Videos From Our Ring of Kerry Trip

Cliffs


Sheep Dog Demonstration


beach

Brrrr.... why am I always so cold here? My hands are almost blue, and that's indoors! It's the humid kind of cold, difficult to escape, and the heating in our house (radiators) isn't very effective. We turn it on in the mornings but by noon the house is like a fridge again. I'm only warm while exercising or showering. Time for the long johns, I guess! and gloves, and earmuffs, and scarves... does anyone make a nose muff? Perhaps a full face mask would do the trick.

I'm whining so I can tell it's nighttime and I'm tired and a little hungry. Just say it - 'put on a sweater, make yourself some warm tea, and buck up already Mindy!' Okay. I will. Shutting up now.

Still love it here. Even though I'm shivering.

Moments You Live For

Our family home evening tonight was supposed to be an introduction to Our Gospel Standards. Instead it turned out to be on prayer. During dinner Spencer started complaining of a cramp in his foot. Within minutes he was rolling around on the floor, howling in pain, and the pain was traveling up his leg. We took him upstairs while the girls finished cleaning up dinner, and he cried inconsolably in my arms while we massaged his leg, ransacked the medicine closet for remedies, and looked up "leg pain" online. Gary gave him a blessing, and soon the girls came upstairs as well. They wanted to say a prayer for Spencer themselves. So they sat on either side of him, holding him in their arms, and Sophie said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help Spencer get well.

Within five minutes the pain had receded, and Spence was able to walk around a bit on his own. He's now brushing his teeth and joking around in his usual entertaining way.

Nobody can tell me prayers don't work. This was a slightly terrifying but more effective way to learn about prayer for our family than all the lessons I could have prepared. Tender mercies. And tender mercies that my boy is feeling better.

However, Dad and Josh MD, any ideas as to what could have caused this 20-minute ordeal? Should I be worried about blood clots or something?

Weekend Warriors Part III - Dingle

We spent Saturday night in Killarney then woke up leisurely, but with time to make it to church in the charming little branch in Tralee. Maggie counted fifteen people there, other than ourselves - a big change from our 400-person ward in Rexburg! So good for the kids to see the church in its various global manifestations. We talked about how the Lord needs valiant servants to do his work, whether as a temple president in Utah or a deacon in the Tralee branch. Ireland struggles a little in new growth - not a hospitable climate for the missionaries - but there are valiant, noble souls here propping up the church.

We also wanted to explore the Dingle peninsula, right next to the Kerry peninsula. I'm not completely sure this didn't exclusively have to do with it's name - the dingling Dingle peninsula. It just sounds funny. But we had a wonderful, misty day driving roads like this at dizzying speeds (close your eyes, dad - this will give you hives! and yes, this is a two-way road.):
There were cliffs on either side, straight up and straight down in some places (the Connor Pass!) - terrifying! But also strangely thrilling. I'm so glad Gary was driving, but at the same time, me sitting on the left side of the car, yet with absolutely no control over speed or direction of the car, left me feeling nervy and confused. I'll be happy to get back to my comfortable, large, luxurious Honda in the states! And streets wider than seven feet across!

Luckily we made it through the pass without harm (to us or the car, although I wish I could say the same about my nerves!) and landed in Dingle. Cute little port town, bought the girls Claddagh Rings for Christmas, chatted with the locals at the little music shop.
This is a statue of Fungie, the dolphin who has made the bay of Dingle his home for 27 years. We looked for him everywhere, but didn't catch a glimpse!



I have to explain this tower in the distance back there. It was built in the 1840's, for the sole purpose of giving the poor starving workers on a local estate something to do. As you tour Ireland, three major events shape the scenery around you. 1. The Potato Famine, 1845-1852. The potato blight wiped out the potato crops those years, causing over one million people to starve and another million and a half to emigrate, reducing Ireland's population by 20 percent. The memory of these haunting years is still very present in the collective Irish cultural memory. Vacated, crumbling cottages on desolate landscapes bespeak the dead or departed inhabitants. Monuments to the famine reside in every city square. Follies like this were built by landlords just to give their men work. Everything changed during and after the famine.

The second cultural watershed which influences what you see is the invasion of Cromwell in 1649-53. He tortured the country, killing and sacking everything in his wake, and his name is still anathematized by all proper Irishman. He burned most of the churches in Ireland; hence the plethora of crumbling stone religious edifices at every turn.

The third is the Irish civil wars through the last 150 years, Irish War for Independence and the Civil Wars of 1919-1923, and their heritage of political and cultural unrest.

But now... back to our Dingle Adventure!

After driving around the peninsula some more, we were just ready to home. On the way we listened to Truman Madsen's lectures on Joseph Smith - love them! and decided on one last stop: the 13th century Askeaton Fransiscan Friary just down the river from Limerick. The kids loved this. No entrance fees, no lines, no roped off areas - this was the site that made Maggie say to me, "Mom, I'm falling in love with history!"


Do I smell a Christmas card photo? Taken by the only other person at the Friary, an American tourist from Oregon.

And then it was back home. Phew! We packed in a lot in three days! This is the last of our major sightseeing excursions in Ireland, I think, at least for now. We leave for France though in two weeks - YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!

Weekend Warriors Part II - Ring of Kerry

After our luxurious stay in a lovely 2-bedroom, self-catering apartment I found for a steal in Killarney, we woke with a mission to see as much as possible. So in spite of a little drizzle and lots of mist, we set off on our great Kerry adventure!
Having as much coastline as Ireland does, most of it is bound to be beautiful. After our stay amidst the gentle rolling hills of Limerick, I was somewhat unprepared for the more dramatic and rugged beauty of the Kerry peninsula. Steep cliffs, actual mountains, jagged rock. Charming thatched cottages, windy roads, lots of sheep and cows. Be prepared for a lot of pictures!

Our first notable stop was to see a sheepdog demonstration near Blenbeigh. We lucked out finding it - there were no signs but Gary remembered seeing a show there ten years ago so we had our eyes peeled. Then when we saw a tour bus stop, we stopped too, and joined the crowd up the hill to see the show. LOVED it. Good doggies! I think they went inside and washed the dishes and helped their master fold laundry afterwards - they were so well trained!

Of course, we're all about the dogs; they were very loving and gave lots of kisses.

I brought along a lot of hand sanitizer, just in case you were wondering. The dogs were sweet but quite dirty that day.
We didn't take any music or videos for the kids to watch - didn't want to distract them from the amazing show going on outside their windows! They never even asked for a movie - too engrossed with the scenery. During the longer stretches we either talked about Irish history or tried to remember the words to some of the Irish songs we're trying to learn - Molly Malone we have down, but we're still working on I'll Tell Me Ma and When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
This is the view from Valencia Island over to Portmagee, where we had lunch at a cute little pub. Notice the ketchup/mayo smiley face, below... being who we are, there has to be a little silliness in the mix!


These were my favorite cliffs of the day. As the weather was so bad, no boats were going out to the Skellig islands that day - we really wanted to go to Skellig Michael so it was disappointing. However, when we stopped at these cliffs by Foilnageragh, I felt like we got a glimpse of what Skellig Michael would have looked like. Very steep, very austere, very turbulent - not a peaceful place to eke out a living at the top of a rock! But so very beautiful.

The beaches were grand - at this one, Gary gave the kids a geology lesson while sorting through the strata of exposed geo layers in the cliffs. Maggie was enthralled at the strata of quartz Gary pointed out to here, and took a loose chunk of it home as her souvenir.

We were sad that the weather wasn't more fine so we could see further, but in a way the mist made the island seem more magical. It was very atmospheric, and added that nice nightmarish quality to driving down the twisty, one-lane roads at 100 km/hour! :-) In spite of cliffs on either side and some close calls, we didn't even get a scratch on our little Nissan micra!

Finding "cockles and mussels" on the beach by Ballinskelligs.Maggie at Ladies' View; this view of the lakes of Killarney so enchanted the waiting ladies of Queen Victoria in the 1860's that the spot has been called Ladies' View ever since.



At Torc Falls.
We made it the whole day without a throwup incident... until we were two blocks away from our last stop. Then suddenly Spencer burped...but it came up as throwup so we had no warning. Here's the little guy after his washup, decked out dad's sweatshirt and feeling much better!
Finally back in Killarney, we gave our last 20 euro to the driver of one of the famous jaunting cart that go around the lakes. He took us for a little ride, much to the kids' infinite satisfaction, and we ended the day on a high note!
Pizza (4-star Pizza! Yum!) and bed back at our apartment ended a very big, very beautiful day. Thank you Kerry for some wonderful memories!

Weekend Warriors Part I - Dromberg

Ireland is not like a lot of Europe in that it's not completely accessible by public trains or buses. To see many of its attractions a car is necessary. Accordingly, we took our lives in our hands and rented a car. It was terrifying, but the only way to see what we saw this last weekend! And it was SO nice to have transport at our beck and call!

So, the first leg involved pulling the kids out of school an hour early and driving south, with a quick stopover and potty break at Blarney castle. We looked through the gates at the grounds, not having the time (and the urge to spend the $40 family entrance fee for such a short visit) to go inside. So we did not kiss the famous stone (ew!) and will not be having the gift of the gab. Alas. But we were motivated to get back on the road so we could get to Gary's requested visit - the megalithic Drombeg Stone Circle on the south coast. They're Ireland's most famous stone circle, about 2300 years old. Someone with a sense of humor had left wine, cheese and flowers arranged on the altar stone in the center. Maybe they were French; if it had been an Irishman they would have left Guinness beer.

Also present at the site is a Fulacht fiadh (have fun pronouncing that!), a communal cooking pit with a hearth. Hot stones were taken from the fire and dropped into the water trough, and tests have shown they could boil seventy gallons of water in about fifteen minutes. Hot bath, anyone? Spence, you're looking rather grungy - hop on in, dude! After we had seen Drombeg, it was getting dark and our hotel was 100 kilometers away in Killarney. So we drove through what I'm sure is some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland - in pitch black darkness. Luckily I have a good imagination (and Google earth) to help me see what we missed! We made up for it though the next day in the Ring of Kerry, so it's all good.

Had a hard time motivating myself today. It was rainy, I went to bed late last night, and Spencer was happy with his legos. I should have exercised and worked on Festival team routines or the studio web site or updated this blog with stories from last weekend's adventure in the Ring of Kerry (coming soon to a Larsen blogspot near you). Instead, I sat on the sofa and read the last 100 pages of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. And I won't lie to you - it was delightful. But I'm feeling guilty about the use of my time today on the Good/Better/Best scale; I get lazy and like nothing better than to curl up and "reat" (read and eat) with a good book, bread and cheese, and herbal tea. This clearly only falls into the "Good" category, although since it's historical fiction I may be able to validate it as "Better" because I did learn something. However, I could have been mopping my floor and cleaning my cupboards and making dinner for someone and sending my grandmother a post card and proofing Gary's papers and reading books on doctrine to Spence, not just to myself... ah, the guilt spiral of the Mormon mother when we pamper ourselves just a little bit!

Walk 3 - the Other Castle

Go a mile along the river one way, you get the views from Walk 1, below. Go half a mile the other direction, you run into scenes like this. Look carefully above - that IS some tower ruins hiding behind the trees. Again, no sign or plaque, just cool scenery.

This stretch of the river hosts several colorful fisherman's huts - this was the most unique.
More swans.
This is the front entrance to the ruins. Behind the kids is a hole in the wall, an entryway. You pass through successive minor courtyards, etc to ultimately arrive at the keep. Very Robin of Locksley.

Walk 2 - Campus

Here's some various shots of some of the more picturesque corners of UL campus. This little canal leads to a bridge over a smaller river to get to the bigger river and the river paths that we love. The photos don't really do much justice to any of these places, but still, it will give you an idea.

Below: is a section of student housing - they made it look like a town square which I think was a nice idea. Very homey.
In the courtyard of the village above is a courtyard with this crazy sculpture, below. Cute, but,... ?

Some of the older and newer construction on campus. Most of it looks like the building on the right, but some leans towards the avant garde more, like the one on the left. I still need to get a picture of Gary's building, the home of the Academy for World Arts and Music, which is fabulous and original and unexpected. As is the unique steel pedestrian bridge crossing the river to it. I WILL take my camera with me next time we go meet dad for lunch!
This is the soccer field which is the first thing we hit when we enter campus property. It's spacious and open and we love exploring and playing soccer there. All our walks (unless we're going to the store) begin and end here. There's usually dogs to pet as well, which of course we love.
This is a very important building to the Larsen family; it houses the UL pool. The kids swim there as part of their school's PE program and we swim there for fun as a family. It's also adjacent to the soccer field above, so we pass it frequently. Starting to feel like home around here.

Walk 1 - The River

Okay, I just had a lovely, mellifluous description of our two favorite walks edited and ready to post - then Mr. Computer decided to crash on me and lost it all (not that I'm not grateful for said Mr. Computer, but...). Such flights of poetic fancy (accompanied by amazing vocabulary, of course!) are few and far between these days, so instead you'll be getting the Cliffs Notes version.

To recap - our neighborhood and the University of Limerick itself aren't exactly standouts of aesthetic beauty, or even provincial charm, but once you get to the river that cuts through UL, it's a different story. The paths along the riverbanks are the stuff of myth and legend - lush green corners, mossy dells, friendly (or not) trees with an excess of personality, surprising twists like huge patches of wild blackberries (yum!) and castle ruins... it's all magic and fascination with us! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We loved the ruins especially - ruins are so common here, even remarkable medieval strongholds like this one, that most aren't even on the map. They didn't even bother putting up a plaque or sign for the ones on our walks, so we don't know who built them or exactly how old they are. They're just these ruined towers in the woods - we kept waiting for Rumpelstiltskin or the local witch to appear and return the spots to their former glory.

Note to the Wise: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire sound poetic and conjure some of the most charming holiday imagery, which prompted us to gather the shiny, pleasing horse chestnuts, take them home, and roast them. Ours turned out rather bitter - edible with butter and salt, but we're really glad we don't have to survive on them! Gathering them was like a treasure hunt, and I love fingering the beautiful, glossy nuts. Just don't try to eat them.