A Bit O' Blarney

“Long-Time Friends, New Memories”

The Irish say, “It’s a lovely country, if you could put a roof on it.” Up until now, no one has signed up to visit us in the depths of the Irish winter, least of all Californians. So, it figures that the only people willing to visit us in February are those whose weather is as bad as ours (in this case, friends from England and New England).

Our First Visitors: Our first visitors were Eric’s closest family friends from Massachusetts. Dan and his son Sean are Irish Americans with family still in Ireland. Sean mentioned that they always visit Ireland in January and February. Of course! It’s the Irish mentality. We met them down south in County Cork (pronounced “Caahrk”, “Curk”? by the Cork-ians), not far from the famed Blarney Castle. It was a three-hour drive, but hey that’s close by Irish standards. It was a short but special visit. At 95, Dan is sharp and witty as ever.

Our First House Guest: That same week we got a visit from my friend Jenny, a former colleague from old Intuit days. She is a Brit and returned to England after a couple years, but we maintained our lovely friendship across time and distance.  

We explored the areas north and south of us along the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s version of the Pacific Coast Highway, which runs the length of Ireland’s west coast. We visited the Connemara region and the beautiful, craggy coastline with massive powerful crashing waves. (Incidentally, we met a couple from New York and told them about our move to Ireland. They asked if we surfed, as if we moved from San Diego to Ireland for surfing??! 🏄🏻‍♂️🫤) Even though England is but a stone’s throw away, Jenny commented how unique Ireland’s landscapes are from England’s. 

We also walked the grounds of Westport House, one of the main attractions in town. Think Downton Abbey with origins going back to a Pirate Queen named Grace O’Malley. Yeah, we’re still trying to figure that one out.

A Lesson in Hospitality: Eric and I are very excited about hosting visiting family and friends in our new home. But we were also hoping to open our home to new-found Irish acquaintances. When we were living in Glenbeigh, we invited a couple neighbors for Taco Tuesday. Instead of responding to our invitation, they each showed up in person (unannounced) to say they were not going to come. They stayed for a chat and then left. Afterward we were scratching our heads. Eric’s theory was that we had violated Irish dating etiquette – dinner is too intimate and high commitment for a first date. You can start with tea, and if you make a good first impression, you can move on to lunch and then maybe eventually dinner. 

Our Town: If you want to see where we live, there is apparently a new Lindsay Lohan rom com called “Irish Wish” releasing this week on Netflix, March 15th. Parts of it were filmed in Westport around the corner from our house. You know you secretly want to see it! Or you can just look for our town at the beginning of the preview.

Lastly, we were surprised to find out that the Irish celebrate Mother’s Day on a different day than we celebrate it in the US. It’s tomorrow on Mothering Sunday, so Happy Mother’s Day to all ye mammies!

We hug you tightly!
The Leprechauns ☘️