Back to Dingle

It’s been a dreary, oppressive winter. That’s my Florida girl assessment. Dixie would say it’s been “grand and fresh” but what does he know! We had planned to go on the road more often but alas, the cozy warmth of our fireplace and the addictive nature of Netflix  have been as tyrannizing as the Normans.

However, our diaries (calendars) were marked again with the Scoil Cheiol an Earraigh, literally the School of Music in Spring. I don’t usually think of February as spring but what do I know! So we loosed our chains and hit the road.

My favorite thing about this festival is that so many of the lads from the Monks Pub go. It’s held on a long weekend in Ballyferriter on the Dingle peninsula in a Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) region of County Kerry. It’s a good long drive but we all get giddy with anticipation. Whether you call it winter or spring, it’s a welcome respite from the tiresome routines that take root during the “grand and fresh” season.

Great friends who came along

The lads stayed in B&Bs but we took the AvantBard back for his second rendezvous in the area. As you may recall (if you have been traveling with us on this blog and have an extraordinarily good memory for your age), we go back and forth from Dingle to Ballyferriter throughout the weekend, crawling from pub to pub sussing out music sessions to join in. 

Dingle Harbor

Our first night was our favorite. The pub was At Tigh an tSaoirsigh translated The House of tSaoirsigh (Try saying that. Nope, you got it wrong!) We found a nice nook we could comfortably fit in and room for other random musicians to join us. Fabulous evening followed by three other days and nights of more of it. Enjoy the music and impromptu set dancing.

When we weren’t making merry in the pubs, we were jaunting along in the Bard taking in the sites. As you may recall, last year we had driven along treacherous Slea Head Drive in the wind and lashing rain and I almost had a heart attack. This time we drove it from the opposite direction on a gorgeous day in the setting sun. 

I also wanted to revisit Cill Mhaoilcéadair (Try that one! Okay, it’s Kilmalkedar …say kill mahl kay der!) which had absolutely mesmerized me eight years ago. It’s a sixth century medieval site overlooking Smerwick Harbor near Ballyferriter. The small 12th century church ruin is stunning in its Hiberno-Romanesque architecture (thank you, Google), and the graveyard retains an impressive ogham stone and a medieval sundial among many weathered and very cool grave stones. 

Kilmalkedar, Dingle Peninsula

Ogham is an early Medieval linear alphabet. You can read this, right?

Not sure how this sundial is supposed to work

Kilmalkedar graveyard

We also explored a beautiful, secluded beach just a short walk from the center of Ballyferriter (who knew?) and checked out other beaches we passed as well, although the weather was always iffy and we did get wet at times. Can’t go to Kerry without walking on beaches though.

The weekend went by way too fast but we made a soft landing back into our routines. We had dinner guests who were on vacation from back home. Karen is the little sister of a good friend of mine from my school days. The last time I saw her she was about five years old. My, how she has changed! 

We took her and her husband, Dennis, to the Monks for music and had such a good time. There was another American couple there as well.

I always get a twinge of homesickness when I’m around my fellow Americans. Physicists theorize that there are multiple universes, the one we live in and others that surround us undetected. There could even be other You’s out there. You but not You. Remember that Star Trek episode when that guy Lazarus was eternally locked in combat with his other self… or the one when the crew of the Enterprise all became their parallel selves? I think Spock had a beard in the other universe! But I digress. 

I sometimes feel I live in two worlds simultaneously. Maybe there are some people who think I should be “home” where I belong. But what do they know! What does “home” even mean? I think ‘home” is where you love and feel loved, and most of us have several homes that travel around with us through life… like turtles!

When I think about the comparison between my former life in Florida and my life here in Ireland, there’s really not that much difference. Mostly a matter of life style. Mostly driving there but mostly walking here…Tank tops there but raincoats here… Biscuits and grits there but scones and black pudding here… Poolside there but fireside here… Coffee with friends there but coffee with friends here (Wait… that’s the same)… My family there but Dixie’s family here (Thank God for FaceTime and airplanes)… Watching Netflix alone with my cat there but playing music, singing and exploring the country with Dixie here. I think I made the right choice for me.

Last Friday night Dixie and I sang a few songs for a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders. Then on Sunday the lads from the Monks chartered a tiny bus that took us to Garrykennedy on Lake Derg, about an hour away. We had a delicious dinner at historic Larkin’s Pub then joined in “an auld session” in the evening. When we got back late to Thurles, I was knackered and walked home. The lads went into the Monks to debrief… over more Guinness!  I thought that was nuts… but what do I know!