Electric Goes Out While We are Away

While we were still enjoying our weekend at Adare Manor, Haley had several friends over and they were getting ready to go out to a Halloween party on Sunday.  They had the whole last week of October off of school - an autumn break, if you will.   At about 5:00 we got a call from Zach that the electricity went out.  Apparently, all three of the showers were being used at one time.  Ordinarily, that would  just mean that the hot water will run out - right?  But not here!  Here, as shown in my shots of the shower, the water heats up through the power unit that sits inside the shower, and thus it is a powerful  heater that pulls a lot of electricity.  What we did NOT know, is that because of how much energy they use, you really should only have one such shower running at a time.  Well, Haley and her friends  had all 3 going and blew the whole house fuse - but not only did it blow, it melted the casing around the wires.  Thankfully it didn't start a fire!

When they called, they asked if we were going to come home?  Well no - there was no electricity there - why would we hurry home?!  Besides, it is a 3 hour trip and there wasn't much we could do on a Sunday night - everything would be closed, and the next day was a bank holiday - so most things would again be closed.

So, the kids were using flashlights to find their way around, and then a neighbor showed up at the door to see what was going on.  He had noticed that our car was gone, and then saw flashlights and thought we were being robbed!  Honestly, pretty gutsy to come to the house!  I think I would have just called the Garda, but I am thankful that this guy just stopped over.  He talked to Zach and suggested we talk to the next door neighbor, Rory, who has a friend who is an electrician. 

So, Zach walks over, talks to Rory, he calls the friend, Gary, who comes by and makes a temporary repair so they had electricity for the night.  Then he came back and fixed it on Tuesday when Steve and I were back home.  This is why I love Ireland!! 

O'Connor's Muskary Arms

After we toured the castle and grounds, we were parched and so went into town to find a nice pub.  We  stopped into O'Connor's Muskary Arms and had a pint, soup, and brown bread.  Mmmmm!  Great way to end the touring!  The pub was very busy with lots of families having Sunday tea and  watching soccer and horse racing.  There was a  long bar with ornate wood carving and a prominently displayed Oscar Wilde quote:  "Work is the curse of the drinking classes."  We had a lovely time at the pub!

Mushroom!

This was a tree that obviously died, and the  remaining  trunk was carved into a mushroom.  You all know my penchant for taking photos of mushrooms....

Anyway!  Steve also took loads of photos of the Blarney Castle grounds and I will add them after we have downloaded the camera to the computer.  The grounds are several hundred acres of paths, gardens, trees, and other vegetation. There is a Rock Close and there is also Blarney Castle House which is a decorated country manor that was built in 1874.  You can tour the house every day except Sunday.

You guessed it - we were there on a Sunday!   Bottom line is, there is so much to see at Blarney Castle that it would be well worth a stay in Blarney Village to be able to tour the castle grounds in more than one day.

Two Famous Visitors

Blarney Defined

The tour of the castle grounds and the castle itself includes many charming and humorous signs that impart lots of information  about the Castle and it's visitors.  The origins of the term "blarney" is told on one such sign.  The story goes that Cormac Teige MacCarthy,  the Lord of Blarney, was the recipient of demands by Queen Elizabeth I to agree to own his lands under legal tenure from the Crown.  He would answer every letter from the Queen and every demand with a flattering letter of his own, professing his loyalty to her but not actually agreeing to so hold his lands.  Legend has it the Queen tired of his words and  in her frustration shouted, "This is all Blarney, he never means what  he says, he never does what he promises!"  And thus, the word was born.

The Poison Garden

This was, as noted on the sign, the poison garden.  As we were walking through a little dog came racing down the path, all on it's own, looking very hurried and heading somewhere important.  Perhaps a spell had been cast on someone, I don't know...

Steve  spent  quite a lot of time in this garden, and I think I saw him taking notes...Should I be worried?!

Poem By Hogan!

We all knew Hogans had the gift of Blarney!