the market is growing organically.  But it’s going really well!  Make a note folks and pop by!  But if you do make something, bake something or grow something organically pop us a mail for more info fatolivemarket@gmail.com.  So life is carrying on pretty much the same.  I mean it’s not like I was gone for long, not much changes in a week.  I am however already dreaming about my next trip, next year shall see me travelling abroad again.

It’s getting to my standard kopraas time of the month.  But at least I know it’s just kopraas.  And I just decided that I am going to colour my hair red.  When I looked in the mirror this morning in the car the sun shone on my hair and reflected all the copper tones.  I do have an inner ginger.  So I’m just going to do it.  It’s just hair.  If it looks shit I can always make it another colour right.

Happy Chooseday ♥

International Woman of Mystery – The highlights package

Seeing as though I had way too good a time in Ireland and was way too tired to sit up and blog at night you guys have only had 1 update on my trip.  So I will give you the highlights.  It was an awesome awesome trip and everyone should go travelling by themselves at least once in their life.  It was really awesome.

So the last update you guys had was when I arrived in Quilty.  I slept over in Quilty for 2 nights.  So I spent the whole day exploring county Clare.  More specifically the cliffs of Moher and The Burren.  County Clare was my favourite.  The cliffs of Moher is absolutely breathtaking and no photograph will ever do it justice.  I took (in my usual style) the road less frequented by travellers when I got there.  On the other end of the cliffs away from the too perfectly restored tower house, there is a ruin you see, on Hag’s head.  And I wanted to go there, so off I go traipsing past the signs that says “Extreme Danger!!!!  Do not pass!!!!”, on the edge of the cliff to the other end.  That little walk took me just over 2 hours to complete LOL.  I freaking walked people.  And it’s kak windy up there, I have never experienced windy quite like that before.  Like blow you off the edge of the cliff kind of windy.  But the long walk I was worth it through and through, you get THE best views of the cliff from that end.  Plus you get to go into the really cool ruin at the very end.  Awesome.  Puffins nest on a little island there by the cliffs so I got Lila the cutest little puffin sparkle globe thingie at the gift shop there, she loves Puffins.  They are very cute.  I didn’t get to see any in real life though, although it could just be because I was concentrating on not being hurled off the edge of the cliff by the wind.  After that I was starving and a little tired so I had lunch in Doolin and then set off to explore The Burren.

Taken from Spanish Point in Quilty (where the spaniards met their end after fleeing trying to invade ireland)

Now The Burren is an area in Ireland that is just limestone, it’s hauntingly beautiful.  It’s different beautiful.  It’s something you have never seen before.  The place is just filled with secrets and stuff predating the pyramids from the Neolithic time period.  It’s awesome.  Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I am interested in that kind of thing so to me it was just mind blowing.  They reckon that the area was once a river that flowed into the sea and that is how that unique landscape was formed.  I took the rest of the day to drive around, stop the car, walk around and just take it all in.  I did of course go to find the Neolithic tomb there and this really cool ruin of a house which had a really cool story that I just loved.  The house belonged to Maire Rua (Red Mary) the legend goes that she was quite a formidable woman who owned over a thousand hectares of land.  Now back in the day if you wanted land, you marched your troops up there, had a wee battle and who ever wasn’t dead in the end won.  So some dudes wanted Maire’s land and off her husband went to defend it.  When he came back, he was half dead and his leg was blown off by a cannonball.  So Maire assessed his condition from their bedroom high up in the house, decided that a half dead husband was no good to her and promptly chucked him out the window where needless to say he met his end.  So Maire called a meeting with the attacking generals, which arrived, and instead of what they expected, a negotiation.  Maire promptly selected one of the generals and announced that she will be marrying him.  So problem solved, no more fighting as the land was not an issue anymore as it now kinda belonged to them anyways.  So some time passes, and one fine day, Maire makes her husband drunk aaaaaand promptly chucked him out the window too.  Problem solved.  I love her.  LOL.  I also visited Ailwee caves in which they discovered the remains of an European brown bear, which proves that they were once indigenous to Ireland.  Cool huh.  There are also some 10 000 year old Stalagmites and tites in there.  After that I wondered through the little woodland and headed off to get some sleep.

The cliffs of Moher – see that faaaaaar end over there. That’s where I walked to.

The Burren

The portal tomb in The Burren

Mary’s House

Next stop was Callan in county Kilkenny.  On the way there I stopped in Ennis, Killalloo (gorgeous), Nenagh (beautiful), Thurles and Cashel.  I was really miff because I just missed the last tour of the Rock of Cashel with like 15 minutes.  But I got to see some awesome other stuff.  I wandered around the streets of Ennis a bit and had a squizz at the Clare Museum.  Killaloe is the place the last High King of Ireland, the legandary Brian Boru lived, so I took a walk down the river Clare, took in the beautiful scenery, visited the site of the fort and St Flannan’s oratory and Cathedral and promptly didn’t see that the light for the bridge was red for me and drove up a one way hehehe.  Just outside the town there is a lookout point where I stopped and just looked at all the pretty.  Next stop Nenagh.  I didn’t really spend all that much time there, the castle was closed as they were busy restoring it a bit and the heritage centre was ok.  Still a pretty part of Ireland though. I did stop at Farney Castle also on my way out, the lady there didn’t want to tell me much because I was on my own so I left, and it made me late for the rock of Cashel.  So pooey.  I was rather the moer in so I just left Cashel and went straight on to Moonarch B & B in Callan.  Gorgeous little B & B and Catherine is awesome!!

Killaloe – the river Shannon

Gorgeous scenery

Kilkenny Castle

The next day I was off to county Meath for my last day in Ireland.  I slept over in Dunshauglin in another lovely B & B called Killeentierna House, Mrs Morris is a sweetheart!  On the way there I stopped in Kildare, I thought going to the Japanese gardens might be worth the trip, but when I got there they charged 12.50 euro entrance.  I was not going to pay that to wander through a Japanese garden in Ireland so set off again.  I stopped in Trim.  And that was freaking awesome!!!!  I visited Trim castle and because they didn’t take cards were kind enough to let me go in anyways without paying.  Trim castle was awesome.  I LOVED it!!!  Loved it.  It was one of those snot cold days in Ireland though, you know when it’s so cold your nose sommer runs.  Like that LOL.  But it was so worth stopping there!  Awesome.  I arrived in Dunshauglin, and then set off to Hill of Tara.  I got stung on the ass by a Nettle there.  Still now when I think of the word Nettle I get goosebumps.  It was one of my best days in Ireland.  Hill of Tara is awesome!  I found the fairy tree and left my wish there for the fae.  And had one of the best meals I had in Ireland at Maguires of Tara.  Awesome!  Just awesome.  After that I went back to Dunshauglin and off to the pub for a couple of pints.  I set off the next morning for my very last day to Bru na Boinne to go to Newgrange, the neolithic tomb that pre dates the pyramids.  I did not have a good experience there unfortunately.  The staff was incredibly rude and you can’t just go and see the sites.  You have to pay to see each one and they shuttle you there.  So instead of going to Newgrange, Nowth and Howth, I just went to Newgrange. In spite of the initial hiccup and after I calmed down from my the moer in’ness.  Visiting that place is an amazing experience.  To think that that stuff has been standing there for over 5000 years.  No one fixed it up.  And what was it used for exactly and how they got all those rocks there, some weighing over 9 tons from such far distances is still a mystery.  Really amazing.

Trim Castle – my best!!

From the top of Trim Castle

The photo that cost me a sting on the ass by a Nettle

The fairy tree at Hill of Tara

Newgrange neolithic tomb – that white stone is all quartz

The entrance stone to the ‘tomb’ remember, it’s over 5000 years old!

From there I went back to Dublin, visited the Old James on Distillery, did the tour, had a whiskey and set off to find Clontarf Castle which were my digs for the last night.  It was ok.  It’s a hotel in a restored castle.  But you know, it’s a hotel.  I did not sleep well there, the other guests walking past and talking loudly and slamming doors woke me 4 times during the night.  I did get to see Dublin Harbour though.  

The old Jameson Distillery

Clontarf Castle

And that concluded my trip.  I got up at 5am, got dressed and set off for the airport, dropped my rental car and checked in.  The irish, unlike the South Africans and the Arabs thought I was some kind of evil terrorist that wanted to blow up the plane with my facewash and deoderant and took it off me.  I threw a fit.  Which didn’t help.  But I still threw it.  And stomped off.  At least they gave me free internet.  Was. Not. Impressed.  The whole of Ireland was at the airport that day to go off to Twickenham to watch some really important rugby game so it was very busy and I was not a happy camper.  Luckily it was quiet at my gate.

The “1st world” is great and all that and I had a really great time visiting.  The streets are clean and pedestrians get right of way, stuff works. but it’s also regulated and ruled to the last little detail.  I much prefer living here, where my home is in Africa.  The rhythm of Africa pulses strongly through my veins and I love it here where we still have a measure of using and speaking our own minds.  I love living in South Africa, this is my home ♥

International Woman of Mystery – Part 2

So taken my “wing it” kind of nature, I of course did not purchase an converter/adaptor plug in duty free as advised.  So needless to say all my electronic equipment’s batteries ran out within the first day.  Plus I didn’t have internet access up till now.  So I need to catch y’all up on two days worth of travelling.  And I do now have in my possesion an adaptor plug.

Day 1:

I arrived in Dublin half an hour ahead of schedule which was great, about 7:30 am, collected my luggage and sorted out car hire.  Which might I add wasn’t half as much of a mission as I originally thought.  I chose another option than what I was offered in SA and that actually works out way better for me.  Yay.  Less stress.  So first I was given a car with no space to plug in the GPS – a Fiat Panda – and then it was swopped out for a very zooty red VW Polo, which is a pleasure to drive.  So after a moment of OMG where do I go, I decided that driving around Dublin is no different than driving around any other place that I’ve never been, I gathered my bearings, got out the GPS and punched in “Trinity College”, which was first on my list of places to visit.  Now Dublin is a city and I was very lucky to arrive on a Saturday.  The Irish are very laid back and relaxed, not much goes on before 10am and on weekends.  So I was given a “free pass” on hectic traffic.  Now trying to find parking anywhere in Ireland is a bit of a mission.  The streets are narrow and you have to find a space or a carpark, parking in the city is free on weekends (if you are lucky enough to find a space) or it’s the car park for you where I paid 3.50 euro – ouch!  But it was worth a trip to the Old Library at Trinity College.  Unfortunately you aren’t allowed to take photos in the Library.  But boy was it amazing!  It’s this huge really old building, beautifully restored, just filled with over a million ancient books, when you walk in there you get that book smell.  It was amazing!  Just to be in that space filled with the original books of some of the greatest minds of that era.  It was wow.  Then of course there’s also the book of Kells, which admittedly I wasn’t all that interested in, but buying a ticket (9 euro) for the Old Library does give you admission to also view the book of Kells.

After I visited the Old Library, I went off to the Guinness Storehouse, which I didn’t have to pay for as admission was included with my prize (yay).  Since I had two tickets I gave one away to some random person waiting in line to pay.  And off I went to have “the Guinness Experience).  What an amazing building!  The dude, Arthur was his name I think, signed a (legendary) 9000 year lease for that building which I believe he acquired for a steal.  The whole building features all the old machinery used and it’s quite fascinating really.  As is the process in making this fine beer.  You make your way up and up and up through the building until at last you reach the top of the glass (the design is made from the inside to look like a pint glass) and you have a 360 degree view of Dublin.  Amazing! Your ticket gives you 1 Guinness on the house.  So I sat in the sun enjoying the view and my Guinness.

After that I  went off to see Dublin Castle.  They do tours every hour, so I had an hour to kill.  So I went off to St Patrick’s Cathedral which was closed for the day.  But not to fear!  I went for a walkabout through the streets of Dublin and stumbled across Temple Bar.  Which isn’t a pub.  It’s a little hub of activity in the nooks and cranny’s of Dublin, little street markets and funky little shops.  It was great to just wander around and take in the sights and sounds.  So when the time came I made my way back to Dublin Castle, what a yawn fest.  I did however learn some interesting facts about Ireland.  Did you know that there are only 4 million Irish in Ireland and about 70 million worldwide.  Quite prolific!  Dublin castle has never ever been successfully invaded until it was handed over in an agreement.  The rest was just boring, aristocracy blah blah.

When I was done there I was getting rather tired as the excitement of the day wore off and I realized that I was actually famished.  So off I went to find my B & B.  Now the thing about Ireland that you have to understand is that Ireland is a really small island (compared to SA) and stuff isn’t all that far apart.  So what I thought is going to be a half an hour drive to my destination turned out to be all of 10 minutes.  Great.  I stayed in Templeogue at Abbey Court and the dear Mrs Leahy was there to greet me and settle me in.  Now it really is worth it to get pay as you go vouchers from Discover Travel & Tours.  They have a little booklet with all the places you can go with phone numbers, addresses and a photo of the place.  Plus you can just phone a day ahead and book, it’s great.  Anyway, I asked Mrs Leahy where the local pub was, had a shower and headed off there, just a short walk from the B & B.  So far I have avoided going to all the touristey hang outs.  I much prefer speaking to the locals and having proper Irish food.  I can eat at a fancy restaurant at home as well!  Vegetarian options are unfortunately far and few between but I did have a lovely mushroom and vegetable soup and cheese fondue.  So far a dinner has averaged at about 10 euro including a pint.

I was knackered after that and headed “home” and went straight to bed and slept for a solid 12 hours.  Breakfast was served at 8:30 after which I packed up and headed back out.  I needed to find a plug to plug in my electronics because I got so snap happy on my first day I had no camera left, no laptop and my cellphone battery was close to finished.  I did not find a plug but I did find a Tesco’s where I bought a sim card loaded with 20 euro worth of airtime.  Awesome!  I could make contact with home and phone ahead to book my next stay.  I headed to a little town called Edenderry.  I chose this town as it was kind of half way to county Clare which I wanted to visit next.  Just a short drive (remember everything is really close by in Ireland) and I was there (as an aside – Jesus Christ is’t 10:40pm here and still light as day!!) I headed off to Birr to go see Castle Birr.  You can’t get access to the actual castle because get this, the original family still lives there, well not them because they aren’t immortal but you know what I mean.  They have lived there since the 1600′s.  How freaking cool!  anyway you can get access to the castle grounds and the museum and you get to see the super awesome telescope they built there.  So off I go exploring, now this place is massive.  And I take a route close to the castle, that you can’t go into because people live there.  And I’m wandering along wondering what they are like and as it happens I pass by these HUGE windows on the side of the castle, I turn my head and what do I see…(I swear to God these things will only happen to me) a guy sitting on a chair, facing out the window (it must be a gorgeous view) wanking.  Yes you heard me, wanking.  Hillare!  So I just look away and keep on walking and LOL!  When I went back around the curtains were drawn.  Anyway aside from my porn experience, I was in tree heaven.  That place is filled with the most beautiful trees that are 100′s of years old.  Amazing!  The history is also fascinating.  On my way back to Edenderry I stopped at Shannon Harbour, it just fascinated me that there was a Harbour in the middle of the country.  Shannon Harbour used to be a bustling little city with a population of 2000.  The barrels from the Guinness storehouse was sent down the canal all the way there.  And later on when people started immigrating from Ireland that is the place they left from.  Now it only has 20 residents!  Off the pub again for a chat with the locals and some good food.  Needless to say I slept like the dead that night.

As usual I forgot to switch off my alarm, so at 4:30am my alarm went off and then I was awake.  I studied my maps and had a walk around town.  Got back, studied my maps some more until 8am when breakfast was served.  I stayed at Auburn Lodge and Catherine Byrne my hostess.  She makes preserves and things which are very tasty since I tried her marmalade on my toast.  She was also kind enough to point me in the direction of some lovely places to visit on the next leg of my trip.  The Irish really are very friendly!  She also managed to find a plug for me that I could use to give my stuff a quick charge as I took a last walk around town, viewed a castle ruin and the most beautiful view from the hilltop of the surrounding countryside.  Then it was off again!  My next stop was to be country Clare as I wanted to see the cliffs of Moher and the Burren.  Since it gets dark so late in Ireland I wasn’t too stressed if the journey took longer than what it should, so I took my time driving and stopping along the way.  But first it was off to Tullamore to go find a plug, which I did at a quaint little hardware store.  From Tullamore I went to Clonmagnoise which is an ancient monastery built in the 6th century.  It is rather fascinating and the ruins well preserved.  From there I headed off to Eyrecourt, then Longhrea passed through Gort and headed off to Quilty in Clare where I am staying for 2 nights.  I took the scenic route, which I highly recommend as there are a lot of places to go off to view interesting things that aren’t on tourist maps.  It is a stressful drive though as the roads are very narrow and there is no space to pull over and the speed limit is 100km’s/hour.  A bit hair raising but beautiful nonetheless.  So I head off to the tiny town called Quilty and as I drive up I am left breathless.  Just as I thought Ireland couldn’t get any prettier there is this spectacular coast line and this picturesque little village.  It is amazing!!!  Really beautiful!  I was settled in to Clonmore Lodge which as internet yay!  By the dear Mrs Daly and then set off to find something to eat.  I chose The Central and then set off to another pub on my way back to chat to the locals which were all really friendly.  It is now 10:30pm and still light!  LOL.  I am going to bed now.  Stay tuned for part 3.  Photos to follow, too tired now.  Tomorrow I am off to a new adventure!

PS:  I’m all churched out!  Will report back on other findings!