Our landlady was called out of town on Saturday afternoon, so she gave us our choice of staying at Lane Lodge or moving to another B&B. We were quite comfortable at Lane Lodge, so we stayed there and Theresa refunded the breakfast portion of our payment for the next two days.
Our Sunday plan was to awake early and buy breakfast along the way to church. However there aren't any breakfast-serving restaurants open before 10, and church starts at 10! So we went to church a little hungry. Neither of us had attended a Catholic Mass before (we didn't see any Protestant churches in Doolin, and we thought we wouldn't really get the whole Irish experience without attending one of their churches). There was a woman leading prayers or recitations or something when we entered. I couldn't understand her, but eventually the priest came out and began the service. Much of it was printed in the worship guide. He was a jolly person and it seemed like he would be fun to visit or have dinner with.
I was intrigued when I heard that the church commemorates the death anniversaries of people in the community. Although I find it odd that they pray for these people, I liked the idea of the entire church family remembering that it was the anniversary of when a loved one passed away. Perhaps because one of the people they remembered was “Baby Kennedy”, I found this custom both interesting and comforting.
The sermon was on the Feeding of the 5,000, and the priest made the point that Jesus ministered not only to people's spiritual needs, but to their physical needs as well. He was encouraging people to get involved in volunteer work, caring for and about each other – to do more than just attend church and listen to sermons.
A notice on the bulletin board told of a Polish priest and Polish services in the area.
After church we walked past the newer cemetery to the Doolin Crafts Gallery, which we hadn't known was so close when we explored the cemetery on Friday. They served us the most amazing assortment of cheeses, chutney and brown bread, as well as scones and tea. We ate in a charming garden, full of flowers and stone walkways. We took about fifty pictures – it was just the sort of garden I would have if I lived in a region where gardens grow lushly.
The store had some interesting jewelry and paintings and purses and hats and scarves and afgans. The owner of the shop was pleasant and chatty.
We returned to Fisher Street (the part of Doolin nearest Lane Lodge) for a little more browsing in the stores. I stopped in at the silversmith and told the lady that I appreciated their website and had planned our trip using it (http://www.celtic-designs.com/ –we got a lot of info from the Doolin Links page). The lady was happy to hear this and gave me the card I was admiring.
Back at Lane Lodge again, M watched a hurling game on tv while I napped. At dinnertime, we forgave O'Connor's because their seafood chowder smelled so good, and we went back – chowder for me and Irish stew for M. The man at the next table was wearing a “Hood to Coast” t-shirt, so we asked if they were from the northwest. They live in Portland – but the wife grew up in Las Vegas!
We walked to the beach after dinner, taking pictures of the rocks and the hillsides and Innisheer in the distance. Eventually we went back to O'Connor's to check out the music: banjo, two guitars, tin whistle, fiddle and accordion, and a musician's stomping foot. There was a woman singing some of the time, apparently some original songs. We had apple tart again.
One of the customers in the pub was a priest, wearing a black cassock. We overheard him telling someone else that he was from Phoenix, now serving as a priest in Rome, and staying in Doolin for a few days to celebrate his father's 73rd birthday. We heard sirens while we were there, and a waitress came and told the priest that perhaps someone was in trouble. He left his Guiness on the counter and went outside, soon to return saying “The woman is conscious and no one needs a priest.”
We walked out past Lane Lodge for a while in the late evening sun. We wandered past charming b&bs (one for sale), horses, cows, and a doberman. We got quite near a ruined tower that we'd been seeing in the distance all week. The sun slipped down behind the stone walls, and we headed back to Lane Lodge for the last night.
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1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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