Day One - Not Done Yet

     On Monday, September 28, we spent the rest of the afternoon driving the Ring of Kerry. The sights of the coastline on such a sunshiny day took your breath away. We couldn’t get over the serenity of the scenery, and the visual dichotomy of the rough stone walls and soft green fields. 

Along the Ring of Kerry, in the afternoon

     The tour at that point in the afternoon became quiet. We had Irish music playing for a while. Some tried to lose the jet lag from the trip the day before. We needed to have some quiet time to absorb everything we all saw so far.

     One of the highlights of the afternoon was a visit to Kissane Sheep Farm. Here we got a chance to watch border collies in training. It was fascinating to watch the young pup collies being trained by their humans to herd the sheep. The two trainers showed us all how the dogs respond to the individual handler on command. 

Kissane Sheep Farm - Yes, it's a working farm!

One of the border collie handlers explaining how they train the dogs

     The process requires the handler and the dog to bond completely. One dog’s handler cannot call another handler’s dog. Their signals are unique to each command, too.  Each dog knows their position in the herd. They can drive the herd up steep mountainsides and down into valleys… or directly into the enclosures. 

Border Collies in action...

...moving sheep together in the herd...

...keeping the sheep together toward the pen...

or collecting them from around the hillside

Time to lose the excess coat

     Our bus tour guide, Mort, took a count after we were finished at the sheep farm. His goal was to get us all as many experiences as possible in his home town of Killarney. He did that with a quick ride around the Killarney State park. Well, he didn’t drive us… his brother, Miah, did… in his horse-drawn buggy. We had an hour’s tour with Miah around a picturesque state park and preserve. He pointed out the brown deer herds in the park, which were running freely. It was getting close to mating season for the deer, so we got a chance to see some “courtship” and “deer dating”. Nothing nasty, mind you. Just educating us all on how deer tend to herd from year to year.

On our buggy ride through the Killarney State Park

Herd of brown deer ready for mating

Now this is a tea room

     In the park is one of the nicest castles I’ve seen yet. We rode past it on one side of the lake. As we got closer, we spotted a sizable crowd touring the inside, and passed on joining them. We needed to be back at the Malton Hotel in time for our dinner seating. We also needed time to get ready for the evening’s activities.

Castle in the park

Killarney State Park - a quiet place to walk, or hike...

...or just enjoy nature's glory

Across the lake

As evening comes

      I felt like I was in a time warp in the dining room. Each place was set formally for the entire meal. We were waited on quite well in this hotel, and given ample time between courses to enjoy the social parts of the meal. Our menu was set each time: an appetizer or salad (choice of four), a main course (choice of four), and dessert (again, four).  Roll and butter were waiting for us. Spirited drinks were available separately. Many nights our table shared a bottle of wine, which added to the dining pleasure.

Malton Hotel, Killarney

Sunset over Killarney

      Tonight, though, we were heading to a local theater to see “Celtic Steps”. This is a troupe of musicians and dancers who focus on the music of historical Ireland. As we watched, we all could pick out similarities to American music and dances. It’s well known that the Scottish and Irish settled up and down the East Coast of the United States. The congregated in the South Central portions of the Appalachian Mountains. What we call Bluegrass Country music has its instrumental roots in Ireland. What we call square dancing, has its roots in the Irish reels. I, personally, felt like I found a piece of American history root in the Old Sod.

Waiting for the show to begin

     Back at the hotel after the show, many of our group decided to check out the local pubs. Well, it was only a short walk to town from our hotel, so why not? There were a sizable number of us who decided to rest a bit before Tuesday’s adventures… but we did so only after a night cap or several down in the hotel bar. After all, tomorrow we were headed to Blarney. We needed all of our strength to kiss the Stone if we chose to do so. Then it was off to old Dublin Towne.

Photos by Marge McGugan. No reuse without permission.