St. Patrick's Day and other

Last Sunday, we took the dogs to Banna Strand (beach), the one that's very near to us. They enjoyed the walk, although I don't think they really understand the significance of actually getting to go to the beach! (These are "non-professional" shots - as we used to call them in our photography club, these are record shots - and that is not a compliment!). The one with MFE in it was obviously taken by the pro, but with the little camera!

Several of you emailed about St. Patrick's Day. Well, ours was pretty low key, as we were both fighting colds and coughs. There was actually less hype here than in the US. I told one of my clients, an adult with Down Syndrome, about some of our traditions; his response to green beer was "that's disgusting"! Every little town (including as small as Kilflynn, our first little village) had their own parade. I was doing therapy in Listowel that day. It was raining (they say it always rains on "Patrick's Day" (as we familiarly call it here!), and I decided to skip the parade and go home. Well, nice idea, but I got caught in traffic, and ended up being happy about it, as I saw the parade! I took pictures out the car window. In deference to truth-in-advertising laws, I must tell you that I got a digital camera for my birthday and these pictures are by me, the non-photographer, as opposed to all other beautiful pictures on this blog by our resident professional photographer! Anyway, here's the parade! Note in the last picture, the leader is playing bagpipes. Much to our suprise, these are a regular in Irish marching bands. The theme of some of the others was history of Ireland, which was interesting.

Therapy sites

1. Killarney - Kerry Parents and Friends. Below 2. KDYS
Below 3. Our House



























4.Ken
mare
5. St.
Ita's



7. Cahersiveen 6. Glenbeigh and 8. Listowel








We hope that you will enjoy seeing the sites where I do speech therapy every week.
1. Killarney on Tuesday - The Old Monastery, which is now Kerry Parents and Friends, a workshop for adults with disabilities. It is a wonderful facility - very old but much more extensively remodeled than many old buildings here. Also, the staff is excellent and the program is one of the only really quality programs for adults. I love working there. However, they close at 5:00 so....
2. KDYS , Killarney (Kerry Diocesan Youth Services) - fortnightly (every 2nd week) I see 4 clients who need late times because of school or work schedules. The room here is nice and it is right in the town center, and is actually a part of the Old Friary. (Do you see a theme here - monastery, friary). The orange round part and the glass are attached to a very old Friary; the room I use is in the Friary part.
3. Tralee, Wednesday - this is our house. It is such a joy to do therapy here on Wednesday. I take a long lunch break, and Dana almost always has prepared lunch for me - I'm pretty spoiled. Also, it's great when there are breaks (infrequent) and cancellations( more frequent this winter - terrible flu bug here), as I can either do "house" things or "work" things, right on the spot. The therapy room is the converted garage, right in front of the car. It has it's own entrance, and even a convenient toilet!
4. Kenmare - Thursday, fortnightly. This is the Kenmare Adult Education Centre. They have a great variety of programs and the staff is very friendly and helpful. I like going there once a week, but since I have only 3 clients, and it is 1 1/2 hour drive, it made sense to change to fortnightly. I have worked in several rooms here - one in this main building, and 2 others in the outbuildings. They have a good program for adults with disabilities - St. John of God, and I see some of those clients, as well as some younger ones.
5. St. Ita's and St. Joseph's in Tralee. I go here fortnightly on Thursday morning and see 3 girls (and soon to also see a boy). This is a special school, and is very unusual. All of the children are "moderate" disability - this is a catch-all term that means everything from mild to severe in US terminology. This one really does take what I'd consider to be mild-moderate and so has a really pretty good academic program geared to their levels. I like this school a lot. There is also an autism unit, though I have no really interaction with them.
6. Glenbeigh - Friday morning - This is Glenbeigh National School. All primary schools are called national schools. They all used to be church run - most Catholic, but some Church of Ireland. Although they are no longer church connected, there is a very strong tradition, so there is still much religious activity, and they are still identified with their church. Pat Griffin, one of the parents who has been very helpful to me, has worked at this school for about 30 years. Her son, her nephew and 2 other children are seen here for speech therapy - it has been a great location.
7. Cahersiveen - The is the O'Connell Centre for Adult Education. It is the same type of facility as the one in Kenmare. The staff is great, and they seem to have an excellent array of services (including the South Kerry Women's Group, which I may check out at some point); the facility is adequate (not great), and the location is gorgeous. It is named for Daniel O'Connell, who was born in Cahersiveen and is a major national hero here.
8. Listowel - Saturday. Dana and I both like Listowel a lot. It is sort of a market town - not really quite as picturesque as some places, but very down home and friendly. This location is in the Presentation Family Resource Center, located in the Presentation Convent, connected to the Presentation Secondary School!! I work in the director's office, and it has worked out fine. I could work in the Creche (that's what we call a preschool here), but there are too many enticing toys - makes it hard for me to compete! I work only 3 hours fortnightly and 5 hours the other 2 weeks, so it's not bad, and then I get Monday off, which is great!