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Our Trip to Ireland 2001
Day One
In order to keep this trip report from becoming a novel I will not described everything we did and saw, but I will provide links, which you can click on at your leisure. Double click on the pictures to view a larger photo.
We began our journey to Ireland from the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on July 27th at 12:30PM, where we boarded a flight to New York. We landed in New York with a 2 hour layover before we boarded the plane for Dublin, a Delta 767. As luck would have it, maybe Irish Luck, we were bumped up to First Class, so the flight from New York to Dublin was a treat we thoroughly enjoyed. We arrived in Dublin at 7:00 AM, and going through Customs was less of a hassle then we thought it would be. We flew 5000 miles to get away from the Texas heat and we arrive in Dublin on the hottest day they have had in 10 years. Due to a 6 hour difference in time, we left on the 27th of July and arrive on the 28th. Flight time 6h, 30m.
Day Two
We hailed a taxi to our Bed and Breakfast, Kilronan House. which was built in 1834 in an up and coming area of Dublin. It was designed in the fashionable Georgian style. Many of the best places to see in Dublin are only 5 minutes away. Saint Stephen's Green is a remarkable park and a peaceful respite from the city's most fashionable shopping area which is around the corner at Grafton Street.
We checked into the Bed and Breakfast and then took a walk through the park. Even though it was the hottest day that Dublin had had in 10 years, it was sunny, dry and not 105 degrees, like it was in Dallas. Going straight through the park and outside Saint Stephen's Green on Grafton street we joined a "Hop-on, Hop-off Tour". For £9 you have 20 different bus stops throughout the city, including Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Phoenix Park, the National Museum, the Guinness Storehouse and more.
The buses come and go every 15 minutes, all day long, but you need to make sure that you get on the right tour bus. There are several of these "Hop-on, Hop-off Tours", and the buses are similar in design and color. Be sure to note which one you decide to take and the exact name of the tour bus. Ours was "The Dublin Tour", but there was also one that just said "Dublin Tour". We almost made the mistake a few times of getting on the wrong bus.
We took the bus tour through the entire city before we made our first stop at the Guinness Storehouse. The brewery was founded in 1759, when Arthur Guinness purchased the Rainsfords Brewery. For £8 you can take a tour of the 19th century building that houses an excellent exhibition on the making of the famous brew. In the center of the Reception area, enshrined in the floor, lies the original lease for the St. James Gate Brewery, signed by Arthur Guinness in 1759. After the complete tour, which takes you up 7 floors, you arrive at the Gravity bar where you receive your free pint of Guinness and take in the spectacular view of Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains.
After leaving the brewery, we took the "Hop-on, Hop-off " bus back to O'Connell Street. We located an Internet Cafe and emailed our friends and family. For a £1.50 you can access the Internet for 15 minutes. These cafes are found throughout Ireland, and for us, it was much more economical than phoning home. We have an email address at Yahoo, which made it easy for those at home to keep us up to date with family matters.
After leaving the Internet Cafe we walked along O'Connell Street, the major thoroughfare of central Dublin. An 1854 bronze statue of Daniel O'Connell, the Irish nationalist leader, surveys the avenue from the river end. The River Liffey comes down to Dublin from the Wicklow Mountains, and passes under 14 city bridges, before reaching Dublin Harbor. The most famous bridge is the Ha' Penny Bridge, built in 1816. While we were there it was closed for restoration and they had erected a temporary bridge next to it.
Walking down O'Connell we pass the General Post Office, which was build in 1818. This building is an important landmark both physically and historically, as it was the focus for the 1916 Easter Rising. It is still pockmarked from this 1916 clash as well as the Civil War in 1922.
One block west of O'Connell Street is Moore Street, central Dublin's main produce market. Henry Street next to the General Post Office, is a pedestrian mall, where you will find branches of most of the leading European chain-stores.
We were getting tired and hungry so we stopped in Frazer's for some Pub Grub. They had laid a buffet of chicken, roast, potatoes, and other vegetables. For £17, including drinks, we stuffed ourselves before heading back to the bed and breakfast. There are over 800 pubs in Dublin, so you don't have to worry about finding a place to rest your bones, get a pint, an something to eat.
Day Three
Before heading off to to County Wicklow, we enjoyed a full Irish Breakfast; omelet, bacon, sausage, toast, juice, tea and coffee. Terry and Rosemary Masterson were wonderful hosts, who were most helpful in arranging trips, taxis, and other accommodations.
We took a taxi to the Gresham Hotel to catch the tour bus to County Wicklow. This day trip took us to Avoca, the location of the BBC popular show Ballykissangel and to Glendalough, a 6th century monastic settlement. The route provided spectacular scenery as we climbed high along the "Tour de France" route, traveling through small villages and across mountain peaks and valleys. We arrived in Avoca about 1PM and were left to fend for ourselves. The focal point of the town and the series, is Fitzgerald's, an Olde Worlde Pub. My husband is a fan of the show so this was a treat for him to actually visit this charming village. About 70,000 people visit annually, due to the success of the television show. They only filmed about 5 or 6 seasons, so maybe someday, the village life they enjoyed before the show, will return.
The village also has a craft shop and Avoca Handweavers, Ireland's oldest mill, built in 1723, and still operating. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to visit all the sights before we boarded the bus to Glendalough.
(Gleann dá Loch) means 'Glen of the Two Lakes'. It is an ancient monastic settlement tucked beside two dark lakes and overshadowed by the sheer walls of a deep valley. It is one of the most beautiful sites in the Wicklow Mountains.
Sites include the gateway to the monastic city of Glendalough, the round tower, the cathedral, the Priest's house, and several other churches. These ruins date from the 6th to the 12th century. Also an ancient cemetery is nearby. It takes more than just a couple of hours to take in all the sites here and we didn't have enough time to see everything as we had to board the bus back to Dublin.
We arrived in Dublin about 5PM and settled on walking down to the Temple Bar district, which is between Dame Street and the river. Dublin's answer to Bourbon Street. This is one of the oldest areas of Dublin and has numerous pubs, shops, and restaurants. The oldest street is Fishamble, which dates back to the time of the Vikings. Nearby is Dublin's Viking Adventure, which has a 40 minute tour of Viking Dublin, which was then known as Dyflin.
We asked a local where we could find the best fish and chips. He directed us to Beshoff's at Westmoreland Street and O'Connell Street. We stopped there for dinner, which was reasonable at £12.50. Excellent cod, fries, slaw and bread and healthy doses of traditional malt vinegar. We later stopped at O'Shea's Pub for a few drinks before heading back to Kilronan House.
Day Four
We started our day with another wonderful breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, brown bread, juice, coffee, and tea. We hired a taxi to take us to AVIS Car Rental on Hanover Street, to rent a car. We had made arrangements before we left Dallas, but it still took over an hour for all the arrangements to be completed. The AVIS clerk gave us a map showing directions out of Dublin. Our plans were to drive to County Donegal through Northern Ireland, but we changed our plans and decided to go by way of County Sligo.
Getting out of Dublin was a real challenge. Street signs as we know them, are nonexistent. What signs they do have are up on the buildings. It's difficult to drive on the left side of the road and look up at the buildings to locate what street you are on. Street names change every few blocks and they can be subdivided into upper and lower or north and south parts, which in some cases are on two different sides of the city. After getting lost twice, I suggested to Mike that we find a taxi driver and pay him to escort us out of town. He didn't think that was a very good idea and getting turned around once more we finally found the N4 and headed out of Dublin. We both breathed a sigh of relief and didn't look back. Funny thing, we met a couple in Donegal Town, from North Carolina, who did get a taxi driver to escort them out of Dublin.
The roads in this part of Ireland are very good and we found no difficulty driving; except through some of the larger towns. The streets are very narrow with barely enough room for two cars to maneuver. We usually encountered a large truck trying to get through the city the same time we were. There were a few times I just closed my eyes and prayed we wouldn't hear the crunch of metal.
Our drive to County Sligo took us through Counties Kildare, Westmeath, Longford, and Roscommon. Needless to say the scenery was beautiful. We stopped and took a break at a truck stop called "Mother Hubbards", in Moyvalley, close to County Westmeath. We then drove on to Kinnegad, and cashed some Euro travelers checks at the Bank of Ireland. The landscape was simply breathtaking so we stopped and took some pictures.
We continued to County Sligo, where we decided to have dinner and spend the night. As we got closer to Sligo the weather started to change and we began to get a soft rain. Unbeknownst to us, Sligo was having a William Butler Yeats symposium that had attracted people from all over the world.. William Butler Yeats is the most celebrated of Irish poets. He was born in Dublin in 1865, but his mother was from Sligo and he spent a lot of time there as a child. Due to this symposium, accommodations were at a premium. We were directed to the Tourist Information Center, which will check the local Bed and Breakfast's in the area for vacancies. Directly across the street from the tourist office was Ross & Brian's Bed & Breakfast. They had a vacancy, and since the weather was poor we decided to stay there. We settled ourselves in and once the rain let up, we walked down to the town center to look around. Most of the shops were already closed for the day so as it began to rain again, we decided to stop in "The Ark Bar", for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed talking to a young couple from Rowlett, Texas. We all shared our Ireland adventures and enjoyed a nice quiet evening. We said our goodbye's and headed back to the B&B. Upon arriving at the B&B we were asked what we wanted for breakfast. Having just eaten dinner, breakfast wasn't on our mind, but we went ahead and gave our order and retired for the night.
As with most of the Irish counties, Sligo has plenty to see, Sligo Abbey, Markree Castle, Ballymote Castle, Creevykeel Goort Cairn, and more. Everywhere you look there are deserted cottages, whose thatched roofs have caved in and are covered with vines, ancient towers, castles and church ruins. Truly beautiful, but somehow sad.
Day Five
We awoke to a partly sunny day; wasting no time, we quickly downed our breakfast and headed out to County Donegal. The N15 took us north out of Sligo and our first stop was Bundoran, which is a popular seaside resort. We had tea and scones at Caroline's Cafe, a small, but very cute tea room/luncheonette, cashed more Euro's, and walked around the town.
Tullan Strand has a nice beach with waves that encourage surfers. It was 59 degrees, but they were out there in their wetsuits catching the waves. There are plenty of activities catering to families, game arcades, hotels, B & B's, and restaurants. A visit to a local hardware store was quite a treat for Mike. So many new and unusual things to check out. Like the hand tools that resemble the antiques we see in old magazines. Expensive, but built to last a lifetime. We picked up a £2 adapter for the camera and window shopped the main street.
We arrived in Donegal Town around lunch time and went to the tourist office. They helped us find accommodations at Riverside House. We made reservations for an evening walking tour of the city and then checked in at the B & B. Just around the corner from the B & B is Donegal Castle, which was built on a rocky outcrop over the River Eske, by the O'Donnell's in the 15th century.
After touring the castle and grounds we walked downtown and did some shopping. We visited McGinty's Sweater's and purchased a couple of Hanna hats and also did some shopping for our son and grandchildren. Hanna ships hats all over the world from this one small factory in Donegal Town. Each one is hand finished of Irish wool. You will see Mike wearing them in some photos. Donegal town sits at the top of Donegal Bay, and is a beautiful and pleasant small place that is well worth visiting. We had dinner at the Abbey Hotel, in the bar/restaurant. We splurged and had steak and prawns costing £28 for the both of us. After dinner we joined a walking tour of Donegal town. The tour lasted about 1 1/2 hours and cost just £3 per person. Up the hill, from the tourist office, are the ruins of a Franciscan friary, founded by Nuala O'Brien, wife of Red Hugh O'Donnell in 1474. It was accidentally blown up by Hugh Roe O'Donnell in 1601, while laying siege to an English garrison. There is also a cemetery on the property that dates back several hundred years to present time. As you can see in the pictures below, the weather was perfect. Donegal Town, celebrated in story and song, is Mike's idea of the typical Irish town. Sitting by the River Eske, it has the look and feel that I expected, i.e., very old and Irish! We even saw a bagpipe player on the Diamond, (town square), as we strolled the shops. Add a castle, ruins of very old churches, some sheep and the ever present flowers and you have the postcard views that most of us expect.
Day Six
After another full Irish breakfast at Riverside House we packed up and headed for the Inishowen Peninsula. Driving out of Donegal town, we stopped and took a few pictures. We took the N15 to Burnfoot and then changed to R238, which took us through Ballyshannon and Buncrana. After Bundoran, Buncrana is said to be the next most popular seaside resort in County Donegal. It has a nice long sandy beach on Lough Swilly, lots of pubs, B&B's, and restaurants. South of Buncrana there is a 6th century monastery founded by St. Colmcille.
We arrived in Clonmany about noon and called my cousin from the super mart. She drove up to the mart and we followed her back to her house where we stayed for the next three days. She plans on turning her home into a Bed & Breakfast so she practiced on us, quite successfully. That afternoon we drove out to meet her mother in Culdaff. Mary Ellen owns the farm that once belonged to my McGrenaghan family. We have been corresponding with each other since 1994. My great grandfather was born on this property in 1860. He immigrated to America in 1880 and I don't believe he was ever able to go back and visit family.
The land is now used for grazing cattle, and the old thatched cottage, like so many others you see on the roadside and fields in Ireland, has gone to ruin. The thatched roof fell in years ago and they had to tear down some of the walls to protect the animals that graze on the land. We wandered around the property, took pictures, picked flowers and cherries from the cherry trees, and then drove to St. Mary's Church, where McGrenaghan family marriages, baptisms, and burials, had taken place since 1836.
We took a drive through Culdaff and Carndonagh looking at the sites, including Culdaff beach, before we returned to a lovely dinner prepared by the family.
Day Seven
Inishowen Peninsula has Lough Foyle to the east and Lough Swilly to the west, it reaches out into the Atlantic and extends to the most northerly point of Ireland, which is Malin Head. The landscape has been described as rugged, mountainous, and desolate. Rugged and mountainous it is, but desolate it isn't. We found it lush with dozens of shades of green, beautiful fuchsia, which grow like hedges, foxglove, hydrangea the colors of blue, pink, and purple, fields of heather and other flowers grown for markets. There were so many wild flowers that I had never seen before, growing like shrubs and standing 5 feet tall. Ancient sites abound, quaint villages, plenty of beaches, and friendly people. This peninsula has been designated a European Special Area of Conversation and is home to hundreds of species of migrating and indigenous bird life.
There is a scenic drive around the peninsula call Inis Eoghain 100, which is clearly signposted. We started out early to take this scenic route around the peninsula. Part way we took a side road that went up a small mountain into some out of the way residential area. We stopped and took in the magnificent view before we went back down the mountain and continued on the scenic trail.
We drove on to Malin Head, which is at the top of Inishowen Peninsula. The most northern point of Malin Head is called Banba's Crown (Fíorcheann Eíreann). The tower on the cliffs was built in 1805 by the British and later used as a Lloyds signal station. We spent some time admiring the view before we headed back to Culdaff and had a drink at McGrory's Pub. Mac's backroom bar is very comfortable and has established itself as one of Ireland's finest live music venues. Wherever we went people asked where we came from and if we were enjoying our holiday in Ireland. Being from the Dallas area, they wanted to know about the Ewing's and Southfork. American programs are very popular in Ireland. Turn on the telly and more likely you will see an episode of Friend's than an Irish program.
From Culdaff we took the R238 to Moville. My great, great grandparents were married in Moville in 1855 so I was trying to locate the church. Moville is now a small seaside town, but it was once a busy port where emigrants set sail for America. I asked one of the local children where the Catholic church was and she pointed us in the right direction. It wasn't far so we proceeded on foot. Once we found the church I realized it was too new to be the one where they had married, so I asked a man who was leaving the church, "where was the oldest church in Moville." He told us it was up the road about two miles, and he offered to drive us up there, so we got into his new Mercedes station wagon and headed up the road. Even though this church was the oldest, it was only built in 1888, but on the grounds of the original church, which is where my great, great grandparents had married. The cemetery, on the church grounds, was ancient and I found Farren (my gg grandmother was a Farren) tombstones everywhere. Our new found chauffeur, Frank Higgins took us on a tour of Greencastle, which was just a few miles from the church. He and his wife are from County Tyrone, but are now retired and are living part-time in Greencastle. From the front steps of their home you can see across the Lough Foyle to Northern Ireland and County Londonderry. We spent about and 1 1/2 hours touring with Mr. Higgins before we had him drop us off at the church where we met him.. We thanked him for spending time with strangers from Texas and counted ourselves lucky that we met him. We decided to return the next day and spend more time visiting Moville and Greencastle. Realizing we had worked up an appetite we had lunch at the Clock Tower in Moville. The clam chowder and vegetable soup were excellent. After lunch we headed back to Clonmany, by way of a back road enjoying the landscape, and finally arrived at our home base. After telling our cousins about our day trip we all went out to a late dinner (8PM) at the Ballyliffin Hotel.
Day Eight
There is so much to see in the Inishowen Peninsula area that we started out early. This was one of coolest days we'd had on our trip and it was misting off and on. We headed to an area call Dough Island to view the headland of Lough Swilly and of some castle ruins, called "Doherty's Castle". We next visited the Dough Island Famine Village. While we waited for the tour guide we were given scones and tea.
After the tour we headed to Greencastle. This is a very popular resort village and gets its name from a castle that was built there in 1305. It was attacked by the Scots under Robert Bruce in the 1320's and later demolished in 1555. There is not much left, but we did go exploring inside and it has a great view of Lough Foyle. We stopped at the Castle Inn for a late lunch and took the scenic route back to Clonmany. We had a family gathering of our cousins and said our goodbye's with a promise that we will return to visit them again.
Day Nine
We awoke to a lovely Irish breakfast of bacon, eggs, beans, toast, tomatoes, tea and coffee prepared by my cousin. After one last goodbye we left the Inishowen Peninsula and made our way into Northern Ireland, which took us through County Londonderry, where we changed to the A5, and drove on into County Tyrone, through Strabane and then to the Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh.
The park is considered one of the best museums in Ireland. They have an impressive number of life size exhibits including, a forge, schoolhouse, Presbyterian meeting house, a 19th century Ulster street, and an early street from western Pennsylvania. This park tells the story of thousands of Ulster people who left Ireland to make a new life for themselves in America. The park sits on property that belonged to the Mellon family. Judge Thomas Mellon, the son of an Irish immigrant farmer who settled in the Pennsylvania countryside, rose to prominence in Pittsburgh during the latter half of the nineteenth century through shrewd real estate investments and a lending business that became the Mellon Bank.
After we completed the tour we called ahead and made reservations in County Monaghan at Fortsingleton Bed & Breakfast. We drove to Omagh and visited the tourist information office looking for an Internet Cafe and they directed us to the town library. The fee was about the same as all the other places we had been, but they only use sterling and we were out. They would have taken the Irish punt, but we would have lost money in the exchange. The librarian at the front desk took pity on us and let us use the Internet access for nothing.
County Tyrone has plenty to see, the Sperrin Mountains, Celtic and early-Christian archaeological sites around Lough Erne, castles, Ulster-American Folk Park, and the Ulster History Park. We left Omagh and drove on to Emyvale in County Monaghan to our accommodations for the night and were met by the owners, Anne and Ray Goodall and their four dogs. After getting settled we drove down to Monaghan and had dinner at Andy's Bar & Restaurant. We both had steak and onions and I can say it is the best that I ever had.
Day Ten
Fortsingleton Bed & Breakfast is a lovely Georgian Manor built about 1700. When the Goodall's purchased the property 10 years ago it was being used as a barn. They have fully restored the interior of the Manor house, but still have the stables to complete. The grounds are lovely and the home very comfortable. We had a wonderful breakfast prepared by Anne and had a nice conversation with a couple from Dundalk. We had planned on driving on to Dublin to spend the last few days before leaving for home, but they recommended that we visit Cooley Peninsula in County Louth. Anne and Ray agreed, so that was all the incentive we needed to make a change in our plans.
We took the N2 from Monaghan and changed to the A57 and drove on into Dundalk. From Dundalk we asked for directions to Carlingford, which took us to R173, and follows the coast up to Carlingford.
Carlingford is a pretty little medieval village with narrow streets and whitewashed houses, with crumbling walls and towers dotted around the village. The Mourne Mountains are just north across the lough. Carlingford was first settled by the Vikings, and in the Middle Ages it became an English stronghold. King John's Castle was built between the 11th and 12th century. There are other castles in Ireland called King John. It seems where ever he went they named a castle for him. He may have visited this castle in 1210.
West of the village are the remains of a Dominican friary, built around 1300. The Mint, in front of the hostel near the square was built around the 16th century. It was given a charter to mint coins, but there is no record that coins were ever minted there.
The town streets are situated on levels. We walked through the downtown area and planned on visiting the Holy Trinity Heritage Centre, which was suppose to open at 1PM, but it never did. We walked up and down very quaint streets and got lost trying to find our way back. We finally worked up an appetite and stopped at McKevitt's Village Hotel. The food was great as usual, and reasonable. Mike pronounced his lamb in Rosemary as superb and my medallions of pork in Madera was excellent. Three kinds of potatoes and chowder, plus dessert. While having lunch we talked to a woman and her daughter who were locals. Her husband runs the local Pleasures Cruises, and they also own a farm. They subsidized their income with the boat and fishing tours. Carlingford was one of the few places in Ireland that was effected by Foot and Mouth disease, and they lost all of their cattle.
After leaving Carlingford we took the R173 back to Dundalk and then changed to the M1 and followed the signs to Drogheda, where we decided to spend the night. Drogheda, once fortified, still has one town gate that is in good condition. The town is named (Bridge of the Ford), after the bridge built by the Normans to link two earlier Viking Settlements. There was a rough settlement here prior to 910, but the town began to take form when the Danes built defenses to guard a strategic crossing point on the River Boyne. The Normans came in the 12th century and built a bridge, which expanded the two settlements forming on either side of the river. In 1649, the town was the scene of Cromwell's most notorious Irish slaughter. The town sits astride the River Boyne with the main shopping area on the northern bank along West Street and Lawrence Street.
According to our tour guide the Tourist Information Office was suppose to be open until 5PM. We stopped to check if they would recommend a place to stay, but they apparently closed early. So back to the tour guide for suggestions. We picked the Boyne Valley Hotel , which is a 19th century mansion set in a quiet and secluded area, off the main Dublin road. We checked into the hotel, I took the guide book, and Mike went snooping around the grounds. When he found me, all cozy outside the bar, and reading the tour guide book, he suggested we go find someplace to eat. I told him, "this chair is too damn comfortable, I'm worn out, I ain't moving, bring me a sandwich." The bar had great pub grub so a sandwich suited me just fine. We looked over the tour guide and found so much to do in the Boyne Valley that Mike checked to see if accommodations were available for 3 nights. So we blew off Dublin and stayed in the Boyne Valley for the rest of our vacation. Great decision.
Day Eleven
After a good nights rest we were ready to hit the "Trail of Ruins" again. We awoke to soft rain, which lasted most of the day. This didn't stop us from exploring the area. Mike, said before we left Texas, that he wanted to see Newgrange if we ended up anywhere near the site. Well, as luck would have it, here we were, just a few miles from the site. Newgrange is a huge, flattened, grass-covered mound about 80m in diameter and 13m high. The mound covers the finest Stone Age passage tomb in Ireland and is one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe. It dates from around 3200 BC, and predates the pyramids of Egypt by six centuries.
We went to the Boyne Room for a leisurely breakfast of cereal, toast, coffee, juice, and fruit. They definitely overfeed you in Ireland. I left enough food, on my plate, in each of the restaurants we visited, to feed a small country. Eating only cereal and toast suited me just fine. We read the local paper, decided what we wanted to visit besides Newgrange, grabbed our rain gear, and headed out.
The desk clerk told us we could get to Newgrange faster by going the back road instead of the main highway (N51), so we decided to take her advice. Of course she didn't tell us we would have to drive 60 mph, take curves on two wheels, and pray a lot. This back road isn't one of those where you can decided to, "stop, pull over, there's a ruin we gotta see." I had to roll the passenger window up to keep from being assaulted by foliage. It grows so close to the road that the side mirrors knocked leaves off the bushes. At the end of the day we took the N51 back to Drogheda.
Newgrange lies in the Boyne Valley, which is called "Brú na Bóinne". It describes an area between the towns of Slane and Drogheda where the River Boyne meanders in dramatic loops and bends. The area consists of many different sites, but the three main sites are Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth. Over the centuries these tombs have been covered by grass and trees and were plundered by everyone from the Vikings to Victorian treasure hunters. Beside these three major tombs, you can see smaller ones dotted around the countryside.
Visiting the area can only be done through the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre. Dowth is closed to visitors, though you can view it from the road. From the visitor's center you will take a guided tour to both or only one site, your choice. We decided to see both Newgrange and Knowth so we purchased tickets for both locations at about £5 each. As we were walking to our bus we ran into Mike's recently retired boss, Herb Vest. I think the saying, "it's a small world", comes to mind. We spoke for just a few minutes as we were in a hurry to catch the next tour bus. We later found out that he and his son were on a month long tour of Ireland.
Knowth was built around the same time as Newgrange and surpasses Newgrange, both in extent and the discoveries made there. It has the greatest collection of passage-grave art ever uncovered in Western Europe. It is still under excavation and the interior remains closed to visitors. Some 300 carved slabs and 17 satellite graves surround the mound.
After our tour to Knowth we had about 30 minutes before the bus tour left for Newgrange. We waited in the Centre cafe and had tea. It rained most of the time we were at Knowth and it had turned off pretty cool, so hot tea hit the spot.
The purpose of Newgrange is not known. It could possibly have been a burial site or a center for ritual. It might also have been used as a calendar, due to the alignment with the sun during winter solstice. You can walk down the narrow 19m passage, lined with 43 stone uprights, some of them engraved. Over the centuries, others who have entered the tomb, have written their names and dates on the stones. You are not allowed to take photos inside the mound anymore so this link will show you what it looks like inside. Inside Newgrange Behind the mound there is what the tour guide called a folly. It was built by the family that owned the land about two hundred years ago. For more information regarding other sites as well as the ones I have mentioned please visit Knowth.com.
After leaving Newgrange we drove to Slane, which was built as a manorial village for an important castle. The little village is perched on a hillside overlooking the River Boyne. Just southwest of the town center is the massive gate that leads to Slane Castle. Above the village is the Hill of Slane. Tradition says that St. Patrick lit an Easter fire here in 433. A ruined church, tower and other buildings once formed part of an early 16th century Franciscan friary. From the top of the tower, which Mike climbed, you can see the Hill of Tara and the Boyne Valley. Also, on a clear day you are suppose to be able to see seven counties.
While we were at Hill of Slane we talked to a man who was visiting the area, looking for his ancestors. He told us he was having trouble reading some of the tombstones, so I gave him a tip on how to make the inscriptions clearer, but cause no additional damage to the stones. He told us that he had just come from Slane Castle, which had been closed for 10 years, due to a fire in 1991. They had just reopened and he had spent some time talking with the owner, Lord Henry Conyngham. We decided to try to get there before the last tour, but we were too late. We talked with the Lady Conyngham and decided to go back the next day for a tour. We took a few pictures of the outside of the castle and then headed back to the hotel. We rested awhile and had a late dinner in the hotel restaurant.
This elegant, sit down restaurant is located in the old wine cellar of the Manor House and simply drips ambiance. Above average food and a bottle of South African wine left us full and happy after another long day of soaking up Ireland. There turned out to be a comfort level here that gave us the chance to unwind after days of staying on the move. The prospect of giving Dublin traffic a pass, also eased our minds.
Day Twelve
Since the first tour of Slane Castle did not start until 12 noon, we decided to drive to County Meath and see Trim Castle. Trim is a sleepy little town on the River Boyne, with several interesting ruins. One of the most impressive is Trim Castle, which was founded by Hugh de Lacy in 1173, and was used by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.
Inside the grassy enclosure is a massive stone keep, 25m tall and mounted on a Norman mote. Inside the keep are three lofty levels, the lowest one divided in two by a central wall. On the first level are three models showing the three stages of the castle's structure as it was added to over the centuries. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide who explained the various stages of the construction, and a little history of those who occupied the castle. We finished at the very top of the keep and enjoyed an excellent view of the landscape.
On the way to Navan from Trim there is Bective Abby, founded in 1147. The remains seen today are 13th and 15th century additions and consist of the chapter house, church, ambulatory and cloister. Between Navan and Slane on N51 you pass a number of manor houses, ruined castles, round towers and churches.
We arrived at Slane Castle about 1PM. The castle is the private residence of Lord Henry Conyngham, earl of Mountcharles, and is best know for hosting outdoor rock concerts. They were preparing for the August 17th concert of U2 while we were there. Built in 1785 in Gothic Revival style by James Wyatt, and was later altered by Francis Johnson for the visit of George IV to Lady Conyngham. She was allegedly his mistress, and it is said that the road between Dublin and Slane was built especially straight and smooth to speed up the randy king's journey. In 1991 a great portion of the castle was destroyed by fire and the family has spent the last 10 years working on the restoration. They were also delivering furniture while we were there. The tour took about 45 minutes and was worth the £3.
After leaving Slane Castle we drove back to Drogheda and the Boyne Valley Hotel. We went to the bar to have a drink and Mike asked the barmaid for a dinner recommendation. Suddenly her face lit up as she began to extol the virtues of her favorite place. A few miles north, we found Monasterboice. This local favorite was already busy at 6 PM. Entire families and small groups dotted the bar and a very large restaurant to the rear of the pub. We found a table near the entrance and just opposite the bar. As promised the food was great. The shrimp scampi was light and flavorful and more than Mike could handle.
We relaxed and enjoyed our drinks listening to the locals talk of American politics. This is a very popular topic in Ireland. They are very affected by our politics and some know more about what's happening in America than we do. We were asked several times what Clinton was really like and did we like Bush.
Day Thirteen
Enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Boyne Room, loaded up the car and began our 40 mile drive to Dublin Airport. The M1 takes you directly from Drogheda to the airport and the road is good, but you still have to watch closely as you drive through some of the smaller villages. About 14 miles before the airport you reach Swords. Between Swords and the airport you have 5 roundabouts. These are great, because if you miss your exit you can stay on the roundabout until it comes up again. We drove the car to the AVIS drop off area and turned over the keys. They don't have any buses or trams to get you to the airport so we lugged all our luggage a short distance, up a small incline, and into the airport. If you are carrying a lot of luggage this can be a problem.
After checking our bags we did some last minute shopping at the Duty Free stores, went through customs and settled down for about an hour before our flight left. We were not lucky enough to get bumped up to First Class for the trip home, but we had good seats with plenty of leg room.
Visiting Ireland had been a dream of mine for many years and this time it actually came true. I am fortunate enough to have visited places I only dreamed of, and met cousins I didn't know I had. I feel so lucky to have found the place where my great grandfather was born, to be able to walk on the same land as he did, and those before him, to stand on the sands at Culdaff Bay, and look out at the ocean as he must have 121 years ago, dreaming of what life in America would be like, knowing that he would probably never be able to come back home. As the plane took off and left the ground I watched Ireland slip away from me as we ascended into the clouds, hoping that I will be able to go back again.


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A Changing Climate
Climate Change Discussions Back on the Hill Agenda as Democrats Begin Committee Work
At the first Congressional committee hearing in ten years to have the words climate change in the title, a Democrat and a Republican, perhaps surprisingly, stood side by side on the issue.
"We can't afford not to take urgent action," North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper told members of the House Natural Resources Committee this week in Washington.
Sitting next to him before the committee was Charles Baker, the Republican governor of Massachusetts. Both testified to the effects climate change has had on their states, including industries, like agriculture and tourism, that have taken a hit.
"Climate change is also warming our coastal waters and threatening some of the nation's most important commercial fisheries off the coast of New England. Stretching from Cape Cod to Cape Sable Island in Nova Scotia, the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the world's oceans. Warming waters have already led to 80 percent reduction of Atlantic cod habitat over the last decade," Baker told the committee during his testimony,
Changes in federal policy, that are accompanied by long-term commitments, have addressed and solved environmental problems for Massachusetts in the past, Baker said, pointing to the ending of acid rain caused by power plant, industry and vehicle emissions and the healing of the ozone layer thanks to an international treaty phasing out the use of harmful chemicals around the world. Those problems became manageable because of reasonable, long-term legislative fixes, Baker said.
In North Carolina, Cooper is willing to forgo expansion in the fossil fuel industry through offshore drilling to protect what he called safer and more sustainable industries like commercial fishing and tourism that rely on healthy coastal environment.
The testimony from the governors, however, was the only show of bipartisan agreement on the issue of climate change, even as the two continued to point to similar challenges faced by communities across their states.
Chairman Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, opened the hearing by highlighting the dangers and challenges of climate change that the general public is most likely familiar with, if not from personal experience, then through the media, like rising sea levels, disappearing coastal communities, draughts and superstorms.
But instead of discussing climate change, the ranking Republican member of the committee, Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, met Grijalva's remarks with a jocular response, an attitude that persisted through the length of the meeting and was reflected in the banter of the roughly four GOP members of the committee who were also in attendance.
The Republican members attempted to frame the conversation as public land management issues, in effect reducing the complex problem of a changing climate to one of government inefficiency and deflecting from the science of tracking climate change-induced natural disasters. California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock was among the most vocal supporters of the idea that privately-owned forests seem to be coping much better than the mismanaged public lands.
Gov. Cooper pushed back at the idea, though, that pervasive wildfires could be prevented by simply managing federal lands better, saying that any action designed to increase the resiliency of habitats must be accompanied and balanced with proper environmental protections that reduce the strains on those habitats.
Witnesses at the hearing didn't just testify for the protection of lands, but also of vulnerable populations that are on the frontlines of climate change, whether on the coasts of North Carolina and Massachusetts or in the coalfields of central Appalachia.
Derrick Hollie, the president of the advocacy group Reaching America, said minorities suffer disproportionately from environmental injustice and are overburdened by high energy prices. Many black communities can't afford cheap green solutions, because they have already suffered so many negative economic impacts, he said.
The hearing happened on the eve of New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey's Green New Deal framework, which proposes the most ambitious climate change agenda in American history.
Released Thursday, it includes proposals to address the economic issues of historically underprivileged and oppressed populations, not just in fossil fuel dependent communities like central Appalachia, but across the country.
So far, the framework lacks clearly defined policies that would make its ambitious goals feasible. Ocasio-Cortez, Markey and other lawmakers supporting the initiative succeeded, however, long before the release of their Green New Deal proposal inputting climate change back in the national headlines, potentially creating at least some of the momentum necessary for major policy change.
You can watch the full hearing here.
A Changing Climate
Meet the Young Appalachians Who Are Leading the Global Climate Strike
It looked like a climate strike was not going to happen in downtown Birmingham, Alabama.
In the Appalachian city, a group of hopeful high schoolers and middle schoolers planned to join hundreds of thousands of young people and adults from as many as 150 countries in a demonstration Friday as part of the Global Climate Strike. The strike comes just before a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23 and is meant to draw attention to the lack of action being taken to reverse or mitigate climate change.
In Birmingham, students planned to hold a protest in Linn Park, just across the street from City Hall. But it looked as if the event would be cancelled this week when the group was late submitting a permit request to gather in the public space.
Enter stalwart eighth-grader Stella Tarrant.
Stella, 14, wrote a letter to Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin, with a last-minute plea.
" I wrote to him to see if he would get us a special permit," she said. And he did.
Now, plans are moving forward for the Friday morning rally, without much surety in how many people will actually attend. But if interest on the event's Facebook page is any indication, there'll be a crowd.
"There are 200-and-something people who are either going or interested," Stella said, "and 5,000 people have seen our page."
Among those striking will be seventh-grader Eric Ledvina. He has his immediate future and that of his friends in mind.
"I honestly don't want to end up when I'm 20, that there is a lot of pollution and many species gone extinct and terrible weather. You can already see patterns of that," he said.
One of the major goals of the climate strike week is to get more adults involved and for Eric, that means bringing his aunt, Anne Ledvina, along with him. Stella's resolve to save the nearly cancelled event wasn't lost on her.
"We couldn't have done this climate strike without Stella taking the lead on this," she said.
The roots of the youth climate strike movement began in late 2018, when then-15-year-old Greta Thunberg left school in Stockholm, Sweden, one Friday with a hand-drawn sign: 'School strike for climate.' (In Swedish, of course: 'Skolstrejk for Klimatet,' is a now-iconic phrase.) Her solo strike has since spurred thousands of youth climate strikes around the world.
Now, young people in Appalachia are joining supporters like Greta on the front lines of the strike, organizing events in their communities, like Stella, and encouraging people in the generations ahead of them to take a stand.
'Most of My Family Denies It'
No doubt like many young climate activists popping up across Appalachia, 20-year-old Julia Alaimo meets resistance in her own family to even the notion of climate change.
"I never grew up in a household that cared about the environment or was interested in climate change. Actually, most of my family denies it," said Alaimo, who attends the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
That hasn't slowed her in the slightest. Alaimo is student president of The Environmental Council at the university and coordinator for a climate strike on the campus Quad, which also takes place Friday.
An environmental engineering major, Alaimo said she wants to focus not just her current activism, but her life's work on the climate crisis.
"I've always wanted to solve environmental issues," she said. "I think one big thing that we can do personally is try to help with policy change and influence people who are making large decisions around us that affect every one of us."
A couple of days before the strike, she was at work on a speech to deliver at Friday's strike, along with classmate and fellow climate striker, Nick Wright-Osment. Growing up with a mother who is a biologist, Wright-Osment tuned in early to awareness of the human race's growing impact on the Earth's operating system.
"I kind of grew up my whole life hearing, 'Oh, we need to do something about global warming.'"
There is absolutely no time to waste, he said.
"I think the big key here is, as a message, we want people to realize that climate change is the number one issue. It should be for everybody," Wright-Osment said. "This isn't, like, a political thing. It's a global threat that is extremely vital and extremely time-sensitive."
Climate Class Is in Session
It's a measure of the exploding activism around climate change that the strike was announced as a single-day event but has grown to a week's worth of happenings, ending September 27. It's another sign of the times that courses with titles like "People vs. The Planet: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Climate Change" are filling at Appalachian universities.
But they are, at least at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, where 21-year-old Brandon Taylor, a double major in geography and Chinese studies, has signed up for the interdisciplinary humanities course this semester.
"With climate change becoming even more of a threat— seemingly every day, there's a new story coming out— I want to shift away from just studying it," Taylor said. "I'm moving towards more of, like, closer to activism."
That's why he's participating in the climate strike event being planned at WVU, likely to be the largest Global Climate Strike event in the state.
Taylor will be joined by some of his classmates and his professor, Andrea Soccorsi, who created the class not just foster conversations about solutions, but also encourage collective action across disciplines.
"I am not a scientist, that's the first thing that I always tell people," Soccorsi said, who teaches a variety of English and writing courses. "We always think that this is an issue that the scientists are going to solve, but I've tried to show the students that they have something to bring to the table as well."
In the classroom, her students explore the long tradition of eye-opening environmental literature, from Thoreau's masterwork "Walden," to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," which kickstarted the environmental movement. They also work closely with local environmental organizations to advocate for change, including things as small as aiding businesses who are trying to swap out plastic straws for alternatives.
"There are no simple answers," Soccorsi said, "but I think the first place is to begin having the conversation, which I'm not sure that we've done very successfully."
Taylor is keenly aware that the future he and his generation will inherit depends on rapid, concerted action on huge global goals, such as the call to bring carbon emissions to net-zero within a decade.
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done in a fairly short amount of time. But to not do it would be catastrophic for a lot of the world."
'How Do We Keep Appalachia from Burning?'
In Lynchburg, Virginia, he's known as "Rev. Paul."
And while he doesn't fall into the definition of a young leader in Appalachia, Rev. Paul Boothby believes the stakes couldn't be higher for youth in the region. That's why he's hosting a Global Climate Strike gathering at his 1st Unitarian Church of Lynchburg.
"Appalachia has depended on a relatively stable climate for a long time," Boothby said, "and there are going to be ever-increasing extremes— between storms and drought and the movement of bio-regions in the generations to come."
Hotter temperatures and a northward shift of species as a result are not just airy concepts. They are pressing concerns, said Boothby, for the sprawling forests of Appalachia, a region that encompasses all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states.
"Droughts are going to become more extreme. And that, of course, endangers the health of the forest, making forest fires all the more likely in the decades ahead," he said. "So, how do we keep Appalachia from burning?"
Right now is the time to bring youth and adults together, to confront and address these stark possibilities, he said.
"Generations now have to do their part to take action."
Douglas John Imbrogno is a freelance writer and podcast producer based in West Virginia. He is editor of the newsletter and podcast ChangingClimateTimes.substack.com. The newsletter is a co-sponsor of the Global Climate Crisis Rally on Sept. 26, 2019, in downtown Charleston, W.Va.
A Changing Climate
Climate-Change Bill Addresses Importance of Rural, Supporters Say
Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker has introduced legislation that puts rural America at the center of addressing climate change, supporters say.
Senator Cory Booker's Climate Stewardship Act would invest billions in conservation-based farming practices, clean energy systems, establishing wetlands and restoring forests. Booker and groups that support the legislation say rural America plays a critical role in federal policy options to address climate change.
"In FDR's New Deal, the federal government planted billions of trees, provided conservation incentives to family farmers and ranchers, created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Civilian Conservation Corps and electrified rural America," said Senator Booker (D-NJ), who is also running for the Democratic nomination for president. "After another year of extreme weather, no one understands the impacts of climate change better than our family farmers and ranchers."
Some rural advocates, such as Missouri farmer and Family Farm Action Board Member Wes Shoemyer, support the Climate Stewardship Act for the ways it addresses rural challenges to a changing climate.
"Farmers need only look out our back doors to see how climate change is having a dramatic effect on our way of life," Shoemyer said in a statement. "The farmers I know are great patriots and so they stand ready to be part of the solution."
Family Farm Action is joined by numerous rural and conservation organizations advocating for the bill. Among these are the National Family Farm Coalition; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Farm Aid; Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; the Women, Food and Agriculture Network; and numerous state-based chapters of the National Farmers Union.
The legislation is designed to address problems identified by the fourth National Climate Assessment, which summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States. Released last fall, the report found that climate change in rural communities poses an outsized risk to the national economy, the report says.
The Climate Stewardship Act is likely to be assigned to the Agriculture Committee for further action. Passage of the bill seems unlikely without significant support from majority-party Republicans. Currently, no Republicans have supported the legislation. Numerous programs within the act have received bipartisan majorities repeatedly in the past. But any measure that proposes increasing public sector-spending to reduce greenhouse gas emissions faces an uphill battle in the current Senate.
Companion legislation is being proposed in the House by U. S. Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM). Given the Democratic majority, the Climate Stewardship Act is likely to face an easier path to passage in the House.
Bill advocates are likely to use its issues and policy proposals as they evaluate candidates in the 2020 election. (A more detailed look at candidate positions on rural economies, agriculture and climate issues is available from Daily Yonder.)
Booker's bill invests heavily in agricultural systems that reduce emissions and job creation through more sustainable practices, according to the senator. "In addition to transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy, another essential step that we must take is to increase the carbon sequestration in our soils, forests and wetlands," his statement said. He said the legislation will create "hundreds of thousands of new jobs" and make farms "more resilient and competitive."
Many of the bill's proposals involve farm bill programs that had their budgets or participation limited by the 2018 farm-bill debate. Such programs include:
- Re-establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) — establishes a new civilian conservation corps to provide youth from low-income communities, communities of color and indigenous communities with training and experience while employing them in the reforestation and wetlands restoration of federal forests and wetlands.
- Expanding funding for clean energy through the Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP) — increases funding from the current $50M to $1 billion per year to provide grants and loan guarantees for tens of thousands of farmers, ranchers and rural businesses to expand renewable energy production and make energy efficiency improvements.
- Expanding the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)—increasing enrollment in CRP to 40 million acres by 2030. The additional acres would prioritize storing carbon in soils, establishing wildlife habitat and protecting streams and rivers from nutrient pollution. The current cap on CRP acres is 24 million acres, though CRP had as much as 40 million acres enrolled in the early 2000s.
- Incentivizing climate-friendly farming practices through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) – expands EQIP by offering additional funding to support adoption of "climate stewardship practices" in agriculture. Practices are defined as those that improve soil health, reduce nitrogen fertilizer applications, improve grazing lands and restoring forests.
The bill also provides additional resources for local food projects, public-private partnerships in conservation and mandatory funding for farmers and farmworkers experiencing mental health challenges.
Booker's office estimates that the Climate Stewardship Act would support voluntary climate stewardship practices on more than 100 million acres of farmland, revive deforested landscapes by planting over 15 billion trees, support renewable energy projects throughout rural America and restore over two million acres of coastal wetlands.
This article was originally published by the Daily Yonder.
A Changing Climate
The Golden-winged Warbler: One Indicator of a Changing Climate
Birds capture the imagination because they are unlike any other creature. With prehistoric origins and the ability to fly, birds defy the realm of human capability.
Over 1,000 species of birds are native to North America. Since 1966, however, one-third of North America's wintering bird population has declined. The National Audubon Society, a nonprofit bird conservation organization, found in a 2015 "Birds and Climate Change Report" that "Of the 588 North American bird species Audubon studied, more than half are likely to be in trouble." Across this region, bird species could lose more than 50 percent of their current range by 2080 if the climate continues to warm at its current rate.
The impact of climate change on birds is often studied because they are highly sensitive to their environment, meaning that small changes can have a huge effect. Their unique breathing system and efficient flight style contribute to this sensitivity. Studies of bird flight reveal that small changes in environmental factors like sea surface temperature dramatically affect a bird's ability to fly. Birds depend on aerodynamics to carry their relatively heavy bodies across the sky, meaning that minute changes can affect flight.
In Appalachia, the Golden-winged Warbler has received special attention due to its steep decline. The songbird, which breeds in Appalachia during the summer, experienced a 97.8 percent population loss from 1966 to 2010. Habitat destruction, warming temperatures and interbreeding with the Blue-winged Warbler (a related but separate species) contribute to their disappearance.
"The core population [of Golden-winged Warblers], 90-95 percent, live in the Great Lakes region. The Appalachian population is relatively small, only about 5 percent of the global population," said Curtis Smalling, director of conservation at Audubon North Carolina.
The Appalachian population prefers to dwell at the highest points of mountains, about 2,500-5,500 feet. They are a highly specialized species, requiring shrubby young forest with adequate canopy cover interspersed with herbaceous openings for the bird to breed and thrive.
The Golden-winged Warblers are particularly fond of the Highlands of Roan, a high-elevation, grass and shrub-covered area that straddles North Carolina and Tennessee. The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC), a nonprofit land trust, works to conserve natural resources in this part of Appalachia. SAHC offers outdoor recreation and farming opportunities for residents, coordinates conservation activities and other work to conserve the land, which includes protecting and maintaining the Golden-winged Warbler's mountain home.
"They lack the open farmland and scrubby habitat. Here in the Appalachians, we're losing a lot of farmland. We are working to maintain that habitat," said Marquette Crockett, the Highlands of Roan stewardship director at SAHC.
Crockett helps coordinate conservation efforts like managing SAHC-owned properties to working with private landowners on best practices for preservation and organizing volunteer bird surveys. This multi-faceted approach is a community effort, Crockett emphasized. With so many different elements contributing to the Golden-winged Warbler's decline, it takes cooperation between researchers, conservationists and volunteers to make conservation a reality.
Although the species is still struggling, places where conservation activities have happened often see positive results.
"We've definitely seen Golden-winged Warblers disappear from spots that have become too overgrown or disturbed, like a housing development. But we've also been able to do projects that have immediate consequences," Crockett said. Those results are promising and motivate conservationists to continue their work.
Recent research indicates that the songbird's problems might have more to do with their winter home than their summer breeding grounds in North America. The Golden-winged Warbler winters across Central and South America in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Colombia. Deforestation and poor land management practices are major problems, particularly in Nicaragua and Venezuela. This could explain the more dramatic decline of the Appalachian bird, which winters further south in these countries, compared to the Great Lakes birds that tend to go to Central America. Although it is tempting to conclude that the wintering grounds are the problem, further research is needed to say so definitively.
"There are just too many unknowns at the moment" about the warbler's problems, said Amber Roth, an assistant professor at the University of Maine and co-chair of the Golden-Winged Warbler Working Group. Further research is crucial for filling in these blanks, such as learning more about migratory behavior.
One factor is clear: climate change is affecting the birds. Roth elaborated:
"The population [of Golden-Winged Warblers] has declined and the population has shifted. They are a good indicator of climate change, but I would caution relying on one species to understand climate change. I think they are part of this huge list of things that points to climate affecting all sorts of other things, like trees."
"By managing habitat for Golden-Winged Warblers we are managing habitat for other species," Crockett said. Both Roth and Smalling echoed this statement by emphasizing that by managing for the needs of the Golden-winged Warbler, a highly specialized species, the needs of other species are typically met. Thus, conserving the Golden-winged Warbler encourages better overall forest management. This is important to remember because the Golden-winged Warbler is not the only declining bird population in the region. The Cerulean Warbler, Black-billed Cuckoo and Eastern Whip-poor-wills are among other threatened species.
This tiny, golden-winged bird that weighs about as much as four dimes represents something bigger: The possibility, in spite of irreparable human impact on the environment, that there is still hope of conserving and saving Earth's biodiversity. The fate of the Golden-winged Warbler remains undetermined, but with dedicated researchers, scientists, conservancies and volunteers working to protect it, the Appalachian population has hope.
Annie Chester is a writer and co-founder of expatalachians. She is currently an English teacher on the Island of Corsica, France.
This article was originally published by expatalachians.
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text:
From Janelle:
The cabinets were scheduled to be dropped off today so it wasn't unexpected but the sheer quantity and magnitude of the stacks crowding the front entry way and great room were overwhelming. The darkness softened the full visual effect but the large blocks casting shadows against the walls were impressive. I walked slowly amongst them and thought, "Wow, this is really happening".
We have been ensconced in this process for so long that we hardly remember what it was like to live in our house without the construction war zone and we have both agreed that it will be an adjustment having access to more than two rooms.
The fireplace tiles go in tomorrow, the cabinets will be installed next week, the appropriate shades of white for both the cabinets and walls will be chosen and hardware selected. "Nothing pedestrian" is decorator speak and sounds silly but the sheer joy of designing a space that no one else has created is dizzying and immensely satisfying. Tom, the "Metal Artist" will be here tomorrow as well to present a mock up of the design that I created. The hours of watching decorating shows really have paid off. It's not a crazy wild design and it has been done before (I saw something similar on my favorite, Open House) but I've never seen a design like it on a stair railing. I'm hopeful that it is as fabulous in reality as it is in my imagination.
From Lewis:
Have I already said enough design shows? There are too many inspirations and ideas to draw from. Does every cable channel have one of these shows? I guess on the bright side you don't need as many design magazines around but we still have a stack of them in Janelle's mail pile and under the bed and in her briefcase and in her car and on her Kindle……
What major changes are happening in your life?


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Greetings, Android lovers and enthusiasts! The summer has been around for a few weeks now, some are already dreading when it will end, and they have to go back to doing something where they wear more clothes. Relax. Summer still has a few more weeks to go, and here are a few apps to help you maximize and enjoy your time.
1. Booking.com (Playstore link)
My number one travel app. Excellent for booking hotels and other forms of accommodation to basically anywhere in the world. Even your village! (unlikely). The more you use this app, the more access you have to secret deals, and even greater discounts. Don't let the fact that you know no one in a particular city stop you from visiting. Customer reviews are always very helpful and detailed.
2. Viator (Playstore link)
This app gives you variety of options on what to do when you go somewhere new, or if you even want to discover more things to do where you already are! Simply type in the name of the city where you want to go, and it will give you a lot of activities that you can do there, and also, for some attractions, if you book with Viator, you could get priority and VIP treatment when you get to the event or location.
3. SkyScanner (Playstore link)
Easy to use app to find the cheapest flights to any destination in the world. Also set price alerts for particular routes, and it would inform you of when a cheaper flight is available, and gives you an opportunity to book flights right from the app itself. Hotel booking and car rental services also available.
4. XE Currency (Playstore link)
Keep abreast with the exchange rates to help you plan and budget responsibly. You could even compare exchange rates of more than one currency at a time, if you want.
5. 1-Weather (Playstore link)
There are a ton of weather apps out there, and most of them very beautifully created. I have been using this one for the past week or so, and I am listing it here, not because it is better than any other one, but just because I like it, and it has a very nice, detailed widget. Auto-location is also available, so it would give you the weather update of whatever location you're in.
6. Google Maps (Playstore link)
Do I really need to say much or anything about this? Organize your movement. Check public transport options. Find information about locations, as well as customer ratings and pictures. Go and get this app. Don't think, just do it.
7. TripIt (Playstore link)
Aggregate all your travel plans in one place, whether it is your flight information, hotel booking details, car rental information, or tourist attraction itinerary. This app is best used linked to your email of choice where it can automatically import this information, or you can manually enter the information and have the app chronologically arrange all the information for you. That easy.
8. Google Play Music (Playstore link)
My top music streaming service. Take your music with you wherever you are. This service allows you to listen to your music wherever you are, has an ever-increasing list and variety of what is already a vast and impressive library of music. No internet, no problem. Save your music to your phone, and keep on enjoying the service even while online. Also, you can save up to 20,000 of your personal songs to your account, and listen to them wherever you are.
9. Udemy (Playstore link)
Whether you're travelling or not, the summer gives you some extra time on your hands, no work or school, so why not use that opportunity to learn something new, or brush up on some old skills? Udemy is one of such platforms which offers thousands of courses for you to learn, some free and some premium. I am currently enrolled here, and I am enjoying the ease of learning using this medium.
10. Amazon Kindle (Playstore link)
Arguably the world's most popular reading platform. Not everyone could actually have the physical tablet which made this so popular, but you don't need to. Install the app on your android phone or tablet, and you're good to go. Discover and purchase new books and subscribe to periodicals right from this app.
There are so much more apps to be found on the Play store, but these are my favorites. Would you add any to my list (how dare you)? If you do, leave the name of the app in the comments section, and I will look at it, and probably recommend it to others.
Thanks for reading!


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Yesterday my friends Bob and Jim stopped over in the wind and rain to drop off two of Jim's old computers. Jim wants Bill to destroy the hard drive on his computers before he recycles them into the Computer Graveyard up in the sky. They both stayed awhile for a visit in the sun room while the rain and wind continued its incessant attack on the house. We discussed some of the weighty issues of the day and then they were on their way to rescue their friend Bart's washing machine. A Mission of Mercy.
My friend The Cajun had invited me out for my birthday dinner at MIXX in Rehoboth Beach last night. I called him and asked for a rain check. I don't like to travel at night and I especially don't like to travel at night on a rain slicked highway reflecting headlights of oncoming traffic. I might as well be traveling blindfolded.
This afternoon I return to work for the first time since my conversation with my manager and the owner of the hotel where I work part-time. My job was posted in the local newspaper. I requested a meeting to ascertain the status of my job. I was assured that I wasn't being replaced but that all options were open. I called the hotel yesterday to confirm the time and was surprised to find a new front desk clerk answered the phone. I guess its audition time. Nothing surprises me now.
While I was typing the above, on the TV behind me there was a short clip of that woman whose face was ripped off by the crazed pet chimpanzee. She is appearing on Oprah today. This is a reminder to me that no matter what problems that I have they pale in comparison to other's problems. I am again reminded of that old quote:
"I had no shoes and I complained until I met a man who had no feet."
No complaints from this quarter on this day of wind and rain.


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As I had previously posted, one of the several books I am working my way through is James Martin's The Meaning of the 21st Century and I am finding it a fantastic thought provoker. Most of his book is spent talking about solutions to the problems we face in the current Generation and offering clear vision to how to implement them, but several of his portraits of the mid near future (say 25-50 years out) are dark. He calls it The Canyon. Those of us familiar with the The Natural Step would term it the Resource Funnel. The funnel is currently closing as the demand for resources rises and the availability of resources (including such vital things as clean water and topsoil, not just oil and n. gas…). It is most often depicted as it is at right: with the lines not touching. Basically that The World wakes up before it gets ugly.
The reality is that when we are approached with a slowing growing, easily rationalized or otherwise nebulous threat we typically do nothing until the crisis occurs and removes all doubt. Two easy, recent examples would be the Cod Fishery off Newfoundland, and Hurricane Katrina. In both cases scientists, engineers and enlightened citizens decried the impending doom or either a collapsing fishery or blown levies, but in each case enough smoke was blown to forestall action until the Crisis Hit. Then in the case of the fishery at least massive legislation was instituted. Each of these cases were avoidable, the science to correct them known, and an early fix would have been immensely cheaper then correcting from the Crisis. These cases were also regional and for the most part only involving one country. Take the case of Global Warming, Peak Oil, or Global Population, and I am in my darker moments I am forced to the conclusion that we will not, perhaps cannot, react until it is far too late-until after the Crisis.
Martin's Triage scenario fits my vision when I am that dark. Triage is a way to assess those who are in need of medical attention after an extreme event-when the victims are far in excess of the medical providers resources to handle them. Triage is a way to roughly and callously (realistically?) group the victims by the ability to be treated to attempt to save the most victims possible without wasting precious effort on the Doomed. When we enter Martin's Canyon, or when we let the sides of the funnel cross, we will be undergoing a Crisis that could very well force the planet's nations into Triage. The 1st world will be shaken and bloody, but will almost certainly survive-America did not see mass starvation even in the Depression. The rate of survival without disability will fall quickly as you enter the 2nd world, and by the time you reach the 4th world-where people are already starving-there will simply not be resources left to feed them all. The 1st world has the money to buy the food, regardless of cost. Hell, we even use food to power our cars. This scenario can be avoided with current technology, the scientific community-even the oil engineers-are telling us it is coming. And yet we will most likely do nothing until the cod runs out.
I usually don't go this Doom and Gloom-neither here in the Blog nor in my actual life. But this morning I was at my son's school. In the hallway after the assembly there was one of Sprout's classmates that is in a mechanized wheelchair and is very severely handicapped. Again, I am in a Dark place now, but when I got home I wept. When Triage hits the 1st world civilization will survive, but there are many shades within even our uber affluent society.
I have made it a mission to learn what is necessary to be able to feed my family, even my neighbors, once it Gets Bad. But how will this boy, or the thousands like him, manage?
We must do better.
Filed under: Books, Doom and Gloom, going off | 2 Comments »


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Alannah & Leah
Alannah & Leah's Toronto wedding day was unique. They married in the evening, after dinner, surrounded by their favorite people.Read More
Alannah & Leah's Toronto wedding day was unique. They married in the evening, after dinner, surrounded by their favorite people.Read More
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This eclectic styled edit, out of Ontario, Canada, is an adventurous blend of modern meets...Read More
On Thansgiving afternoon Hazel & Jess asked one another three things they were each thankful for, each of Hazels answers alluding to a pending proposal.Read More
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Canda's landscape is wild and natural and this elopement by Lorenza Tessari Photography, captured in Porteau Cove Provincial Park, is also just that.Read More
Chelsea and Courtney are a couple that both swiped right but then didn't connect until they both matched on another dating site a little while later. While some might see it as a coincidence, Chelsea and Courtney know, it just meant that the timing was perfect – it was meant to be. They share their engagement story with us.Read More
Their story begins with a conversation that was meant to be short and sweet but turned into a very interesting story of long-distance love & two proposals.Read More
Athena & Jess are two emergency nurses who married in Toronto, Canada in a ceremony on Ward's Island. Their ceremony was relaxed, with emphasis on making it more of a party than a wedding day.Read More


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Now in its eleventh year, the Paramount Performing Arts Series brings professional artists from around the globe directly to Historic Downtown Goldsboro. The 2011-2012 Performing Arts Series was named the "Best Downtown Event Series" by the North Carolina Main Street Center.
The Malpass Brothers are as authentic as stone-ground grits, hush puppies & chopped pork barbecue -- and they're every bit as good! It doesn't matter if you're already a fan of classic old-time "real" country music when you take your seat. You will be by the time you leave the hall.
As young boys in eastern North Carolina, Christopher and Taylor Malpass soaked up the music of their granddad's jukebox in his country store. Today, they promote the work and music of the classic country artists they treasure while creating new music and making their own mark in the lineage of a rich American cultural heritage.