Climbing Croagh St. Patrick

50 Ways to Get Run Over

What It Takes to Climb a Mountain

First you need to find a good mountain to climb. There! That little mountain beside the pretty yellow bush should be one we can make short work of.










Then you need to make sure you have the necessary mountain climbing gear. In this case that would include an Ohio State sweatshirt with hood, a pair of blue, non reflective jeans, and a pair of trendy sunglasses.

But it's not just the clothes required to climb a mountain. It is an attitude you must put on. Notice the stern demeanor, the snarled lip, the determined stance. That's what it takes.

(Pay no attention to the sign. It was not just a hill! It wasn't!)

Next, you must study the local fauna and flora to identify threats that might be encountered on the way. In this particular part of Ireland, there are killer ponies wondering about the mountains. To deal with this threat, Shawn and I magically turned ourselves into ponies to avoid detection.










The next thing you have to do is build a walkway across the bog. Bogs can be very dangerous if you fall into them and besides that they get your nice shoes all muddy.

Here is Fe testing out the newly built walkway. (By the time we finished, others were using it too.)








Every now and then you have to turn around and take a picture of what is below you.















Of course, we couldn't have conquered the mountain alone without the help of two native guides. Here you need seasoned mountaineers who are serious and know the dangers that lurk around every bend in the rocky trail.











Of course, when you are blazing a trail up a mountain, you have to keep those in mind who may follow in your brave steps. Half way up the mountain we paused to set up a pilgrimage spot for sissy Protestants who can't make it all the way to the top. That's the sissy Protestant on the right.








Fe at the top of the mountain. We photo shopped a child into the background to make it look like the mountain was really easy and keep Fe humble.










Fe still wasn't humble so we photo shopped in some more.

Home at sunset on Galway Bay.

The Tour Bus

The experience of a bus tour in Ireland is not to be missed. The roads you take are just over a foot across, the bus is ten feet wide. While you are squeezing down this road, violating several laws of physics, the bus driver is trying to keep you looking at ancient castles popping up on the right and the left. Now the bus driver is like a combination of a drinking buddy turned Jay Leno pretending to be a university professor who got tired of the classroom and has hit the road. They are all wonderfully different and each has his own endearing quirks. The last one was about 105 years old and said everything twice. "One the right you see the Lonegan Castle. That's the Lonegan Castle on the right." The only problem was that Lonegan Castle was really on the left. By repeating himself he was sometimes wrong twice as much. But that's forgiveable, right? But that's forgiveable, right?

This earthen wall with the soil worn down to the roots is 4,000 years old. It has a small mote around it which has filled in over the centuries so that the water is more like a large puddle. The earthen wall is several feet lower than when it was built. This is, in fact, what used to be an earthen fort. I stood inside its walls and pondered what it must have been like to huddle about with your family while someone outside was trying to get in to kill you. I wondered what it would be like to live in a time when an earthen wall could protect you from you enemy. It is hard to imagine in an age when a backhoe would make short work of your fortress, let alone a nuclear bomb. Almost everything has changed except...we are still afraid.

There are several hundred square miles of Ireland called the Burren. Some call it a moonscape. That's because 15,000 years ago, massive sheets of ice covered this land and in their coming and going scraped away every cubic inch of top soil. The world is still recovering from that ice age and its legacy which didn't end until a short 10,000 years ago. In parts of Canada, the soil is still rebounding an inch a year from the smashing it took from the glaciers which scooped out the Great Lakes and flattened much of Ohio. Here there are deep grooves gouged in the rock, striping the limestone like a piece of grilled meat. Massive boulders litter the exposed bedrock, carried from miles distant and dropped in their eerie repose.

Not far away, the Cliffs of Moher drop 700 feet straight to the sea. Sea gulls, snatching insects out of the air, circle a giant tower rising up out of the sea turning the the birds into specks of white. Yes, those are birds. The wind blows here almost all the time. Our bus driver warns us to keep our distance from the edge. He advises women not to turn down the offer to a proposing lover while standing too close to the edge for fear that he might jump on impulse. Move back twenty feet and then tell him what you wouldn't do if he were the last man on earth.

And then, there is the rainbow. We've seen a couple here already, probably because the odds of seeing a rainbow go up markedly when it rains every day. It is not quite that bad, but there is nearly a 100% chance that the weatherman will be wrong 50% of the time. No one needs the luck of the Irish more than the weatherman.

No one needs the luck of the Irish more than the weatherman. On the left.

Whatever my disillusionment with the world and
church, I cannot dismiss the surge of hope within my soul to view the sun rising over a gathering of Christians receiving communion on the rocky shores of Galway Bay.

Why Are We in Ireland

"Why are we in Ireland?" people ask. I wish I knew how to answer that.

I would like to say that it is the beautiful rainbow showcasing the sky out the glass door of our bedroom.

Or the way the sun rises and sets on Galway Bay, every day with its own special beauty, unduplicated, unanticipated.

Perhaps we came to Ireland because we knew how the sun would reflect off the modern windows of an ancient tower.

Then there was the conference on spirituality that just happened to be at the right time and the right place while we were in this mythic Celtic land. Or the annual conference on astronomy.

But perhaps the best way to talk about why we are in Ireland is to sit by the Bay. For if you sit long enough and let the tide drain the waters out to the vast ocean, you will see a gigantic boulder field, a collection of great stones that you would never guess existed when they are deluged by high tide twice a day. Who would guess what emerges from the great sea?

So we are in Ireland, not because we know what is here, but because we are led to wait to see what God uncovers for us here in the great mystery of life. The most important things in life, do not happen while we are in control. They are a gift that appears above an horizon that we cannot touch. We wander hopefully. We wait with eyes as wide open as we can hold them. But for this, you need not fly across the sea. You only need to be awake to the gifts each day discloses.

As we await the Easter message in the morning, we are confident that in spite of the great sorrow in the world and our own misgivings, God is always waiting to uncover the great boulders of his love hidden just below the surface of the most common, ordinary events of our most precious lives.

Happy Easter and love to all.

Fe and Shawn.

Does Your Soul Love Water

If your soul loves water, Galway City is a place that could do you some good! I have never been in a place where water takes so many forms. There is the quiet water of the lochs (lakes) which reflect the mountains like giant mirrors. There is the rhythm of the ocean with the tides sneaking in and out. And then there is the Corrib River and all its streams.

They claim that the Corrib is the shortest and most powerful river in Europe. Galway is built around and on the river, and I mean literally on the river. Many buildings are constructed so that the river flows under them. Mustard’s is one of our favorite restaurants. We love to sit at the table next to the window where we can watch a branch of the river actually flowing under us. The water was once used to drive the water wheel of a mill, which still turns about 10 feet from our table.

But you can’t get the full effect of the rushing water here without hearing it. All up and down the river walkway the sound of the falling water is ever present. Unlike my native Ohio, it is crystal clear and shiny in the sun. That’s why I have included a video instead my customary photos in this blog.

And, of course, no blog from Ireland with sound would be complete with someone playing the Irish tin whistle. This young man is playing on Shop Street which always has a variety of musicians performing with their open instrument cases serving double duty as collection plates.