Home again

Had a very uneventful flight home. YAY!

Watching the Mariners with Annie. She g as gotten bite out of the way quickly!

Thank you Mike and Judy for picking us up at the airport and taking care of Annie.

6 hours and 18 minutes to home

We made the flight easily this morning😎

Now will we actually leave JFK on time?

Carrie happy, a new crossword puzzle about the boys of summer.

Hello from Jamaica, man!

That would be Jamaica, New York! Practically around the corner from JFK.

Almost missed our flight out of Ireland!

When we got to the airport, the first place we went to was USA pre-clearence we filled out our declaration form and had our passports scanned. We checked in with Aer Lingus and headed through security. We thought we were done!

We kept waiting for them to assign our flight a gate. We shopped and checked the board. We taste new Jamison flavors and checked the board.  We had coffee/pop and checked the board.

Finally we decided we better go to the toilet and try and figure out what was going on. As I left the restroom, I heard them calling us on the overhead speakers!

There was a SECOND pre-clearance and security! We got pushed ahead and got through it and ran to gate 406 they told us was our gate only to find it had been MOVED to 403! So off we wrnt back down the terminal. Carrie is doing all of this in her stocking feet!

We were nearly the last people on the plane but made it.

The great thing was then we didn't have do any customs stuff at JFk.

We had dinner a nice visit and dinner with Brian. Now we are showered, Carrie is asleep in the other bed (it is 8:30). The alarm is set for 4:50 am. 

Good night. See you tomorrow.

One Last Bus Ride

At the airport, enjoying a cup of coffee and a chocolate at Butlers Chocolatier at the airport. We are through USA preclearance and security.

Looking at the vat return aka duty free. Do I want to carry booze home? Did sample 2 of the 3 new Jamison flavors... Should help me sleep on the plane😎.

Have about 12 Euros to spend. Of course they conveniently have charity bins throughout the airport.

See you on the other side of the Atlantic!

All my bags are packed...

Today's we were on our own in Dublin. Our tour guide, Agnes, had arranged for us to visit a yarnshop. Yes we did visit ut I left with one skein of hand dyed yarn from Ireland and an earring kit. Carrie bought 2 skeins😊

We then met Adrian and walked around Trinity college, visited the General Post Office and then met up with Ally at the Haypenny bridge. We walked through the temple bar district and had lunch at O'Neills.  Yes I had a Guiness with my lunch. We then walked around the Dublin Castle. And visited the Chester Beatty Library which isn't really a library but more of a museum.

We thanked Adrian (who is so much like his Dad--in good ways) and Ally. After resting our feet a bit, we did a little shopping before the bus picked us back up  for our farewell dinner and packing.

Signing off now have a 6 am wake up call.

Hello From Maynooth

Yesterday we started later 7 wake up call, 8 breakfast call, 9 on the bus.

We drove to Avoca Weaving Mill one of the oldest weaving mills (1723) in Ireland.  We took a tour before SHOPPING and lunch. Didn't buy anything😊

We came to the hotel for our last workshop. I actually got them all finished (mostly) before I went to bed!

We walked into the village of Maynooth -- home of one of the major Universities.  Had shepherd's pie with my Guinness!

One great thing about traveling this time of year and being a bit further north, it is light until at least 10.

You kissed what!?!

Today we moved from Killarney to just outside of Dublin. We are on the last leg of our trip😕

We stopped the Blarney castle, gardens and stone.  Most of the tine we were stopped was SLOWLY walking up the stairs of the castle much of it steep narrow spiral stairs! We were told 120 steps.

Carrie chose not to go which I think was the right decision for her. Between the standing,  steep, uneven steps in close quarters, she would have hated it.

But it was something I was determined to do!

Here is the picture to prove it!

Day of Dingle and Murphy Pubs

We drove to Dingle along the coast. As you can see it was VERY windy! There were kite surfers in the water. They were going really fast and it looked like with little control.

Carrie was so busy collecting little tiny shells that she did not see a wave coming. Gortex shoes are not water proof when the water goes over the tops!

We also stopped where they filmed the last Star Wars movie. I may have to watch to see if I can see it.

Dingle is a small sea town with lots of tourists. We started at either Murphs or Murphy's ice cream (They had toilets with no line -- and ICE CREAM!) We had lunch at Murphy's Pub and a Guinness with our lunch.

Trish so far all of the ketchup has come in packets and tastes the same. The tarter sauce is more tangy/vinegary.

When we got back to Killarney, we had our second class, the knot to make our necklace.  Now I have to add the beads and chain...

We had dinner at....Murphy's Pub! Every town seems to have one! We then went to a "live music" venue.  There were not very many people in the bar. We left ehen he started to play Johnny Cash...

Kylemore Abbey and Gardens/ Celtic Crystal

Monday afternoon we went to the Abbey and Gardens. There also was a church but we ran out of time.  The gardens are walled in and look like the tradtional scupled gardens they had lots of Fushias mostly the bush variety. I missed mom and dad as i looked at the flowers and then saw fushia mugs, etc.

You can tell Carrie was thinking of dad when we had our picture taken outside of the Abbey!

After the abbey, we went to the Celtic Crystal factory. We got to see one of the master craftsman create the first cuts for a vase the had the Claddagh ring on one side and the shamrock on the opposite side along with the traditional Irish rose one the bottom. You will have to wait for the photos/videos that are on my real camera!  Or you can join me for a drink after I get home 🙄

I Love Ireland Pin

We had our first crochet class on Monday.  Jennifer taught us how to weave a crocheted row of single crochets into the shape of a heart.

Just like all sailors know,  every other weave is under then over!

Our teacher, Jennifer Ryan (of Manchester, New Hampshire ) sang a great variation of Danny Boy about crochet!

Of course, I can't keep the tune with the regular words AND the music.

Peggy 1st wrote a poem as well and recited it for us.

With class over we had 1 hour before boarding the bus to ...

Dinner and Trad on the Prom

Opps! Most of the pictures from tonight are on my camera. We had a nice dinner. Carrie had the Caesar salad,  turkey (sauce on the side) and Tiramesu. I had the Celery and parm ( I think) soup, chicken with the sauce😊 and vanilla cream puffs with chocolate drizzle. I also had a glass of Sauvigon Blanc wine and coffee with dessert.

The show was great several people who were former RiverDance musicians, including a compsor for Riverdance and other shows--including a song he wrote at 14. This gentleman also plays,several instruments including the Irish version of the bagpipe which is an elbow pipe. The man introducing (also a musician)said playing the Scottish bagpipe is difficult and the Irish one impossible!

Two of the dancers were national champions. All were amazing. I would say they performed approximately half of the time.

Cliffs of Moher

After we left the farm we drove another 1.5 hours the cliffs. Did I mention that we are in a BIG bus, the roads are narrow, there was a bicycle race going on and EVERYONE else is in BIG buses? There was one time Carrie (who was in the window seat) thought we were going to collide with a bus coming down from the cliffs.

I was reminded of the Camp Granada song when we got to the cliffs. It was raining and you could hardly see the person in front of you let alone the cliffs. We looked around the visitor center for awhile. It is built into the side of the cliff so you hardly notice it.

About an hour before we needed to board the bus, we decided we would walk out to the viewpoints even if we couldn't see anything to get in a walk. Low and behold, it was clearing up!

The as we were taking pictures,  the wind, rain and Mist rolled back in but we got some good picture first. We were SOAKED by the time we got back to the visitor center.

We then got back on the bus😏

Scones, Sheep, Shearing Oh My

The tour has really started now. We had breakfast at the hotel. Tried everything but the mushrooms.

Well it started with the 6:30 wake up call. Breakfast at 7:30, on the bus at 8:30. We headed to the Rathbaun Farm for scone making, see a border collie round up some sheep and watch a sheep be shorn.

First, we made the scones (I bought the recipe and cutter) Now we will if I can make them without Francis.

Turns out Ireland does not raise sheep for wool. It is almost a by-product. The sheep they raise produces a course wool not suitable for cratfts. One of the women called out. "That saves me a bunch of money".

I took videos of the sheep. Not sure where I will post them. One of a little guy bleeting -- don't think it will replace the crying goat for the next youtube sensation.   One of the dog, Ted, rounding up the sheep and one of a sheep being shorn.

We then came back into the house and ate our scones - yum!

Then back on the bus...

All Night Long

Our flight was about an hour late,leaving. We were on an airbus 330. Sadly, no way to charge phones.

Food, pillows, blankets and head sets were free. We got to Dublin about 9. Took about 20 minutes to get through customs.

We then headed to Galway. About 2.5 hrs. from Dublin. We stopped at a travel station (complete with a Burger King -- nope we didn't eat there)

We spent an hour and a half at the Saturday market. Lots of homemade items and fresh BREAD. We split a roll with vintage cheddar cheese on the bus to our hotel.

Nice room even has a fridge!  We had dinner as a group at the hotel. It was buffet ao we tried everything but the soup. (We didn't try it only cuz I didn't think to!)

We had pork loin, fried haddock, pastawith a white carbonara sauce, small potatoes and carrots with parsnips (I think )

Dessert was a chocolate creamy cake the an apple pie like a bisquick impossible pie.

Laundry and Life of Pi. Now sleep. We have a 6:30 am wake up call.

Night.

Last Day in NYC waiting for Aer Lingus

Packing day. We also went down to the South Seaport on our way to Ground Zero. Thought of Dad with the tall ships. I remember the pictures from his time with the merchant marines and the pictures of the ships.

Today was another HOT day. We stopped at an Irish/American pub to cool off. Second Irish pub in as many days.

Of course Gound Zero was packed. To go up into the Observation Deck cost $37. We were starting to run short on time so we headed back to our hotel to retrieve our bags and call Uber. Yes we chickened out carrying our bags blocks through New York,  down the subway stairs ont to multiple trains...

We are now at our gate, have switched our phones for International use WE HOPE! Met 2 women in the trip. 1 woman's cab/car was rear ended another is having trouble getting her pap (sp) machine through. What csn I say...

Busman's Holiday and Mario Bateli

Thursday we decided it wasn't that fun doing the shows so we did not go to Stephen Colbert. Especially when we read we had to be there at 1:15 to get the "Real" tickets and then back at 3:30...

So we went to the library! We even spent some time in the genealogy dept.

We then went Grenwich Village.  Hit our first Starbucks. Mostly because we knew we could sit, connect to wifi and figure out what to do next. We headed toward Washington  Square. Found a Modells sport store closing. Carrie resisted buying a Mets Harvey t-shirt. I got some socks in my ever quest to keep my feet from hurting😐

We found Mario's Babbo restaurant.  We actually got in!  We split everything we had so we could taste everything.

We had Pasta!  Big surprise for us. The first pasta was a special of the day  ravioli with asparagus. The second we had was spaghetti with lobster --it said it was 1 lb. But that must have included the shell.

I had a white wine, Carrie a red. I really need to brush up on my Italian wines. Both nights had them and I had no idea what they were.

For dessert we had 5 cheeses with a different sweet sauce. One had a yummy butterscotch sauce Loved it! The last one had bacon -- can't go wrong with BACON.

we left there with the intention of going to the Comedy Cellar. All the shows were sold out. The Cafe Wha? Was just a few doors down so we went for live music instead.

My last post is stuck in "Saving" hell so I will not had so many pictures to this one.

When in Rome (or Chinatown)

ShLast night we had dinner at Joe's Shanghai.  It was good. We  had the soup dumplings -- crab and pork and Shanghai  Fried flat noodles. Which were not fried or flat!

I made it all the way through with chopsticks and a spoon.  Or did I? Judging from the front of my shirt...

New York, New York

In our room in Chinatown. I see Dim Sum in our future!

The AirTrian was easy and fast from Newark. As we came out of Penn Station, there was the Affinia Hotel where we stayed last time. We went over there and caught a cab (the doorman helped us😎)

Now do we have the energy to go to dinner?

1st Sports Pub

We haven't even left Seattle  but this restaurant is located right next to our gate AND the bathrooms!  And they hsve great music playing lots of local  bands. Carrie called them "deep cuts" aka not just the most popular songs.

I so LOVE TSA Pre check. I was surprised at how long the lines were at 6 am.

A big thank you to Mike for driving us to the airport.

Yeah ending with Springsteen! I can hear him and Little Steven together on one mic.

Carrie just commented that this was our first trip that wasn't a crochet trip!  WHAT?!?

25 minute delay for our flight.  More time to drink coffee!

Itinerary -- Need to Pack!

This is the sign on my computer at work!  I think I have all of the stuff I need to pack -- I am sure too much!  I have contacted my cousin who is studying at Trinity College in Dublin, sent all the details of the trip to our family.

Made copies of my passport -- Thank You Carrie, I had missed that in our instructions!  Our flight leaves SeaTac at 8:15 tomorrow am.  I think we have met just about everyone who will be on the tour with us.  They all sound like fun people.

Test photo

Photo of one of the afghans for Project Linus

New Crochet Adventure

I am setting up my blog to post entries while visiting New York and Ireland.

Carrie and I will be taking a crochet tour through crafttours.com. If you would like to follow our adventures, you should be able to subscribe to the blog.