A rainy day in Ballinasloe.

Hello all,

We got rained on in a big way today at the site. Work has been coming along well, and we're having a good time in the mud. What is new with everyone else? I miss all of my friends and family quite a lot. I try to catch up by reading all of your blogs, but I rarely have time to read any more than the most recent ones, and even then I only ever get to a few people. I really want to meet this new Eli kid, I hear he has been threatening to take over my place at breakfast club! Word has it that he's little but feisty... I have been unable to find a shelalagh (misspelled, I know, but I'm too lazy to look it up) for Chris. The hunt continues. Chris, if you could, would you let me know if there is any certain area of Ireland that they usually are associated with? Or leprechauns for that matter.

For those of you in the dark, Eli is the new little baby of my friends Dave and Twyla. Congrats, you guys. That shel....(who knows) thing (pronounced shuh-lay-lee) is a leprechaun-batting club I promised to bring home for Chris.

Anyway! I can't load photos at the library, so you all will just have to wait, I guess. Sorry. I know they really help. Nicole has decided to work on the site with us, probably at a different one than I, which we decided would help. She came to this conclusion after having little luck jobhunting, despite her many leads. Only today did we realize that the lack of calls may have been due to the fact that I gave her the wrong phone number for my cell when she was writing her resume. Good one, Luke. I felt like a big tool. Nicole is a jobhunting superstar, and I knew there must have been something wrong when she wasn't getting any calls!

Ireland continues to be cold and rainy...no wonder it is so green! We've really noticed a difference in the flavor of things like carrots and beans. They often taste a lot fresher than the ones we get at home, more like out of the garden. This is not true across the board, and I've had some run-of-the-mill frozen veggies, that's for sure, but in general they are really good. Lots of little differences like this have been coming to mind, but I keep forgetting to talk about them. One thing we've noticed is that though all I ever see is sheep and cows, Ireland seems to be a country of PORK. The bacon at my b&b when I first arrived was hands-down the best I've ever had. Big, lean cuts that really hit the spot. It was very different looking than anything I'm used to. My parents' generation would probably be able to recognize the stuff right away as some particular cut, etc, but to me, it's just tasty big bacon. Also, here all of the archaeologists (experienced ones) use these expensive and hard to find hand made trowels by some company called W.H.S. I think I have to try to find one, because they seem to be really worth their salt. It would be a nice souveneir, I think.

I found a cool lighter at a "2 Euro" store (like a dollar store) that I use for lighting our fireplace. It looks like a deck of cards, and when you slide the front card back (a jack) to reveal an ace of spades, it also lights the lighter. I think I'm going to bring several home to give to friends. Thats right, cheap crap for everyone! In the store I originally thought they were novelty travel cards, and burned my hand a little bit before I noticed the flame coming out of the top.

Blah blah blah... Absolutely gripping, I know! In a few weeks I think Nicole and I will travel to Doolin for the weekend. Doolin is a little town along the west coast, and is reputedly one of Ireland's musical hotspots. They say they have some of the best music pubs in the country. Should be interesting, anyway. I've still been slowly working my way toward playing here somehow. I lost a bit of confidence after a while. My friend Simon was helpful when I was first looking into playing here, and after a few pints was touting me to the barmen like a veritable Don King.

We'll see...

Well, I'll try to go and do some more cool stuff so I can tell you all about it on this thing.

Take care!
Luke