Grab Your Fascinators Ladies - It's New Year's Eve in Rosscarbery

So, I am now back home in Atlanta.  Boooo Hooooo!  No, seriously, I am happy to be home in my own space and Earl the Cat is thrilled to have me back.  He hasn't left my side since I stepped in the door.  I intended to do one last blog from my Dublin hotel, but I was just too pooped after my four hour drive.  I dropped off the rental car, caught the shuttle to the Hilton, had one last fish and chips dinner at the hotel restaurant and then jumped in the bed. 

Now for the last couple of days in Cork....

We celebrated New Year's Eve - or Hogmanay, as Trace would call it since she is Scottish - at Trace's house in Rosscarbery.  Pam and I had purchased discounted Christmas ornaments the day before and we made them into Fascinators for each of the ladies!!!!!  We were fierce and fabulous in our homemade Fascinators!!  Everyone loved them!!!  While we waited for midnight, we played a game of Cranium.  I learned quite quickly that if you purchase your Cranium game in Europe, you have European clues and questions, which made it quite challenging for the Americans in the room.  I also learned that when you play board games with a 40+ crowd (of which I am a member, but I was the baby in the room) who have all forgotten their reading glasses it adds an additional challenge.  Trace had to dig out two old pairs of magnifying glasses to pass around every time it was someone's turn to read the questions.  A game that should have taken 90 minutes took us 3 hours!!!!   But Trace and I won!!!!  I never win board games!!!  Yay us!  At midnight, we banged pots and pans and then, in true Hogmanay tradition, held hands and sang Auld Lang Syne to the Scottish pipes.  After singing and toasting in the New Year, we all went outside to light one of those groovy lanterns that floats off into the sky.  Unfortunately, our lantern floated right into the nearest tree and started to catch on fire.  We all just stood there in shock waiting for the tree to catch fire too - unsure of what to do.  That's when Ger decided to climb the tree and save the day!!!!  Yay Ger!!!!  Most of the guests left around 4:30am, but Pamela and I spent the night.  Pam and I aren't known for staying up late so we spent the whole week before conditioning our bodies to stay up late!!!  We knew if we pooped out early Trace was going to kill us!  Thanks to our "stay up late training" we were able to stay up until 5:30am.  I can't even remember the last time I stayed up that late????  College maybe?  I was so tired by the time we finally went to bed I was shaky!!!  It will probably be another 20 years until I stay up that late again!

On my last night in Union Hall we went over to our friend Jean's house for drinks and desserts (more mince pies!).  We didn't get home until after midnight!  I have posted a few last pictures of my trip below!!!!  All in all I had a very lazy and relaxing trip.  I didn't do a lot of sight seeing or traveling around - except for traveling back and forth between dinner parties and gatherings.  It was perfect!



Boxing Day dinner party - Yes, the balloon Gillian
is holding is really quite phallic - Trace was modeling
balloons into a hat for one of the kids and couldn't get that
particular balloon to cooperate so she just handed it
off to Gillian - I couldn't resist taking a picture!



My hat!!  I used the phallic balloon as my sword (naturally)!
I was a Viking!



Fish and Chips at Moloney's Pub



Beautiful scene from Tragumna, Ireland



Me at Tragumna



Tragumna



Gorgeous sunny day in Union Hall



New Year's Eve with Gillian
(fab Fascinators on our heads)



The ladies wearing our Fascinators



The gang on NYE



Pam and Dennis on NYE



Lighting of the lantern



Lighting of the lantern
(Trace's Fascinator is looking lovely against the lantern)



Lantern goes in the tree



Ger climbing up the tree to get the lantern



After everyone else went home!!!!!