09-04 Ireland 1967

We headed from Port Stewart in Northern Ireland across into the political south of Ireland which is Donegal. It is a surprise to most strangers that this county is physically the most northern part of Ireland. On exploring an island off the Town of Donegal we saw the site where the famous Belfast artist J H Craig painted one of his masterpieces, which had been given to me by my father. It showed fisherman digging for cockles on the sandy beaches. Cockles I learned were salt-water clams.
Remember this tune? "In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone. As she wheeled her wheel-barrel through streets wide and narrow, crying cockles and mussels, alive, alive-O.”
Here’s a cute shot of Kelly at the seaside of Port na Blaugh outside the Town of Donegal. The kids were getting used to posing for photos and were ready whenever I said, “Let’s take a picture.”
And a cute shot of Peter with a bunch of pipers as we headed south. The only difference we seemed to notice heading into Ireland from the north, was the readiness of anyone to chat with you. And asking directions was like an episode from the “Quiet Man”. They would chat describing some remote road and then would say, “Don’t go there.”
You feel you are living in a magical place when you visit Connemara on the west coast and Galway Bay. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast, and the lady of the house had eyes as black as coal. She said thousands of Spanish sailors were driven ashore because of violent storms at the time of the Spanish Armada of 1588. And one of them, she explained, was her ancestor.
A highlight of the trip was Cork, the second city next to Dublin. Here you see Mary in the nearby town of Cobh. Still wonderful weather.
Blarney Castle was super fun and the photo of Mary and the kids at the top of the Castle waiting their turn to kiss the Blarney Stone was a great memory. We were looking into space at the top. It was scary. Kelly was too frightened to be held and lowered down to kiss the stone. It was supposed to ensure great powers.
Down below with the Castle in the background, Kelly is checking her toy watch. She did that regularly about once an hour. She cried because she had not kissed the Stone, but we convinced her that if she kissed someone who had kissed the stone it was the same thing. She bought the story. So cute.
Of course, we had to visit the Waterford Crystal factory in Waterford. It was a tourist destination with its share of castles and towers built to protect the Irish from the Viking invaders. Those towers were everywhere and had stone spiral staircases up to small rooms where everyone hid. They were easy to defend.
Those Vikings had rape, pillage and murder down to a fine art. We were told that at one time both Dublin and Belfast were Viking settlements. Our history seems to be so dull.
We missed the Ring of Kerry because of fog, the only disappointment of the trip, but loved heading up the east coast of Ireland, visiting Dublin, where we stayed with Bill Hanlon’s sister for three days. Bill Hanlon worked for our father for 20 years. Nice photo of Peter outside the town of Glendalough.
And a lovely shot of the kids taken on the roadside. We loved to stop for picnics. The kids were too young to fully appreciate the magic of our trip to Ireland, but hopefully these photos will bring them and their children some joy.