April photos - Down Syndrome and Fenit

CARGO SHIP LOADING, FENIT
BEACH AND DOGS, DERRYMORE STRAND

Last Thursday we went to Fenit, which we enjoy so much - and it's only a 15 minute drive from our house. You can enjoy the ocean and St. Brendan statue while looking across at the south side of the Dingle Peninsula. Though it was sunny and warm when we left Tralee, it was cold and windy on the harbor. There was a large ship there loading some sort of large trusses - these had been stored near the playground for months, so it was interesting to see that they are finally on their way to somewhere. (Left, lighthouse from Fenit, right below, same lighthouse from Derrymore Strand, with zoom lens)















This was a funny little sequence - I was posing and this old Irish guy stopped and told me to take my sunglasses off or they wouldn't know who I was! So, I did!























On Sunday, we went for a closer look at the Blennerville Windmill, then drove a ways out the Dingle Peninsula to Derrymore Strand. (This was the first beach we visited, back in June, 2006.) This Sunday was a gorgeous day and the colors of the sea and mountains were breathtaking.





We watched some dogs, a particularly cute black lab puppy, and an English Setter.














(She looks kind of like Jude but with the blinding speed of Joe and Brandy!) We also were able to look back across the bay to Fenit Harbor, where we had been on Thursday. This is
a different ship, but same shipping line, still loading the big steel building component. We also had a different view of the Fenit lighthouse and of the sailboats out in the beautiful but cold ocean!





NEW SPEECH THERAPIST IN CORK
An exciting event in late March - on March 30 we drove to Ballincollig, Co. Cork to meet Diane, Matthew, and Kendall Lowry. Diane is a speech-language pathologist who we recruited for the Co. Cork Branch of DSI - a position similar to mine. Small world - she is from Sapulpa, OK and her parents are friends of my high school friends, Alyce (Ann Hamilton) and Terry Gray. Diane has met Alyce! Alyce and I kept the email hot for a couple of days after I discovered this connection! Diane is going to be wonderful - she is very competent, poised, friendly, and excited. The kids are great and looking forward to this Irish adventure. Diane and I will keep in close touch - it's going to be wonderful for me to have a US SLP this close!


DEENAGH LODGE TEAROOM IN KILLARNEY NATIONAL PARK


Another Spring Event - Kerry Branch, DSI leased the Deenagh Lodge Tea Room in the Killarney Nat'l Park. Many of you will remember it - right at the entrance gate - we have stopped there for tea or lunch several times. Well, now it is a work site for our DS clients - a training site so they can learn work skills and then go on to other community jobs. This is an enormous (and enormously exciting) undertaking - pray for its success. We had lunch there Sunday, April 6 and it was very good. Our waitress was Liz (pictured, along with me in my new Spring hat) who was a former client, discharged because her communication skills are so excellent. Liz has experience working in a diner, so is a great asset to the new project. Note the third picture, which shows the location of the cottage right across the street from the Cathedral.