She Woke Up in Killarney!

Most of you know that I traveled to Ireland early this fall with my 84-year old mother, my sister (age withheld, but she's 6-1/2 years younger than me ;), my 30 year-old son....and I'm 61 years old.  The ages are significant for my post.  As we traveled we obsessed a bit about our agenda...really more about keeping track of our agenda.  My sister diligently studied, researched and planned our itinerary.  She was also my co-pilot and navigator...I did the driving (on the wrong side of the road, and the wrong side of the car.  That's right....not opposite; it's wrong! There's just something unnatural about the driving there.  God never meant it to be that way, I'm sure! LOL)

So, along the way, we would have to re-orient ourselves frequently to 1) where we were, 2) where we were going, and 3) why we planned that!  Our memories failed us several times.  So we would say at least once each day, "OK, we're going to wake up in ___________," and then we'd have our bearings.  If we just knew where we were going to start the day, it all made sense to us.

Thus...(finally, I'm sure your thinking), the inspiration for this Heart Art canvas creation.  I wanted something to commemorate my trip to Ireland, remind me of some special things I loved AND it all had to go with my new decor colors.  Without any more to-do....

Here's my girl!  The title...."She woke up in Killarney!"  And I did!  And I loved it.  The whole Killarney experience was fantastic.  Killarney is in County Kerry, Ireland.  Here we stayed in one of my favorite B & B's, toured Muckross House, and took a horse and buggy ride ("jarvey"), driven by the most delightful old Irish gentleman.  I will forever remember the twinkle in his eye. Here's my mother in the jarvey with him and my son, Matt, standing near by. 

He drove us through the estate grounds, giving the history of trees and flowers.  Many were imported to the estate.  He asked us about our travels and when we told him we were going around the Ring of Kerry the next day and that we were nervous about the narrow roads, he chuckled.  In the most delightful brogue he advised us to "stall and let the other guy do the driving." Excellent advice.  That's exactly what I did!  Here are some photos of the estate grounds.

The photos do no justice to the vast spectrum of greens we saw.  No wonder they call Ireland the "Emerald Isle."  When designing my Irish lass, I incorporated some old sheet music titled Killarney...click to enlarge so you can see the lyrics.  Perfect, don't you think?

I purchased some lace while in the gift shop (not this lace....I wouldn't be puttin' the real thing on there now, would I!?). 

The sights of this wonderful estate and castle nestled in the hills of Killarney did indeed "charm the eye."

 

As our jarvey driver drove us away from the house, we took a different way back to our car and stopped by this waterfall (still on the estate grounds!) along the way.  Can you imagine have a waterfall like this in your back yard?!

I will forever be grateful that God granted me the blessing of waking up in Killarney (on TWO mornings! 

 

We headed off to the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Penisula and the most incredible views of the ocean. But those photos are for another day.

I will never be the same again.  I now hold a piece of Ireland in my heart. (Represented by the silver heart on my girl.)  There's always been a wee bit of it in my blood...but now it is forever a part of my most treasured memories. The closer to Galway where my mother's family ties are, the more we felt like we were coming home.  If you love Celtic music, listen to this!

Blessing on your day....Irish blessings!