So for the past week, Steve has been in Chicago for work, then on the weekend he drove to Iowa city to see Connor, spent some time with Little Joe and his family, and then back to Fox Lake to hang out with our friends and watch the Blackhawks win another game! Zach was still traveling in the United Kingdom so it was just me and Haley holding down the fort.
On Saturday, May 3rd, Haley and I walked the dogs around a small pond and playground in Aughnacliffe. That night she had a Gaelic football game at a pitch near Derrycassan Woods, where Steve and I usually walk the dogs on the weekends. The pitch is in a town called Mullinalaghta (pronounced Mull-in-yah-ta). She had a great game and played really well. After the game, they were having a fundraiser at a pub in Ballinamuck. (pronounced with the accent on the first syllable and the first syllable rhymes with "pal"). The pub was The Ninety-Eight.
Prior to Haley's game starting, I took a walk through the woods with Helen, a mom of one of Haley's friends, and she walked pretty darn fast - so I did work up a pretty good sweat... Anyway, she lives in Ballinamuck and I agreed to go to the fundraiser with her. Haley and Katie and some other friends were going to a classmates 18th birthday party instead.
The popular fundraiser here is a quiz show. You pay 10 euro to participate, get into teams of 4, and they ask about 10 rounds of 10 questions each. You write your group answers down and the team with the most correct wins. The top 3 teams can win some money but if it's a fundraiser, most people give the money back to the organization. Some pubs have Quiz Shows that are just for fun and entertainment, but you still pay to do it and can win money if your team wins.
So, we went down to the pub for the quiz show, Helen knew people there and we had a team all set to play. It was actually a lot of fun, though many questions were so specific to Ireland and to the club itself, that I couldn't possibly know the answers. Still, I contributed when they asked for things like Hillary Clinton's middle name, and the name given to the religious region in the south of the US. I also knew where the famine museum was as Haley and I had just been there, so I made a decent showing for the American contingency.
One question though, was "What American president and writer of the Constitution invented the swivel chair?" The next day I told Haley the question and she said, "Thomas Jefferson". I said she was right but that I had gotten it wrong. Haley was surprised and I said "Well, Ben Franklin was an inventor too!" to which Haley said, "Yeah but he wasn't president!" Duh! Okay, you only have so much time to answer the questions, and I got mixed up because Ben is on the $100 and I kept thinking about TJ being the president of the confederacy and well, it's been awhile since I studied US History!
Anyway, it was all good craic and our team took 2nd place! I didn't drink any beers or anything as I had to drive back home to Longford. I got home about 1:30 in the morning and was quite tired.
On Monday, May 5th, Haley had the day off school because it was, yet another bank holiday in Ireland! Woohoo! So, I got up early and walked the dogs, then Haley and I drove into Dublin to shop for her "Debs" dress. It is their prom or graduation dance, which will be in July.
I was very proud of myself, as I researched the parking ramps in Dublin, found one that was close to the shops on Henry Street, and plugged it into Apple and Google maps so I wouldn't get lost. I suggest that if you travel to Ireland, have at least 2 different mapping apps because sometimes, Google can locate something and sometimes Apple can, but not always both.
We made good time into Dublin, found the ramp with no problem, and backed the car into it's teeny tiny parking space and then we were off and shopping! We walked to the dress shop that would be farthest away, and there Haley tried on the first dress. It was absolutely perfect! It was exactly what she was looking to find and the price was right. Honestly, she looked absolutely stunning in the dress. Since it was the first shop and the first dress, we had them hold it and walked around to other stores just to be sure, but of course, when all was said and done, we headed back to buy the first dress she tried on! It was lovely and it was 20 euro cheaper than listed, so we were both quite pleased with the outcome.
We also ate at The Church, which is an old church that was converted into a restaurant and bar and it is truly beautiful. The food and the service were grand and we had a lovely lunch. they even had a choir singing while we were there. We had a lovely time in Dublin and got home by 7:00 all safe and sound. It was truly a remarkable weekend!
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