The Kingfisher at the Ponds

The river is such a tranquil place, 

a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature, 

to enjoy the elegance of swans 

and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.
~Jane Wilson-Howarth, Snowfed Waters

The ponds have been full of birds for the past couple of days. I did not have my camera on Tuesday when I drove through...still too groggy from the trip and just trying accomplish some errands before my classes started. So I went back today with the camera hoping for a few decent shots to share.

Egrets and herons were everywhere. There were ducks, as well - Blue-winged Teal (I thought) and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (I knew). Cormorants were diving in one of the tanks. I ignored a mocking bird - I'll catch it another day. A number of wading birds - Black-necked stilts and American Avocets as well as some too far for identification. Some new (to me) varieties of dragonflies rested on the barbed wire.

Roseate Skimmer

Blue Dasher

As I tried for decent photos of one of the Great Egrets I noted a car driving towards me. I knew it had to be a birder. Indeed, it was my friend, GE. We talked about recent travel (him to South America) and he shared that someone had observed a Buff-breasted Sandpiper and a Ringed Kingfisher at the ponds. I confessed that I did not know the Buff-breasted Sandpiper at all, but that I had observed the kingfisher along the Frio River in May. It had been a stunning experience with multiple birds flying along as we tubed the river. I don't remember ever having seen them before and I will never forget the metallic/clanking call.
  
GE headed down the road and I finished my photos before turning around. As I got to the corner I heard it - that unmistakable metallic eh-eh-eh-eh-eh. I stopped and recorded it on the cell app I use for amphibian calls. [I also sent GE a message that I was hearing the kingfisher with its approximate location.]

Now I wait while the databases pass judgment on my observation. I'm sure, but one never knows if they will agree (or even look at the id). Whatever might happen, I am surprised and pleased to know that the efforts of the last few years are yielding some results. I'm bad enough at visual identification, but am worse at birding by ear. I recognized the Red-shouldered Hawk at the park this morning and then heard the Ringed Kingfisher.

Sometimes it isn't necessary to see the bird, it is enough to hear it and know that you are together in the wild.


Here are the better photos from the ponds today:

The Cattle Egrets were gobbling down some insects. It would have made good video. Here you can see the bug-bulge in the front bird's neck.

Great Egret

Great Egret in the "turtle pond" sharing the fallen tree.

A few years ago I watched a family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - 12 chicks - in this pond. It was great to see even a few here.

Adult BBWD on the left and a juvenile on the far right. I haven't identified the other duck yet.

Killdeer - the eyes are so lovely.

It's not a great photo of the BBWD, but I wanted to point out the adult has a pink bill while the juvenile bill is blue-grey.

If they are at a distance, it helps for the cattle egrets to be hanging out with the cows for id.

Snowy Egret

Great Blue Heron (and a cormorant in the background)

NOTES:

First, I have no idea why part of the text is blue and part black. Editing has done nothing to repair. I will try one more time - perhaps changing all to blue. We will see.

Second, if you are curious about the Ringed Kingfisher, here are a couple of sites. It is large, impressive, and clanky.  

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/ringed-kingfisher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringed_kingfisher

We Had No Choice - We Followed the Music

          From the first note I knew it was different from anything I had ever heard....

          It began simply, but with an arresting phrase, so simple, but eloquent as a

          human voice. It spoke, beckoning gently as it unwound, rising and tensing.

          It spiraled upward, the tension growing with each repeat of the phrasing, and

          yet somehow it grew more abandoned, wilder with each note. His eyes

          remained closed as his fingers flew over the strings, spilling forth surely 

          more notes than were possible from a single violin. For one mad moment I 

          actually thought there were more of them, an entire orchestra of violins 

          spilling out of this one instrument. I had never heard anything like it--it was 

          poetry and seduction and light and shadow and every other contradiction 

          I could think of. It seemed impossible to breathe while listening to that 

          music, and yet all I was doing was breathing, quite heavily. The music itself 

          had become as palpable a presence in that room as another person would 

          have been--and its presence was something out of myth.

                                                          ― Deanna Raybourn, Silent in the Grave

St. Canice's Cathedral (Church of Ireland) - location of the first concert. Great acoustics. Rough seating. Take a pillow.

Replace "violin" in the above quote with "fiddle" or "guitar," "pipes" or "concertina," "harp" or "banjo" and I would need to share nothing more.

It might just be better to leave it at this because I struggle for the words to describe our experience. Maybe there are no words - only the music.  So feel free to stop reading here and look at the few photos, if you wish.

The interior of St. Canice's

We first heard Martin Hayes in a pub in Clonmel in 2017. That year Martin performed at the Junction Festival with a wonderful piper, David Power. We lucked into the performance having no clue what magic we were to hear. Then in October 2018 we made a special trip to New York City for  a concert at the Highline Ballroom to hear the Martin Hayes Quartet perform because now we knew (and had the opportunity). Each venue was perfect in its own way, intimate. We shared our tables and got to know some lovely people as we enjoyed the music. [Links to those stories are below.*]

When DH and I checked the rest of the tour dates and locations at the end of that October concert, we were hoping to queue for the quartet** a few more times. But we discovered there was no date that would work for us. We were busy for the date of every gig. [Look - we are retired. We should not be that busy. And we were surprised to find that we were.]

A few weeks ago, we were hot and tired and in need of a break somewhere peaceful and cool. We debated options and the stars aligned.*** We found ourselves with tickets to a performance of the Martin Hayes Quartet and a concert a few days later featuring Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill (and friends) - both at the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Even before we could finalize our reservations for the trip, we discovered that Martin directs the Masters of Tradition, an annual music festival in Bantry a few days after Kilkenny. So we booked that as well and headed to Ireland for two weeks of art, theater, literature, and music (mostly music).

So, how was it? Stunning and soul-satisfying in so many ways. Every trip to Ireland is a pilgrimage for us -  a spiritual experience - whether we go for music, for the woods, for the castles and ruins, for the glens....

We always go for the people - welcoming, wise, hilarious and kind.

This time it was the music that called.

A view of Bantry Bay as we walked to a concert at Bantry House

I am impressed (sorry, wrong word -- humbled? awed?) by the generosity of time, energy,  and spirit observed with this group of musicians. The first example involved an encounter with a busker near the Kilkenny Dunnes Store.

Michael Toomey was playing the banjo in the street as DH and I hustled by to get to some middle-of-the-day festival event. We would normally have stopped (Michael's quite a performer and he's good) and we talked about going back later. When we did get back to him, Michael was talking to a man in a black felt beret-like hat. I immediately recognized the man in the hat was Dennis Cahill. He and Michael were deep in conversation.

DH headed away, but I waited and tried not to eavesdrop as Michael and Dennis exchanged questions and thoughts about preforming. It was lovely to see a professional share insights and encouragement with a less experienced artist. As the conversation was ending I motioned with my phone and asked if I could take a photo (those posted below). Then we three talked a bit longer about politics and more before Dennis headed off - but only after he offered and arranged tickets for Michael to come to the concert the following day.

Michael Toomey and Dennis Cahill - still conversing.

I'm using both photos because I like both.

Then it began to rain. So Michael and I moved his gear under the portico at Dunnes and he and I talked for another few minutes, exchanging email addresses and stories. He was still a little stunned by the exchange with Cahill as he shared that he is from Tipperary and has traveled a good deal. Then he told me about the "Imposter."

Apparently there is a man who looks much like Cahill (and who was attending the festival - I've seen him since hearing the story). When Cahill walked over to Michael to drop some coins in the hat, Michael thought, "Is this Cahill or the Imposter?" He realized that this was likely his one chance. If he didn't ask, he would never know. So he called out and asked.

Michael also admitted he was a bit disconcerted that on the day he met the guitar virtuoso he did not have his guitar along.

[I never got to hear Toomey perform again as the rain continued and I had to leave. I do recommend that you pay attention, friends. We may well hear more from Michael Toomey.]

As the days went by, at each performance, I had this feeling that Martin Hayes had gathered like-minded artists who would share their experience and talents and were interested in both honoring and stretching the parameters of traditional music. There was unique collaboration during the performances as Hayes included artists like Sandy Silva, percussive dance innovator, cello virtuoso Kate Ellis, and author Timothy O'Grady reading excerpts from his book, I Could Read the Sky. There might be a scheduled "line-up" that would blend and grow as artists would call different musicians to the stage. We were all willing participants, happy to be present,  to be challenged, and to experience something new and wonderful.

During these two festivals Martin Hayes communicated with us in his quiet and humble way -- introducing new artists, encouraging the (perhaps) underappreciated, and promoting the work of others, especially the next generation. His introductions were personal, educational, and often humorous -- and always in a tone that communicated "try this, you will like it." And we did.

And there were other moments outside of the performances. For years I had heard about Steve Cooney, renowned guitarist who performed at both festivals (and has a new CD coming out soon where he has taken ancient harp music and translated it for the guitar). We ran into him after one performance as we were ordering a late supper at the local pizza parlor. He asked if we would be attending the late concert the following night. [We were unsure if we could manage both the 7:30 and 10:30 gigs at the time.] Cooney shared, "it's going to be special." We trusted and attended. Our trust was well-placed. It was, indeed, special.

Steve Cooney's guitars

At our last concert in Bantry we passed Martin on our way out. We thanked him for the music and he thanked us for being there. What a farewell! What an experience!

People have asked us why we'd come to see the same artist perform multiple times.  The answer is simple -- each performance, each concert is a unique offering -- a rare gift of love, art, and community.

So, if you have the chance to hear Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Steve Cooney, or any of the artists mentioned here, do so. If you feel the call to Ireland consider an arts and/or a music festival, especially one like Masters of Tradition. You will not be sorry.

How do I end this part of the narrative? I end with thanks to the artists. They blessed us.

St. Brendan's Church (Church of Ireland) in Bantry. A much simpler place than St. Canice's, but with excellent acoustics and a choir loft. We were in the front row of the loft which provided a wonderful view.

THE LIST

Here is a bit of a list of those musicians/performers/artists/magic makers we had the good fortune to hear, some thoughts that remain after jet lag, and addresses to more information (not the only information "out there," but some I found interesting). There are likely some artists who performed among this group that we did not hear. I cannot comment on them. In a vague sort of order:

I. KILKENNY: 

MARTIN HAYES - fiddle - the reason for the pilgrimage. http://www.martinhayes.com/

DENNIS CAHILL - guitar - the man himself, not the imposter. http://www.denniscahill.com/

LIZ KNOWLES - viola d'amore and fiddle - https://www.lizknowles.com/

DOUG WIESELMAN - bass clarinet - https://www.dougwieselman.com/press/

MARTIN HAYES QUARTET includes the above four artists - the quartet is amazing. I stand by my words from last October - "It was a brilliant evening. They played for an hour and a half with only a few stops for tuning and explanation. As we listened I was reminded of last summer when I watched an older man keeping time to the music by tapping his heart. This was indeed heart-tapping soul-feeding music."

- http://www.martinhayes.com/martin-hayes-quartet

STEVE COONEY - guitar - I've been told he always performs barefooted. I've spoken about our "trust" above. We anticipate his new album. Hurry up with that footnote, Steve. https://irishtunecomposers.weebly.com/steve-cooney.html

CORMAC BEGLEY - concertina(s) - He owns and plays two of only six bass concertinas in existence. His new album approximates a concertina. Clever idea - for this superb musician. http://www.cormacbegley.com/

SILE DENVIR - voice and harp - She is a master of sean-nós singing, is remarkable solo, and smooth in collaboration. https://tradconnect.com/events/s-le-denvir also https://www.dcu.ie/researchsupport/research-profile?PERSON_ID=1888326  I love sean-nós singing. It is different and this article explains it a bit. - https://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/inart378.htm

SANDY SILVA - percussive dance - You need to see to understand. https://sandysilvadance.com/

KATE ELLIS - cello - I have never heard someone draw this vocabulary from a cello - modern and fascinating. http://kateelliscello.com/

IARLA O'LIONAIRD - voice - He is also another extraordinary sean-nós singer and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iarla_%C3%93_Lion%C3%A1ird

Sile Denvir's harp.

II. BANTRY (In addition to some/many of those listed above we had the good fortune to hear):

TIMOTHY O'GRADY - spoken word - Author of I Could Read the Sky - (I'm reading the book now.) https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/timothy-o-grady-on-creating-i-could-read-the-sky-a-book-for-bealtaine-1.2216668

FLORIAN BLANCKE - harp - A French-born harpist, one of her CDs just arrived at the house [A lovely attribute of DH is that he surprises me with music when we get home and the adventure continues as the music arrives.] https://www.florianeblancke.com/

DERMOT BYRNE - accordion - They say you either love or hate the accordion.  We love it - and Byrne. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dermot-byrne-mn0000248328/biography

LIAM BYRNE - viola da gamba - Have you ever heard the viola da gamba? Wow!  https://www.liambyrne.net/

YVONNE CASEY - fiddle - https://www.facebook.com/yvonnecaseymusic/ A fiddle teacher as well! Brava!

PADRAIC KEANE - uilleann pipes - His rendition (and narration) of a selection called the "Fox Chase" (I think that's the name) which begins with a song learned in most Irish primary schools, continues with the sound of the horns of the hunt, barking dogs, and horses galloping, and ends as hunts do, brought down the house. https://www.tunesinthechurch.com/artists-profiles/11-artists-profiles-tunes-in-the-church/108-tunes-in-the-church-padraic-keane.html

PARAIC MACDONNCHADHA - banjo - Another artist with a new CD (which we brought home). I do hope MacDonnchadha speaks on the recording as he is hilarious - his humor disarming and compelling, something you notice immediately on his Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/paraicbanjo/

LIAM O'CONNOR - fiddle - Another artist with a wonderful sense of humor. He brought more than one fiddle and set one on the stage. I fretted until he picked it up. Each was tuned in a different manner. I know nothing of tuning, but I know an artist when I hear one. https://journalofmusic.com/criticism/heart-fiddle-playing

MOHAMMAD SYFKHAN - bouzouki - A talented musician forced to flee from his homeland. I was fortunate to see him the following day and express my gratitude for his music. https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/1223/1018857-syria-leitrim/

LISA O'NEILL - voice - Perhaps the biggest surprise for me - my one thought, "she is to today's folk music what Janis Joplin was in her time." O'Neill is different and compelling.  http://lisaoneill.ie/home/  and  https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2019/08/an-interview-with-lisa-oneill/

Cormac Begley's concertinas

NOTES:

*https://walkinthepark-padimus.blogspot.com/2017/07/all-about-music-and-those-who-make-it.html
https://walkinthepark-padimus.blogspot.com/2018/10/traveling-again-we-were-not-ready-but.html

**We have joked about "stalking" Martin Hayes and that we should make T-shirts of some kind. "We Queue for the Quartet" is our best idea so far. [I would also advise one not joke with passport control about stalking anyone]

***This year our efforts for a long trip had been thwarted a few times. I have twice booked rooms only to have to cancel for one thing or another. By the end of July the temperatures were hitting 100 degrees. August would be worse. We were tired and cranky.

So on a particularly frustrating day, DH threw his hands up and said he was going upstairs for a nap. I turned on the computer and up popped a reminder of our trip to NYC. "Hmmm," I thought. "I wonder what Martin Hayes is up to this summer." I check the website and found that he would be in Kilkenny for the Arts Festival. I found that flights and rooms and tickets were still available. After his nap DH came downstairs to one question, "Do you want to go see Martin Hayes in Kilkenny?" There could be only one answer.

A couple of famous folks in the audience having a chat.

FINAL NOTES AND SHORT STORIES WITH NO PLACE ELSE TO RESIDE: 

-- The audiences were amazing and added to our experience. We always had great folks around us. One lovely woman knew everyone in the venue. "That's the bishop. There's the member of the European Parliament. Oh, and see that man sitting there? That's Christy Moore. He always comes. Sometimes Jeremy Irons attends. He brings his dog..."

-- Christy Moore was pointed out to us at each concert in Bantry. He's another celebrated musician I've heard about, but never seen perform. And yes, Jeremy Irons did attend at least one concert. And he did bring his dog. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christy_Moore;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Irons]

-- I sat with a woman who asked if it was our first trip to Ireland. I explained that I had come a number of times - the first visit in 1977 when I was 21. "I traveled by train and bus," I said. "And you hitchhiked. We all did back then," she responded. "Don't tell my mother!" I replied.

-- At another concert DH met a man who invited us to come "walk the farm" the next day. And we did. [More on that later.]

-- Another woman has insisted we return next year for Fleadh Cheoil 2020 in Mullingar. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleadh_Cheoil]  I suppose it is good to have options.

A family of Mute Swans on the River Nore near Kilkenny Castle. The swan is associated with love, music, and poetry.

FINAL FINAL THOUGHTS (and disclaimer):


The thoughts and comments here are entirely my own. The musicians were to-a-person brilliant. A lack of comment on any speaks to my lost notes (I jotted down thoughts during performances, but my notes are in the detritus of unpacking and sorting of laundry, books, gifts, CDs, and receipts) and the almost overwhelmingly rich experience that I am, even now coming to grips with. We really had no idea of the enormity of what we would experience. Editing will likely proceed (sometimes for years as a memory comes back) as the notes are recovered and my sleep returns to normal.  

This is our travel journal of sorts, it is also an effort to keep and share the experience, to publicize people and places, to note adventures "out there," and to encourage people to live full out. You don't have to climb to the top of the round tower, but if I can, you can. 

Wait! Where Are the Potatoes? Irish Food Revisited

What I say is that, 

if a man really likes potatoes, 

he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.  

 ~A.A. Milne 

We once heard a tourist in Ireland complain, "I have gained 15 pounds in a week. The potato has become my spirit animal." We have no such complaint. We love potatoes. On this trip we found that, while potatoes were on the menu every now and again, we enjoyed few "I'll have potatoes with my potatoes" meals. By the end of our travels we were missing our spuds.

So, what was the best thing we ate? In a restaurant it would have to be the coffee cake at the Blueberry Cafe in Thomastown. But the best meal was tea in the kitchen at the farm of our friend, Kevin in Gowran where we dined on muffins, tea, good conversation, and family.

We had a few bread and cheese meals. Then, at a crossroads near St. Patrick's Well on our long drive to the airport, I found myself ordering the roast with vegetables and potatoes two ways. I was set to order a sandwich until I saw the gentleman at the next table with the roast. Oh, my. It was even better than it looked. I shared half with DH who had only ordered a dainty bagel/bacon/brie sandwich and there was so much food (and potatoes two ways).

Here are a few photos and maybe a story or two. [Yeah. I am that person.]

1. We arrived in Kilkenny hungry. We stopped at a pub before a performance.*

Soup and brown bread is the perfect meal.

But we were intrigued by the "fried brie" on the starter menu. It was good, but the salad was better.

This looks like DH's ham and cheese toasty. Note - there are the spuds.

Scorched earth. Look, we had just climbed a hill, explored ruins, driven over an hour, found our hotel, and unpacked.

2. First breakfast in Ireland, Kilkenny Inn.

I always recommend the "full Irish" breakfast on the first morning. This was a particularly good and varied one. From "noon" clockwise: flat mushrooms (sauteed in butter), black pudding,** white pudding, bacon, grilled tomato, fried egg. Sausages are in the middle. This is clearly an OD on the "fry." Following days found me with poached eggs, black pudding, mushrooms and tomato. No potatoes here although the tomato is a cousin (both are nightshades - really).

3. There is a restaurant in Kilkenny called Paris Texas. I'd heard of it before and we stopped one day in between exploration and festival events. It's a large place. The food has a Texas influence. It was fine. We didn't need French fries...and I tried to get DH to wait for crab until we got to Cork. He cannot pass up a crab cake.

Paris Texas serves burgers and fries and mac & cheese among other American delicacies. It's fine, but not where I want to eat in Ireland. I can eat a burger at home.

4. Blackberries - EVERYWHERE. Some fruit around Ireland was ripe. The blackberries were just becoming that dark purple that means they are ready. DH is not a fan, but I tried a few. They must almost fall off the vine or they are still too tart.

Blackberries (or brambles)

5. The tea room at Kilkenny Castle in the old castle kitchen. We stopped for coffee and tea and a shared coffee gateau (okay, okay - we also had a slice of lemon Madeira cake).  The gateau, a delicious coffee flavored sponge cake with a coffee flavored butter cream frosting, was the winner.

I'm not sure how it was that we did not get a photo of the cake. It was lovely and delicious.

6. Tea room at St. Mary's Cathedral. After we attended a fabulous quilt show upstairs in the chapter house and visited with an artist raising money for South Sudan, we headed downstairs for lunch.

DH was glad to be able to find one of a couple of diet sodas he prefers pretty much everywhere.

We don't seem to be able to wait. Mushroom soup and a bacon and brie sandwich. I seem to be noticing a pattern.

Did I mention that brown bread is almost always served with soup? Did I mention that we ate a good deal of bread on this trip? [Have I shed a tear or two when realizing there is no brown bread waiting for me in the kitchen?]

7. La Rivista, Kilkenny. Some of the local festival attendees encouraged us to try one of the Italian restaurants. We couldn't remember which one, but stopped outside of one in the early evening and enjoyed some pasta.

DH had bacon and Parmesan tagliatelle

I had fettuccine and prawns. I win!

8. Blueberry Cafe, Thomastown. After visiting Jerpoint Abbey we wandered through nearby Thomastown looking for part of the "Fringe Festival" and got tired and hungry. We did better finding food than the "fringe."

These were busy people and they served us quickly. We had the coffee cake for dessert (we shared). OMG! I shared with the owner that we had eaten the coffee cake at the Kilkenny Castle tea room and she wins. It was the truth. [The tomato soup was wonderful too and the brown bread was at the top of what we ate on this trip. Of course - they are bakers here.]

We settled for soup and bread because we could see they were bakers!

Can you see the cake in the display to the left? [Do you see the pottery? Fabulous - pitchers, plates, display bowls -- and the mirror in the bathroom.] I'm going to have to find a coffee cake recipe.

They took their broken crockery and made this mirror.

9. On the long drive from Kilkenny we started running low on petrol. We were hungry and in the middle of nowhere. Finally a pub appeared and we stopped to eat and for directions to a gas station. So we were not actually in the middle of nowhere. We were on the R585 in Crookstown and dined at Clifford's Bar. A family of French vacationers sat next to us and DH impressed them with his schoolboy French. [Because of the European Union, it appears there is more vacationing across borders.] We had some fabulous soup and bread (yes, standard lunch - you cannot go wrong) and I had my first Murphy's. The gas station was not far away and the directions we received took us right to it.

Vegetable soup, bread, and Murphy's

10. Beechwood House, located outside of Glengarriff, was the only B&B we stayed in on this trip. It was a lovely and comfortable place. The proprietor, Ann saw to our needs efficiently. She fed us well and also provided recommendations for/stories about hikes at the nature reserve. We were able to pick and choose much of our breakfast. Again, I was pleased because nothing would be wasted.

I love the B&B breakfast table.

11. Jack's Restaurant, Glengarriff - Jack is good at what he does. The food is amazing. There is ongoing staff training and Jack knows how to drum up business. If you are looking at the menu outside the restaurant, Jack might just come out and talk to you about the specials. We ate at Jack's both days we were in Glengarriff.

It's a good size place so no waiting and you will find loads of locals inside. There is a message in that.

My second and last Murphy's. If you are ever in County Cork and the vicinity, don't order a Guinness. Order a Murphy's (smoother and less bite).

"Have the Black Sole," Jack said.

DH had the scallops and bacon in cream sauce (with potatoes). I had this dish the next night.

Hey, I listened to Jack and had the Black Sole.

I'm not usually a girl who orders "whole fish" but the herb and butter grilled sole was fabulous. No, I never found a stray bone.

DH had the lamb shank on the second night (yes, I believe it might be resting on potatoes). I did have a bite. It was lovely

DH didn't like the lamb. Hahahaha! He loved it!

Jack is a character. As we left on the last night, DH was looking at something or other. I found a family outside the restaurant reading the menu board. I began to tell them that we had eaten there the last two nights and sharing the wonders of the food. Just as I was in the middle of describing the dishes we had devoured, Jack came out the door to give his pitch. He saw me, heard me, and swung back inside the restaurant - never missing a beat. He had plenty to do and he could see there was no need for him to make the pitch with that group.  [They did, indeed, go inside.]


12. The Snug, Bantry. Bantry is famous for seafood. I had promised DH some fresh crab. We found it at the Snug.

Open-faced fresh Dingle crab sandwich and seafood chowder. It was a good meal. Did I mention the crab?

13. Maritime Hotel, Bantry - Breakfast buffet. What's not to like? We had plenty of choices and ended up "balancing" the fry the last few mornings with poached eggs. The staff here was great too!

"Almost" full Irish. I like being able to pick and choose so no food is wasted. DH was happy to be able to order porridge.

14. As we headed back to Dublin on our last day in Ireland we decided to stop between Cahir and Clonmel to walk around, visit St. Patrick's Well, and eat. We found the Barne Lodge on the N24 (a roadway we know well). It was a Sunday and the roast beef dinner reminded me of many Sunday dinners.

Don't think that DH was starving or anything. He had the soup as well. I also shared almost half of my roast as there was so much food on my plate (I am sure I didn't really want to share, but how could I not?).

Roast beef, mashed potatoes, roasted potato, mushy peas, and mixed veg. I had almost forgotten about "mushy peas." If done right they are good. These were done right and the roast was wonderful. It was the perfect way to end the trip - potatoes two ways!

There would have to be more meals as we were traveling for two weeks, but there are no photos and nothing to mention (although the local pizza joint just down from the Maritime Hotel was pretty good). We did manage to skip a few meals as the breakfasts were enormous. We were rarely hungry until mid-afternoon and did not need an evening meal - we just had "tea" with cheese and crackers or bread/scones/fruit left over from the morning.

Here are more "food related" photos:

Okay, okay. I had salted caramel ice cream from this truck near the crafts at Kilkenny Castle. It was good.

We did not get invited to the "after parties" as in after the hurling match between Kilkenny and Tipperary. We hear them, though. Folks in Kilkenny were not celebrating.

I don't know that I was aware you could buy such a thing - that these were a "real deal." I didn't go looking, but I loved the sign!

Some of what I scored at Bantry Market Day. Fudge. Fresh sour dough brown bread. Cheese and jams (Darn - that reminds me I have not unpacked the jams we brought back. That's why that suitcase was so heavy!).

I took this photo for DH. He was a little "under the weather" on market day so I didn't even suggest it.

NOTES:

*Normally we rest on the first day, but our schedule did not allow it. We ate instead. The performance? The Soldier's Tale , spoken word and classical music, with Ciarán Hinds. Yup. Himself.

**I am a fan of black pudding (aka blood sausage). Clonakilty in west Cork is especially proud of its pudding (and it is truly excellent - but we didn't go there on this trip). If you are curious you can read about it here, but remember what they say about "learning how sausage is made." I generally skip the white pudding (I don't even want to know). https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/all-you-need-know-about-black-pudding

FINAL NOTE:

We had the opportunity to "bid" on business class seats. It seemed strange to me, but since we were on our own and wouldn't be hopping on and off a bus with someone else driving, we thought we would gamble for the chance of a good night's sleep on the plane (we had gotten a good price on our original tickets and didn't bid exorbitantly). Sometimes gambling is worth it.

We were very well treated by Aer Lingus. We toasted the beginning and the end of the trip and then I had one whiskey in Kilkenny and two Murphy's in County Cork. I usually drink much more than this when at home and much more when traveling in Ireland. When traveling with DH I do seem to drink less...but he carries my duty free purchases. Good man!