Jaden's visit

In July we had a 17 year old visitor from Denver. She is a friend of our friend Diane and had a summer job in Cork. It ended earlier than anticipated, so we got to have her for several more days than the originally planned weekend. This worked out well. The weather wasn't great, but we still did a lot of touring! The first day she was here, we finally had a long-awaited event - Kate and her family came to lunch. Above bottom - Mick, MFE, Lindy, Kate, Dana; top, same but Jaden instead of Dana!. This was a lot of fun - they had ridden the Ring of Kerry Cycle the day before so were a little tired, but still had fun. We watched the Kerry/Cork Munster final match on TV - Kerry won. Mick is a Cork man, but took the loss well.

During Jaden's visit we went to Dingle, Killarney, and some of North Kerry. Dana go some good scenery shots, so all are here.

Dingle:  It was a little windy :)

Ardfert

 Ballybunion

 Ballyduff and Rattoo Round Tower - this man is a local volunteer doing restoration at the church yard and tower. The tower has scaffolding on it but Dana was able to get this good shot anyway.

Killarney - Muckross House and Gardens.

Bishop visit; Marlene & Ann visit

We had two short but fun visits in June , Larry and Carol Bishop from McAlester were here briefly. They were on a golfing tour, so we didn't get as much tour time as we'd like, but we had a great time. They had some sunny weather but a lot of wind! We had a nice visit to the Rose Garden and town centre (above and left below.

We also made it to Fenit (Larry above with St. Brendan -too windy for Carol and MFE) and to Ardfert - left..

The following week our friend from Siloam Springs, Marlene Schwerin and her friend Ann Fulton came for 3 days -again too short, but we made it to Dingle (above and below).As you can see above, we did get a pretty nice day for the Dingle tour - but as, you can tell below, it was a bit windy. Marlene also took this shot of Sean from Dingle Crystal and Dana - as you know we love him, his wife, and the shop so it's nice to have a picture!

Above is the picture Marlene took in our front garden - our roses are as pretty as the ones int he Rose Garden.

We also made it to the Rose Garden. Marlene took these pictures of us - we so seldom have pictures of Dana, I'm putting them on here!

On Saturday we drove them to Shannon where they spent the night in order to catch an early Sunday flight to Germany. On the way we made it to Ballybunion. We then stopped in Asdee to visit with the O'Keeffes - it was a great visit, with common interests in both cattle and Down syndrome!

Kate's Valentia Island Tour

For years we have intended to take Kate on our "patented" tour of Valentia Island. We finally got it done, and chose a beautiful day. We had a lot of fun and a good tour, and ended with a feast at home with her friend Rebecca joining us. There are very few pictures of this day, as noone took a camera, and I was the only one with even a phone for taking pictures - so here are a very few, not great quality, but at least you get the sense of the day!


Ballycarbery Castle.

Ring Fort.














Atop Geokaun Mountain

And, the fruit and fuel store in Cahersiveen. I have always liked this sign - both the combination of fruit and fuel, and the way the sign is done with fruit and veg.

Listowel Writer's Week Bus Tour 2011

For the 5th year (MFE) or 4th year (DS) we went on the Listowel Writer's Week Historical and Literary Bus Tour. As usual, we really enjoyed it, learned a lot, and saw a few familiar faces who take the tour each year.

The first stop was right in Listowel - the Laratigue Monorail museum. There was a monorail which ran from Listowel to Ballybunion, taking tourists to the beach. The museum has been gradually improved and is really very good. You can take a short ride on the re-built car, but we did not get to do that.

The next stop was Ballybunion where we had an excerpt from a John Keane play, presented at the Castle Green amphitheater,overlooking Men's and Ladies' Beaches.

Following this, we had a speech about Ballybunion history - very interesting, especially the part about the Men's and Ladies' beaches - a priest used to go out at low tide and put a rope between them!

The final entertainment here was the traditional Irish music provided by our friend, banjo player Killian and his group. And, Dana got a great action shot of the dancer!

We then went on the buses up a very  narrow mountain road to            , the only mountain in North Kerry. It provided gorgeous panoramic views of No. Kerry including the Shannon and the ferry crossing.

The final stop was Keneally's Pub in Ballylongford, where they provided us with a great snack and our music group once again entertained. There were lots of old photos and memorabilia on the walls - this one seemed to tell the best story:)

We got back to Listowel in time to have a cup of tea with our good friend Paul Pierse. A great day!