Gustavo's Visit to Ireland

Hi - it is Christmas Eve and so far we are having a very good holiday! Last Sunday Gustavo and his girlfriend Marina, arrived. They only stayed two nights, but we made good use of the time! We went to a Christmas Program at Siamsa Tire (Shimsa Teeruh in Gaelic), the traditional Irish theatre in Tralee Town Centre. It was various performances by students and faculty of the Kerry School of Music, some of whom were excellent. It was called Mistletoe and Wine (for you Arkansans, I used it as a substitute for Cocoa and Carols!). Monday we went to Ballybunion, the beach and cliffs we have shown on this blog previously. The pictures are MFE and Dana with the Bill Clinton statue in Ballybunion Town Centre (these pics are from summer, but we forgot to put them on and feel you must see them!). Then (as usual for my blog, in reverse order!) Gustavo, Marina, MFE and Dana in Parker Pub in Kilflyyn (the village where we first lived), and all of us on the cliffs at Ballybunion. We left here early Tuesday morning to take them to the Cork airport - a new experience, as we had not been that far east before. We left at 6:00 am, pitch dark and pea soup fog. It was a harrowing 2 hour drive, but we got there on time, checked them in, and we returned to Killarney for therapy. We found out later that their plane was cancelled and they spent the night in Cork! Oh, well.

Last night (December 23) we drove to Asdee, a village north of Ballybunion, for Christmas dinner with Joan, Donie, and Anna O'Keeffe. Donie is president of DS Kerry, and has been one of our main friends and helpers. We had a great dinner with them and Donie's mother and father who live next door - with the ocean across the road - a very beautiful location! It was a great holiday dinner for us. We will have a quiet Xmas day, then are going to Gerard and Dominique's for St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26, a holiday here) dinner. Then, as you know, off to Barcelona on Thursday - so there should be good pictures coming in the New Year!

As we say in Ireland - Happy Christmas and a Joyous and Peaceful New Year (I like this better than the shorter version!). MFE and Dana