Hi
Everyone...
Well,
we are back from our fourth trip to Ireland,
and we had a great time. Unfortunately, we
were not able to do everything we had planned
because
the
weather was not cooperating with us. It was
very rainy and, being a provisional driver, I
didn't
like to drive too far in the rain or at night.
You know
that they drive on the left, and, being an
American, my reflexes would be completely opposite.
We
did go to Lough Rynn Castle and were given a
tour by Samantha Long, Reservations Manager.
It was very
grand and the decor was beautiful. They had
quite a bit of original furniture and oil
paintings. The
huge walk-in fireplace was awesome. We walked
around the grounds, which were landscaped
beautifully. We
took a long walk down to Lough Rynn where
we took photos in front of the ruins of the Reynolds
Castle.
We
had a wonderful time revisiting with our old
friends in Mohill. We spent time with
the O'Brien's, the
Casey's, Teresa Bohan, Gerry and John P.,
John Reynolds, Peadar MacRaghnaills, Jerry
Mahan
and George Taylor.
We also met some new friends, like Pascal
and Pauline, another John Reynolds and
family, Seamus Reynolds
and family, Arnold Fitzpatrick and Vincent
Shanley.
We
spent a day in Ballinamore and went to the County
Leitrim Genealogical Library.
We stopped
in to see
Gabriel Owens at his shop, The Forge.
He was the man who married a woman from New
Hampshire,
but she
was in Dublin that day. We went to a
pub and ran into one of the first people we
met
in
Ireland, Keiran
Smyth, who now owns that pub.
One
afternoon we went to Sligo Towne, County Sligo.
It was very foggy so we
pretty much
stayed in the
town center and did some shopping.
We
unfortunately did not find the property or graves
of Terry's ancestors. We
did spend quite a bit of
time searching through very old cemeteries.
The ones we found were in Farnaught
and Aghavas, but we didn't
find out about another one in Cloone
until the day we left, and there
was no time
to look.
When
we went to County Meath, we met the Lydon's at
Kiltale House,
where
we stayed
for our last
three days. We got lost in Navan
trying to find the way
to Newgrange. There is so much
new construction that they are building
new roads everywhere.
We got onto
a detour and had no idea where
we were.
We
stopped in to see Gregory Leonard at his shop
in Trim. We had met
him in 1998
when
we had purchased
some “Ireland” tee
shirts. We bought several more
this time. We were going to visit
Mrs.
Reynolds at her sweater shop,
but she was no longer there.
On
our last night at Kiltale House, the Lydon's
invited us
out to a
local pub
for traditional
Irish music.
We met a friend of theirs,
Geraldine, who owned a B & B in Trim. With
her, were three Americans; Megan was from Minnesota,
Rick and Mary were from
San Diego, California. We had
a grand time and then it was home to sleep for
an early morning flight.
Again,
we were sad to leave our beloved Ireland and
all
of our
friends. We
will probably
take another
trip in about two years.
Correspondence will have to satisfy us until
then.
We
have some new Holiday recipes on line now; four
cookies,
a cheesecake, a pie,
baked ham,
glazed carrots
and a Holiday cheese ball.
Please take
a look at them and feel
free
to use them. We
also
have our
new product line, which
is an assortment of Irish food
gift
baskets, decorated
for any
occasion.
Until
next time, thanks for your friendship!
Slainte!
Tyna
