A fall....

A fall Wedding Anniversary.  Celebrated with a great performance by The Lumineers.

A fall stroll with family. (Cathedral Park)

A fall Lark. (Cathedral Park)

A fall sunset (St. Johns Bridge)

A fall Halloween (Mary Poppins & Bert)

A fall hoodie. (Charlie Bear)

Sending fall love to all of you.

Southwestern Ireland

I want to start by saying what a good time we are having in Ireland, what an amazing country with beautiful sights and friendly people.

Starting where we left off... we headed down to the local pub in Stoneyford for a pint of Guinness and a pizza. We sat by the fire and admired the team photos from the Kilkenny hurling team ( I guess they are really good). We are SO happy to be traveling in the off season because we are pretty much the only tourists in any areas and everyone talks to us and wants to know where we are from, where we have been, etc.

We were happpy to spend another night at the Lawcus Farm Guest house with Ann-Marie and Mark. They are such an amazing couple who have spent years creating their dream home and B&B. Justin and I aquired so many tips and ideas to build and design our home some day while Mark gave us a tour. We also shared an Irish Coffee and Justin had some Moonshine. After dark, we took a walk down to the Kings River (in the backyard) to look for fish with a torch (flashlight). We spotted beautiful brown trout and a river otter!

King's River + Mill

In the morning we had another wonderful breakfast from Ann-Marie and talked about our next road adventure. After speaking with Mark, we decided to head west to visit the Beara penninsula (SW). So happy we did!! We drove through Cork, into Blarney where we visited the Castle with the famous "Blarney Stone".

Blarney Castle

This adventure was particularly heartfelt for us because my mom had been there when she was 13 years old! Justin and I both kissed the stone that is said to give you the gift of eloquence. After, we headed to the little town of Kenmare, found a little bed and breakfast to stay in for the night, and had a nice pub dinner. We can't say enough about how nice all the people are here!!! Makes us never want to come home!! (Just kidding... we miss you Charlie!!) Kenmare was a cute, quaint little town with two little main streets for shopping.

Kenmare

After breakfast, we were off for the "Ring of Beara". We had amazing views of the country side, mountains, sheep, deer, and even came across a local farmer who stopped his tractor on the road to talk to us!

After driving around the penninsula and through the pass we decided to continue driving north a bit. This is when we discovered the panoramic and beautiful Killarney National Park. This area included large lakes and towering evergreens.

Killarney National Park

 From here we landed in the town of Tarbert, on the River Shannon where we will take the ferry across in the morning. We found another B&B... after finding no answer at a few:) A very nice husband and wife are putting us up tonight, and gave us a few ideas to check out in the local area. Tonight, we are starting to settle in, with a shower and a comfy bed. Off to the cliffs of Moher tomorrow morning!!!

Good Night, J and Em

Start to our Ireland honeymoon

* Unfortunately... we forgot our camera USB cord for the trip!!! :( We have however pulled some photos off the internet so you have an idea of where we have been!!

We got a little late start due to missing our connection flight in Chicago!Our flight out of Seattle was 2.5 hours late, however we took the metro into down town and enjoyed the free hotel, a new friend and the food:)

We got into Dublin at 9am Sunday morning Ireland time, ( 8hrs ahead of west coast time) rented our car, (a VW Up!, so awesomely small) and hit the road into the city of Dublin. We met our friends @ Trinity College, walked around the city and had breakfast. It had been a year and a half since meeting them in Guatemala, so of course it was amazing to see them and catch up. We both loved the feeling of being back in Europe, and had forgotten how great the esspresso was.... :)

After breakfast we headed south west to a tiny little town just outside of Kilkenny where we had a B&B set up. The driving has us a little crazed because we are driving a manual, sitting on the right, shifting with the left and driving on the left side of the road... if that does not confuse you... I don't know what will!! We are still not used to cars flying by us on the right side of the windy roads!! And, everyone drives SO fast!

Our bed and breakfast is amazing! We are staying in a stone house with a fireplace and a room upstairs. The owners are so sweet and have sheep, ( 1 has 3 triplet lambs and another will give birth any day) Pigs, piglets, cows, chickens, a horse, and a few cats and dogs running about. It has a river running through the backyard that is excellent for fly fishing.

Yesterday we visited the potato famine graveyard and finally got to sleep more than a few hours. This morning we woke up, had a wonderful breakfast of pourage, fresh fruit, oj, coffee, eggs, bacon, and sausage (all from the their farm). That gave us a great start on the day as we headed out to Kilkenny for the day. We walked through the Kilkenny castle and the beautiful grounds. After, we walked through the main street shops and had an excellent lunch at a place called "The Fig Tree". We headed back towards the b&b when we stopped at Kells Priory, had a look around and a nice long walk along the river. We investigated an old mill right on the river and witnessed a whole flock of sheep being fed.

Kilkenny Castle

 

Kells Priory

 

So far, Ireland has been amazing! The people are the most friendly of any country we have ever visited. It's also a nice change traveling in a county that speaks english:) Also... It has not rained once since we have been here!!! We are counting our blessings there!

We will be heading off to Dingle tomorrow... no place to stay booked yet, so we will get on that now.

Sorry we don't have our own amazing pics to share yet, but of course we will amend the blog when we return home with them:)

Thats all for now, love and miss you all!!

Em&J

New Artwork

I have new artwork showing at the Leisure Public House.

"The Climber"

"The Kayaker"

"The Surfer"

"The Diver"

Check out my work at:

https://www.facebook.com/jworksdesign