Sunset in Ringsend, Dublin, Ireland
Catie
YUMMY IRISH MEN!
The origins of the black dog are difficult to discern. It is possible the creature originated from the Celtic (Irish) culture. It has been seen through out some parts of Europe, mostly in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
Irish Black Dog Story
Many districts of Ireland have tales of spectral black dog which appears, sometimes on its own, sometimes with the ghost of a person in attendance. Once upon a time, in pagan days, as the Reverend John Seymour suggests, the black dog may have been a river spirit. It has been seen many times near lakes and beaches. Aswell as being seen in daytime and at night, both inside houses and the open air.
One account related to Seymour was from a felow-clergyman. This man’s father, also a clergyman had kept a farm aswell and one day Seymour’s informant, as a boy, heard a day labourer talk about “having seen the Devil”.
The labourer has been walking along a country road, when at the gate which led in torwards the house, he saw a dog. He took it to be a black retriever and thought no more about it but then all of a sudden he found that the dog was padding silently by his side.
He observed that the creature’s eyes were blood red. He picked up some stones to throw at it, but it ignore them, though it presently vanished. A long time later the house in question was bought by people known to Seymour’s informant. The clergyman was a constant visitor to the house, and was soon aware the owners were troubled by the appearances of a black dog.
He then remember the time when he saw the black dog at the same house. The dog often appeared beside people walking near the house. Though the this dog ghost was never known to molest anyone. Its sudden appearances were so unnerving that the new owners soon sold up and went elsewhere.
i will never love ireland more than when it’s blanketed in snow.
waking up to a dark morning with the snow falling, sitting down with a hot chocolate before putting on your favourite scarf and going out into the cold. heaven.
Guitar playing
Dr. Pyle
Day2
Woke up 3 hours after falling asleep with the worst Charlie horse in my right calf. I didn’t even realize it but my mom told me in the morning that I made a really loud gasp noise and jackknifed up. All I remember is the pain and not being able to sleep. So for the next hour I was going in and out of sleep rubbing my calf. Finally my mom was like would like some ibuprofen. I was like UH-HUH (in a loud whisper). She gave me some and I didn’t fall asleep till it kicked in. I woke up about an hour later (it was about 3 in the morning) with drunken Irish men singing outside the window. After they left I was woken again up again by my dad snoring (LOUDLY). I was lastly woken up by my mom turning on her phone.
It was about 9:15 when we finally headed down for breakfast. They had interesting choices but i just choose something simple, scrambled eggs with button mushroom and grilled tomatoes. What I got instead was watery eggs with a handful of mushrooms and half of a whole tomato that was hot. All these items were separate and not mixed together. After eating that a banana (that didn’t live up to my banana standards) and an apple we went upstairs.
The shower didn’t work so I had to take a bath. But they don’t have a normal faucet that we are used to. No, they have two knobs (hot and cold) and you have to get it just right to get a tolerable water temperature. When we were all ready to go, we went down the maze one more time and checked out.
My dad decided he was going to drive because he could not take another day of driving like before. It was confusing at first because none of the signs there are like the signs in the U.S. It was an hour drive to Carlow. Once we go there we found our first B&B and still had time to kill before check in.
We walked a good 5 minutes till we got into town and went to find the college that I could be attending next spring semester.
Entrance to College grounds
The Church next door
There is a church right next to the college and people were going in so we decided to go to mass. It was different. There was a lot more kneeing, the pews are very uncomfortable, and nobody says the prayers at the same time. It’s like the ripple effect of row row row your boat… After church we explored the small campus. We tried to figure out where the apartment building that I would be staying at is. All we found were two school buildings and one dorm. It’s a very small college. We didn’t find the apartment though. We ended up next to an Aldi and went in. The Aldi there is amazing. It was two times the size of the ones in the U.S. and it has way more stuff. We left after picking up some things and walked around till we found the rowing competition that was going on. We sat and watched for an hour. We moved to get a different view and while sitting there some lady let their dog just walk on by us (she wasn’t even paying attention) and the dog started sniffing around I moved my bag just in time but my mom did not. The ugly poodle mutt peed on her bag. The owner just laughed and kept going. (Bitch) I was mad! With that ruining the rowing for us, we headed back. We got back and my mom started clean the bag. Did I mention it was my bag that she had borrowed… well it is waterproof but she still gave it a good wash. After a bit of rest we walked back into town to the local pub. I got chicken something with white wine sauce. It was delish!! We got back to our room and just relaxed
Sitting almost outside the window.
I think my ankle is swollen?
