Put my toes in the water on the coast of Ireland
Several years ago, someone asked me, "What is something you would like to do but doubt it will ever happen?" Mine was the activity listed above. Today, I experienced my toes in the water....the very cold water....of Ireland's coast. Although we went close to the water last year, I wasn't able to put my feet in. I know it sounds weird, but it made my heart leap! Once again, I am so thankful for how blessed I am!
The trip out to the beach was quite eventful. We thought we had experienced narrow roads, but these today took the cake. We found out just how good Bill is with moving over without running us into a ditch (or down the mountain). There were several caravans coming down the mountain today and they freaked us out just a bit. But it seemed that every time one of them came toward us, we had a small pull off so could let them by.
When I went to Colm Keegan's show a few weeks ago, I bought one of his new EP CDs. The CD is full of Irish songs, many of which I had never heard before. One of the songs is called, "The Cliffs of Dooneen." Today, as we were driving up the mountain, we passed a small sign that said, "Dooneen." My mouth dropped open in shock because I didn't even know that it was on this peninsula. There was a pull-off just a hundred or so meters away from the sign so I asked Bill to stop. I was able to get a few pictures of the cliffs. It was so cool to see it....I ended up humming the song to myself all day with a big smile on my face.
We finally made it to the town where the beach was located. It was such a quaint little town. So many Irish towns make their buildings so colorful. It is impossible to not be enamored.
At the beach, Katie was a bit unsure, but trusted me enough to get her feet wet. That in itself is HUGE progress for her. She then went and sat on the sand....close enough to see the water but far enough away that she knew it wouldn't get her. 😉 Vladan just stood in the water looking around, and Fuad did NOT want to go near it. The wave would come close and he would run in the other direction. Maybe next time for him.
Time at the beach was cut a little short because we didn't realize how long it would take to get there. Bill had scheduled with our rental owner to take a boat out on the water to fish. On our way back, we looked over and saw two "islands" in the middle of the water far out. We thought we knew what we were looking at, but weren't sure. A little research when we got back showed we were right....we got to see Skellig Michael (although VERY far away). Still...it counts, right? 😁
Remember the picture and story I told about the sheep the other day? Well, today, we had a sheep get a bit closer. He stood right by the edge of the road and didn't move even though our side mirror got about an inch from his face (there was a car going the other way). They give you this look, well, I guess we were in his territory.
We got back just in time for Bill to go fishing. It has been a long time since he rowed a boat, but he was so excited. They had a rod for him to use and a local (who was just coming in from fishing) gave Bill a fly that gave him luck today. 😀 I tell ya, the people of Ireland are (for the most part anyway) incredibly kind! Bill said that he had 2 strikes on his line, but wasn't able to catch either of them. But he said that he was happy just getting bites.
Tomorrow is my 10k. I am a little nervous....to be quite honest, I didn't really train. I'm not expecting that I will run much of it, but I am determined to finish. My legs will probably be killing me tomorrow, but I will have a medal from a race in Ireland! 😅
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