Surprise!

Katie doing breathing exercised in preparation to blow out the candle on her cake.

One of the best parts of a surprise party is seeing the expression on the face of the honored person when they notice all of thier friends and family unexpectedly. This is pretty difficult to achieve when said person has never met those assemble to surprise her. All jokes about Katie being easily confused aside, she really had no idea why we were leading her to two large tables occupied by unfamiliar people, but she quickly found out and was promptly introduced to family members (distant cousins, yes, but family nevertheless) who had gathered to help her celebrate her birthday.

The Chinese restaurant was a nice cover, too. It also turns out that February 18th was the start of the Chinese New Year and 2007 is the year of the Pig! Coincidence? Maybe. Well, actually it was because the original plan was to have dinner at a new pub next door, but they couldn't guarantee that we'd all get to sit together.

Another great surprise was the nice gift they all got for Katie, considering she'd only met a few of them once. Katie must have that effect on some people. I must have developed a tolerance for whatever that is.

Katie proudly displays her gift from her Irish Reidy cousins, a beautiful Belleek Mantle Clock. The clock works, it just shows the wrong time.

Joe surrounded by Reidy women

After dinner, we all went next door to the pub to continue the celebration and find out more about our cousins. Mary Reidy Cahir took Molly & Bobby to Gerry & Sue Reidy Mulligan's house to meet Sue's kids.

Cliffs of Moher

Wow, blogboy Joe sure is keeping up with the posts. It's a good thing, though. If it were left to me, reading this blog might be like watching clay dry.

The next day started out sunny and beautiful again, at least when I woke up at 10:00. Since everyone had just gotten in, I thought I'd let them sleep in some more and wake up on thier own. Around 1:00, I thought they might like to see the fleeting sun, so I broke down and woke them up. We had a nice leisurely, um, afternoon and then decided to see the Cliffs of Moher on our way to meet up with our Reidy cousins from Crossderry.

We got there about an hour before they "closed" (I don't suppose the cliffs ever really close, but the entrance to the park closes) and the weather was blustery and rainy which really added to the overall atmosphere.

This is a view of the cliffs looking South. They are about 700 feet high.

This castle was actually built in the 1800's as a tourist attraction and viewing point for the cliffs.

I always like to take an extra picture in case someone blinks or can't quite get that dumb look off of their face quickly enough. In this case, I probably should've take three. Molly, of course, looks great in both shots.

The Cliffs recently underwent a renovation of sorts costing upwards of 25 million euros. They didn't change anything about the cliffs themselves, but rather added a beautiful visitors center or "interpretive center" built into the side of a large hill for people to learn more about the area and provide views that they might only get if they happened to slip off the face of the cliffs. They also have beefed up security quite abit, preventing people from getting too close to the edge. It seems that, as one of Ireland's top tourist destinations, it also attracted those interested in taking advantage of the 700 foot drop to the sea. Not many survived and that was a problem.

With the wind and rain, we all dutifly obeyed the rules. It's good to get close to nature, but getting too close can be dangerous.

From the Cliffs, we headed to Ennis to meet up with our Reidy cousins from Crossderry. Katie only knew that we were going to meet with Sue and her husband Gerry Mulligan, so the rest of the Reidys would be a surprise. Pretty cool idea, a surprise party for Katie in Ireland. In a Chinese Restaurant, with people she'd never met. Perfect, she would never see it coming.

Katie's Arrival and Bunratty

After spending some time in Ennis and finding a charger for my phone (for free no less, the people here are so friendly), I made my way to Mullagh to meet up with Tim & Theresa Donnellan. Theresa arrived shortly after I did and we had some time to visit before Tim arrived. She is the principal of the school in Kilkee and is consquently very busy.

Tim and Theresa used to operate a Farmhouse Inn until it conflicted too much with their busy schedules. Below is a picture of thier home on the right with a guesthouse/activity building on the left.

They also have a few "self-catered" cottages that they rent out and they put us in a very nice and comfortable cottage in nearby Kilmurry. It was a four bedroom cottage with a beautiful view of the Atlantic and also the ruins of an old castle just a few fields away.

Tim & Theresa Donnellan's Kilmurry Cottage

View from Donnellan's Kilmurry Cottage

Castle ruins behind Donnellan's Kilmurry Cottage

After a few pints with Tim at O'Kelly's in Mullagh, I headed home only to be greeted with a loud PSSHHH! as I got out of the car. Nice, a soon-to-be flat tire. Good thing I won't have to leave until 10:00 to get to the airport.

I woke up to a beautiful morning, with the sun shining and all of the air safely out of the tire. At 9:45. Whoops. Well, Katie won't mind if I don't shave and Joe won't care if I don't brush my teeth, but I will so I quickly changed the tire (I've changed a tire faster, but that's another story) jumped in the shower and raced for the airport praying that the modified bicycle tire that I just bolted to the car wouldn't go flying off enroute.

I did make it to the airport in time only because the beautiful sunny day hadn't made it's way to Shannon which was shrouded in fog (I mean it was so thick you could cut it with a knife!) which delayed thier flight about an hour.

The next stop would be Bunratty Castle which is conveniently located about 20 minutes from the airport. It's a great place to start off you first trip to Ireland with a very well preserved castle dating from the 1600s with a park that features restored cottages and various village buildings. They say location is everything and whoever built this castle had incredible foresight.

Bunratty Castle

Bunratty Folk Park Cottage with Castle in the distance

I dropped KMBG (Katie, Molly, Bobby & Gino) and Joe off at the Castle and went to go get the tire fixed which I was told couldn't be safely fixed so I wound up buying a new tire. I figured tracking down a group of five people wouldn't be that hard but the park is pretty big so I managed to double back a couple of times with no success. It was my second trip to the roof of the castle to get a better view when I saw them at the Durty Nelly pub next to the castle. It turned out that they hadn't been in to the park or castle at all yet but having lunch and doing a little shoping, increasing the difficulty of finding them in the park. Fortunatly there was enough time and light to see the castle and many of the buildings in the park and have loads of laughs. Sleep deprivation can be an interesting mood enhancer.

Then it was off to settle into the cottage, clean up and head out for a traditional music session at the Crosses of Annagh. When we got there we found out that the session had been cancelled due to a disco party for 18 year olds. Hmmm, not exaclty the music flavor we were after so we found another session in Miltown Malbay at a pub called Friels. You know it's Friels because it says Lynch on the outside. There were some great musicians there and Joe had a great session but I'll let him talk about that.

Tim Donnellan managed to meet us for a pint and meet some more of his crazy American cousins. His daughter Niamh (the spelling is probably wrong but it's pronounced 'Niev') met us shortly after. We all had a great time at Friels, particularly Katie who had made the pronouncement that, to commemorate her 50th, she would jump into the Ocean, naked. But that's her story to tell.

And if she doesn't, I will.

Gone 50 and didn't notice

This is my first blog entry of my life but now that I've gone 50 I need to try new things. I just read the list of places with gaelic names that Ed posted that we would and did indeed visit.

My stone from Magh Loscathaidhe or The Burnt Plain, the birth place of my great grandmother, Margaret Donnellan, sits beautifully on my mantel. When we visited this beautiful place I got that sense you hear people talk about of an earie familiarity of belonging or knowing.
Ed and Joe did such an unbeleivable job not only of driving us everywhere but of providing so much background information about the places and the relatives. All of our relatives are incredible, so talented , beautiful, and sooo generous! If there is a way to show them how much we appreciate all the kindnesses they showed us I have not figured it out yet.

The guest house Tim Donnellan built and let us stay in without charge was wonderful, so spacious and comfy with views of a castle remnant with the Atlantic sea just beyond. Helen and Denis McGrath have a beautiful home not far from our guest house named Niagra because of the adjacent falls. My husband Gino had a big chuckle when he read the sign and saw and heard the magnificent falls right there.
Helen was so gracious renting "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" and inviting us all to watch it with them in their home only to top the night off with a surprise birthday cake for me and a number of other goodies for us all. Denis's sense of humor is non stop, what a great character he is. It was one of the few nights Joe didn't play fiddle in a pub, the only downside beside the tragedy depicted in the movie. A wonderful evening with wonderful people! My next enty will be about the Reidy's in Ennis except for Martin who we didn't meet cause he had a cow calfing!

Joe's Day Seven - The Tattoo Parlor

The day was started with a fairly good breakfast of poached eggs in the hotel. Since breakfast was served at the ungodly hour of 10am, it was back to the room to get just a little more sleep after breakfast.

Galway is a great place to shop and the shopping district is closed off to cars. It's also usually filled with musicians, artists, and those types of interesting folk. But since it was February, it was a little short of that sort of thing, except for the one guitarist who kept playing that one particular Allman Bros. song.

While Molly, Katie, and Gino went one way, Ed, Bobby and myself went the other way to find a tattoo parlor. I had inquired at a music store, and fortunately we were in luck. One of the employees had loads of tattoos and obviously knew what parlors to recommend and what parlors to avoid. We then headed our way across the river to a tattoo parlor called "Irish Ink". I think I'll stop at this point, because I don't have any pictures of this event and Ed will most likely tell a good version of this story.

After returning from Galway, we met our cousin Tim Donnellan and his 16 year old son Colm for dinner at the Bellbridge Hotel. Afterwards, it was more tunes at Friels, this time with Henry Benagh, Bernadette McCarthy and Michael, another fiddle player. After the session ended, and the other musicians left, a young bodhran player from Belfast wanted to keep playing. He was a great player, though he looked a little like Pee Wee Herman. Molly also made good friends with one of the locals. I hope she posts pictures.

By now it must be 1am, but the night is not near ending. One of Tim's cows was about to calf and Bobby and Molly were dying to see this, so we were off to the farm. The cow didn't calf while we were there but we enjoyed seeing all the calfs and the farm layout. After spending about an hour at the farm, it was back to the cottage for one more pint and several more laughs. I think we were all exhasted but it was great to spend time with our cousins, Tim and Colm. Afterwards, Ed drove them back and by the time Ed got back to the house, the cow had calfed.

Joe's Day Six - Galway

After a good rest in the Kilmurry house (basecamp), it was time for another adventure - Galway. I'm particularly glad we made it here because Katie seemed to be very impressed by the city. And driving through Galway during rush hour, trying to keep up with Ed, really kept me on my toes.

We ended up booking rooms for a fairly good deal at the Eyre Square Hotel, 3 in each room. After settling it, it was time to eat and we were starved. The hotel recommended a restaurant called McSwiggens which was "just down the road". After asking about 3 different people where it was, we then realized it was true that "you can't miss it". The long search for the restaurant proved to be well worth it. Gino and I both had the rack of lamb, which was SO good for only 20 Euro. Katie and Molly both had salmon that was well received which also came with some very tasty scalloped potatoes. Just about everyone enjoyed their meal there, I think. Just don't get the apple pie.

After dinner it was off to The Crane Bar for some "choones". At first I was a little put off by a swedish fiddler who said it would mostly be a swedish type session with a little irish, but I think he was just hoping that would be the case. It turned out to be good fun and there was plenty of trad irish, and the swedish tunes he played were great. Sitting next to us was Emily and Chuck, a couple that was just in transition from New York to Portland, OR. It was great to meet them and tell them how great Portland is and to get them looking forward to their move.

Interestingly, the next day I met ANOTHER couple that was looking to move to Portland. That was at the tattoo parlor, but that's another story for later...

Joe's Day Five - Slievedooley

After a pretty tasty breakfast at Walsh's B&B, we were off to do some shopping in Dingle. I immediate found a music store and blew about $125 on trad irish CDs. Here's a street view from Dingle on that morning:


The next stop (other than eating) was at the old Reidy farmland, cemetary, and Slievedooley. Here's a picture from within the old abandoned church at the cemetary very close to Slievedooley. Molly and I were looking for the oldest date on a tombstone, and we found one from the late 1700's.