Long Week-end etc.

Justin Maynes was married to Jordyn on Saturday.  We attended the family dinner and visited with Joan and her family.  It was a rainy day.

Nathan and family arrived after the reception and spent a couple of days with us.  We attended church on Sunday and Sue-anne and Carter came in the evening.

Nathan and family entered a race at Indian Battle Park on Monday morning.  All but the two youngest did 5k .  Bob ran with Lochlan in the 1K.

Nathan and Tara left in the afternoon.  We went to Family Home Evening later.  We did some home teaching and visiting teaching during the week or so, otherwise it was quiet.

Today Bob walked over to check out the progress on the Henderson lake pool.  It is coming along.

Home in Lethbrige

We left Dublin on the 2nd of May.  Our plane was several hours late leaving and we barely made our connection in Toronto, but it all worked out and Nathan met us at the airport and we stayed in Calgary over night.

We drove home the next day.  Our crabapple tree had blossomed while we were away and all the flowers had blown off the tree and were lining our driveway.

Now we are nearly over our jet lag, I think.  I went to "Time Out For Woman" last weekend and Bob went to Waterton on Saturday and spent the day with Edward's family.

We went to the Mosers for Mothers Day dinner on Sunday.

On Wednesday we went to the temple.  Sue-anne dropped in for a visit. Our home teachers came that evening.

Today Joan came for a visit.

Return to Dublin

Glendalough is a beautiful setting which has ruins of seven churches.

It was back to Dublin where we started our tour.  We stopped at Trinity College and visited their library and the Book of Kells.  The library was given the legal rights to a free volume of every book published in Britain and Ireland.  The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript from the Middle Ages given to Trinity College in the 1660’s.  It is written in Latin and contains the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables.  This book was probably made close to the year 800.

That night  we went to O'Connells Restaurant for a farewell dinner.  The owner demonstrated making Irish Soda Bread (which had been served every morning for breakfast) and while we ate we were serenaded by a couple of singers singing Irish Songs as well as some such songs as "Alberta Bound".

Blarney Castle, New Ross & Waterford

We left Killarney early in the morning and drove through County Cork, where my third great grandparents (John and Alice Dean) lived before settling in Canada.  The following picture was taken about twenty miles from where they lived.

We stopped at Blarney Castle.  Bob walked up the 100 stairs so he could kiss the Blarney Stone.  It is necessary to lie on your back, hang on tight and lean over the parapet' edge in order to kiss the stone.

Bob on his back to Kiss the Stone

The next stop was New Ross where we toured a replica of a sailing vessel built in 1845 to transport emigrants from Ireland to North America.

The last stop of the day was Waterford, where we stayed overnight.  We visited the Waterford Crystal store and did a walking tour of the city.

Ross Castle and Muckross House

We went for a ride in a horse-drawn jaunting car through the Killarney National Park to Ross Castle.  Later we visited another park and saw Muckross house.  We drove the Ring of Kerry and Moll's Gap.

Bob's favorite part was the evening.  There was to be the "Ralley of the Lakes" the next day and the cars were being weighed in on the street in front of the hotel.

Love the Thatched Roof

Ross Castle

Muckross House

Dingle Peninsula Tour

Most of the day was spent on the bus with a few stops for photo taking.  Some of the roads were narrow with sharp corners. The Dingle Peninsula goesout into the Atlantic Ocean - the furthest west you can go in Ireland.

 In the evening we went to "Gaelic Roots", a live show of Irish Song, Music and Dance.

Too Cold to Surf

Sandy Beach at Inch

Another Long Day

After leaving Westport we drove  to Ballintubber Abbey.  It is partially restored and is still being worked on.  It has extensive grounds and a walk that follows the stations of the cross.  We had to wait for Mass to end before we could go inside.

Next stop was Galway where we did a walking tour and had lunch.

Excavating in the Middle of the City

We next visited the Cliffs of Moher.  There was a fancy new visitors center there along with a large gift shop.

After checking into the Bunratty Castle Hotel we just had time to get ready to go to the Bunratty Castle for a medieval-style banquet.  We were entertained with stories and songs by the lords and ladies of the castle as we ate with our fingers.