Good times in Ireland 🇮🇪

Growing up in Ireland even though it was tough a lot. Ireland is a beautiful country. I love the winding roads with the rock built walls and the abandoned castles that lie on the country roads. I can remember we got our milk delivered to us in glass bottles with a donkey and a cart and then a three wheeled car. The milk had about an inch of cream on the top of it. Galway is such a beautiful county. Galway is on Ireland’s western seaboard. Its has rolling hills and farmland plains. To the west are bogs, heathered hills, lakes and mountains of Connemara. The park shelters a herd of Connemara ponies that run wild on the countryside. The county capital, Galway City, is known for its traditional music.

As a child growing up in Ireland I can remember happier times when we all would load up in our car and head to the beach in the ring of Kerry. We got to camp in tents. The beaches were long and very Sandy. My dad once drove his car into the beach and the tide started to come in and he got stuck and had to be towed out. He was hopping mad. My sister Lynn and I got to ride donkeys and my donkey always seemed to have it’s own mind. It constantly stopped to eat. If you’ve ever tried to get a donkey moving well it’s next to impossible. They are so stubborn. Lynn loved horses so she rode a horse instead. I stuck to the donkey.

We would spend all day at the beach running,playing often in the cold ocean. We flew out kites ate outside and then collapsed into bed. I used to dream of camping at the ring of Kerry. It was so much fun and my dad and mom were kind to me like they really loved me. I hated going home because as soon as we got home life returned to abuse. Why couldn’t I have normal parents? I would see glimpses of love.

Every Sunday my dad would take me fishing with him. I loved that so much because I got to spend special time with my dad. He would go to fishing competitions and I would go and hang out with all the fishermen. As I got older I would compete with the others. You got given a spot to fish in on a canal. You had all your fishing equipment and you had about 4 or 5 hours of fishing. Every fish you caught would go into your net. As a child I knew how to bait your hook with maggots and sometimes you could catch with a piece of squished up bread. I knew how to cast out your fishing rod and how to lure in your fish. I would enter competitions with grown men and women and win prizes. I loved going for me it was freedom from my hellish life and a way to spend time with my dad. Afterwards we always went to the pub for crisps and I used to drink shanty’s they have a tiny bit of beer in them and lemonade. I felt so grown up and again loved.

I also remember going on picnics with my family and spending the day near the river. We would go to the Wicklow mountains. Another lovely spot. The countryside in Ireland is vast. Dublin is a great city but when I grew up there it was a very poor city with lots of crime. Often when I would go you would see cars with no wheels because they had been stolen right off the car or burned out vehicles. Crime was huge. My sister and I witnessed a bank robbery. We were standing in the sidewalk when masked men ran in with their guns. Dublin now is a very different city and huge for tourists.

I’m glad that I have good memories of Ireland I now could go back and visit. I have kept in touch with my school friends and my best friend Karen still lives there with her husband. I will write about her and I in another post. She was my best friend in school and today we can pick where we left off. I love that. She’s coming in the Spring on a cruise ship and I plan to spend the day with her and her husband. I can’t wait. ❤️