Hhhmm, I think I missed a day. Must have been napping.
Sunday
A quiet day. Elaine took her walk early and stayed dry. As she returned I went for a walk. As I got to the farthest point, it started raining and I got pretty soaked on the way home.
Lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches at home. Dinner at home too. Delicious lamb sausages from Mr. Kennedy’s butcher shop. With local Maharees potatoes, the creamiest and best tasting potatoes in the world.
The big event for Sunday was the concert we attended at 7:00 PM in St. Mary’s Church. It was sponsored by and was a fund raiser for the Billy Riordan Trust. The link tells the whole story. In brief, Billy Riordan was a recent graduate from Galway College when he died of a brain hemorrhage while trekking in Malawi, a very poor country in Africa. His mother, Mags, a Dingle woman, went there to lay a memorial stone and fell in love with the people and the small town on Lake Malawi where he died. Hundreds of miles from the nearest medical clinic, the residents had no local health care, not even a doctor. Mags started the trust to set up and run the Billy Clinic which was set up in 2004. Mags Riordan now spends her life raising money for the clinic which is entirely supported by private donations. She spoke eloquently at the concert, and we are proud to have helped in her effort.
The concert was grand. There was music of all types by notable local musicians. The highlight for me was the fiddling by a local, John Kelly. The highlighter of the concert was Mary Black, a noted singer from Dublin who spends much of her time in County Kerry. Listen to her sing A Song for Ireland. It was all grand!
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews show just thumbnails of the pictures. And enjoy the videos.
Monday – New Year’s Eve
Beautifully dry day! We had walks in the morning. For lunch we went into town for seaood at Sheehy’s Anchor Down Restaurant. I had a mackerel salad and classic fish and chips. Elaine had local calamari and deep fried monkfish. The Sheehy’s are fishermen and catch all the fish they served. It turns out we had met one of the sons in O’Flaherty’s when he was playing the fife there on night. I had talked to him and he was in the restaurant and remembered us.
I took a nap in the afternoon, and then we headed into town for New Year’s Eve drinking and reveling. We got good seats at the Dingle Pub before the crowds rolled in. There was music and frivolity. We had no intention of lasting until midnight as the plan was to head home at 9:00 PM for appetizers while we watched the Dingle Harbour Fireworks from our window. Grand show of fireworks! After that we briefly considered walking back into town for the fife and drum parade that leads up to midnight, but we demurred.
Happy new year from cold and frigid Scottsdale, where our towels got saturated yesterday with rain, we’ll replace today, as temps will touch below 30 for the next two days. Haven’t swim as my personal rule is not under 55, highs haven’t touched 51! It was warmer in Times Square last night than here.
Glad you’re having a blast. Fred and Wilma have kept us busy. They are extremely playful.
Cheers to 2019!
Hi E & J, your friend Barb has described it well, a rainy New Year’s Eve in Phoenix as well as in NYC which had a driving rain. No post the day before? You made up for it with those great videos s. Especially liked the one where Elaine raises a glass 🥃 – to us, I presume! Looks like you had another special night in Dingle. The fireworks were spectacular, not even a pause between bursts. Happy 2019 to all! 🎊🎊🎉🎉
Cheers to you, too, Elaine. And Happy New Year to you both.
Loved the accordion/guitar music at the concert, and Mary Black’s Song for Ireland was beautiful. Great music and fun at the pub. Loved all the videos, especially the fireworks.
We had lots of appetizers while we watched Times Square in the pouring rain. We had snow here (the first in a while). We didn’t make it late enough to see the ball drop. Again. Oh well. Have a great New Year’s Day.
Happy New Year, Joe and Elaine!!!
Love it perfect NewYears! Breaking temp and snow records here!! Happy new year to you guys!!!
Dingle is a party place for sure. Looks like you had a grand celebration. Happy New Year Elaine and Joe!