I'm probably breaking all sorts of protocol here, but I got an email from Janet Dugan today which she had received from a friend whose cousin just got back from a trip to Ireland. It made me soooo homesick and I thought you all would enjoy it. So, thank you, Randy, whoever you are. And now the rest of you have to believe our leprechaun story!!

...all my planes remained in the air, coming down only when they were supposed to; the Guinness ran fair and plentiful but didn't cause me to make too much a fool of /'meself/'; I fell in love with Ireland... as well as with several Irish lasses, none of whom...sadly... asked me to remain behind; I found they do actually eat Irish Stew and Shepard's Pie and that each taste much better in Eire-land...accompanied by a pint of Guinness; and it surprised me that there was a real castle 'round nearly every corner and that there was a pub [or two] on every corner!

The countryside is even more beautiful than the glimpses one gets of it in books and movies... the word that comes to mind is 'sweet' and when combined with Ireland's turbulant history, it brings a tightness to ones chest and throat as well as tears to the eyes. There's less than 5 million people on the entire isle... fewer than reside in the greater Houston area... and in spite of their recession, failing economy, and near half million unemployed [Gee, thank you, Michael for closing down the Dell offices in Dublin], I haven't met a more up-beat and future-looking people anywhere.

My guided day-trip to [London]Derry in Northern Ireland brought well home their 'troubles' and a better historical understanding of just what it is all about... along with where the feelings lie today... there's still unrest even though progress has been made and is being made, but I'm not sure anyone sees a real end to it all, though an "end" through a joint interest in improving the economy is being realized right now. But their basic differences today remain and lie well beyond simply religion. To say it's only about religion would be the same as saying that our civil war was only about slavery.

Oh, and it does seem to be true that a flair for music must run in every Irishman's veins, for I heard music everywhere and coming from the most unlikely of people. Sure, and didn't I kiss the Blarney stone? Well, of course, I did! 100 steps to the top of Blarney castle [built in 1210 a.d.] winding my way up and through a narrow solid-stone stairway [claustrophobic tunnel actually!] to the top battlement of the main tower only to be lowered backwards down to kiss the stone... which they do not wipe clean between 'kissers'!! But I had to do it.

And, once, just outside a pub door, I think I caught a glimpse of, from the corner of me eye, a wee little cobbler-fellow dressed in a suit of green with a red vest, wide belt, and pointed shoes, but I'm not for sure for they say there really are no Leprechauns in Ireland and that it's the Guinness that may have overtaken me eyesight... well, I know what I saw, so that's my story and I'm a-stickin' to it! :)

I recommend a trip to Ireland for anyone. Well worth the time and expense and if you have antecedents from there, well, so much the better, for it will add a personal dimension to your trip that will cause the isle to really reach out and grab your heartstrings.