Living in Ireland: Christmas in Retail 2017
We are counting down the days until we celebrate our second Christmas living in Ireland! Last year I didn’t know what to expect as far as the holidays go and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone – including retailers – really get into the Christmas spirit here. This makes sense given the heavy Catholic influence in Ireland. There is no “buffer holiday” between Halloween and Christmas in Ireland, so the holiday decorations starting going up in early November. As an example of how early festivities start, the tree lighting event in our town was on November 18. Santa arrived on a Harley Davidson (why not?) to turn on…
Visiting Ireland: Kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle
I finally kissed the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle! Cross that one off the Travel Bucket List! According to legend, I should be exceptionally eloquent now…but, I think I’m still waiting for the ol’ magic to kick in. Oh well. Our family visited Blarney Castle on a cold, rainy November day. It was fantastic! Truly. I could have done without the rain, but then it wouldn’t be Ireland! History: The original Blarney Castle was a wooden structure dating back to the 10th century. It’s long since gone. The stone castle you will see on your visit is the third structure on the site and it was built by Cormac McCarthy,…
We’re Not Catholic, but I Sent My Kids to Mass
My kids went to Catholic Mass today. We’re not Catholic. We’re American expats living in Ireland where the public school system is run by the Catholic Church with public tax dollars. Even many private schools are Catholic-influenced. Our kids (now 7 and 10) attend a private school that is not Catholic run. As a percentage, there aren’t a lot of these schools in Ireland, but they are growing in number and popularity. Twice a year our school offers the children an opportunity to attend a community-wide Mass during school hours. All the various primary schools in the parish attend. Of course, as parents, we have the right to opt our…
Visiting Ireland: Talking Statues
If you’re visiting Ireland or the Dublin area anytime soon, there’s a cool new feature in town. Statues that talk! And I’m not talking about the ones that ‘talk’ after you’ve spent the night at the pub. I’m talking about ones that can call your phone. With a lot of support, an initiative called ‘Talking Statues’ was commissioned by Sing London, whose projects “set out to connect people to each other and to the public spaces we share.” The statues use humor and drama to tell a story and connect the listener with Dublin’s history. Plus, these stories are written and recorded by some pretty famous folks whose work you might have…
Living in Ireland: Storm Ophelia
I had planned to share a delicious recipe with you today, but food isn’t on my mind. Coming from me, this is pretty shocking, I know! I’m always thinking about food. Storm Ophelia, the remnant of Hurricane Ophelia, pounded Ireland on Monday. It was predicted to be the worst storm in 50 years to hit the island. The island, which includes two countries, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is the size of Indiana in terms of land mass and approximate population. If you’re thinking it is extraordinarily rare for a hurricane – even one downgraded to a tropical storm or depression – to make it this far north, you’d…
Living in Ireland: That Time A Tree Came Down
In mid-August the Irish village I live in started replacing sections of sidewalks (aka footpaths) on our street. It’s now October and they are still working on it. One might assume I live on a really long street. Nope. Not at all. There are probably 14 houses along this stretch of road. One might also assume this construction crew is juggling projects all over the area. Wrong again! I know this because I finally broke down and asked. Anyway, the point is I like to judge things I have no expertise in I don’t understand why, but it’s taking a really long time to replace the sidewalks. So imagine my surprise when…
Visiting Ireland: Our Favorite Castle Tour (with kids)
I grew up on the West Coast of the United States. The places and structures we consider old there aren’t old at all when compared to, well, basically everywhere else in the world. That perspective, in part, is why I find castles so fascinating. Ireland has a number of castles – some of which date back to the 12th century. The thing you need to know about castles is they are not one size fits all. They range in size, in function, in grandeur. It’s interesting to visit castles of all shapes and sizes because they each have an interesting story to tell about their place and purpose in history.…
Living in Ireland: Pediatric Emergency Medicine
When our family moved to Ireland 15 months ago, I did what I could from a medical perspective to make sure our transition was as smooth as possible. Today I’m going to share what I did in the hope that you’ll find my list helpful should you find yourself in a similar situation. Then I’ll get to the dramatic part tell you how it all went to hell a story of what happened last week that showed the drastic gap in my planning that most certainly contributed to a new patch of grey hair. BEFORE WE LEFT THE USA: Prescriptions: Before I left the states, I arranged to “buy-out” the…
What I Bought While in the United States
Confession time! I can’t remember the last time I’ve looked in someone’s medicine cabinet, but I’m sure I have. I love going for a walk at night and looking in someone’s window to see how they’ve decorated. I promise I’m not standing in their flower beds. It’s all legit slow-walking from the sidewalk, I swear! To equalize things, even though I will never be in 99.999% of your homes or flowerbeds, I thought you might like to know what I bought during my visit to the U.S. after living in Ireland for a year. It is juicy, scintillating stuff. Of that I can definitely not promise you. Here are the…
Visiting Ireland: The Cliffs of Moher and Aran Islands (with kids)
I can’t believe we waited over a year to see Ireland’s #2 tourist spot, the Cliffs of Moher. The #1 tourist spot in Ireland, by the numbers, is the Guinness Storehouse. Tourists have their priorities! As much as we enjoyed the Guinness Storehouse, the Cliffs of Moher just might be my favorite spot in all of Ireland. So far. When visiting the Cliffs of Moher, most people will home base out of the city of Galway. I wrote about visiting Galway here. It’s not a big city, so you can hit all of the high points in a day, maybe a day and a half. That leaves plenty of time…
