The Last Day! Finally!!!

 On Friday morning, a small group of us set out to visit the town of Kenmare, which is known for its lace making.  I was on a mission to buy Jemma a handkerchief to carry on her wedding day made with Irish lace.  The town itself was so pretty!  I wish we had spent more time there!  We were there really to see the lace shop and head back to meet the others who opted to sleep in!

The nuns at the church taught the young girls the craft of lace making during the famine years so they would have a trade.  The tradition continues today and it was amazing to watch the tiny intricate detail that went into creating these beautiful pieces.  This kind woman showed us exactly how they do it!  

They weave these sticks, called bobbins,  over, under and around to create the delicate open weave lace.  The pins hold it in place and she uses the pattern on the right there to know which bobbins to use and where to put them.   

This is a larger pattern lace that you stitch following the pattern.  When the sewing part is done the blue is removed and the lace remains.  

These are teeny tiny detail pieces that cost between $300 and $400!

It was amazing to see the detail that went into this!  It was beautiful.  Queen Victoria loved the Kenmare lace so much she had panels of it made especially for her wedding gown.

When we stopped for gas, my SIL and I ran into a church across the street.  It was not very impressive from the outside, but gorgeous on the inside.  I have a thing for stained glass windows...

The walls around the high altar of the church were covered in a tile.  I just loved the reflection of the stained glass on the tiles!

We went back to the house to eat a quick lunch and then returned to the Muckross National Park to visit the Traditional Farms there.  This was fun for everyone especially my nieces and SIL who love animals! This was an animal lovers dream!  Horses, chickens, goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, and peacocks...oh my!!

Jemma was excited to wear her new raincoat and carry her umbrella!  

If she could have gotten it home, she would have!

The farms are set up as traditional farms would have been in the early 1900's.  It is a working farm and the people who work there have amazing stories of what it was like!

Here they are with the pigs.  I like pigs don't get me wrong, but I have no desire to pet on the dirty ones. My uncle and cousin had a pig farm when I was growing up and I have been around my fair share of pigs.  Some other members of the family obviously did not think my way!  All I could think is that I had left the hand sanitizer in the car!!!

Mama pig.  Jemma still cracks up over the way her lip is sticking out!

She was having such a good time!  I love this sweet face!

Soda bread baking over a fire

These wolfhounds were so sweet and BIG!!!!!

Cristy had always dreamed of holding a baby pig so I asked the wonderful gentleman working there if she could hold him and he scooped him right up and gave him to her!  Man... can that cute little thing squeal!!!  I love Cristy's face here.  She was giddy!

This peacock would fan out his feathers and flutter them whenever Jemma walked by!  It was hilarious!

In the "fancy" house, this lady was making butter.  It was actually beautiful to watch!  Mom even got in on it.  The sweet lady let her roll out butter balls that were going to be used at a wedding reception that evening there on the farms.  

The blacksmith there made these awesome shamrocks out of the old horseshoes!  I wanted to bring one of these babies home with me but they didn't have any for sale and the blacksmith wasn't there any more.  I may have to find someone to do this for me!  We have a blacksmith at a plantation near us... hmmmm.....

A quick run on the playground!

A limestone kiln

This was a massive tree that fell and they cut it up

Kids and their technology!

Our one and only rainbow we saw.

We went back into Killarney for dinner at The Laurel's.  We stopped first at a big tourist shop to buy all the last minute gifts that we really didn't need!  

This beautiful drink helped kick start my 10 lb. weight gain this summer!

All the fish and chips I ate probably didn't help either!

The next day we sadly left our wonderful house and drove to Dublin where we caught our flight to JFK.  Of course Cristy had trouble with her ticket again especially in New York!  Our flight was delayed several hours which worked out as they had to talk to ticket agents for a LONG time!  In the scrabble of figuring out her name and the ticket thing again, they deleted Cole's ticket!  It all got settled and we waited patiently for our plane to leave.  It finally left at midnight and I was delighted to see the Empire State Building from the plane!  Jemma was a trooper and stayed awake until her bum hit the plane seat and then she was out.  We arrived in Charlotte around 1:45 and crashed at the hotel.  The next morning everyone headed out to their respective homes.  

It was a crazy, exhausting, amazing, educational, wonderful, fantastic trip.  We made some wonderful memories that we will always share as a family.  I am so grateful to my sweet hubby who makes all this possible for us and gives us the opportunity to share so much with our daughter.  

Family is what it is all about and this trip was a trip of a lifetime.

The Dingle Peninsula

Thursday found us driving the Dingle Peninsula, and I must say that this is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland that I have ever been.  The water is an amazing shade of blue and there are so many magnificent views.  We were stopping every few minutes to jump out and take pictures!  Beware... I have posted a lot of them for you!!!

Mom is getting her Leonardo di Caprio going!

Then the wind about knocked her down...

And she got super tickled!  This is one of my favorite pictures!

Town of Dingle

Isn't he so sweet?

This is a part of a defensive rampart

 We visited a small ring fort with beehive huts.   These huts, also called Clocháns,  are dry-stone huts with a corbelled roof, dating from the early Middle Ages or earlier. Most archaeologists think these structures were built on the southwestern coast of Ireland since the Bronze Age. The walls are very thick, up to 1.5 meters. The stones are stacked and angled downward so water runs off.  
Many occur in religious contexts such as used by the monks following Saint Patrick while many archeologist believe they may have been the home of a farmer and the wall protected his family and animals when needed.  

Nana and the grandbabies

We visited the Great Blasket Center.  The Blasket Islands are a group of 6 islands off the tip of the Dingle Peninsula.  The islands were home to as many as 160 people and dwindled down due to younger people immigrating to the states.   In 1953, with only 22 inhabitants, the government evacuated the people saying that they couldn't guarantee their safety.  

Life on the islands was hard.  The people there lived in primitive homes and dealt with merciless weather at times.  In 1947, a storm made it impossible for the people there to reach the outside world for a couple of weeks and emergency supplies had to be sent.  Each family had a cow, a few sheep, and a plot of potatoes.  They used peat from the land and were fisherman.  They survived the famine due to the fact that they were not completely dependent on the potato.  These people formed a true Gaelic community and Gaelic was the only language spoken.  To this day, this area of Ireland is where children come from all over to learn Gaelic and the culture during their summer vacations.

Three writers arose from this village with vivid details of life on these harsh islands.  They are the ones who kept the true Irish folk tales alive and are internationally renowned. 

There is a ferry that goes across so one can walk around the island but can only go when the weather is good.  It was described as a ghost town overrun by rabbits.  We didn't go on the ferry due to time, but I would love to go visit.  

The beautiful stained glass in the Great Blasket Center

The Blasket Islands

This is an island down the road called the "Sleeping Giant".  Do you see him with his hands folded over his belly?

Next stop was the Gallarus Oratory.  

This is one of Ireland's best preserved early Christian churches built about 1,300 years ago.  

How many times can you walk up and touch something that is 1,300 years old?

Legend says that if you climbed out through the window that your soul would be cleansed.  Those had to be some skinny monks!

We then visited the beautiful ruined church of Kilmalkedar.  This church was built in the 12th century when England tried to centralize their rule and replace the old monastic settlements.  The Romanesque church is surrounded by a densely populated graveyard which has risen noticeably above the fields over the centuries.  The cross below is one of the oldest medieval tombs.  It is much shorter now due to the rising graveyard and now sits at an odd angle.  

Below is an ogham stone which was here 900 years before the church was built.  It is notched with the Ogham script which is like a morse code that was used in the 3rd and 4th centuries.  It marked a grave which showed that this was a pre-Christian holy spot.  One interesting thing is the hole drilled in the top of the stone.  This is where people came to "seal the deal".  People would stand on the graves of their ancestors and in front of the church they would "swear to God" and touch thumbs through the hole.  People from all over come here to renew their vows and we did!!!

An ogham stone in the church

I love these old  graves and especially this one with the shamrocks

Dinner time found us back in Dingle where we had a wonderful meal at John Benny Moriarty's.  The server was a hoot and I thought he would be perfect for Mom!  Then we could all come visit, but he had a wife.  His third but he told us he was rethinking it!!  

After dinner,we all meandered the town and shops where we came across Murphy's Ice Cream.  We try to never miss out on ice cream and we couldn't resist the name of Murphy (like our four legger!).  I am so glad we didn't miss out.  This was the BEST strawberry ice cream I have ever put in my mouth.  It is all hand made from Irish products.  Oh my... heaven.  I sampled the Balsamic ice cream which wasn't bad but was excellent with the strawberry!  I got my usual mint chocolate chip which was very different because it was a fresh mint taste.  I want more!!!

This day was one of my favorites.   I could live right on the edge of Ireland and be happy!  A writer once described this area as the "soul of Ireland" and I believe it.  It was magical!