Donegal

Thursday, November 5

Today began with a 7am text message on my Irish phone from John. I believe the exact words were: Yankees win 7-3. Not the news I wanted to wake up to, but after reading the postings of my Phillies friends on Facebook I guess it's a good thing I didn't stay up all night watching such a bad game. I have yet to read any details, and may never, but it didn't sound like a game I would have enjoyed. Oh well...they had a great run. They provided an additional month of fun and excitement. The odds of winning back to back are very slim. The only National League team to do so since the early 1900's was the Big Red Machine of the Cincinnati Reds in 1974-75. So, the fact that they got back to the Series was a great accomplishment, especially with the worst closer in baseball and a starting rotation that was suspect. The good news is...only a couple of months until pitchers and catchers report to spring training!

On to todays events.

After another Irish breakfast we headed to the town of Derry, about an hour away from where we were staying. We had a wonderful hour long foot tour of Derry (or Londonderry, if you prefer that time in history) from our tour guide, Tommy. I found it incredibly ironic that we started our tour from the tourist center by cutting through a three story mall. We went up two sets of escalators before departing the mall right at the enterance of the historic wall that surrounds the city. It's a wonderful old town with lots of history and very proud residents, if Tommy was any indication of the general population. The weather was totally Irish, cold and rainy. Sometimes it would drizzle, other times rain hard enough for umbrellas, Nonetheless, Tommy was unfazed and gave us a very good tour.

We continued on to the town of Dunlewey, but made a stop at Grianain of Aileach first. It's basically a Ring Fort owned by the O'Neill Family. It was on top of a large mountain and incredibly cold and windy. And as if on cue, started to downpour as we were assembling for a group photo on top of the fort. We got some wonderful photos at this spot and one other when John pulled over just for the photo opportunities. (When I get back to Dublin I will work on uploading my photos online to share with others.)

We arrived in Dunlewey, a very remote town on the Dunlewey Lake, around lunch time. The Ionaid Cois Locha is a local co-op that has a number of attractions. We were greeted with a lunch of tea, scones and various sandwiches. Then we went on a boat ride around the lake. Again, as if on cue, it started to rain harder when we were on the water. Fortunately we could go under cover and still get some great pictures from the water. Upon returning to shore we viewed a six minute video on the history of Dunlewey and the art of weaving. Our host then demonstrated spinning the wool on an old spinning wheel. He then took us to the room that had a huge weaving loom. It had 410 individual spools of wool that were being weaved on this loom. One of the students tried her hand at the process, which involves much concentration. After leaving the weaving demonstration we were given a tour of the original homestead and told a little bit about Sophie, the owner. After exploring the grounds we ventured into the gift shop where everything was on sale. They close down for the winter and we were the last ones through. We killed some time in front of the very welcome and warm fire and then enjoyed a great dinner of either: turkey and ham (yes, both), beef or salmon. You can guess that they all came with a side of mashed potatoes.

We left Ionaid Cois Locha to travel about 20 minutes to the Teach Campbell Bed and Breakfast in Bunbeg, an Irish speaking area. I am told it is right on the Atlantic Ocean, but I can neither confirm or deny that fact, as it was dark when when arrived. We had about an hour and a half to get settled and to the joy of all who had brought laptops, discovered a wireless signal.

We went back to Ionaid Cois Locha around 8pm for an evening of Irish music. Donegal is known for it's fine musicians and they did not disappoint. An added treat was the opening number when they let Adam, one of our students, play a number on his Irish bagpipes. He did a great job and I even videotaped the entire piece on my camera. The musicians that followed were phenomenon. An older gentleman named Alec Finn played the bazooka, which looked like a cross between a mandolin, banjo and guitar. My mother's maiden name was Finn, so I was interested in him simply because of his name. A women played the fiddle like I have never seen before. She was amazing. The third musician was a younger man who played a small accordian. At one point they had a young man in the audience sing a couple of songs and play his accordian. Apparently he had just won the Irish equivilent to the Oscar on Saturday and apologized for being hoarse. He said he's been partying since Saturday. He sang in Gaelic (Irish) so I don't know what the words were, but he was very good as well.

As we started back to the B&B I felt compelled to give my lecture on responsible behavior. There is a pub nearby that the students wanted to visit and so I made sure they understood that they need to look after one another and to always travel in groups. We have 16 student teachers and 13 are females. They will certainly be targets in Irish pubs, so I just reminded them of some things to remember when they are out. They are six weeks away from graduating, so I trust they will act as responsible adults. At least I hope so.

Tomorrow we head to Sligo.