Category Archives: Ireland

Feis Day Two

Day Two of the Feis was Deirdre Haran Abeid Day.

The Haran School of Irish Dance was founded in Kettle Falls by Deirdre Abeid over 45 years ago. Her daughters Caitlin Trusler and Claire Worley have continued in her footsteps, running the Kettle Falls and Spokane branches of Haran for the past 25 years.

All signed in and ready to dance

 

There are breaks between the soft shoe dances and hard shoe dances.

Both Addy and JJ appreciated Uncle and Auntie being at the Feis on Sunday. I appreciated it, too, as Laura could get up close and take photos and videos that I was not able to.

Soft shoe, hard shoe and then it was time for another soft shoe competition.

There is a trick to lacing the soft shoes!

When all the traditional jigs and reels and treble and Hornpipe were completed it was time for the creative water/sea dance. The dancers who wanted to participate in this dance had to come up with their own costume and dance.

This is the outfit conception that Addy came up with thinking about water, ‘under the sea’. Here was the completed outfit Addy and her Mom created.

It is so good to have the support team of mom and dad in the dancers corner.

Waiting for their solo performances. I wish I could share the video Auntie Lolo took of Addy’s dance but I’m unable to on my blog. It was a wonderful performance and we found out while we were out to lunch that Addy had received a 1st place for her outfit and dance!

We gathered for lunch before taking Uncle and Auntie back to the airport for their flight home.

After lunch on their way home Dan and Jamie stopped by the convention center to pick up Addy’s prize for her creative under the sea dance and costume.

Her 1st place trophy!

After getting home Addy donned all her awards from her first Feis!

Well done, Addy. Your hard work was rewarded. Hmmm, I wonder if she’ll want to sign up for another Feis?

Thanks for coming along and for all your kind comments.

Green Without Envy Hodgepodge

It’s time once again for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

Many shades of green were enjoyed by our family on St. Patrick’s Day. Greg and I enjoyed a St. Patrick’s day lunch in Rathdrum, Idaho on our way to Coeur d’Alene. We ate at the Westwood Brewery on Main Street. Friendly staff and good food. My Mocktail was on their March specials. More about our getaway coming soon. Addy’s Irish Dance Group performed again at one of the elementary schools in town.

Thank you Joyce From This Side of the Pond for our Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions! 

1. I write the Hodgepodge questions so they’ll post on Sunday, which sometimes throws me off in terms of what day it is. St. Patrick’s Day will be celebrated on Monday, March 17th. Did you mark the day in some way? Wear green? Make a special meal? Watch or participate in a parade? 

On Monday, St. Patrick’s Day, we had an overnight getaway to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for my birthday. We stayed at an old converted School house B&B for the night. Last Thursday we enjoyed Corn Beef and Cabbage at the Senior Hub in Colville with entertainment from Addy’s Irish Dance Group.

2. Do you think luck plays a part in your life? Explain. 

No I do not. My life lies in the hands of a Sovereign God and His Providence. Piper defines this Providence as “Purposeful Sovereignty”. God accomplishes His will on our behalf.

3. Of the 15 green foods listed, which one is your favorite and how do you like it prepared?

Avocado is a favorite in any form; fresh out of the skin, on toast, chopped in salads, or fresh guacamole. Cucumbers are also a favorite.

Any on the list that are a hard no for you?

Nope

In general do you like fruits and veggies?

Yes

As a kid did you eat them willingly or did you hide peas in your napkin hoping your momma wouldn’t see? 

Many of these green items didn’t make it into my mom’s cooking when we were young. Cucumber and celery and pistachios and spinach were some common items in my mom’s cooking or snack foods. I didn’t meet the other green items until my college years and beyond!

Asparagus, avocado, broccoli, celery, cucumber, grape, green bean, kale, kiwi, lettuce, lime, 
pear, peas, pistachios, spinach

4. What’s something that makes you ‘turn green’? (with envy or with illness… whichever way you want to run with it)

It’s a mild green but I can be envious of those of you who have so many choices for good eateries in your own backyard. We joke around here in Colville about our slim pickins.

5. Did you spend a lot of time outdoors as a child? Doing what? Do you spend a lot of time outdoors now? Doing what? 

I did spend a lot of time outdoors as a child playing neighborhood games, jacks, going to the park, hide and seek, jump rope, tether ball. Nowadays winter finds us more housebound here. Later in Spring and Summer we start our yard work and we walk more.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

This is the historical establishment we stayed at in Coeur d’Alene. More about our stay in a later post.

 

March is speeding along. Tomorrow is our granddaughter’s 8th birthday and we’ll be celebrating her with all our family this coming weekend. Tomorrow is also the first day of Spring!

Happy Spring, Hodgepodgers and all who find themselves here.

St. Patrick’s Day 2025

“May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.”

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

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I love Celtic Crosses. This one above is from Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

“My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time.”

“St. Patrick’s Lorica points beyond himself and his adventurous life. It points to Christ, the one he proclaimed to the people who had taken him captive:”

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

God bless you all, dear friends, with the saving knowledge of Christ’s redemptive work on your behalf. May God lead you to repentance and new life in Christ!

St. Pat's 025

 

Are you wearing green today?

Do you make a special Irish dish to serve for dinner on this day?

Do you have a favorite Irish saying?

Have you ever been to Ireland?

Do you have any Irish relatives?

Collage from a St. Patrick’s day meal Russian style with Golubtzi in 2011.

Dublin Finale

Our travel journal will come to an end with this post, our last several hours in Dublin on Monday, September 25th.

 

Our tour guide was great and the tour at Jameson was well done and we all enjoyed it.

After our Jameson Tour it was a straight shot along Mary’s Lane to the Church Cafe. We had a great table for the 6 of us right up front in the balcony with the Irish music and dancing right below us.

We had a lovely view of the Stained glass window.

Saint Mary’s (former) Church of Ireland was begun c.1700 to the design of Sir William Robinson and was completed by his successor, Thomas Burgh. It was the first classical parish church in the city and was the site of Arthur Guinness’s marriage in 1761. Wolfe Tone was baptized here and the church also witnessed John Wesley’s first Irish sermon.

The triumphal east window was designed at least in part by Robinson and has a grace and vivacity unusual in a city largely bypassed by Baroque influences. The style is supported by the tracery windows and represents the only extant exterior Baroque flourish in Dublin city. The plan form adds further to the site’s unique identity, with the convex quadrants being a departure from the usual rectilinear shapes found in similar churches, contributing a distinctive design and striking presence.

Lord how I love the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord

Holiness becometh thy house O Lord forever.

I felt torn that this church didn’t survive for whatever reason but am pleased that it wasn’t torn down. The Stained glass window still echoes some of God’s truth for those with eyes to see.

We all enjoyed our dinner here and when it came to dessert, Sticky Toffee Pudding was on our minds. The Church Cafe did not have it on the menu so Andrew googled and found a restaurant in the Temple Bar area of Dublin that had it on the menu. We decided we would enjoy that to top off our last full day in Dublin so we walked across the river to the Temple Bar area.

How great it was to see this particular bar that was one of the jigsaw puzzles I completed before we traveled to Dublin.

The restaurant that was serving Sticky Toffee Pudding was packed and getting a seat for six didn’t look promising. With some gentlemanly coaxing, Andrew convinced the staff to fix up two servings for us to enjoy outside around a bench along the way with promises that we would certainly return the plates and utensils. It was a nice way to end our time before we ordered the last Uber of the day to take us back to our hotel for the night. Slainte!

This wraps up my travel journal for our time in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Dublin and England. On Tuesday the 26th of September we had our buffet breakfast in the hotel, checked out and traveled by Uber to the Dublin Airport for our 9-10 hour flight home. We went through customs in Dublin so we did not have to be delayed at all after landing in Seattle. Andrew and Katie drove straight home from the airport in Seattle and we drove back to Josh and Laura’s for the night with a stop for dinner at their local Mexican Restaurant. We settled in for the night to try to sleep before our next day departure by car over the mountains to our home.  When we woke up earlier than expected due to Jet Lag we loaded up and drove home. Thankful for God’s providence in reaching our driveway safe and sound or half sound. Jet Lag is real!

Thank you for coming along on our journey.

Back to Dublin ~Day 11

Day eleven of our trip to Ireland and England was Monday September 25th. We walked across the road to the John Lennon Airport from our hotel early for our 9:20 AM flight back to Dublin. We didn’t realize how important adding the extras on our reservation were for this flight. We purchased priority boarding and it was money well spent as they divided everyone up into the ‘goats’ and ‘sheep’ at the gate. Our seats were guaranteed while others had to wait and see if there would be room for them. YIKES. Thankful again for the providence of the Lord we encountered all through our trip.

Another taxi ride from the Dublin airport to our last hotel on this trip, The Ashling. Andrew and Katie were already at this hotel and we were excited to meet up with them for our last day in Dublin. True to form the day was packed full with adventures.

After checking into the hotel and dropping our bags Josh ordered another Uber to take us across the river to our lunch destination, The Stag’s Head.

Our hunger satisfied we checked our GPS and walked to Trinity College.

No tours were available for us so we booked entry into the Book of Kells and strolled around the campus waiting for our entry time. The campus was packed solid with students and parents.

It was finally time for our tour and we lined up in the queue.

Welcome to the Old Library and the Book of Kells – a “must see” on the itinerary of all visitors to Dublin. Located in the heart of Dublin City, a walk through the cobbled stones of Trinity College Dublin will bring visitors back to the 18th century, when the magnificent Old Library building was constructed. Inside is housed the Book of Kells – a 9th-century gospel manuscript famous throughout the world.

The Book of Kells “Turning Darkness into Light” exhibition has displays of large screens showing copies of the pages from the Book of Kells. The actual volume of the Book of Kells is housed in the Treasury inside a glass case opened to a page that is turned every so often. No photographs permitted.

When we were on the Isle of Iona back in 2006 we were able to read about and see a copy of a page of the book of Kells which is most likely the location where the Book of Kells was created. Here’s a link with some good information.

These next four photos are needlepoint kneelers from St. Mary Magdalene church in Woodstock that we visited in 2022.

From the Book of Kells exhibit you proceed upstairs to the magnificent Long Room which usually houses 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books in its oak bookcases.

We were disappointed that all but 10% of the books were removed for cleaning and restoration from this magnificent library during our time in Dublin.

The Trinity College Harp (also known as ‘The Brian Boru Harp‘), dating from around 1400 AD, is an extraordinary instrument. Anywhere you look in Ireland, you cannot avoid the Trinity College Harp. It is used as the official emblem of Ireland.

 

From our time here we did some walking and shopping before we ordered another Uber to take us to Jameson Distillery where we had reserved a tour. The rest of day eleven will have to wait for another day.

Back to the Present: Our company over the last several days left on Monday morning. These last few days of November and into the beginning of December are very busy days for us. We have several events this week that require planning and thinking and organizing.  We are starting our Christmas decorating slowly. I’ll have to wait for the majority of that decorating until next week. Choosing joy in the midst of busy! Hope all is well in your corner.

Postcards Day 3

 

Our third day in Ireland was Sunday September 17th. We enjoyed breakfast at the Lemon Jelly before we attended church at Grosvenor Rd. Baptist Church, Sunday Roast at The Old Spot, St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Evensong and Guinness Storehouse Experience for the finale. Sunday it rained off and on, mostly on, so it was good we had so many indoor activities planned. Slainte!

Postcards Day 1

We arrived in Dublin and were welcomed with some typical rainy weather. We are hoping to have some sunbreaks here and there during our time in Ireland and England.

I don’t have much time on the computer so any posts before I return home will be postcards with few words. I’ll create my travel diary here on my blog when I return home. Slainte.

St. Patrick’s Day

It’s fun to be Irish for a day and to enjoy a meal of Corned Beef and Cabbage! The cast iron pot has been pulled out for the cooking of this meal for our family as they arrive for the weekend this evening.

Life wasn’t this kind of fun for St. Patrick. If you want to read about him here is a great article. Who Was Saint Patrick.

“My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time.”

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“St. Patrick’s Lorica points beyond himself and his adventurous life. It points to Christ, the one he proclaimed to the people who had taken him captive:”

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

~~~~~~~

God bless you all dear friends.

St. Patrick’s Day 2020

Celti

It’s time to get ready for our annual Corned Beef and Cabbage meal for St. Patrick’s Day.

We got all the ingredients on our way home from Spokane Valley on Sunday. Do you make a Corned Beef meal on St. Patrick’s day or any day?

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

IMGP7563

I was not able to upload any new photos today from our weekend away. I hope to be able to do that on Monday. On Monday I’m having a massage which was a Christmas gift to me from my Colville kids. Looking forward to that even though it doesn’t qualify as social distancing.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Are you wearing green today?

Do you make a special Irish dish to serve for dinner on this day?

Do you have a favorite Irish saying?

Have you ever been to Ireland?

Do you have any Irish relatives?

Have you ever attended a céilis? Céilis are held in large towns and country districts where young and old enjoy group dances.

We’ll be having corned beef and cabbage tonight along with some Guinness. I’m thinking I should try a good Irish stew recipe soon, too.

From 2008 at Fado an Irish Pub in downtown Seattle…

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

 Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.