So on to Sneem!

As we were leaving the baggage collection area, we could hear Irish music playing. I was wondering who would be playing at 6:15 am at Shannon Airport. It was the Boston Tulla Ceili Youth group. About a dozen kids were playing Irish melodies - it was the best welcome to Ireland that I ever received!!

We had a mini fry up in the airport restaurant before picking up our car at Dan Dooley’s.  I don’t think I have ever driven a Renault before. This is a nice looking and roomy car. Only problem is that there is no manual with it. I stalled out as we were leaving the parking lot - I always rent a standard car. I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla at home - nothing fancy. I had to get the bloke who brought us the car to show me how to start it!! I couldn’t find any keys on the steering column! Did I feel stupid when he showed us that the “keys” are a flat card that you insert under the CD player - then you push a button to start the car! But you also have to push the button to turn it off as well! He also showed us how to work the radio and the heater. We were off!

It was daylight so that was great, but the sun was right at eye level and the glare made it difficult reading signs even with sun glasses. But we drove along to Limerick with only one problem - we couldn’t work the radio - we couldn’t get one station! Even after the guy showed us how to work it!

Did that sign say toll road? What was that about a tunnel? I haven’t been to Ireland for maybe 3 or 4 years. There was no toll road or tunnel the last time I was here. Thank goodness Johnny had a few euros - we were able to pay the toll and enter Limerick’s Big Dig. And that it is what the tunnel reminded me of - Boston’s Big Dig - although it is not nearly so long. We don’t know what the tunnel went under, but we don’t remember seeing the Shannon river!

I hate all the bypasses - I know there was a lot of traffic in the cities and towns, but it was a more interesting drive as you passed through them. We saw horses but hardly any cattle - a few sheep. We saw daffodils in Kerry! Spring! I decided to protest and drove through Castleisland thus avoiding the bypass. It was after 10 am by this time but the place was dead. Buildings were empty - plenty of parking spaces - no one on the streets - it was almost like a ghost town. Reminded me of Buzzards Bay as you get to the Cape. Route 28 was the way to the Bourne Bridge across the Cape Cod Canal - it passes right through Buzzards Bay which always seemed busy to me. When I was young, my father’s car would be packed as we headed to Falmouth Heights for our 2 week vacation. I remember bumper to bumper traffic in Buzzards Bay. Every place seemed busy. Now it is a ghost town since they bypassed the area with routes 495 and 25 which are highways leading directly onto the Bourne Bridge. This is what I was thinking passing through Castleisland. 

I still get that thrill as we approach Castleisland and can see the mountains in the distance - snow on them today. I feel excited - like I am coming home. 

We stopped in Killarney and picked up 2 cheap cell phones. It was not too busy in the town today - no big changes - I was able to find the Vodaphone store without problem. Then I headed out to Moll’s Gap. I love that drive over the mountains - the Cork Road to Kenmare is not for me. The narrow twisty roads are gone, but there is something about climbing up and down though the mountains that I love. The scenery is always changing as the sun peeks in and out between the clouds. The view just above Ladies’ view is so impressive. I took the Kenmare Road at Molls’ Gap - of course neither the shop at Ladies’ View or Molls’ Gap is open. I love this drive into Kenmare almost as much as the drive to Sneem that I usually take. The views are breath taking.

Johnny called Monica to meet us for lunch in Kenmare. But first we stopped at Eamon’s - The Roughty Bar - to see my pal, Mike Lynch. His brother Dan is married to Johnny’s sister Monica. I don’t know why but I just love this guy. I wish I knew him better - I think he has a lot of stories to tell. But today he bought me a glass of Bailey’s as we caught up with him and Monica. He seems a little hard of hearing - doesn’t catch the whole conversation. I want to visit the cows back at his place. 

Mike went home, but Monica, Johnny, and I walked down to the Atlantic Pub for lunch. They had roast lamb, but I had the hake in a little cheese sauce - it was fabulous as were the mashed potatoes! Real potatoes!! And the parsnip, carrots, and broccoli were all delicious as well. I loved it all!

Johnny’s sister Joan stopped in to say hello, before we headed to Sneem. I was beginning to feel more tired and just wanted to get the drive over.  I ran into Fiona’s florist shop to pay her for the flowers for Sheila’s funeral. The shop smelled so fresh and spring-like! I think Fiona said that she has been in business for 8 years - continued good luck to her. I met Johnny at Riney’s - I hadn’t seen it since all the renovations - they did a big job in the back - must be lovely in the summer.

I stopped at Christian’s shop for some cold cuts for sandwiches and a Lotto ticket - jackpot 20 million euros. I saw Greta Drummond outside - I have known her since the 1980s when Danno and I stayed at her B&B. I have to stop by to see her next week. 

Also checked out the new Post Office at Sneem Tavern. Una greeted me as she was leaving. The Riney girl was behind the PO window. The shop is still there, but now there is no entrance from the shop to the pub. You have to go back outside and in the side entrance. I’ll check that out when I’ve had a little sleep!

We headed to Loughane. The drive out brought back many memories. I have been coming to Loughane since 1973. I have met a lot of people in that time. I drove up to Gortdromagh. It again felt strange to see someone else’s van and car at my house. I am going to stop by and make an appointment with David West to see the inside of my house. I am almost afraid to see it - I haven’t been inside since he started renting it.

It was sad to see the old house - part of the cow shed roof was blown down into the barn fields. The rest was blown who knows where. We had seen a lot of damage along the road as we drove from Kenmare - trees uprooted and toppled over. The storms here must have been ferocious. Johnny was feeling badly about the mobile home being toppled in a storm - he loved staying there. I feel badly - he does as well - when I look at the old house. Makes me think of Mamie Dick - Johnny’s great grandmother who went out to the US to raise money to buy Gortdromagh back from the landlord after he evicted her. I want to sell the new house and renovate the old house. Johnny isn’t quite in agreement with that - yet. 

We finally made it to Loughane - I was so glad to see Larry - and he was glad to see us. It was a sad meeting obviously - especially when he asked me to move back to Gortdromagh. But we started catching up. Larry called his nephew Niall - Eileen’s son - and I chatted with him for a while.

Larry is going to Cork with Hannah to a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. If I wasn’t so tired and wasn’t sitting up here now at 5 am, I would go as well. But we are going up Thursday evening to bring Hannah home. I’d like to meet Larry at the nursing home tomorrow afternoon and take him out to eat in Kenmare. We don’t know how Hannah will be when she gets home. I hope she will be able to go out for a drive or a day trip somewhere with us. I guess we will see Thursday.

Will we get to Sneem?

This is jet lag - it is Tuesday 17 February 2015 - 2:30 am - I am sitting here at the kitchen table in Loughane. I have been awake since 1:30 trying to go back to sleep. Seems like a week ago that we were leaving record amounts of snow behind when we flew out of Logan Airport in Boston for Shannon Airport. And it was only yesterday evening!

My daughter Mairead and I had talked about coming to Ireland during her school vacation in April. We would tour a little and then head down to see family and friends in Sneem and Kenmare. That changed after my cousin Larry called on Christmas Day to tell me that his wife had died that morning.  Then my partner at work decided she might be retiring  - if she did, I might not get anyone to cover my vacation time for a while. I couldn’t get here in time for Sheila’s funeral, but  I wanted to come and spend some time with my cousins Larry and Hannah. So I decided to come in February.

After I had booked the flight for Sunday 15 February, Johnny Murphy realized that his Irish passport had expired.  My son Mike drove him to the Irish Consulate in Copley Square, Boston on Monday 26 January - the blizzard of 2015 arrived at the same time. They then picked me up at Logan Airport - I had been on a weekend cruise with 3 sisters, 3 cousins, and a best friend. We made it home finally in swirling snow and slippery roads. And that was it. 

We were buried in snow and snow drifts - then another storm dumped more snow - the next storm dropped even more snow. Boston’s public transit system broke down, and driving around Boston was horrendous due to snow covered roads causing massive traffic.

Then we heard another blizzard was coming on Sunday February 15 - the day we were flying out to Shannon! In all the years we have gone to Ireland in the winter, we have only once had a flight delay - and that was leaving Shannon so we didn’t mind! We were monitoring the forecast. I was also trying to contact the Irish Consulate - Johnny was to pick up his passport the Friday before we left - but there was no answer at the Consulate until the Wednesday before we were leaving - we were thinking that Johnny might not be getting on that flight.  We found out Wednesday that the consulate had been closed due to all the snow and lack of transportation into Boston. The gal was finally responding to my messages from her home in Quincy. She told us to drive up to the consulate on Thursday morning, and someone would be there to give the passport to us.

Johnny had also hurt his right knee the beginning of the week - it swelled up twice its size, and he could not walk except with a walker.  We left Falmouth at 5:30 Thursday morning and got to Copley Square at 9:38 am. Dropping him off proved to be a problem - there was no parking due to the snow emergency - the streets were covered in snow making walking difficult even without a bum knee and a walker. An illegal space finally opened up right outside the Consulate after I circled around the area. Johnny went in and got his temporary passport. We headed home - made it in less than an hour and a half.

Friday morning I called Johnny’s orthopedic surgeon, and they squeezed him in that afternoon - drained his knee, gave him a cortisone injection, and he was on his way.

But now the forecast for Sunday was for over a foot of snow. We tinkered with the idea of staying at a motel near the airport on Saturday and taking a chance the flight to Ireland would take off when the snow stopped on Sunday afternoon. Monday was predicted to be a frigid but dry day so I figured that flight would surely get out. I called Aer Lingus and switched our departure to Monday February 16.

Mike worked 3-11 on Saturday night and stayed over at the motel to work 7-3 the next morning. I shoveled the driveway and around behind the house to the chickens about 4:40 pm on Saturday - it was light fluffy snow, but there was a lot of it. I shoveled the driveway once more on Saturday night about 8 pm. Mike made it home Sunday afternoon and shoveled himself into the driveway.  Sunday’s flight to Shannon was cancelled.

Mike was out shoveling the driveway again on Monday while I was shoveling another foot of snow behind the house to the chickens. It was 0 degrees Fahrenheit with a blustery wind that day - the blowing snow was stinging my face. 

Mike dropped us off in Hyannis, and we took the 1:30 pm Plymouth and Brockton bus to Logan Airport. The driver dropped us off right in front of Aer Lingus at 3:30. It was worth $50 for tickets and a $5 tip to the driver when we saw massive traffic going both north and south on the southeast expressway.

Johnny was moving better but still brought the walker on the trip. I told him to use it at the airport due to all the walking we would have to do. It certainly was handy when we were sent to the express security line for people 75+ years old, people with children, and people with medical issues. Of course, I had to go through the usual xray and pat down due to my 2 hip replacements. But we were through the security check in just a couple of minutes. We are never leaving home again without that walker!

We got a seat near a window and watched planes taking off and landing, loading and unloading - that was quite interesting. The walker did not help too much in boarding the plane - although an Aer Lingus rep took us down an elevator to the boarding area so Johnny did not have to negotiate the stairs down to the plane. It was interesting to see the security measures - she used her index finger to identify herself on a security pad, and then had to insert her security code to get through a couple of doors.

We lucked out because we each had an aisle seat, and the seats between us and the passengers at the windows were empty - so instead of three across - we were only two across. This plane was quite small - we are now used to the airbus with 2 seats - 4 seats - then 2 seats across. The aisle in this smaller plane is now so narrow that some people’s carry on cases were too wide to pull down the aisle! So thank God I had an empty seat between me and Maureen Connelly Walsh of Spiddal and now of Dorchester.  She was very nice, and we chatted away until after the “meal.” Then we switched seats - I dozed off and on in the window seat, and Maureen talked to Johnny for the rest of the flight.

Almost before we knew it, we were in Shannon. Anyone remember when the stewardesses used to bring around hot damp towels just before landing to refresh yourselves? I used to love the feeling of that towel on my face! And on my first trip to Shannon in 1973 with my friend Julie, we exited the plane onto the ground and walked into the terminal. I guess I am dating myself! We thought we were crowded on the 747s in those days - little did we know how squashed we would be in years to come!