Dear Fam,
Sorry for the verbose descriptions of Africa as my thumbs
now resemble Arnold Schwartzenegger's steriod 1970's biceps from all of the
pecking at my blackberry. This will go
back to a more normal length and the surprise ending will be like a prize at
the bottom of a Crackerjack box. I know,
nobody eats that sugary creation and the prize is now totally crappy but you
know what I mean...
After a wee bit of traveling, we landing in bright sunny
Shannon, Ireland. Ok, it was really
cloudy and drizzly which was a change of pace from being very near the equator
in Kenya. The Volvo that we rented was
manufactured incorrectly as the steering wheel was on the right, the stick
shift on the left and the rear view mirror was to my upper left. Luckily driving is on the left side of the
road so it all came together in a beautifully dangerous way.
We were to meet the Beilke family (Keoni's buddy Riley and his fam) at family home in Cahir (the Cahir Abbey House - 3 story and quite large) which is between Shannon and Cork on the west side of Ireland. The home plus some other houses and stables is on 50 acres, very near to an old castle. The first recorded sale of the house was in 1700 and it was built by the Quakers with the hope of making Irish Quakers as familiar as, well you know... They, the Jews, Muslims and Mormons lost in the recruiting battle for souls...
William Penn spent some time at the house so while I
didn't actually become educated at his University in Philadelphia, I believe
that I came closer to him than those who did.
An honorary degree bestowed upon myself from UPenn at Cahir if you
will...
Dan (the patriarch of the fam) made Irish breakfasts for
us (amazing sausage with fatless bacon and some eggs). While not exactly the China Study diet, it
was very tasty.
We traveled to Cork and then to Blarney Castle so that we
could kiss the Blarney Stone. Legend has
it that those that kiss the stone are given the gift of eloquence or gab or to
be able to cajole people while being full of Blarney.
It should be noted that to get to the stone, one has to
climb very steep midevil like circular stair for about 6 stories. The stone is above a large hole although they
have some bars that Keoni could easily fall through and maybe Kevin too. There was a staff photographer next to the
hole and a guy whose job is to make sure that one doesn't go head first down to
the ground for 6 stories.
Diane the cliff diver said, I'm going first, she sat
facing away, leaned backwards, laid back, grabbed the bars (mounted on the
stone) and put her lips on the rock before giving it a smooch.
he rest of us then followed suit with Jared and I
strongly holding all kiddy feet. Being
slightly neurotic, I popped up after my sensuous moment with the rock and asked
if I now had Blarney herpes. Nobody was
disinfecting the stone after each amorous moment which was continual...
We enjoyed nice food and fun strolls through the quaint
towns. See attached photo of Keoni and
his buddy Riley as they bellied up to the bar at a local pub in Cahir.
Jared and I ended the evening with a pint of Guiness at
the Abbey Pub (named after the Abbey and Abbey house where we stayed).
After 2 days, Keoni, Diane and I said goodbye to the
Beilkes (we'll meet up with them in London on Friday evening) and drove to
Dublin. We bought lots of spinach,
broccoli and fruit and made a nice blend with enough for 2 per day throughout
our stay.
We then enjoyed a walking tour starting at Trinity
College and ending at Dublin Castle.
Sadly since the Irish never really had a golden age or empire, the city
lacks the grandeur that many of the cities in Europe enjoy. That said, we followed our walking tour with
a literary pub crawl and enjoyed 2 local actors giving their renditions of
writings of and stories about great Irish figures (from Oscar Wilde, James
Joyce, GB Shaw to Michael Collins).
As this is Keoni's world and Diane and I simply live in
it, we started today with a nice bike tour around Dublin. See attached photo of us in front of
sculptures depicting the potato famine starting in 1840. We were inappropriately smiling because of
the great weather and fun time and clearly ignoring the message so starkly
conveyed.
All of the guides have been jovial while being
pessimistic and totally sarcastic about the future of Ireland and the
Irish. We passed some wonderful looking
real estate, both in newly redeveloped areas and in long established posh
areas. I know prices are well below the
peak but don't know the strength/weakness of the rental market. Might be worth investigating the high end...
The surprise is from an e-mail which we received from
Ukraine. Our surrogate is pregnant and
has been so for 16 weeks, things look good and it is a boy. See attached.
A nice bit of news as Irish eyes are smiling!
Best,
Kyle
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
No comments:
Post a Comment