Happy Halloween 2013!

Ah.  My first Halloween in retirement.  No hopped-up-on-sugar adolescents to tame.  Nice.  Gotta love it.

We have returned from our two week stay in Gloucester Massachusetts.  It was a great visit filled with children, whales, research and birthday surprises.  Your brother James did a great job for my birthday this year.  To be in Gloucester was enough of a gift, but he also arranged for a surprise birthday dinner that night.  Well done, dear!

To be in Gloucester during the playoffs and World Series while the Red Sox were involved was an amazing experience.  They are rabid about their sports in Ireland, and the same in the Boston area!  We had to be a little bit careful.  We were at a bar watching the Patriots lose to the Jets partially due to a controversial call and James let a small "whoop" out in favor of the Jets.  Not a good idea.  I also nearly made the mistake of wearing my new embroidered (with cardinals) vest and matching red shirt to Boston one day for research.  Also a bad idea.

Our apartment was perfect for the two of us.  It overlooked one of the many coves in the Gloucester area and was convenient for walking around.  My cousin has twins that are now 2 years old and we got to spend a great deal of time with them and with their older sister.  James is like one big toy to them, and he enjoyed every minute.

I was able to get quite a bit of research done and felt very accomplished.  There was a 3 day workshop in Boston that I attended and was able to confirm Mayflower descendancy from time spent there.  I was allowed some expert help because I volunteer for this organization and this guy was amazing!  He has some kind of incredible memory whereby he sees family names and and can make instant connections and knows right where the material is for you to use.  He hand-wrote a 3 page family history for my "Yankees" (as he called them).  He kept saying "Just watch me work.  Don't look over there.  Watch me."  It's not in my nature to sit still while surrounded by all these tempting book sources but it paid off.  He's a genius but a little hard to take.  Think Sheldon on Big Bang Theory.  I went back to research on my own using his starting points and made lots of headway up another Yankee line.  It was a great feeling to be back in the stacks, searching through old books and taking appropriate notes.

Similar headway was made right in Gloucester with my dad's aunts and uncles.  We had quite a cemetery adventure searching out my Dad's favorite Aunt Bud.  As the Archdiocese of Boston told me, "we can't confirm or deny" she's buried there so we still have some work to do.  It was the first time I'd used a funeral home to get information (James kind of pushed me to do so and he was right on the mark).

We went on a whale watch which was quite extraordinary--at least according to the guide.  The boat was loaded with German high school students who spent their time inside texting and tweeting while actual whales were performing just yards away.  It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut.

Upon our return, I needed to add a new baby on the Ryan side to the family tree as well as Colleen's wedding.  It's a little unusual to have two items to add to the tree in a short time period like two weeks, but a joyful task in these cases.  Happy Halloween to all!

October memories

It's easy to get a little sentimental at this time of year.  Today we remember your Dad and mourn his passing.  I'm sure you all recall that day as well as I do.  It's hard to believe it's been 17 years.

We also have birthdays to celebrate to remind us that time passes all too quickly.  Drew will be 21 in a few days!  I hope he has a great day--this is a great turning point in a young adult life.  Enjoy. I thought it might be fun to go back to 1995 when most of you were able to celebrate James' 40th birthday here in Harpursville with us.  We also celebrated Drew's 3rd birthday that infamous weekend making it a great family memory.

From James' surprise party.  The surprise part of this was pretty easy for me as your brother doesn't pay a great deal of attention to detail unless someone else's child is holding a musical instrument (said with love, of course).

 How nice to have everyone here though it must have been a little chillier that weekend than what we have been experiencing lately.

Football, of course.......what gathering of Dalpiaz and related males would be complete without a game of football in the yard?

 Not everyone played football

We had lots of leaves that year.  These are classic.

 Some preferred to stay inside.

Drew and Mallory drawing and Ryan is watching Dalmations.  That's my boy!

Some assembly required.  I do not believe this was James' new grill, but rather Drew's gift!

Happy birthday boys.  Enjoy the marvelous autumn!

Slainte!

I did not realize I'd missed the entire month on September on this blog.  If you're still with me, thanks--I appreciate your patience.  The trip to Ireland has consumed us in many ways, not the least of which is my blogging.  Now that I've allowed myself to put Ireland "in the past" I've begun to consider planning our upcoming adventure to Gloucester for two weeks.  It's a truly wonderful gift to be able to experience all these things that have been on our bucket list for such a long time!  We feel blessed.

Ireland was wonderful.  It was a grand place to go for our first overseas journey.  None of the things I most fretted about proved themselves problems--the airports, the flights, security, customs, money, time with relatives :).  I learned a great deal seeing some things from the other side of the pond--for example, airline transportation doesn't have to be unpleasant!  Aer Lingus was great as were the security procedures and agents.  Taught me how much our own need to learn.

I took a short video from the bus ride around the Ring of Kerry (the most beautiful part of the trip, hands down).  I especially like hearing the driver's voice.  We kind of missed hearing the brogue upon return.  It would have been very, very easy to slip into that rhythm of the spoken word.

This was the kind of scenery I had expected to see and it brought my fishermen and farmer ancestors to mind.

We landed in Dublin at 8 AM though our bodies thought it was closer to 4 AM.  While we were waiting for our bus transportation to Galway, we were quickly introduced to the culture of the land by 3-4 guys at the departure counter drinking their beers.  Right in the check in gate.  Right from the bottle.  At 8 AM.  Welcome to Ireland. 

We stayed in the Salthill area of Galway and it was right on Galway Bay.  A very pretty little area which reminded me a great deal of Gloucester Massachusetts.  I do have some fishermen ancestors from Galway so I was constantly thinking of their experiences.  We stayed in a B & B (that you see in the pictures below) here as well as in Cork.  They were quite wonderful--and very plentiful.  One B & B right after the other along the way.  We stayed in Galway 3 nights then on to Cork for 3 nights.  It was from Cork that we took the Ring of Kerry tour.  It was beauty I can't believe I saw with my own eyes as I review the pictures.  When we go back again, we'll stay in the Cork area in a smaller town.  See, we're (I'm) making plans to return!

Many of you have seen pictures but here are some additional that I did not post to Facebook that tell the story a little differently:




From Cork, we took the train to Dublin for 2 nights.  Our hotel was smack in the bar scene which was a whole new world to see!  No question Dublin has got the big-city energy.  In two short days we went to see The Book of Kells at Trinity College, the old jail, Christchurch, Guinness Storehouse, Jameson Distillery and learned a great deal of history.  We had a variety of experiences and I felt very comfortable despite never being certain which way to turn my head crossing the street (in Dublin, they gave you directions painted on the street and the crosswalk).  We enjoyed a wide variety of beer and whiskey (well, I enjoyed a variety of whiskeys--not so much for James) and had no trouble finding food to enjoy.  The weather was "good for Ireland"--we got told this numerous times.  It was mild though we saw very little sun and we got damp (but not wet) most days. 

The best part of the trip was probably all the little encounters we had with people --mostly natives--along the way. Everyone was very friendly and willing to help.  People would just start conversations with you or offer assistance at the slightest sign you needed it.  It was a grand time.

Can't wait to share stories as we see you all in the upcoming weeks.  Slainte!