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I’m on me holidays

August - December 2021
This is the beginning of a new adventure.
Phase 1 . Europe and maybe North Africa. Read more
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  • I’m on me holidays

    We’re off!

    August 8, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F

    Off to Ireland, via Toronto, on Air Canada which officially wins the best safety video award. I feel more relaxed already…

    https://youtu.be/0byfHIAXIcY

  • I’m on me holidays

    Toronto airport

    August 8, 2021 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    Five hours in Toronto Airport. And a few vinos later. Can’t wait to get in the plane and sleep. Probably after another vino tho.
    Covid dominated the stress points today. Canada has just reopened to nonessential travel and it’s a work in progress. Our electronic vaccine cards have been very helpful. Let’s hope for the same when we arrive in Ireland.
    Excited to see family and the boys over the next few weeks. Jack and Ally coming in next week. Hooray    Read more

  • I’m on me holidays
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    Dublin: Arrival

    August 9, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F

    After a lovely, 5.5hr red eye from Toronto (in Air Canada’s comfy premium economy during which Donny & I both slept only about 90 mins), we arrived on grand August day into Dublin—overcast, raining and 60°F.😕

    Dear bro-in-law Dermot picked us up from the airport (met us in the terminal and everything!) and described it as, “barely rainin’…it wouldn’t even get ya wet if you were out golfing in it.” 😂 Reminded me of Seattleites…you have to become water repellant if you want to experience life outdoors at all.

    He took us on an impromptu tour of Dublin city on the way to their house…along the River Liffey with its historic Customs House, modern Central Bank building, and Ha’penny Bridge (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha'penny_B…), near the Guinness factory (at one time, they only hired Protestants) and along the less traveled streets of South Dublin where gang wars used to wage with enough frequency that the Garda would put up road blocks to restrict the flow of traffic.

    Arrived at Dermot & Gilly’s only a little bleary-eyed and easily curable with coffee, tea, sausage sandwiches (yesssss) and the usual “carry on” when a family gathers. Just hoping my ear for Irish accents kicks in after some sleep or I’ll just have to keep nodding and grinning along like an idiot.

    For Mom: neighborhood photo is a nearby street of “semi-d(etached)’s” to show what the burbs look like here…we’d call them duplexes in the States only each unit is owned independently.    Read more

  • I’m on me holidays

    Dublin: Walk to Bushy Park

    August 9, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Bushy Park is only 5 min from the sister’s place. It’s a fine big park with ponds, soccer, Gaelic and rugby fields along with tennis courts.
    The Dodder river flows along the south side of the park. When walking alongside the river, it is very noticeable how darkly colored, yet clear, the water is. (See photos) This brown color is derived from organic carbon that is picked up as it flows down from the Dublin mountains.
    The Dodder then flows into the Liffey river, and Saint James’s Gate is located along the banks of the Liffey. Saint James’s Gate gets all its water from the Liffey. And guess what is made there. GUINNESS. So now we know where it gets its color. Haha.
    For the fishermen among us, the Dodder is known for its sea trout run and should be fished in the late evening. Cheers    Read more

  • I’m on me holidays

    The K Club - South Course

    August 10, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Long awaited visit to the K Club. Home of the 2006 European win of the Ryder Cup. Hooray. On short notice we could only get on the South Course. Where I (Donny) proceeded to get my ass handed to me. Nice work Caroline.

    Went for a beer at “The Palmer” on the North Course. The course looks fantastic. Now we have to come back and play.

    The following is a link to the almost 300 year history of the K Club
    https://www.kclub.ie/hotel-history/    Read more

  • I’m on me holidays

    The one with the hilarious golf cart

    August 12, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Headed out to Dermot's home course today, Newlands Golf Club. I snagged Dermot's push cart so Donny, Dermot, & John all got power push carts from the pro shop. Donny kindly offered to swap with me but I was all set up so away we went.

    A few holes in, as we were putting out on the green, we hear Donny's cart tip over backward and lay there with the wheels spinning. Then they stopped. Then they started again. He picks it up--must be a random glitch--and off we go.

    Off we go on a most hilarious round of golf as Donny's possessed cart took off from a complete standstill at randomly inopportune moments, generally just as he was right in the middle of his golf shot, causing him to sprint to catch it before it crashed into a bunker or tree.

    My watch said we walked 6.5 miles but Donny got in some extra cardio.

    P.S. If you ever see "authentic Chicago style chicken wings" on a menu, you're going to want to give those a hard pass unless you like chicken wings covered in pasta sauce.    Read more

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    Mullingar

    August 13, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    Tl;dr: Celebrated retirement day with a golf open competition win, drinking Guinness, learning to pull a pint, and changing a flat tire at 2am.

    I wrapped up my final day at work, which is just strange to even write, let alone do. After 18 years , 2 months, and 4 days at Washington Mutual and then JP Morgan Chase, it is both thrilling to launch into a new phase of life and bittersweet to say farewell to so many wonderful people who have educated, inspired, and put up with me for years. (For those of you reading this that didn’t have the, errrr, “experience” of working with me, just know that I was most proud of refusing to be a serious banker and bringing at least some amount of ridiculousness to the table as often as possible. 😜)

    What better way to kick off retirement than to head for the midlands of Ireland and Donny’s birthplace?! He’d put the word out that we’d be in Mullingar so a gathering of “the boys” (a group of ~20 lads dating back to Mullingar secondary school) got together for a few rounds of golf and catching up.

    I headed out with Gary & Spacer just hoping I wouldn’t make a fool of myself on Donny’s home course. I had a great round mostly because my playing partners were hilarious. I made a comment about Spacer changing outfits more than a Madonna concert (August weather is just a tad unpredictable) which then prompted Gary into serenading us with Beyoncé tunes. Not only can he sing, he’s got the the moves to match!

    I felt like I was playing pretty well and, with my unfortunately high handicap, it turns out well enough to win the Friday Open competition that Donny had entered us in. Many thanks 🙏 to the Boys for coming to my defense when the course didn’t initially recognize my score as I wasn’t in their score posting system.

    After a few celebratory drinks and more hilarity in the golf club, we headed into town for, you guessed it, more hilarity and mayhem. It’s always amazing to be around a group of people that so enjoy each other and have the history to back it up.

    At one point, Smitty did me the tremendous honor of pulling a pint of Guiness with excellent instruction from his bar staff. The key is in the angle of the initial pour, letting it “cascade” for the requisite 90ish seconds, and then putting the perfect creamy head on it. Needless to say, I have a LOT of respect for those that make the perfect pint look so easy. It was the perfect cap to a great day.

    But wait, there’s more! As the revelry wound down, we ended up getting a ride from said Smitty which led to the unexpected experience of changing a flat tire at 2am on a dark country road. Donny is a pro iPhone flashlight holder! 😝
    Spare tire swapped and off we went to crash in a beautiful guest room only to wake to a view of the quintessential Irish countryside.

    This could be my best day ever.    Read more

  • I’m on me holidays

    Irish Horse Racing

    August 16, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    On the drive down to Killarney from Dublin, we took a slight detour to visit the Irish National Stud. Got to see the retired geldings (https://irishnationalstud.ie/attraction/living-…) frolicking like they were foals again and some incredibly famous stud horses. If I didn’t know it before, this place confirmed that Ireland takes its horse racing verrrry seriously. Donny said that owning horses is so attractive because all the profits are tax free. That said, actually making a profit is incredibly rare but still…its enticing.

    This particular week in Killarney is special to the Foy family because it’s the last of 3 racing festivals at the Killarney Racecourse, which the family always attended growing up and holds great memories all around. It’s a beautiful little track with a golf course in the middle, but big enough to put on an 8-10 race card for a few days a few times a year. Tickets were a bit harder to come by due to Covid attendee limitations but we all descended on the course on Thursday for an afternoon/evening of flat racing and betting.

    Much fun was had as we all compared horses, tried to look up tips on the internet, timed our bets with the 3 bookmakers, meandered over to the parade ring to admire the horses up close, and then headed up into the stands or to the rail to watch the race. I managed to lose my entire stake over the course of the meeting, but a few of our group placed some great bets and were all smiles.    Read more

  • I’m on me holidays

    Kinsale & Old Head

    August 16, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    With it being Ally’s first trip to Ireland, we took a bit of a scenic route to Killarney via Kinsale and then on down to see Old Head. Kinsale is known as the “foodie” capital of the region but most places we passed were either booked or closed (Mondays), so we ended up stopping at the first place with availability for mediocre pizza and soggy fried seafood. Ooops.

    Headed a bit further south to see if we could stop in at the golf course at Old Head but the “cranky auld” security guard was not letting us in without a tee time. I have to say this… traveling during Covid has it’s definite perks (fewer tourists, more space, etc.) but I’m fairly certain a lot of establishments are conveniently using covid to create and/or enforce rules they’ve always wanted but couldn’t figure out how to implement without an uproar.    Read more

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    Family

    August 21, 2021 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    We apologize. We have not kept up on this. I don’t think we caught our breath since we landed. It’s been so much fun. We have spent time with so many great people. The Mullingar clan. (Where I grew up) the Dublin clan (sisters family) our dear friend from Belfast (Daddy) and the clan from Killarney. Including our new found friend Terry (Via Atlanta).

    We will catch up with all the details and photos shortly. Cheers    Read more

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