Laurie Heath Studio: Wonderfully Made

After Cashel we drove further west to the Dingle Peninsula, where we stayed in a neat B&B in Dingle Town.



One night we ate dinner at a fairly fancy restaurant -- here are some of the things we ate and drank:



Then we walked across the street to a pub where we lucked into absolutely the three most terrific musicians in all of western Ireland: Steve, Eoin (pronounced like Owen) and John. All three were masters of their instruments, Steve on "the box" or cajon drum, Eoin on uillean (pronounced illin) pipes and low whistle, and John on guitar and vocals. Tyler had read in our Rick Steves book just how to find the best seats in the house. Now if only there had been any sort of light besides a couple of bare red bulbs, all would have been perfect in our world!

The next day we took a driving tour of the Dingle Peninsula Loop, which is filled with many ancient historic sights. Our first stop was at Dunbeg Fort. This first set of photos is what we saw on our way down the hill. Did you know that it's much easier to walk downhill than uphill?

And here's what we saw when we reached the fort. Rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Rocks craftily piled into buildings that have stood for thousands of years. When you need to build a building or a fence and all you have are rocks, you get to be pretty good at stacking them so they'll stand forever.

This shot is for my brother Mark, master stonemason:

Most visitors to Dunbeg are content to take photos of the rock walls. Maggie prefers to climb on them.

So many unique and beautiful flowers grow everywhere in Ireland. I think I'm going to put together a calendar featuring them.

After our hike back up the hill at Dunbeg, we stopped at the visitor center on the peninsula. Curtis admired these vintage cars in the parking lot:

We were enjoying a picnic lunch there at tables thoughtfully provided for us when suddenly Maggie said, "Ummmm, has anyone else noticed the sheep?" We turned around and saw ...

Never fear. The flock had not come on their own to join our picnic but were being herded by their master and trusty sheepdog.

I finished snapping these photos and turned to catch Maggie and Tyler's reaction -- just in time to see a sheepishly smiling young man coming out to tell us that we'd been eating our picnic lunch in front of a restaurant, not the visitor's center as we'd assumed. He was apologetic but firm, and reminded us to pick up our rubbish before leaving. We scurried away even faster than the sheep had.

In a couple of days I'll share the rest of our peninsula tour with you. Slainte!