July 6, 2001

A special hello to everyone on our email list, those from the west side and the east side, teachers and students, out-of-towners, friends at the University and everyone else. We thought of you today as we were preparing to return to Cincinnati. Our last full day here was beautifully sunny and cool. The leprechauns were hiding in the deep woods since there was not a rainbow to be found. There are 3,000 motorcyclists in Killarney for a rally, but they are a well-behaved
group. There seems to be room for everyone here, and there certainly will be space for you. I can't think of any one of you who would not enjoy a trip to Ireland (maybe we'll all come over together when I win the lottery some day).

We loaded into the bus early and started our tour of the ring of Kerry. It is a circuitous route that mainly follows the shores of the middle peninsula in the southwest of Ireland. For me, it was saving the best for last. We stopped at several scenic overlooks as the bus took us up the hills above the bays and the open Atlantic. We traveled through several small towns along the way that owe their living mainly to tourism and farming. Again, we passed several world-class golf courses.

I never mentioned the farm fields and fences of Ireland. The fences are mainly made of stone. Some are used for farm husbandry to keep animal, plants and fields separate during different times of the season. Others were formed when acreage was subdivided and passed to heirs (landlords benefited from this by collecting additional rents). Many times, the fields are different colors and appear as a giant patchwork. As we passed through the mountains today, fences
reached up the steep hills, almost to the 3,000-foot height in some cases. These higher hillsides seemed almost barren, but sheep grazed there and the fences define boundaries (there's no shortage of rocks for building the fence-walls).

We stopped near a bay at lunchtime and walked to the beach for a few minutes. I wet dog looked at me with his head cocked to the side as I approached the water. I tossed a stick and he splashed into the water for the retrieve. I did it again, and he brought me the stick a second time. I did it once more and he walked away (I feel like that too on some days).

Speaking of dogs, we stopped along the road to see a demonstration of sheep dogs. The sheep were high up in the hills, maybe 500 yards away. The trainer sent one of his younger dogs to bring them down. He used a whistle and signaled left, right, down, stop and a few other commands. He called the young dog down and sent two others up the hill to do more advanced commands. The younger dog, a border collie, was placed on a chain and he watched the rest of the demo with great interest and attentiveness (in other words, he was so cute that I could have taken him home right then). Our entire group loved the demonstration.

When we traveled through one of the small towns, Sue, from Connecticut, and Mary, from Chicago, studied the names they saw on the buildings. They both had relatives from the small town and were pretty sure that they shared relatives. They had never met before, and Sue and Mary saw their names displayed several times. Edith and her family have a renewed interest in genealogy, and it looks like the Duffy-Porter research project will move to the next stage (oh Lord, please save me).

Speaking of Edith, when I returned from the bus ride, I found her in the room in a very good mood. It seems that her ankle is still swollen and blue, but she was well enough to walk into town. She slept till noon, wrote and sent an email, did a little shopping and went to the bakery for lunch. When Anne came to our room, she and Edith spoke in some kind of code understood only by women and then had Bruce and me escort them back into town to check out the stores.

We will leave for the airport tomorrow morning at 7:30 Ireland time and arrive in the Cincinnati at 9 p.m. Saturday after a short layover in Chicago.

Ireland Main