Azaleas in Ireland!

Castle Tour

Got our fill of castles today. Ross Castle in Killarney in the morning and Blarney Castle in the afternoon. Mom kissed the Blarney Stone, so she'll (allegedly) have the gift of eloquence. Staying at a beautiful b&b in Blarney, the Marantha House.

Dinner at Foley's in Killarney

More food photos! Dinner was filet for both of us (and we really could have shared one steak, except Foley's wasn't the kind of place you'd feel comfortable doing it -- fine dining, you know). Sides of mashed potatoes, loads of bread, and a scrumptious dish of carrots and parsnips with pepper, almost the consistency of carrot soufflé. Yum!

Sheep Herding Demonstration

On our tour of the Ring of Kerry we got to see a sheep herding demonstration. The sheep farmer, Brendan, said border collies are traditionally used for herding. It takes six months to train a sheep dog over the course of 18 months. Dogs are trained starting at four months old. Brendan uses different whistles to get the dogs to perform different herding actions and each dog has his own whistle. The sheep have no natural predators in Ireland (no coyotes, wolves, bears), so the dogs really frighten them and keep them in order. Brendan told us that the number of dogs needed depends on the area the sheep are spread over, rather than how many head of sheep there are. Most sheep dogs work from 8-10 years. The price of wool is very low now, so most of the sheep we see in Ireland are raised for their meat.

The last picture shows the different breeds of sheep.

Ring of Kerry

Very enjoyable day on a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. I didn't have to drive! Started the tour off right with an Irish coffee and lots of banter with our guide Mike. Had to slow the bus several times for escaped sheep. Note the sheep crossing sign.

Pentacost Sunday at St. Mary's Cathedral

My spirit restored by a night's rest and my soul refreshed by mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney, I am ready for another day's adventure. The stained glass panel depicts St. Patrick minding the sheep.

Irish Interest in the Blog

My trusty iPad fails me. I can't embed here a nice tweet from The Gathering calling attention to our blog...but follow the link below and you should be able to see it.

https://twitter.com/gathering/status/335713947686674432