Worn out, wrecked, wondering why we put ourselves through that after the lessons learned on our last 'staycation'. Myself and my four buddies had a really 'mixed bag' for the two weeks, during which we managed to entertain (and be 'entertained' by) between a combination of ten and fifteen 'young adults' (as they like to think of themselves as!) and younger kids, with a helping-hand every so often from our husbands and, sometimes, from the boyfriends and girlfriends of the 'young adults' that were with us.
We had two days in Wicklow, in the beautiful village of Kilmacanogue, which is built for relaxation, unlike kids and 'young adults', who want excitement and 'something to do' and who don't want a mountain walk and a picnic. Then home to try and prepare ourselves for a trip to Dublin Zoo, preparation for which actually took a day but was more or less worth it ; twelve of us went, but only ten came back! The other two 'young adults' (a girl and boy in their late teens) went 'awol', both mobile phones switched off and no contact with or from them until later that evening - they had gone off exploring the zoo on their own, both of the opinion that they were too 'old' to be seen with older or younger people, and made their own way home later in the evening, oblivious to the heart-attacks they had left behind.
And we enjoyed two days, too, in County Meath, at a holiday home, into which we managed to squeeze fifteen people, of various ages,most of whom enjoyed the scenery and the peace and quiet but some of whom were 'bored, nothing to do, no wi-fi..' etc and hadn't much interest in exploring the woods beside us but, still, the fresh air done us all good. We were also in the Phoenix Park and Corkagh Park twice, and Stephens Green as well and, in between the outings and the madness, some of us enjoyed the diversion that was offered by the RSF Comhairle in Dublin, whom we assisted in running a very successful 650-ticket fund-raising raffle for, which was held on Sunday, 12th May last. Anyway - as a break away from the normal it scored 100% but, as an actual holiday ...well, a 'staycation' will never rival what we find in NYC!
We'll be back on Wednesday, 22nd May next with, among other pieces, a few paragraphs about an Irish 'dissident' who walked 150 miles across an Irish Province to escape a pursuing British military force, a 'poacher-turned-gamekeeper' who turned the right way and every Irish republican's 'Queen'.
See you on the 22nd - and thanks for checking in with us today!
Sharon.
