A Bit O' Blarney

“Rug Up”

Since we arrived, the weather has become…shall we say…more Irish. Some parts of Ireland had the rainiest October on record, 10 inches in a month or what San Diego gets in a year. I’ve always embraced the motto, “I want to live where the weather suits my clothes.” The Irish motto is, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes”. Their advice, “you gotta rug up”. I’m not gonna lie. I’m never going to “get used to” the weather. But we’re ruggin’ up and trying to take it in stride. Along with the rain, we get magnificent skies and rainbows on a regular basis. And yes, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Our Home (for Now): We became official Irish residents this week! We’re still at the home/B&B of our friends Bette and Fintan who have returned to the States until spring. We intend to stay here until sometime after the New Year when we hope to find a long-term rental. For now, our home is Glenbeigh, Ireland, population 426. We bring that to 428.

Our town is part of the Ring of Kerry, which is one of the most beautiful areas in the country, so Glenbeigh is a popular summer tourist destination. One upside of being here in the winter is that we have the place to ourselves. We recently rode fat tire electric bikes for miles on an empty beach at low tide. Wee! 

Ruggin’ up also means being prepared for the conditions. You see people wearing high-vis gear, and you think they’re road workers, but you find out they’re just pedestrians and bicyclists. Since the Irish drive two ways on roads only big enough for one car, people do what they can to scream “don’t hit me”. We’re taking note.

Our cow neighbors have gone away “on holiday”. We now have horse and sheep neighbors. I gave a neighborly wave to our sheep friends. One responded with a friendly “baa” and then came running with his friends to greet us. Apparently, my wave was the equivalent of ringing the dinner bell, though, and the sheep were none too pleased that we came empty-handed. We are learning farm etiquette: the neighborly thing to do is to bring hostess snacks. 

While we’re here, we have some innkeeper duties. And when I say “we”, I mean Eric. He has been coordinating floor installation, plumbing, and roof repair. My house/community assignment, on the other hand, is to paint a fairy house for the local fairy trail. How fun is that?

Food: While we have had some great meals in Ireland, I don’t know that I’d call Ireland a foodie destination. The standard Irish cuisine is pub food, good but we wouldn’t mind a bit more variety. And food purveyors could use a little help in the marketing department. When we asked what an ingredient was on the menu, the waitress replied, “pig’s blood”. Oooh yum! And they call molasses “black treacle”. Isn’t that usually served with brimstone? 

We are bringing a little San Diego tradition to the food scene here in Ireland and have started Taco Tuesday. Fintan’s brother Gerard was our first official Taco Tuesday guest. 

Music: Music is one of the highlights of the country. You gotta love the Irish! Where else can you walk into the hardware store and find musicians playing “trad” music in the paint section? It’s awesome! We also finally did some proper pubbing. There’s something so convivial about sitting shoulder to shoulder, singing, and having the craic (fun) with the locals. While it’s a jolly time, we also have a solemn respect for the oral tradition of storytelling through music and the connection of traditional music to some of Ireland’s brutal history. 

Venturing Out: Whenever there’s a break in the rain, we either get out and hike or run to the car, look at each other, and say, “where should we go?”. There are only 3,000 castles in Ireland (30,000 if you count castle ruins). We’re trying our best to see them all. 

We are very excited to have our first visitors to Europe – our girls! Annika and Peaches arrive mid-December. Unfortunately, though, they won’t be visiting us in Ireland. There will be guests at the B&B for the holidays, so we are heading to other parts of Europe, which will be fabulous! We can’t wait!