Summer Wedding in Ireland

I have some catching up to do. In late June, we attended a wedding in Ireland. The bride's parents were neighbors of ours when we lived in Centreville, VA. We've known them for 30+ years. We were joined by two other couples from the old neighborhood. It was so much fun catching up while feeling like we could all pick up as if no time had gone by at all.

I feel certain that everyone has heard, and maybe experienced, the chaos surrounding air travel. We had the extra excitement of flying RyanAir for the first time. It was very disorganized with lots of long queues and standing around. This is a picture I took in the Lisbon airport of the beginning of the queue to get to our boarding gate. Way, way, way too many people. At some point during the boarding process, we decided that we would not be flying RyanAir again.

We arrived in Dublin a few days before the wedding. It was Pride Week and the city was awash with rainbows. We saw some of the Pride Parade on Saturday which was really fun. There were lots of people watching the parade. Of course, the people watching was as interesting as the parade itself. It did our hearts good to see so many government agencies, e.g., fire department, with floats celebrating equality.

During our visit to Dublin, we enjoyed strolling around, visiting pubs, and seeing the Book of Kells. The best part to me is the long room in the old library at Trinity College.

The day before the wedding, our hosts (the fabulous Mary & Kevin English) provided bus transportation to the wedding venue in Dundalk, which is about an hour north of Dublin.

Quick intermission: It was on this ride when I heard one of the young American lads (maybe a groomsman) tell a story. He said he was in a pub in Dublin when an American guy went to the bartender and said, "Do you have Guinness?" The bartender just looked at him and did not answer. The guy asked again. "Do you have Guinness?" Finally, the bartender turned away to pour the beers and, under his breath, said, "Feckin" Americans."

The wedding was held at Bellingham Castle. This was the nicest wedding venue I've ever been to. The staff was wonderful. They had Irish Wolfhounds to greet you. The accommodations were sublime. The food was excellent. Aside from the beauty of the place, we really enjoyed meeting so many of Mary , Kevin, and (bride) Catherine's friends and Irish cousins. What a lovely gathering of fun, funny, and interesting people.

As I was reviewing the photos to post, I realized that I did not get any of Mary and Kevin. I'm sure they will forgive me. But here are photos of three of the Woodleaf Court originals who attended.

L to R: Karen & Brian Heagney, Kathy and Phil Orchard-Hays, Will Rafferty & Winnie Graybard.

Postscript: Remember when I said that the Lisbon airport was crowded? While alive with Pride, Dublin was crowded, too. Well, as it turns out, both Will and I managed to get COVID somewhere along the way. We both isolated for a week. That was fun. I stopped feeling crappy after a few days. Will coughed incessantly for another week. We are now back to 100% which is about 47% of everyone else's 100%. In other words, we're fine.