june 24

yesterday was a driving day. I woke up and made breakfast of pancakes (from scratch, never done that before, Martina helped with the mix) and provided maple syrup from home for everyone to use. twas quite good, I was surprised how well the pancakes tasted. I took a photo of Aidan`s syrup, he used a tiny bit compared to how much we drench our pancakes in my house.



we drove about 7 or 8 hours to Westport, on the west coast, to stay with Martina`s sister and brother in law Delores and Tim. They are lovely people, really friendly and musical with two great kids. On the way here we stopped at Westport House, a large estate and then drove to Louisburgh where they live.

below, the swan paddle boats at Westport house





we arrived to find everyone at the town hall at some kind of talent show. I saw the couples with men dressed like women and women dressed like men, then the couples had an Irish dance off. much laughter and fun, i think the whole town was there.

stayed up til about 2:30am chatting, playing music and irish dancing with martina and showing my rubiks cubes and my uke. Tim plays everything it seems and there are musical instruments all over this house. my room, the den, is full of books and stringed instruments, the best room every. i sit here reading all the titles of the books in the wall shelves.

i must stop eating!!! everything tastes so good, martina makes the best sandwhiches ever, she just throws all kinds of neat stuff between the bread and it tastes great. yummmmmmm