Day Six...Goodbye to Kenmare

Today was beautiful. Gorgeous weather...sunny and mid 50's. As we are still in Kenmare, we are walking everywhere and the nice weather has made it even more enjoyable. We've lost count on how many times we've walked into town from where we are staying. It takes about a 10 minute walk into town and once there there are all kinds of streets, shops and places to see. We feel like we've covered this place pretty well and are ready to move on to the next place! We are so happy to have 2 full days here in Kenmare to relax, walk around, shop, shop and shop. It has been perfectly placed in the center of our trip and has been a much needed time of rest. We still can't seem to get to bed before 1 between blogging, journaling and talking to our families, it is late when we finish. But as fond as I have become of Sybil..I have enjoyed seeing her sit for a couple of days. I sure hope she enjoyed it too because tomorrow we have use of her again and the roads will require some mad skills to navigate! Our plan had been to do a little bit of shopping today and then catch a boat cruise tour around Kenmare Bay. They advertised their ships to be leaving at 10:30 (possibly) and 3:30. So..after breakfast we headed into town. We had met a couple from Otisville. Married 37 years, retired from GM, taught at Baker Flint...had earned alot of frequent flyer miles so was able to fly first class here (I add those details for my children..people tell me stuff). We met them yesterday while shopping and told them where we were staying. Lo and Behold..they came here too! So we had breakfast with them this morning and they wanted to know what we had in mind for today. Before I get ahead of myself..I have to fill you in on something yesterday. As yesterday was a shopping day, as well as today, we were thrilled to see a little music store called Soundz of Music. We stopped outside the window to look in and saw a very nice display of beautiful violins. As most of you know, I'm sure, Shannon has been saving for a violin. She is able to play many instruments and this was the one she's been waiting for...forever! As we stood there looking..I said, "Shannon..you can afford this!" You should have seen her face! It was a mixture of glee and shock! She said she knew she'd get one..it just never occurred to her that she would get one in Ireland! But she did! She has a used (which just adds to the value in our minds!) violin that she is bringing home from Ireland!! Well...that is a great story as it is...but it's not quite complete. You see..there was also a lovely harp. Just sitting there. Lovely, I tell you. Really, really lovely. And I wanted it. But it was more than I planned to spend on myself. So we looked, and looked...and walked away. Last night as I was going through my wallet I found a gift my card my daughter Leah had given me for Mother's Day. I had forgotten about it, and it had a substantial amount of money on it. We knew then, that with what she had given me and what I had set aside..I could go back and buy that harp. That was the plan. The plan we unwittingly shared with our new friends. The friends who did not know what to buy their daughter with her own music room. The daughter who loves music. The daughter with 2 young children that love music...blah, blah, blah. It would be comical to rewatch how things went from there. They asked how much it was and I told them. Not a problem. Shannon told them we were going to go get it. The wife looked at the husband said they were going there first. No kidding. We each finished our breakfast... and literally walked up the stairs to our rooms together. We grabbed whatever we needed for the day and went downstairs..our friends were waiting to check out. We smiled..waived..told them to have a great day and bolted out the door. We thought we had got one up on them till they honked and waived as they were driving by. We were too full from breakfast to run..but we did hustle along! Imagine our surprise and relief to walk in and they were nowhere in site! I tried bartering a bit with the shop keeper, but since he didnt want his portrait taken..I didnt have much to persuade him. I did try to joke, and laugh...and pretend to be interested in his life. He then gave me a video, a music book, a cd of music, a few magnets of Kenmare and a few other goodies. I ignored Shannon when she hit my arm...twice. Having bought her instrument the day before..she was a bit disgruntled to not get a bag of freebies. As we were waiting for our shopkeeper friend to get a box for me to carry my harp back with, imagine our surprise when our friends walked in. They strolled right to the harps..not noticing us until we sweetly smiled and said..."Hi!". He jumped a mile and said.."You're here!". Needless to say..they walked out with tin whistles. We walked out with a harp in a box and a bag of free goodies! Next stop was the Cupan Tea. A beautiful little tea shop that sells...well, tea. Tea and scones and cakes and pastries and teapots and cups and saucers! We spent a good bit of time in there learning about Mary. Her mother died unexpectedly a few months ago and fortunately the sister in law gave Mary back the tea set from her mother (people tell me things). She made us a cup of tea (on the house) and we sat and picked china pots and teacups out. We changed our minds a few times and would choose others. Its a wonder we didnt drive her batty. In the end..Shannon bought me a beautiful tea set and I bought her a tea pot! We saw a tea pot made in Russia...in the early 1900's. We saw a tea set that Mary's brother liked, who doesn't normally like those kinds of things. In the end... it was a bit of china we were walking out with..and a harp in a box..so Mary being the good woman she is, offered to give us a ride back to our place after she finished up boxing our things. Which of course worked fine because now we needed to go check into our boat cruise. We were a bit disappointed to see the ticket office closed....and apparently the boat left at 1 without telling us. Something about the high tide..which we can't seem to get right. First its in...then it's out. Different every day..very unpredictable. We were a bit disappointed as this really seemed like fun to us and was our plan for the whole afternoon. Instead..we decided to go visit a Druid Circle.

We have been told, by people who know, that some Druid Circle's have been known to be a portal. To other times. Imagine....
We pretty much figured that if we went back in time we'd need to ditch the cameras and recorders or we'd be burned as witches. Shannon could be a medicine woman. I'd have to think of something. Shannon told me I can't draw. I'd need a new career. I thought I'd be a listener or something. We got to the circle and figured we'd need to create some kind of energy to make it happen...best we could think of was a whirlpool. Seems like alot of energy when we do it in the pool...so we made an air whirlpool, counter clockwise, just in case that mattered. Anybody could go clockwise..we needed a vortex. So counter clockwise we went. We stopped at what we deemed the center of the circle. We held hands..took a deep breath...and walked into the circle. In the center of the circle is a large stone. Some called altar..but whatever it was..we thought the portal would open once we reached it. When we approached it seemed contact was going to need to be made..so with hands still clasped together...we laid on the stone. We laid there for a few seconds just waiting..then Shannon said, "Nothing happened?!?!" I said, "How do we know if nothing happened?!" I mean..it probably wouldnt look much different. As we were laying there trying to figure out if we were here or there..we looked over to our right. There stood a whole group of tourists, just off the bus, complete with cameras and fanny packs standing on the outside of the circle staring at us. We got off the altar as quick as we could so they could get their pictures. We're also pretty sure they sucked the energy out of our vortex.

We've concluded that the energy around this circle was not what we needed. We need a bigger circle.
So tomorrow..we are going to the Drombeg Circle. Complete with recumbent stones and a male and female stone. We didnt have any of those things at the dumb circle we went to today and are certain that will make all the difference. Not exactly sure what a male or female stone is..but it sounds impressive if not at least important to any circle stone portal. After that, we came back to our room with our cases of tea pots, cups and saucers and harp in a box, and was shocked to find out that the harp didnt fit in my suitcase. We did the only thing we knew to and wrapped the harp in all our dirty clothes and taped the box shut. I'm going to try and claim it as luggage and check it at the airport. Shannon is going to try and pass her violin and case off as a purse. It's European. We spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to figure out how in the world we were going to get the rest of our gifts back. We may have to throw away clothes and buy more. Its a never ending dilemma. We went to d'Arcy's for dinner. It was recommended by our good friend Mary. Her good friend Darcy owns it. They dont get to see each other much as Mary runs the tea shop during the day and Darcy runs the restaurant in the evenings (people tell us stuff..). Shannon ordered a spinach and ricotta tortellini with tomato sauce and basil pesto..it was divine. We could have licked the plate. My appetizer was a mousse made with seafood from Kenmare Bay, salmon, prawn, cod, scallops. It was served with a fennel sauce and watercress. It was very soft and delicious. We've been trying to order opposite and different dishes so we can share and try more things. Shannon got the vegetarian pasta, basil, Mediterranean vegetables and St. Toulic goat cheese. It was warm, creamy, rich and perfection. I decided it was time to try the famous Irish beef and went with a ribeye steak served with a wild mushroom and gravy mash. It came complete with french fries, boiled potatoes (yes..french fries and boiled potatoes) broccoli and pickled cabbage. All wonderful. There is not a good picture of mine..there was no light falling and we figured you can picture a steak. We had planned on the chocolate fondue..but just did not have room for it. We walked back and are finally in for the night. We have a busy day planned for tomorrow. Back into Sybil we go for a couple hours drive to Kinsale. We plan to see the Bantry House Manor, Timoleague Friary and of course the Drombeg Circle. We think the whirpool might not be enough and plan to dance around the circle this time. We are not far now from rejoining our friends and family. We are so blessed to not only be here, but to have families that allowed us to come and have shared in our joy with us while we are here. We are missing each of you! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo