I'm not as disciplined on this blog as I was at the beginning.  It's now almost two weeks since my last post.  But, I'm determined to keep it up.  My last post ended with preparations for Thanksgiving dinner so I'll recap that day. 

In addition to our friend Dorothy, who was visiting from Atlanta, we invited four new friends we have made here in Ireland.  None of them had experienced an American Thanksgiving in the past so it was a treat to shepherd them through the best of all American holidays.  I tried a few new things, most notably stuffed walnuts and dried fruit and nut stuffing, but for the most part it was as traditional as I could get. The stuffed walnuts came about because we couldn't find the traditional Diamond Nut collection in the shell and I knew that I had to stuff myself with walnuts in advance of the meal if it was going to be my idea of Thanksgiving.  The stuffing happened because I learned that Alan thinks my mother's traditional beef and pork recipe is heavy (who knew). 

There were several firsts, the pumpkin pie (described in my last post) was made from scratch and a fresh turkey.  The pie was a little more fibrous than that which is made from canned pumpkin but good nonetheless.  The turkey was a little disconcerting at first, I'm used to slow thawing a rock-frozen bird with all the feathers off and the skin kinda whitish and smooth.  The fresh version, as least what's on offer here, still had a few feathers sticking to the kinda purple skin, broken in several places.  I was very concerned with keeping it cool during the overnight it was in our teeny refrigerator.  I have to say, though, the turkey was a triumph! We are still eating leftovers. 

The meal was just great.  We started with each person's thankful list and that segued into some great conversation.  All of the participants complemented one another very well.  It was a completely pleasant meal and evening.  One of our guests brought us a bottle of Midleton Irish Whiskey, a limited edition libation in the price range of the finest single malt Scotch (but better since it's Irish).  At the conclusion of our meal, we each had a little taste of that neat (except, Mary, the driver) and after several bottles of the Majorca wine we saved for the occasion from our trip there we were all pretty mellow.  It was a really fun day.

The following day, Dorothy and I took an overnight trip to Belfast.  We went to the Titanic Museum, newly opened this year, 100 years after the sinking. It was a really good museum, particularly the way they did the film of the launch of the ship.  The historic film was somehow superimposed on a window at the spot where the ship went in the water when it was launched in 1911.  You could still see some of the features of the port and the mountains behind in both the film and reality.  It was quite spectacular.  I'd wanted to take Dorothy to Cork, the ship's last call in Ireland before sinking, but there just wasn't time in her visit to do all we wanted.  That evening we went to a pub for traditional Irish music.  As I'd experienced in the past, and prepared her for, the musicians play for themselves, not an audience.  Unlike our early experience in Dublin where the pub was so crowded and loud we couldn't hear a thing, this one was pretty empty and quiet.  The musicians were really great and there was also a singer with a beautiful voice.  It was perfect.  

We had a quiet weekend after returning to Dublin on Saturday evening but on Monday she and I took a day tour to the Hill of Tara, the inauguration site of 140 Irish kings during the millennium before the English took over; and Newgrange, a megalithic passage tomb that has been preserved.  I'd been to Newgrange several times but this was my first trip to the Hill of Tara and it was well worth it.  They say you can see 22 of the 26 counties in the Republic from there.  We were fortunate to visit on a sunny and bright day and the view was spectacular. 

To our great sadness, Dorothy left on Tuesday morning.  Her visit was too short, we've prevailed on her to plan another visit and stay a month! Dorothy's was the last scheduled visitor for us and I expect we won't see any American friends again until the spring, at least.  We will have to content ourselves with travel in Europe till then.  Our next adventure will be the Christmas program at a resort in Northern Ireland.  We will fly into Donegal, visit my mother's grave and some of her family and then drive North to Fermanagh.  Since booking we have learned that the G8 will meet at that resort in the spring, so that's made me think the place is going to be pretty nice. 

Next week we have been invited to the family get together of the Hannigans', the family that the Dignam family has known for over 100 years.  The great grandchildren of the family my Aunt Lilly worked for as a nanny/barmaid are our (younger but still boomer) contemporaries and, although I've known the first son, John and his family for many years, and have gotten to know the eldest sister Frances since coming here last spring, I haven't seen the other siblings since I was 19 and there were little kids scrabbling around the table during my several visits to Ireland in 1968 and the early 70's.  We are looking forward to it.