The Causeway Coast: Northern Ireland

I don't know if there is that much to say about these pictures, but the northern coast of Northern Ireland is spectacular, and I must share.  One of the highlights for me was seeing a peak of Scotland in the distance.  I pictured Shawna and Greg over there waving right back at me. :)  We took the scenic route up the coast, stopping at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the Giant's Causeway before heading back toward Belfast.

Some of the coastline--I love the colors!

What a cute little tunnel!

Coastline at the Carrick-a-Rede rope 

Chris and Andrea crossing the rope bridge.
It was pretty steady/reinforced, but still so high!

Perspective.

Chris and I.

Some of the stone @ Giant's Causeway--an incredible
natural formation from ancient volcanic cooling.

The scale on some of these formations
are overwhelming in person.

Bushmills is the oldest licensed whiskey
distillery in the world. Fun tour!

After our tour at the Bushmills distillery, we were feeling rather peckish (hungry) and asked some people who worked there for a recommendation of somewhere to eat in town.  They pointed us toward a pub that, as we found out, did not serve food.  But the barkeep did invite us to sit down and eat at their tables if we were to find some food to take-away.  We walked down the street and each ordered some fish and chips...thinking we'd get a nice snack sized meal.  We were wrong.  We were sent out with parcels of food wrapped in big brown bags stuffed full enough to feed a small army.  We popped back into the pub, and the barkeep was super friendly--he brought us flatware and napkins, salt and drinks. We shared our food with a guy at the bar who was three sheets to the wind. (it was about...5pm?  No biggie, it's Ireland.  time of day is relative for things like alcohol.) The greasy food probably did him well!  He couldn't believe we'd bought cod, (the good stuff) and a 1 minute conversation at the bar about cod must have included the word cod at least 100 times.  Maybe 1000.  I was a little dizzy with all the cod flying around and lost count.

We left the town of Bushmills with enough food for a 4th and 5th meal, even after sharing it all around.  Who can stomach cold greasy food when you've already had too much of it, though?  If we'd only known, we could have gotten by with one meal for sure!  Oh well, it makes for a fun memory. :)

Belfast, Northern Ireland

After our time in Dublin, we rented a car and drove up to Belfast in Northern Ireland.  We enjoyed our time in Dublin, but were eager to see how Northern Ireland might differ.  The people that we'd spoken to in Dublin said that the mood was a little darker in Belfast, but that there was no real difference between The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of the UK).  They said, It's all just Ireland.  And they were right.  I was surprised to find that the border wasn't even marked, let alone observed.  The main difference seemed to be the fact that we now needed British Pounds instead of Euros for cash.

The City Hall in Belfast was beautiful.  The picture below shows one part of it with a monument to Queen Victoria in the foreground.  The grounds around the building seemed to be a popular teen hangout, funny enough.  Like we'd heard, the air did seem to be a little heavier in this area.  We didn't have a lot of time to explore the city, but we did quite a bit of walking and discovered, if nothing else, that there isn't a whole lot open on Saturday nights.  When we looked at store hours, they seemed to close earlier on Saturdays and stay open later on Thursdays.  I wish I knew the "why's" on that!

Belfast City Hall

So many places available to rent or buy.

The Irish Breakfast.

This guy never ceases to crack me up.

We arrived in Belfast on Saturday (March 19) and on Sunday (March 20) we drove along the Causeway Coast.  We left Northern Ireland on Monday, so you can see that we really weren't able to really get to know the area at all.  I am glad that we were able to see it, however.  Next post: the incredibly beautiful Causeway Coast.

Dublin

Apart from the Saint Patrick's Day Parade, there were a lot of other things to love about Dublin, whatever James Joyce may say about it.  It is not only beautifully historical, but it is literary. (sigh)  I actually posted about all of the literary merits of the city on my book blog, Fingers & Prose, so I won't go into all that here.  I'll spend this space to talk about all of the other things we saw and enjoyed.

Our driver's name was Jimmy.
I always wanted a driver named James.
It was a dream come true.
Yes, I'm weird like that.

Our first day of sightseeing took us to Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library (with many ancient religious texts--very cool to see) and more of the River Liffey and Temple Bar Area.

Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral

Dublin Castle, taken from the Chester Beatty Library.

The River Liffey, taken from our hotel room.

Our other days in Dublin were filled with other explorations: St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Writer's Museum, the Garden of Remembrance, Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green.

We stumbled upon some French Jazz type street music--lovely!

Ha'Penny Bridge

The Powerscourt Townhouse is now a lovely
little shopping center.

Garden of Remembrance

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

Saint Stephen's Green

And one little bonus picture...the only sign I happened to see of the Curley surname in Ireland.  Look closely. You may have to get out your magnifying glass.  (or I'll just tell you...that is simply a realtor's sign whose surname is Curley.  made me happy.)

After our 4 days in Dublin, we got our rental car and began the drive up to Northern Ireland.  Stay tuned for that installment!

Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin

The Paddy's Day Parade in Dublin is no joke. This is no small thing...tons of people crowd in to see the amazing creativity on display.  We arrived Tuesday night (March 15th) and the difference in crowds between that night and the following nights was incredible.  During this week especially, Dublin is an international city.  We actually got to the point where we were wondering where all the Irish people were--everyone seemed to be from somewhere else.  And everyone was wearing something green.  From a simple green scarf or shirt to the fully costumed leprechauns, there was a sea of green.

First thing in the morning was apparently a rowing race (is there a proper name for those things?) on the Liffey, directly outside our room.  This was accompanied by bicyclists and tour buses cheering them on.  Good morning! Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Go Team!  As we were soon to find out, that was only the prelude.  When we ventured out of the hotel for some breakfast, the city was already filled.

(my attempt to capture the crowd)

When the parade finally started (at 12 noon) we had been walking and standing and waiting and crowding in for hours.  Everyone was ready to start celebrating.



Apart from the marching bands, people waving, and bagpipes, there were some monstrous horses (pictured here for the sake of my horsie-loving 6 year-old) that these pictures don't do justice.  They were intimidating.



There were also some of the most unusual costumes and floats (if one could call them that) that I've seen.  I certainly wasn't expecting them!  I wish I knew the significance, but alas I've not had time to research.  They were extremely creative, however.  I forgot to take pictures of many of them simply because I was busy trying to figure them out!

A mechanical marionette-type feature.

Another marionette-type thing.  This
was amazing! So realistic!

One of the costumes--don't ask what they
are, because I've not the faintest idea.

Eyeballs?

A mobile platform for drumming.  But of course.

Yep, no idea.

And there you have it--snippets of the Paddy's Day Parade in Dublin.  After the parade ended I was ready for a nap, but I think that everyone else was ready for a stroll and a pint.  After a quick cappucino, it was back to the hotel for us.  We were still close enough to listen to the crowds of people as they continued to celebrate.  Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin may not have been what I was expecting, but it certainly didn't let me down!

Forced Family Fun in February

It has been a month since I've posted here.  A month!  Believe me when I say that I'm entirely guilt-ridden about it (which, as horrible as being guilt-ridden may sound, it isn't quite as terrible as being flea-ridden--which I'm not.  So it isn't all bad.)  The problem wasn't that February lacked things to talk about, it just lacked interesting, social type things to talk about.  There was plenty of the "Oh! So many things to do!" and "I just can't get ahead!" type conversations flying around here, but those are not inspiring-blog-worthy diversions.  At least it looks as if the February doldrums are finally gone, and we can now get on with life.

Which is exactly what we did last weekend.  We were kind enough to warn the kiddos ahead of time that we'd be spending Saturday OUT of the house and AS a family (we don't always warn them...sometimes it's just nice to limit the amount of time they have to complain).  This announcement elicited cheers from the girls, groans from the boys, no surprise there.

First on the agenda was a hockey game.  Now, let me explain something.  We are not a sports family. (Sorry, dad!)  We tried baseball and soccer when the boys were little, and still haven't come to terms with the fact that we were expected to be up and raring to go at 7am on a Saturday.  [shudder]  I should probably be apologizing to all the families that had to deal with our uncomprehending ennui during all of those weekends, but I'm just not there yet.  Maybe someday.

Right, so we aren't a sports family.  This means it wasn't entirely outrageous that all of our kids were wondering why on earth they were required to go to a hockey game.  The answer was that we were gifted some box seats to watch the LA Kings at the Staples Center, and it was a perfect excuse for some of that infamous Family Time.  Turns out, they kind of enjoyed themselves.  They actually apologized afterwards for complaining--they didn't know what to expect, and it was actually rather fun, they said.  Of course, those apologies came after we all got free McFlurry coupons on our way out--they had their ice cream goggles on and the gratefulness was being poured out freely.

Yeah, back-of-the-head pictures is all I've got.  Sorry.

They may not look excited here, but
they are, believe me.  Or they would
be if they knew about the ice cream.

As if one major outing in a day weren't enough, we jumped right  in to another family event.  We had bought Medieval Times tickets as a reward for studying the Middle Ages to death (to quote Melinda, "No more minstrels, PLEASE!")  After reading The Minstrel in the Tower, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, Castle Diary, Saint George and the Dragon, Ethelred the Unready, Tales of Robin Hood, The Door in the Wall, and Adam of the Road, not to mention our regular history reading, they'd had enough.  Or so they thought.  Until Medieval Times.

(Actually at first, when we were heading in and there were some people dressed up and ready to take our photograph, Timothy was dreadfully humiliated.  As we walked in further, however, I pointed out to him that there were quite a few adults there (young and unaccompanied by children) and he seemed to adjust fine.  Especially when food was slapped on the plates and the sword-fighting and games began.  What boy can resist a good sword fight when the sparks are flying and people are yelling and you have a plate full of food?)

We had front row seats and the girls were honored to receive gifts from our knight (a flower for Melinda, a special sash for Audrey).  Not just honored, but flattered and overjoyed.  At one point I saw Audrey wiping away a tear.  When I asked her if she was okay, she said "I'm just crying for joy."  Before it was even over, they were begging to go back.


A Full Day of all six of us together, and you'd (I'd?) expect them to be more than done with the close quarters.  But we came home peaceful.  Not only that, but the kids all wanted to go out together again the next day.  So last Sunday we took our farewell trip to the Borders down the street and then ventured in to McDonalds (a place I haven't been inside since...???...2004?) where they apparently play classical music nowadays.  (It's that high-fallutin' coffe-shop image they want to adopt, I guess?)  It was a weekend of experiences, of family, and yes--of fun.  And now you know that which was worth knowing during the month of February.

Indie Lit Awards

As I'm sure you are aware, (from all the big pictures and flashing neon signs on my sidebar, if nothing else,) that I have a book blog in addition to my family blog.  (That's why you aren't being inundated with annoying posts about books anymore.)  It has been great fun; book bloggers are a fabulous crowd of people: diverse, yet overwhelmingly kind, and always ready to talk about books. (score!)

There's a possibility you may not be aware that back in September I was offered the opportunity to be involved with the Independent Literary Awards on their panel to judge the Literary Fiction nominations.  How exciting, right?  There is such a huge number of book bloggers, and it is only right that their opinions should have a unified voice.  Wallace, at Unputdownables, is the one who came up with the idea to accomplish this through an annual award, and then proceeded to create the website and team of bloggers to help launch nomination process.

A brief note on how the award process works: any book blogger may nominate one book in each category.  This list of nominations is called the Long List.  The top 5 most-voted-for books would move on to the Short List.  The panel would read all 5 books on the Short List, discuss, and decide which deserved the honor.

As the months passed, it was exciting to see the books start to add up on the nomination list.  It made me realize that I'm not very good at reading new books, (something I'm working on changing,) because I hadn't heard of many of the books.  Mid December came around, the nomination deadline passed, and there was a tie for the last two slots in the Literary Fiction Short List.  We voted on the tied possibilities, (a couple o' times because the first vote created another tie,) and finally had the list of books to read and judge.

It was fabulous to read the top 5 books of 2010, based on book blogger's opinions.  There was  such a variety!  Here are my reviews of the 5 in Literary Fiction:

• Room by Emma Donoghue
• Great House by Nicole Krauss
• C by Tom McCarthy
• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
• Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye

The award went to Peter Geye for Safe From the Sea, published by Unbridled Books, and it was well deserved.  This is a book that I would encourage anyone to pick up.  It is a quiet book, in the sense that it is more about the characters and setting than a rip-roaring plot, but the plot isn't absent, and is written very well (evocative without being overly complicated).  It was a pleasure to find out about this book, and I will definitely be hoping for more from Peter Geye in the future.

If you are interested in the others genres, here is my post about all the award winners.  I had such a great time being involved in the awards, and hope to be involved with them in some capacity in future years.  And I've begun reading newly published books already, getting ready for those nominations at the end of the year!

(There was even a small announcement about the Awards in the Minneapolis Star Tribune--check it out!)

Milestones

I was prepared for some of the major milestones of my kids growing up: no more kids in diapers (yay!) and no more hassling with carseats (yippee!) and first kid in high school (yikes!) but this one happened upon me quite stealthily.  My baby just taught herself to ride a bike without training wheels.  I was watching her ride her bike, thinking that this summer was her summer to take the trainers off, when Melinda ripped into my thoughts and spoke the suggestion aloud: "I think Audrey could learn to ride a two-wheeler."  Audrey agreed.  I took the training wheels off, and Audrey changed her clothes into what she deemed to be perfect bike riding clothes. 

I moved the cars out of the way so that she could ride in the most level place around us: the lower part of our driveway (the streets around us are surprisingly hilly for a plain old neighborhood in LA county).  At first I was helping her balance and ride--holding onto the back of her seat--but we both soon realized that she would do better on her own.  She wasn't afraid at all, she just kept trying and trying.

I love the part of that first video where she looks up, takes a deep breath, and keeps on going.  The amount of time that passed between the first and second video was maybe 15 minutes.  I'm so impressed.

My baby is growing up, for sure and for certain.  I was surprised how sentimental this made me!  Now I'm looking at my kiddos with new eyes--when is the next hidden milestone going to jump up and surprise me?