Ireland Exploring

 We visited again with Shannon this morning. The weather is cool and perfect and drinking tea seems to fit the mood. 

We said goodbye and made our way to Donaghadee to poke around this small town on the coast and visit the local graveyard. I was looking for relatives from long ago - last names of Walker, Allen, Hamilton, and even McDowell. I'm not sure those I found are related... I'll need to do some more digging. I haven't done much homework on the tracing-your-lineage thing. Someone did most of this for the Crutchfield side a while ago. I don't have much mapped out from my mom's side - the Walker, Allen side. 

I started to wonder about those in the distant past of my family when reading the book 'Translating Your Past ' by Michelle Van Loon. I highly recommend this book! It made me think - who were these people? What were their values? What is my heritage? 

Wandering around the harbour and town and talking to locals, I get a sense of tradition, value, history, culture. The question in a broad sense is, 'what does it mean to be Irish? Northern? Southern? Rural? Local? Transplant? What of these carried over, and what has been cast aside. 

A man sitting on a bench while his dog, Dexter, took a break, so kindly chatted with us. I tell him my ancestors came from this town long ago. He points to a man in a red cap: 'He's a local. I've only been here since 1971 when the troubles began in belfast.' Everyone we meet mentions 'the troubles.' 

We head on from Donaghadee for a long 4 hour drive to the southwest - to Galway. We got an Airbnb on a small farm. A henhouse converted to guesthouse. There's a small apple tree in the front yard. Think, the Linus Christmas tree with a few more leaves but abundant fruit. There are turkeys and cows. A tiny wood stove - and fresh made sourdough still warm sitting on the counter. 

We meet Sean, our host. He tells us about the land, the farm, the history, the economy. And good local eateries. We head out to find one, and I have seafood Alfredo - that did not disappoint. Salmon, muscles, and other seafood mixed in with creamy, thick noodles. 

We finish up and walk to the oceanfront one block away. The sun had set, but there's still light in the clouds. We hear splashing and laughter and wander over to where two kids are swimming. We ask, 'isn't it incredibly cold?!' They assure us it is quite refreshing. Their Mom tells us they do pier-jumping every day! They stop in November and start again in February! The water is deep - too deep to touch. It looks fun but also a whole lot of no-thank-you. 

As we start walking back to the car, we catch a glimpse of a giant amber glowing ball arising over the water. The moon is enormous at that perspective. I wish my phone camera wasn't so poor quality. I'm not really into photography, but someone with skill would have loved to capture the scene tonight. But I take a snapshot to remember, even if it is poor. 

We head back to our henhouse and brave the windy roads in the dark. I continue to track the moonrise. 

The turkeys are roosting and quiet. We settle in and I write this memory