How I miss you and our adventures! When people ask me how the trip went, I brag about the great group of people, the wonderful weather, and the fun we had. I hope you feel the same.
I have some small and interesting things to share with you. I thought I’d create a post so I could add photographs and links. Here goes.
Dave Yeates, our beloved Ireland driver-guide, will be in Atlanta from November 15th to 17th. I am tentatively planning a get-together at my house for you with him for Friday, November 16th. So pencil that in, but Dave’s plans are not final yet. Remember that last time we tried to have a reunion with him he was trapped on a Florida key by a hurricane! I will keep you posted as to his plans. If you are not Facebook friends with Dave, you should be! Dave says that there has been no rain in Ireland for six weeks and “the grass has thrown in the towel.” A Belfast friend posted the photo to the left on Facebook. They’ve had a record-breaking heat wave there with temperatures in the eighties for days.
I have many fun and meaningful memories from the trip–conversations with you, words from guest speakers, the view of Loch
Lomond from my hotel room window, jokes, beautiful valleys with sheep and pheasants, awesome works of art or creativity, and more. But one of my favorite moments was this exchwith Betty Derrick.
Betty to Christine: “You’re different from other academics.”
Christine, suspiciously: “What do you mean?”
Betty: “You’re normal!”
Thank you, Betty!
Click here to see the collection of the poems and six-word essays submitted to our final Poetry Contest. Thanks to all who participated. Your thoughts and humor added a lot to the trip experience. There were others, of course, but these are the ones sent to me. You may not have realized it, but your group also pioneered a new form, the “unwittinging” or “spontaneous” six-word essay.
Mary Underwood has been corresponding with Thomas Turley, youth group leader and one of the two founders of the R-City Coffee project where we visited (remember hearing that people monitoring the surveillance camera thought–wishfully, perhaps, that our tour group standing on the roundabout might be a “protest”?). Regarding contributions to the work with youth, he told her that checks in American dollars would be fine. If you are so inclined, here is the information.
R City Youth
Ardoyne Youth Club, Old Bell Tex Mill
Flax Street
Belfast, BT14 7EJ
Don’t forget to go on to Tripadvisor and rate the hotels and other places we visited. I’m sure that the Townhouse Hotel and Burt’s Hotel in Melrose would be especially appreciative of your input, as would Abbotsford, Bowhill House, and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. It is always nice to mention a particular guide’s name in the reviews if you thought the person earned it. We did have some excellent and amusing guides. I still remember our Abbotsford guide’s shock when I told him that there were people in the group who had recently read one or more of Scott’s novels. “I need to sit down,” he said.
husband in the gift shop in the lovely village of Luss beside our Loch Lomond hotel. Ron loves it–I love it! About ten inches long with a horn handle, it is both beautiful and pleasant to hold. I can’t wait for oatmeal season. Thanks to the mysterious spurtle buyer!