A day filled with local color . . .

Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Cloughjordan, Munster, Ireland
I slept in on my third day (still dark at 8 am!) and arose to enjoy a leisurely breakfast (best porridge ever) around 9 am. Afterward since there was a sauna in my private bathroom I took the opportunity to get really warm and loosened up. 

Around noon I met Pa and Lily in the eco-village, and we admired how the eco-hostel is coming along – it's looking quite good! Hopefully, it will be open in the next few months and having lots of interested visitors

After wandering around the construction site for a little while and visiting with some residents, we headed up to town where a hunt (yes, with horses, hounds, and the goal of tracking down a fox) was happening. For me, this was actually very exciting – look at the beautiful horses! The excited riders! The villagers ready to send them all off! And there go the dogs!!

What was also special about this hunt was that Sam, the young son of my hosts, was going on his first solo hunt. "It was brilliant!" he told me later – and he made every jump. (Sam’s passion for horse-flesh runs deep – when I first met him he was pony-shopping on the internet.)

That evening Sarah prepared a beef roast with veggies and mashed potatoes dinner (see Sarah cooking in her jodpurs!) and while we all dined together, we watched Sam on video, taking some of the jumps. He's excited to go again.

Then that evening for the after dinner entertainment, 3 of us played giant Jenga together (each block was the size of my hand, and we built Jenga towers almost as tall as Sam!) and I didn't suck and lose! Yeah!     

A brilliant day all the way around.

Diane

Comments

Leslie
2010-12-29

Glad the travel gods were with you on this trip and that you're having new adventures. I'm jealous of the fox hunt. You'd think I could find one somewhere here in Potomac... maybe in years gone by.

Edward Abby
2010-12-31

Keeping the hounds together!

Louise
2011-01-01

I envy you all the beatiful pictures!

2025-02-13

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