Farewell to Ireland

Soren at Bunratty with handcart. Where are your neeps and tatties laddie?
Who can stand uninterested while the pipes are calling?
Sheila na Gig (see below)
This was labeled 'London Pride'--I need to see if this could grow in Texas--It's a pretty succulent feeling ground cover.

Tomorrow we leave this blessed land. I have to come back. Amsterdam has a hard act to follow. Remind me to call a real estate agent about a place called Ennistymon. Today we went to the Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic coast. The hardness of the ground inhibits trees from growing but the green on top of the rocky cliffs jutting into the blue ocean took my breath away. There is such beauty in the world. On the way back to our hotel, we saw a castle and a 'folk village' (living musem) and I said "what the heck let's go" not thinking it was going to be anything unusual. But I really loved Bunratty. Soren had fun sampling the cakes, farm equipment and checking out the pigs, baby chicks, and deer. The highlight for me personally was the Sheila na Gig plastered in the wall of the Irish built castle. My heart skipped several beats when I saw it. I kept saying to myself "No way, no way, no way." It may not seem like anything--BUT I know from studying Celtic archeological findings of feminine representations of deity, there are only about 160 of these that have been found as of this date. Most of them would have been detroyed as Christianity became the religion du jour. Sheila na Gig literally means something like "Woman on her knees." The Celts were egalitarian, using female and male images for life/death and divine power. And unlike Christian feminine symbols (Mary=virgin) they celebrated every phase of a woman's reproductive life (maiden, mother, crone or hag=wise woman.) Sheila is a fertility symbol as she crouches low to the earth and gives it new life with her rather (how shall I say it) 'enhanced' reproductive parts. I saw it and the book I read in college "The Road Less Travelled" came to mind. I took an exit, not knowing what to expect, and it made all the difference. Soren looked at me like I was Crazy Woman while I tried to explain to him what this was and what it meant to me. He is such a good sport. We stayed at Bunratty to eat a Medieval feast in the castle along with troubadors, harpist and violinist. They sang oldies but goodies like "Tell Me Ma" "Star of County Down" "The Parting Glass" and of course "Danny Boy." Most of the people we meet who are on bus tours are older--they always take a special interest in Soren and it has been good for him to talk with adults from all over the world. Homeschooling is not as widely done in other places as it is in Texas so he is something of a novelty to them. He started Gulliver's Travels (abridged) and we're having fun with it. Jonathan Swift wrote it--he attended Trinity College in Dublin where we saw THE Book of Kells the most amazing and wonderful book EVER. Velvety soft calfskin pages with natural materials used for ink--tiny intricate celtic knotwork and organic, stylized animals and plants indigenous to the area playfully curved within single letters. Thank God for monks!!!!!!