The Saw Doctors

The Saw Doctors are one of my favorite Irish bands and have been ever since I heard one of their songs on a Harp Beer commercial several years ago!

They sing a song which says "I wish I was on that N17 stone walls and the grass is green" and I love the song but didn't know what the N17 was  all about.  Now I know!  It is the road that goes from the town of Sligo to the town of Galway, and  I pass under it every time I take Haley to Castlebar!

They also sing a song that goes "Oh the green and  red of mayo, I can see it still, it's soft and craggy boglands,  it's tall majestic hills"  and NOW I know that the mayo colors are green and red - and the green and red flags are EVERYWHERE right now for the GAA football championship game which will be Mayo and either  Dublin or Kerry, depending who wins the semi-final  on Sunday!  We see a lot of the Mayo fan base around here, as I said before, Castlebar is in County Mayo.

SCHOOL REPORT

Haley managed fairly well with her first day.  She found her classes (it is a small school) and made some friends and may need to adjust her schedule if she can.  She has an Irish class - which for her is just  a study hall,  but we thought she could see about adding another class instead.  She believes she is understanding the teacher's accents, but the terminology is another matter entirely!  One teacher told them to pull out their copies - Haley didn't know what they meant.  She then learned that copies are small,  soft-covered notebooks that are available for purchase at any school supply store.  They look like blue-book exam booklets.  She needs these for every class,  and also a hard-cover notebook, which we think is your basic spiral notebook, however, there are notebooks sold that  have actual book bindings  - we are hoping she doesn't have to get those!

For lunch they just get a free hour.  For  the schools in the Cities,  this  means the students can go oout in the town for lunch, to sit outside at a park,  or even shopping, buut Haley's school is in the country so there is no going off campus for lunch!

She has not yet gotten a locker,  but that should happen soon I'm sure. She had some people contact her on facebook last night so things are looking up for her socially!

Got her off to her second day of school and hopefully it will also go well.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR HALEY

Drove Haley to school this morning.  She is going to Moyne Community School which is about a 25 minute drive on some curvy Irish roads.  Haley would not let me take a picture of her, so you will have to imagine her in the soft, gray pants, light blue button down shirt with collar, navy blue sweater with a coat of arms logo  on the upper left, and black shoes with white soles.  (Yes, black shoes are part of the uniform!)  I drove to the parking lot and Haley got her bag and marched into the school to meet with the principal and get started at a new school.

Hope she is able to understand the teachers - it may be English but the accent can be hard for an American to follow!

We have all been stopped walking along the road for a driver asking directions.  The guy who stopped me was amazed that I couldn't understand him.  Connor had to tell him we just moved here and didn't have directions for him, but neither of us could really make out what place he was trying to find!

Have to go pick her up and hope she had a grand experience!

Last Day of Summer Break for Haley

Wednesday, August 28th was Haley's last day of summer freedom, so we took a break for unpacking the furniture, discarding the crates,  and putting bed frames together and drove back up to Rosses Point  in County Sligo.  First we went to the town of Sligo and  walked around.  We found a TJ Maxx store and several others that looked promising for a day of shopping!   We had lunch at a tiny pub with an even tinier  menu, and the food was grand!  We then found chicken strips for Zach and we were on our  way to the beach.  At Rosses Point we rested on the beach and walked into the surf.  The weather was  mild, about 60 degrees, but cooler when there was cloud cover.  Always plenty of cloud cover here.  In  the pictures, you can  see a patch of blue - here that is a sunny day!  Haley and I wore tank tops, but needed our jackets as the sun got covered by clouds.  We laughed about zipped up hoodies on the beach, as there is a  commercial that says something about that being a sure part of an Irish summer!  The tide was out and the water wasn't too cold - nothing like Lake Michigan anyway! Apparently the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current push warm, tropical waters up into the Nordic Seas and thus along the Irish coast so it doesn't get the bone-chilling cold of Lake Michigan.

You will also note that we get darn good cell phone coverage out here!

Eventually we decided to head home so we could  have a good dinner and relax in the evening.  At night we watched a soccer match on tv - Celtics of Scotland against Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan.  Then off to bed as Haley had school the next day!

SETTLING IN

Zach has decided to take up hiking around Ireland, which is a good plan as there are lots of great hiking routes and hostels and  backpackers and there is so much history here that he will find lots of things to expand his mind!   With the hiking plan in  mind, the kids took a day in Connor's  last week to hike the canal walk which goes right through County Longford.  The full trail  is a 3 day hike ending in Dublin.  They just did a part of it, I dropped them off at a trail head and they hiked for about 3 hours.  I  picked them up at a pub in Cloondara and everyone seemed to enjoy the walk.

Steve and Connor  flew out of  Dublin on  the 17th of August.  Steve  drove us to the airport, and I had to drive back  home.  Haley was the best co-pilot ever  and we  got home safely.  That night we went to a soccer match which was Longford v. Galway Salthill Devon.  Longford won 4 to 0!  The game was great - though the players use colorful language and they are loud!  One player  was doing a throw-in, his teammate called for the pass and he responds "F-no!  You're not on!"  It was just  such a surprise to us!   They have the chanting fan section and people yell things like "C'mon  lads!"  and "C'mon ref you're fond of those yellow cards!"  I had such a good time and I showed Haley the big bar they have at the City Calling Stadium - which is the clubhouse and apparently every team that has a field has a  club house.   They do not serve beer during the games.

On Sunday,  August 18, Haley turned 17! As I noted in  an earlier post, I managed to bake the traditional Hogan/Schlueter birthday cake and Haley had a scrimmage in Castlebar.  I think she had a good birthday but I still have to pony up with a gift!  When have I  had time to shop?!

During the week we went to Durkins in Longford to buy Haley's uniform. (I can't see that sign without humming,  "Good-bye Mrs. Durkin, I'm sick  and tired of workin, no more I'll  dig your praties, no longer I'll be poor.." Irish Rovers yeah!)  Anyway, the uniform must be purchased there.  She had to buy grey pants, light blue shirts,  and  a navy jumper.  At  first she was like, "I am NOT wearing a jumper!"  Then we learned that a  jumper is a sweater!  Oh...  So she is wearing the jumper  - and apparently they are required to have them on at all times at school.  It has a logo for the school on it - very Gryffindor! - and though she disagrees,  Haley looks great in it!

Then, while Steve was in Chicago and Iowa City getting Connor settled for school, our sea shipment arrived.  We have way too much CRAP!  And we had already sold beds, couches,  table and chairs, games, books,  toys, appliances, etc.   We will  have to pare it down even more, obviously... 

When they arrived,  I went outside to  move the car, and the dogs insisted on  getting in with me, so I let them in the car.   After I parked it, I opened the door and they wouldn't budge.  I left the door open and the dogs just slept in the car the whole time the movers  were there!

The poor moving guys - thought the furniture looked nice but found it pretty darn heavy!  We finally had our own beds, though and that was great.  We are still unpacking and  finding places for things and getting the house in order.  It may be a while!  

The moving guys did laugh at all our outdoor furniture and asked if we were expecting good weather?! But the day of the shipment WAS sunny and in the upper 60's  so when we could take a break, we sat out on the patio and I had a Cider!  

I  drove to the airport on Sunday morning (August 25th) by myself (successfully!)  as Haley needed to sleep for her game that day.  His flight came in at 4:45 in the morning - aarrrggghhh!!!  but we  got home, had a couple hours of sleep, then drove  to Castlebar for Haley's first conference game.  Upon arrival, learned that she can't play until  FAI gets international  clearance - what?!  Still,  it was a great game, fun to watch and Haley's team beat Cork 2 to 1.  After the game, they served sandwiches and juice in the clubhouse - for everyone - both teams and all the fans!   It was pretty cool  and a nice way to  keep the games civil - right?  You socialize with the opponents!  It was really neat - one of the many things I love about Ireland!   

Now I'm not sure if they always do this or if it was just because the GAA football semi-final game between Tyrone and Mayo was going on that day in Dublin.  It was being televised and they had it playing at the clubhouse and they were,  in fact,  serving  beer!  We  were pretty tired so we  drove  home and  watched  the end  of the game at home.  Mayo won!  (Castlebar is in County Mayo and Tyrone is in Northern Ireland).  

It was a long week, and I found myself missing Connor CONSTANTLY, but keeping busy helps...

Connor's last week and ZIPIT

We left Galway, watched Haley's practice, and then headed home to Camlin Willows.  We had one more week with Connor  before  he had to fly home to move into the dorms at the University of Iowa to start his freshman year of college.   Our big trips  were done and the week was mainly spent preparing for Connor's move and getting things in order here at home.  

For one last hurrah, we went to Lough Key Forest to do the ZipIt course. What an adventure!  They have several courses you can follow,  and you are high up in the trees crossing on wires, swinging logs, rope bridges, you name it, you  cross on it!  It is very safe as you are always connected to a wire through  your belted gear.  Connor, Haley and I managed very  well,  though they were much quicker than me!  

We first got a training session on how to lock and unlock  your connecting safety belts, and they also went over how to figure out when you had to connect the third lock and when not to.  They had us do a mini practice course to learn everything we  needed to know, and then we were on our own!!  

We skipped the first two smaller courses and went right to the White Course, as our guide had suggested.   Connor went first, then me, then Haley.  You have to wait for the person in front of you to get across before you start out, and only 3 people can be on a platform at the same time.  It was a bit freaky because it is fairly high up, but the course went well with ladders to climb and zip lines to conquer and it was really lots of fun - even with all the rain which pelted  us right from the start!

After that, you can move onto the Blue Course.  I was a little concerned because the  White Course took some real effort and the Blue Course is harder, but the kids thought I would  be fine and so we started the Blue Course.   It  was raining, things were slippery,  and the  very first part was climbing to a  platform and then walking across a wire from one tree to the next while holding onto a  hanging cable.  We switched our order.  Haley went first,  Connor  second,  and I went last.  In trying to get across on the first one, the wire you are walking on starts to slant upward,  so you have to  lean forward or you will  fall back.  Haley crossed and immediately set out on  the next one which was swinging logs. Connor crossed and (thankfully) waited on the platform for me.  As I started  going forward, I thought it wasn't too bad, but then the line started it's upward slant and I wasn't  leaning  foward - I  started going backwards - sailing back to start as if on a zip line, Connor was getting smaller as I hurtled back to  start...

Okay, it isn't really that long a distance, but I did lose foward momentum,  started sliding back, caught my foot on the line and bruised the crap out of my ankle as I struggled like a spider on a web blowing in the breeze!  Connor had this look on his face like, "Don't laugh, Connor, don't laugh!" and we both laughed as I  finally caught my balance back at the start.  I thought  about scrapping  it, but Connor  told me to try  again.  My biggest fear was that I would lose balance and be hanging there helplessly until someone climbed up to get me down!  Still, I struck out on the line again and leaned forward  until   I got to the second platform - yay!  Then  it  was swinging logs?! We were awfully high up and there were two areas where we climbed ladders to go up even higher.  Then we got to where there were several  zip lines and it was GREAT!   We were flying  through the trees and the rain and it was exhilarating!  The final part was climbing across a lattice rope sideways to a platform, you lock up to a cable on a pulley, and  then  the  guy at the bottom says, okay now jump - Excuse me?!  at first I thought it was going to be like my first  time on the diving board -  when I NEVER jumped in!  But eventually I realized that it wasn't so bad, after all, Connor and Haley made it down, so I threw caution to the wind and jumped off!  Once I was at the bottom I was glad I had done the Blue Course.  

The final and hardest course is the Red Course - but we didn't  have time  to  do it.  We will go back when Connor is here again and finish it.  It truly was a fantastic adventure. There were ladders to climb and zip lines to conquer and it rained on us from start to finish!  By the end we were soaking wet - hair plastered to our heads, shorts and shirts dripping, socks soaked and shoes slippery wet,  but we were all smiling.  It was such a fun thing to do - in any weather!

We  didn't get any  pictures, but they have a web site which is www.zipit.ie and  I recommend going to it and reading the May 28 blog submission by Niamh Geraghty - it is hilarious!  

In the City of Galway

The next day we spent wandering around the city. Lots of shopping, pubs, walking malls, street performers and other things to see.  Haley got earrings decorated with Connemara Marble, and we stopped in a shop to see the world's smallest claddagh ring!  We also saw a street performer playing a harp!  We hung out for several hours on Sunday as we went straight from Galway to Haley's soccer practice in Castlebar.  The city is within 35 minutes of Galway.  

Perhaps what is most striking of our visit to Galway is all the things we didn't see!  The area has a lot to offer.  We will have to go back to see the Aran Islands and pick up handmade wool sweaters, and we will need to visit the Connemara Marble Factory and see the ponies!  Also more castles, more coastlines and beaches.....

Stone Walls

On our bus trip we learned that during the potato famine, rather than just give the food needed to survive, the English felt the Irish should work for the food.  Rather than finding any real work, they had people building stone walls that stretched up the Irish hills going nowhere and having no purpose whatsoever.  An exercise in futility - essentially humiliation rather than production of something meaningful.  I wasn't able to get a good picture of all the stone walls meandering aimlessly up the hillsides.  I did, however, get a picture of an old stone wall and it is truly amazing that they just stack the stones and the walls hold for years to come, with no mortar, nothing keeping them together but proper stacking!

Cliffs of Moher and O'Brien's Tower

Lunchtime in Doolin

Dunguaire Castle

Poulnabrone Dolmen