The Diamond Sky

This morning I'm blogging from the The Great Southern Hotel in Galway, Ireland. It's a grand old place, with high-speed broadband in the room. We just ordered in, I'm sipping a pretty strong blend of coffee (the coffee has generally been excellent, which has worked in sunny jimmy's favor), and the Lovely Carla is enjoying a breakfast of stewed prunes (not as bad as it sounds), Irish brown bread, and wheat-a-brix cereal (The Lovely C. tells me it's quite good). W'e plan to board the train back to Dublin in a few hours.

Yesterday, we explored the western coast of Connemarra, a stark, untamed, Celtic, lanscape. It seems virtually untouched by the modern world. Miles of hilly greenery, mixed in with large, rocky moonscapes. It is a far-off, distant land, unlike any other I've ever seen. The inhabitants are primarily sheep, a few cows and horses, as well as Irish country folk. They are friendly, hearty people. It rained in sheets all day, which explains how this little isle could be so lush and green. It's a very temperate climate here. The rain was fine and constant. We motored along winding, narrow, roads, (I'm much more comfortable behind the wheel - no white nuckles!), snapped pictures, ran our lines for the show we will do at the Abby Hoffman Fest, and listened to Neil Young and Bob Dylan on the cd player - "to dance beneath the diamond sky, with one hand waving free..."

We arrived in Galway just in time for a very congested, rush-hour, traffic jam, (there are some things that are the same in every city: too much traffic, too much concrete, too many tourists!). It was probably the low point of the trip so far, (although in an Irish traffic jam there are many smiles and waves from the other drivers!) bumper to bumper for miles, not really knowing where we were going, getting lost on the outskirts of town, finally homing in on the rental car place and The Great Southern. Galway is a "lovely" town, but we're here for a brief time only. It's back to Dublin, then tomorrow, Edinburgh! The future awaits!