We picked up our friends in Shannon yesterday around 4:30 p.m. They had to fly to Paris first, wait 8 hours and finally got here, They were tired but stayed awake until we got back to Dingle. Today was suppose to be sunny and warm but it isn't. Still a beautiful view though.
St. Patrick's Day parade was really fun. It seemed that the entire town appeared on the streets about 5 minutes before the parade started. The grandstand was still being hammered together about 15 minutes before the start. Dingle prides itself on having the first celebration of the day in Ireland when the pipe band takes to the streets AT 6 A.M.
Children representing what ever organization you can think of would march with painted faces followed by every know business riding in a marked car. The landscaping business was towing a cart filled with the latest model of lawnmowers. There was an MC who made humourous comments about each of the groups walking or riding by the grandstand. Everyone was in a cheerful mood and clapped and cheered to excess. The women's soccor club walked with their children. That may have been the largest group of the entire parade. We actually knew 2 marchers and several viewers.
After the parade we went to Murphys for lunch. The special of the day was bacon and cabbage. It was really boiled ham, savory cabbage, mashed turnips, broccoli, and 3 ice cream scoops of mashed potatoes. Bill and I shared the plate and still didn't finish it.He actually ate and enjoyed the turnips. Our new friends Michael Griffin and his pal John were there all dressed up fior the day. Live shamrocks were pinned to lapels on many people. We met a young married couple from Dublin, Jillian and Eion (owen) and shared some pints with them. This is really a family day with the pub filled with young families eating their meal. The earthquake in Japan continues to dominate the news here. You would not know that American existed.
Today we head for town to show the Meyers and then go to the Dingle Film Festival and meet Maureen O'Hara. Still enjoying our relaxed life style.
Glad everything is going well.. Just by hapenstance Rob and I had turnips for dinner last night.. yummy!!!! Miss you
ReplyDeleteMike
Hi, Lois. Interesting to hear about the St. Patrick's Day parade. No parade in Tucson, but plenty of watering holes and restaurants celebrating with Irish drink and fare. Enjoy the film festival. Say hi to Maureen O'Hara for us and tell her we enjoy her films. Tell us some of the tidbits about her acting colleagues she reveals. If you run into someone whose last name begins with Kil (Kilpatrick) or Gil (Gilchrist), it means "servant of" (Patrick, Christ). There's some Gaelic for you. But what about Gilhooley? When the Irish say Gaelic, it sounds a lot like "garlic".
ReplyDeleteLove - Ray and Karen