How to Become a Librarian: 11. My Dingle-ing

A couple weekends ago, I went to Dingle. Thursday night I stayed out a little too late with a new friend from school and prepared myself for what I guessed would be about a 2-hour drive to wherever Dingle was the following day. When you're invited out of town for the weekend, my advice is to just say yes. Why not? I got in the car, hungover mind you, only to be casually informed that I was in for a 4 1/2 - 5 hour drive. Dingle is on the Southwest coast of Ireland. I struggled to stay awake and be social and by the time we got there and I saw the house we were staying in, it was well worth it. It was so nice with the biggest backyard overlooking a huge pasture where sheep and cows magically alternated appearances every morning.

That night, we all went for a "couple of scoops," which I thought meant ice cream cones, and was a little disappointed to learn that scoops mean beers, but I guess it's a win-win situation. The pub had a bar on one side and a messy hardware store counter on the other. One of the people there said a friend of his jokingly asked for a Guinness and a screwdriver, but the bartender came back and charged him for both. Dingle was such a charming little shore town with views of cliffs and oceans like I had never seen before. It was really amazing stuff - see below. I couldn't help but wonder how more sheep don't fall off the cliffs, though. Wouldn't you think there would be more sheep fatalities because the grassy cliffs really did go straight down to the ocean in some places? I could just imagine that looking off the side of a cliff and seeing a sheep floating below would be a more common thing.

I took a picture of this huge cow or bull (?) in the pasture behind our house. As I got right up close to it - because I'm used to the friendly dairy cows at the state fair - I realized that the wooden fence holding it in, maybe 15 feet away from me, really wouldn't hold it if it started running for me or something. I had my little camera out, but I really didn't know what to do except stand there because it was really scoping me out. That's when I realized I had on a red dress. Luckily, I didn't move, got a picture, and the bull or cow(?) went back to eating grass.

Last Thursday, it was Arthur's Day, as in Arthur Guinness. I like Dublin for these little made up holidays that it feels like everyone in the city goes out to celebrate. The cool thing about this one is that surprise acts play in all the pubs. I was so jealous that one of my friends got to see Mumford and Sons play at this little place for 200 people. I got to see the best accordionist I've ever seen. It was like he was in fast-forward - really getting down with the guitarist. Good stuff.