i'm in ireland!

i arrive in ireland monday afternoon. after spending a beautiful, lazy sunday with a., m., and b. we spent a few hours lazing in the sunshine at a park near their flat. my friends j. and r. met me at the airport. the roads from shannon airport to doolin are curvy and little. did i mention they were curvy?

ireland is as green as folks told me it would be. green punctuated with yellow flowering bushes, grey dry-stone walls, brown and green hedgerows and cows. well, there are houses, too, but they all look the same to me. they all seem to have been improved in the past couple of years and all look the same - beige, dusty green, dusty yellow, dusty blue, beige. all pointy roof and flat finishes.

doolin is a small village by the sea. three music pubs and twice as many tourist shops - sweaters, silver celtic jewelry, sweaters, celtic music, jam. my b&b is wonderful. the proprietress is lovely and showed me to my room without formalities, i do feel like a guest in her home. and it is a beatiful home. a renovated farm house with a view of the ocean from the back and from the front a view of rolling pastures criss-crossed by ancient stone walls. and cows. the furniture in my room is pine and the bed is comfortable. there is a large window overlooking the pastures and i am content.