Kickin' it Home 2013

This past wknd I joined a kickball team in a tournament to raise money for Youth Services of Brattleboro.   Played at the new West River Park, there were 16 teams total, broken into two brackets. The 1st set of teams to begin at 8:30am, and the second set to start around 1pm.  The winners of the 1st and 2nd brackets were scheduled to play for the Championship around 6pm. By the luck of the draw, or not so lucky, my team The Cult (Cultural Intrigue) was scheduled to play first... aka super cold and super early on a Saturday morning.  

Apparently the event was much more structured than last year, but there were still some inconsistencies which may/may not be addressed in future tourneys. The umps on one field would call 3 fouls an out, while the other field only two.  Sometimes we could have 10 players and sometimes only 9. We weren't required to have an official lineup or set positions. We just kicked in order of who ever felt like kicking, and I played Left Field, Right Field, 3rd base and toward the end designated myself Catcher so I could nurse a pulled hip flexor which occurred early in game 4.   

The whole thing was ridiculously comical and the main field was definitely the place to be. There was a food vendor, music bumping, and hilarious play by play commentary by Fish Man, one of our local Dj's He basically took the role of Bob Uecker in the movie Major League, making light of all our quirks and less than stellar moves on the field.  There were teams of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities.. The Cult being one of the more eclectic teams. I saw shoes go flying and people running bases 1/2 barefoot, and we had quite a few time-outs due to dog interruption (mostly one dog in particular) who clearly wanted to join in the fun, taking their own turns at rounding the bases.   

The Cult clenched 3rd place in our bracket getting knocked out in game 5 by Vintage Steel.  Not to shabby considering it was our fist time all playing together.  Vintage Steele then went on to play Lawton Floor Design in the finals. Lawton's had an all star lineup, all of whom were fantastic athletes through HS and college, and continue to play competitive sports now their later years.. no offense of course. Not only did they win the whole thing but I'm fairly certain they went undefeated.  I'm friends w/most of their players and congratulate them with the utmost sincerely, but I'm extremely relieved that we never had to play against them... don't be fooled by their team photo, they're way more intimidating than they appear :))

I never would have thought that a friendly kickball tournament would turn into such a grueling and exhausting task... resulting in many a pulled mussel, minor scrapes and bruises, even a questionable broken toe (and that was just my team alone, ha).  I passed out on the couch 8pm ish, and awoke around 1am with all the lights on, TV still on, staring at a lovely glass of wine w/only one sip taken out of it.  I guess this older 30-something couldn't handle the competitive twist on an innocent childhood game quite like she thought she could.  I praise the Lord that I had no commitments or places I needed to be today.  I'm still not moving very quickly.  In fact, all day I've been doing my darndest to not have to move at all...creak, groan, creak, groan.

(Lawton Flooring pics by Meghan McLaughlin and Gina Ballantine Pattison)

Home again, home again...

Well I made it back safe and sound. And what a fantastic trip it was.

Highlights of the trip include an impromptu, yet fantastic Pub crawl in Dublin .  Kissing the Blarney Stone, of course.  Visiting the town of Chobe, which was the last port of call for the Titantic before she sank and tourimg through the Titantic museum. Tooling around the cool beachtown of Dingle (no joke, thats what its really called), and reuniting w/my dear friend Orna.

 

Not so highlights of the trip included blokes on bikes hogging up the narrow roads... making an already dangerous situation much more dangerous. The lack of decent cuisine... It was always a crapshoot when u ordered something, ya never really knew what it would entail. The fact that I was surrounded by water yet it was so damn cold that swimming and diving were not an option. (1st vacation in a long time that did not involve scuba diving). Oh and poor fishy didn't transition very well at the sitters and apparently gave up the will to live w/in days of arriving....RIP Ruby Sue! (And I'm so sorry u had to deal w that Maribeth... eek). 

But as fun/fastinating as it all was, its good to be back. Im ready to get back to my normal routines.  Back to work to earn back all the money i spent.  Back to my workouts to counteract the reduculous amounts of heavy beers and fried foods I consumed daily (I can guarantee it will be Thanksgiving before I eat another form of potato, and even then I may have to pass).  And back to my comfey bed, snugly dog, and driving around in a car with ease.  

So thanks again to the "land of saints and scholars".  You've given me many memories and many reasons to keep these Irish eyes a smilin for quite some time. 

PS... For my non FB peeps, as promised i have gone back to my previous blogs and posted related pics... Sláinte!!!

Wrapping it up

Well it's been nearly two weeks since I've stepped foot on this beautiful island.  And since last catching up I've been all over the place. Our plan was to take day trips from Listowel to various places inland and on the coast.  And day trips it's been.  In the car out of the car, in the car out of the car.  Stop here to see this, stop there to see that... a real live Lampoon vacation.

I've seen more spray painted sheep butts, driven along more redicously narrow cliffside roads, and oooed n awed at enough glorious patchworks of green to last quite a while.  I've visited Midleton, Killarney, Tralee,  Cobh, Kinsale, Ballybunnion, Tobert, Dingle, Banna Strand, Fenit, Ardfart, Cork, Limerick... And a gazillion towns in between. All beautiful and unique in their own special way.

Tomorrow it's back to Dublin for the remainder of the journey where we will grasiously bid that rental goodbye.  Herts should really consider changing their rates... boy did they get screwed out of our unlimited milage.

P.S.  For those who worked w me at Sea World in San Diego, I've got plans to meet up with Orna Murphy on Friday night.  I'll be sure to give her your best :))

Kissing the Blarney Stone.

One thing I've always wanted to do was kiss the Blarney Stone. And as of yesterday I can officially cross that off my bucket list.  The Blarney Stone is located on top of Blarney Castle, in the town of Blarney and there are a couple of theories on how/why the stone exists.  Nobody really knows for sure, but legend has it that if you kiss the stone you will be blessed with the gift of eloquence. 

The line to get in the castle was ridiculously long, but I was bound and determined. After an hours wait I was in. I meandered up the 100 spiraled stoned steps touring the castle as I ascended. On the top level is where the Blarney Stone lays. It's embedded w other stones on the vertical, exterior wall of the castle.  All the other stones are smaller in size and rough in texture. But the Blarney Stone is long and smooth... perfect for a smooch. 

And achieving that kiss is no easy task. You must lay on your back, hang on to the railings, bend backward upside down, slide down to the rock and pucker up. There's one guy who hangs on to you as your dangling 10 stories above the ground, while another guy snaps unflattering photos of you in very uncompromising positions.

One things for certain, its a good thing I'm not a germaphobe.  The amount of mouths and germs that have been smeared all over that rock is a bit much for some; including my uncle and my mother.  But God less them,  they waited in that stupid line with me w/out any intentions of ever kissing the rock. Thanks family!

We have since made it to Listowel.  We are staying in my Uncles friends house. They live in the States and only use this house a couple weeks out of the year so we have free run of the place. This will be our home base for the next week and we plan to make day trips to other sights and attractions.  Not sure what's on the agenda for the next few days but if its blog worthy you can bet you'll be hearing about it.  

Dub day 2 and then some

As fate would have it, on a random Sunday afternoon, I managed to land my arse in the oldest pub in Ireland (or so they claim).  Brazen Head Pub established in 1198 ... www.brazenhead.com.  And as fate would have it, the daily live entertainment was about to begin. The only seat left in the pub was next to the musicians and probably the best seat in the house.. Lucky me 

The entertainment was to begin at 3:30 sharp. And at 3:30 there was no indication that they would begin anytime soon.   3 older gentleman to start and 3 more who ambled they're way in w/in the hour. By 4:30 things were in full swing, and the place was hoppin.

6 crazy ole Irishmen and  11 different instruments between them:  2 guitars, a flute, hand crafted banjo, the accordion, another type of squeeze box, the fiddle, a set of cow bells, the Irish drum thing, wispy drums, and the magical man playing the spoons!!  And they were all characters in their own right which made it that more awesome.

One guy ordered a water, dropped some alkaseltzer and chuggaluged... clearly he had had a rough night. The next guy started doing bumps of snuff (tobacco that u snort.  Typically enjoyed after dinner when served coffee).  one guy was drinking hot tea n whiskey while another stumbled in later w/ a half lit roll your own "cigarette". These guys were hilarious. Totally unprofessional but 1000% real... the way it should be.  They had a bell they would ring to keep the audience under control, or grab our attention when a song included some sort of audience participation.  And they sang the best of the best Irish Pub tunes (often times singing the naughty, alternative versions which I had never heard before and definitely can't repeat in my PG13 blog).

I basically had to be pried outta there. I love live music, I love pints, and I love getting to know the locals- i coulda stayed there all evening. With so many other things to see and explore it was time to bust a move. But a unique experience for sure and one I will cherish.

I have since left Dublin but will be returning again for a few days before going back to the States. Today we drove down the coast and hit up some sights along the way... All great! Tomorrow it's off to kiss the Blarney Stone, then make my way to the town of Listowel where I will be staying for a week or so.

No clue about Internet. It's been pretty hit or miss thus far.  And for some reason I can't post pics on my blog. But not to fear. I'm documenting everything and have albums in the works.  Pics and more blogs to follow.  Slainté 

Dublin day 1

Well I made it to Dublin safe and sound. And what a fantastic city this is!!  Step 1?  get a ticket for one of those hop on/hop off bus tours.  I figured this would be a good way for me to see  the city, get a lay of the land, figure out what i want to do for touristy things AND the ticket is good for 48hrs so i can use it as a cabbie to get around town for the next 2days. 

Step 2?  Time for a bite and a pint, and check out some of the gazillion pubs. 

The amount and quality of pubs in this town is amazingly overwhelming. Where to begin? So many to choose from, and if u find one you love its so hard to leave and move on to the next. However, the aftermath of souvenir shopping in the middle of a pub crawl is insanely sobering.  I've always been a sucker for those cheesy suvinor shops. I know it's all junk but I love it. And yesterday I loved it a little too much. 

I guess the plus side of my ridiculous shopping spree resulted in the completion of my Christmas shopping/birthday shopping/random "i saw this and had to get it for you!" shopping.  The down side of this? Day one of a two weeks holiday and i've already spent a ridiculous amount buying random junk for random people. All of which seemed excellent-at the time, but in hindsight what the heck was I thinking?  

Well Today I'm off to hit up my top tourist destinations that I scooped out yesterday. Among others,  Guinness brewery, Jamison distillery and O'Ryans pub are all on that list.   I promise not to let any lowered inhibitions take over and I will steer clear of any Carroll's Irish Gift Shops.  But just remember,  if its 2016 and you receive yet another "Grow your Own leprechaun" for the 3rd year in a row, at least you know i was thinking of you and my intentions were fantastic!  Besides, one can never have too many leprechauns :). 

Lets talk betta’s

On a whim, quite a few years back, I decided I’d take a stab at being a fish owner.  I didn’t want anything too fancy or too high maintenance, just a regular ole fresh water fish.  I decided on a pretty aqua blue betta and called him Fishie (not very creative I know, but it worked).  

Fishie and I were pretty close (well, as close as one can be w/a fish).  And I managed to keep him alive for over 5 years which is pretty rare in the betta world.  We went through break ups together, changed apartments together, drank beers together and I even had a regular fish-sitter for him whenever I’d take off for any length of time.

I had recently been toying with the idea of taking on another betta, and as of today there is a new addition to the 28 Olive household.  S/he is a half mooned twin fin betta, a beautiful red color and goes by the name Ruby.  Ruby has ditched her old plastic dish and lid, and now resides in a giant brandy snifter.  She’s rocking a cool Buddha ornament and some cheesy plastic plants for decorations, and as far as I can tell she seems to be digging her new pad.

I don’t really know what to expect w/Ruby.  I certainly don’t think she will live as long as Fishie did, and I know for a fact that she wont have to witness all the shenanigans that Fishie endured in my younger years.  But I am definitely excited to welcome Ruby as the newest member of the fam.

I’m headed to Ireland in a couple weeks, for a couple weeks, so I really need to get crackin on the fish-sitter sitch.  My previous fish-sitter is still living in San Diego... so, any volunteers??  8-10 pellets, two times a day and I will bring Ruby to you.  It doesn’t get much easier than that :)