Ireland, October 2006

I will be wearing green (and orange) today.  I will eat potatoes and drink beer.  I will say an extra prayer of thanks for all these things and more.

But for you, dear readers, here is a little taste of our honeymoon trip to Ireland, in no particular order, because I just can't be bothered.

 Windmill Lane... site of much U2 greatness, once upon a time. (U2 is still great, but their studio has moved, just to clarify.)  This was actually our first day in Ireland.  We wandered around Dublin until it was time to check into our hotel, slept then went about finding a pub.

 The Carrick-a-Rede bridge.  It's rope and wood and very high up.  It was windy, but we braved it anyway.  They say on a clear day, you can see Scotland from here.  We only saw a smudge on the horizon.

 Even the water is green!  It was so clear that we saw dolphins swimming about, but couldn't get a good picture. Dolphins!  In Ireland!  I had no idea... but, that let me cross one more thing off my list of "things people say you should do on your honeymoon."  We had our sunset beach too, even if we were wearing sweaters not swimsuits.

 This is my husband, in a Utili-Kilt and leather cowboy hat, playing at a session in The Diamond Bar in... Ballycastle, I think.  Ballysomething for sure. Anyway, there was music, and Jeremy brought his mandolin in and took to it like a fish to water.  I sat with our lovely hosts and drank stout.  At one point, as Jeremy was explaining why an American was in this middle-of-nowhere town in the hole in the wall bar during the off season, one of the musicians looked over at me and exclaimed, "Ach!  You married a local girl!" and my heart swelled like a balloon!  That wasn't the only time I got mistaken for a local and each time I giggled.

 We saw three castles in our meanderings: Donegal (pictured here), Dublin and Dunluce.  We didn't mean for it to be so thematic, it just sort of happened that way.

 I am as tall as the door...

 This is a completely unedited photo, taken out the side of the car window.  Ireland really is that green.

 We stopped by this waterfall, Eas a' Ranca.  They tell me it's the tallest in Ireland, and something about it being called "the wizard's beard"...

 The Giant's Causeway is one of the neatest things I've ever seen.  The mathematic precision of the columns is very eerie to be natural, but it is!

 The Guinness Brewery tour!  This wall has some of the classic advertisements from artist John Gilroy.

 The Downhill  harp, 1702, made by Cormack O'Kelly.  The harp was adopted by Guinness as a logo in 1862. Other than the tiny model boats they had to show how the beer is transported, this instrument was Jeremy's favorite part.  Mine was the advertisements... try not to be surprised by either of these things.

 Enjoying a pint in the cafe at the top of the Guinness Brewery.  Ok, well I'm enjoying both our pints actually, as Guinness isn't a stout my husband cares for.  I keep him around anyway.

 Again, shots from the car window, unedited.  White houses, stone fences, green land, little sheep, and of course, rainbows.  Ireland is all that and more--like whiskey and beer!