Ireland itself

Well, Ireland is almost painfully green. So green you almost ache with joy.

It was cloudy and drizzly most of time I was there this time. Which isn't much different from most of the other times I've been there. On Thursday, when one of the leaders was driving me and a participant from England back to Dublin, it was sunny and remarkable. A bit ahead of Connecticut in the coming of Spring though, I believe, a tad further north...and green, I kid you not, like this kind of green--GREEN!!!

And the Irish folks are like Canadians, calm and quiet and sweet.

And there are more accents on that small island than in the immensity that is the United States. At our completion with the leaders and assistants, I discovered that all the participants--except the one from England--knew that all three of the leaders had 'southern' accents--from Ireland. Most all the participants were from Northern Ireland, except for one from Dublin who grew up in America and was born in New Haven, CT, for goodness sake. Lord knows what the Irish make of her 20 years in Ireland accent.

I can't distinguish between the many accents, though I know they are different.

In our completion exercise, the Irish told me how 'American' the language of the workshop is and how some of it is off-putting for Irish folks.

Like this: the Promise of the Workshop is--"You can have anything you want out of the workshop that you are willing to stand for haven gotten at the end of the workshop."

Apparently, the word 'gotten' or even 'got' (as in: "I got it") is considered terrible grammar in Ireland. And one of the leaders told me how a relative made fun of her for saying "got".

Who knew? English is more than one language.

There are only 4 million or so folks on that Island and one and a quarter million of them live in Dublin. I tried to think of how many American cities have more people that all of Ireland. Half-a-dozen, I think.

And there are sheep and horses everywhere.

One of the participants told me that after the bust of the Celtic Boom, many horses were euthanized because people couldn't afford to keep them. What a painful reality. They really do kill horses, don't they.

I still wince when I think of that.

Such a glorious Island--greener than green can be--that had to do away with horses when the Boom went bust.

Ponder that, if you dare....