Me: [Call me!]

Her: calls me immediately, worried, “What’s wrong!”

Me: “Nothing, I meant [Call me!] as a casual request. Just call when you get a chance.”

Her: “Oh, because the exclamation point worried me.”

Me: “If it was really serious I would have texted [Call me.] with a period, I meant the exclamation point to be light and causal.”

Her: “Well, next time consider [Call me :)] with a smiley face.”

Me: “Of course.”

We decided against walking to the Torc waterfall from the house as the rain was getting stronger and Eric’s rain coat was absorbing more than it was repelling. Instead, we drove a little further down the road and after a short stroll on a leaf-littered, paved path, we reached the base of the falls.

Stunning.

There was no one else around and the setting was very lovely… here’s a short video I took of the scene with Eric’s camera set-up making an appearance. :)

I made time to take pup to the dog park and attend a panel on social entrepreneurship at UNC. A full day. More about Ireland tomorrow.

In flight we caught up on several episodes of Dr. Who, Season three (loving it!), and also watched the Bucket List.

We actually cleared US Customs in Ireland which lead us to skip the long lines at the JFK international arrivals desk. Of course, we had planned on standing in that line so we were faced with a potential 3 hour layover. Thankfully, Leandra was able to get us on the earlier departure for Raleigh without any change charges!

Once home, we had to adjust to being on the right side of the road again, but at least the roads have more space. We’ll have more photos and details of the Ireland trip over the next few days so stay tuned…

(view the full size image)

It took us a little time to rent the car at the airport, and the car we received is a bit beat up. Let me just say that I’m not entirely sure the brakes are 100% (they certainly don’t sound it) and I’m not surprised we are missing a front left hubcap.

Our first stop! The Cliffs of Moher on the coast northwest of Limerick.

It was becoming misty but much better conditions than we had when I was here the first time in 1996.

After the cliffs, we drove three hours to Killarney, all the while simultaneously cursing the narrow roads and thanking God for our new GPS.

We checked into our bed and breakfast, then went out for a nice dinner in Killarney and a pint of cider while watching the end off the Ireland vs All Blacks (New Zealand) rugby game. We’re both pretty beat but heading out again for some traditional music. :)

We arrived just before the lunch rush and ordered our food at the small counter and grabbed an open table with our number sign and drinks. They serve all sorts of specialty sodas and beers as well as the standard tea and water.

It only took about ten minutes for our food to arrive. I ordered a lentil, speck and parsnip soup that was very pleasant and had a interesting minty flavor to it. I also had the bruschetta with NC shrimp, pancetta and raddichio. I could have handled more pancetta and less raddichio, but the overall flavor was good and the bread was perfectly toasted. They should probably add garlic to the list of ingredients, however!

My companion mentioned that her three cheese sandwich was a bit greasy, but good, and her turnip soup inspired her to try something with the root veggies currently sitting in her pantry.

It got quite noisy in the small place as a crowd piled in for lunch, but I saw the food servers consistently delivering food, so it didn’t look like people waited very long. Overall, I thought the price was reasonable for the amount of food and everything tasted freshly made. I would definitely go back.

It will probably be rainy and foggy the whole time, but at least there’s Guinness. :)

We will have internet access, so keep a lookout for photos of castles and coastline in the fog where we have to tell you what it is because you might not be able to tell otherwise.

Of course, I said yes.

I finished the painting on Tuesday afternoon and dropped it off on Wednesday morning. It was pretty emotional but she absolutely loved it and mentioned that she had a few friends that will be contacting me for dog portraits. I really enjoyed working on this pastel painting and I’m glad I was able to give her a beautiful memento of her dog.