Day 25: Rain, Rain, Go Away
Friday was a quiet day. The rain never let up. It's hard to believe that much can keep coming down! Kesha, Vinny's brother, bought a horse last year and he has been entering into jumping competitions. Chesy, named because he's a chestnut, is an excellent jumper, coupled with Kesha's knowledge, talent, dedication and love of the animal and sport they have been winning a lot of competitions. Chesy is a big teddy bear who is highly food motivated (sound familiar?). Kesha saddled him up and I took Chesy around the ring for a few loops. He has a lot of energy and needed no prodding to start cantering and then galloping. I was wearing sneakers, instead of riding boots, and my foot couldn't get the hold I needed. Chesy started to gallop and I almost lost my footing and went overboard. Luckily, I was able to pull the reins with not much stability. It was so fun, but I could use more lessons and I am extra motivated now to do so. Then Kesha got on Chesy and it was magic. They synced and Chesy sang as he jumped over higher and higher fences. I was mesmerized.
Kesha then headed back to work; he is a plumber and is very busy! He said it's a mix of Ireland's government updating subsidized housing fixtures and the inability to keep talent in Ireland - as soon as plumbers are licensed they head for Australia, Kesha said. I got back to Vinny's and Claire and Jerry had already left for their 5hr drive to Dingle. The others were chatting, resting, entertaining the two baby boys or nibbling while sipping tea. I did a load of laundry and played with JP while Sonny slept.
When JP learns about a new person the first question he asks is, "Do they own a tractor?" He's in for a rude awakening in New York.
Around 2pm we said bye to Vinny's family, the O'Reilly's, and started our hour drive up to Annagassan in county Louth to visit our other first cousins. Nicola is marrying Ian tomorrow, and Nicola is daughter to my dad's brother Gerard. We received big welcomes from our family and were very kindly offered three rooms in their neighbor's, Tommy and Joan, house. Tommy and Joan, like my Uncle Gerard and Aunt Bernie, are retired and loving life in Annagassan. Out their front door is the Irish Sea and out the back is a river. The town is bursting with flowers: flower baskets, hanging flowers, flowers in gardens, flowers in windowsills. There isn't a scrap of trash to be seen. And of course, every town in Ireland has a pub. The Glyde has a cozy pub in the front and a lovely bright restaurant overlooking the Irish Sea in the back. After Tommy and Joan showed us our rooms and made sure we had every comfort we could imagine we headed over to The Glyde for drinks and dinner. Nicola's brother is Gary and Gary is married to Denise. We met Gary and Denise's baby Iarle (Gaelic for Earl and pronounced EAR-la) who was a huge hit all weekend long.
With an Irish wedding ahead of us tomorrow, we played it safe and headed home for an early night and guess what? A Jack Ryan.
