To the dunes

The next day we were feeling energetic so we broke out the bikes and went to the dunes.

Apparently, they used to sand ski here. Not any more. But it looks like someone still hit the slopes with the dirt bikes and 4 wheelers.
Just past the dunes we hiked up to a look out tower for a different view of the dunes.

Little Red Dog goes east

Little Red Dog is off on another adventure. This time to Quebec.
First stop was the Nordik Spa-Nature in Gatineau Quebec for a nice relaxing afternoon. Hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, outdoor & indoor relaxation areas. All this and a great view. They suggest we do hot-cold-relax. Repeat. So we did. Stopped in the middle for a light snack & beverage. Didn't get a picture of LRD enjoying the spa cause they have this stupid rule about cameras in the hot tub.
Next day we Mont Tremblant. Quaint little ski village. And great view from the gondola.

Then, off to Tadoussac for some whale watching. Tadoussac is the site of the first trading post between the Europeans and the natives in the early 1600's. It was also a vacation spot for wealthy Americans. The Hotel Tadoussac has been in operation since 1864.

It is also a great feeding ground for whales. Frequently seen whales include minke, beluga & finback. Occasionally, blue, humpback & sperm whales are also seen. We went on a 12 person zodiac to look for whales.

We saw a pod of 7 finback whales. It was quite imposing when the second biggest animal on earth glides by within 100 feet of this tiny boat. We also saw a couple of minke whales and a pod of about 200 grey whales. Also saw a couple of harbour seals.

Holy Humor Sunday

Holy Humor Sunday is traditionally the Sunday after Easter. It was started by the Greeks in the early centuries of Christianity. Many people think that laughter was almost sacrilegious within the church–that is Not True.  The scriptures tell us that “for everything there is a season… a time to weep and a time to laugh.” (Eccl. 3: 1, 4) Holy Humor Sunday celebrates  the resurrection of Christ – the supreme joke God played on Satan by raising Jesus from the dead.

We have been celebrating Holy Humor Sunday for a few years now. My daughter Sarah aka Ruby the Clown, has been working with me for many years. I have recruited some members of the congregation and transformed them into clowns. Even our minister joined in. My wife, Maryann does a wonderful job of making the props.

Here is the crew:
back row: Cathleen Carrel aka Chuggy, Bob Patterson (that's me) aka Rusty, Jerry Therrien aka Rainy Day, Tom Pilkington aka Bert.
front row: Rev Kathi Phillips aka Taffy, Sarah Patterson aka Ruby, Karen Armstrong aka Penelope
We did a few funny skits along with the usual hymns & prayers.

This is from the "Home on the Range" skit.

Sorry, if you weren't there you missed it. But, believe me, it was funny!!

For the sermon time we did Daniel in the Lion's Den. The king has a dream. Here the 3 mystics try to interpret the dream.

When they fail, Daniel is called upon. He prays to God and is able to tell the king what the dream means. The king is please with Daniel and appoints him "Grand Supreme Mystic of all Babylon and really nice guy" (Sorry, no picture available) This makes the other mystics angry. So they trick the king into tossing Daniel into the den of lions. Of course, God keeps Daniel safe.
Here is the cast with the "lions"

That's Daniel with his supreme hat, back row on the left.

We injected many bad jokes into the service. Many of the congregation came dressed in funny clothes. Lots of people say that they look forward to Holy Humor Sunday.
It's a lot of work but very rewarding in the end.

Hey! Look who's back....

Wow! It sure has been a long time since I've been here. Guess I'd better bring you up to date.  Well, not the whole year and a half, but the last couple of weeks.
Little Red Dog is in Florida!

We came down here for Blue Jays spring training.
We had a very nice drive down. We took 3 days with lots of stops along the way.
We stopped at Snook's Dream Cars - a museum of sorts. The owner created this authentic Texaco gas station. It is accurate down to the last detail.

We saw this really cool house. It is a private residence in a small village. Apparently, it looks really spooky in the early evening when the sun is setting behind it. David Copperfield featured it in one of his magic specials.

And we saw this bronze horse race at the Kentucky Horse Park.  

We finally made it to spring training. Our first game was at the New York Yankees home park in Tampa. Jays won 4-3.

 

The breakfasts at the Band B’s are a story by themselves. The hosts at the B and B’s were very friendly and accommodating. They were quite happy to introduce you to their town, providing maps and directions to sights, and steered you towards favoured pubs and restaurants. They seemed genuinely grateful for your patronage. Most of the B and B’s served breakfast from 8:30 to 10:00, and if you needed to depart earlier, arrangements could be made to do so. Breakfast was not to be missed or hurried. The sideboards in the breakfast rooms groaned with dry cereals, yogurt, fresh fruit or fruit salad, baskets of bread and jams and juice. In addition to this, there was a menu of hot items which included a full or mini Irish breakfast consisting of sausage or bacon, black or white pudding, toast, eggs, tomatoes and occasionally beans. Menus also listed eggs with salmon, porridge, pancakes, potato waffles, variations of eggs. One of my favourites was at The Towercrest Inn, Dingle, a wonderful cheese and fruit plate.  

Mary Gibbons, a Dublin guide on one of our tours, told us that due to the current economy, the dairy farmers have had to diversify to survive. They now produce excellent ice cream and cheese. From our samplings, we could not dispute this. In fact, Ireland’s cheese production now surpasses France, in quality. 

At the second Band B we were totally spoiled. Orla and Aileen at The Cloisters in Kinsale, were absolutely charming hostesses. Upon our arrival, they welcomed us with coffee, tea and fresh scones, which was lovely after a two hour drive in the rain. At breakfast, they apologized that there might be a bit of a delay for breakfast as all of the food was made fresh to order. The food was wonderfully presented. One morning I ordered a bowl of porridge and it was delivered with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream, because as Orla said, “You are not driving today”. I must say that these ladies spoiled us for the rest of the trip. I held up all of the other B and B’s to them for comparison.

In Dingle, we spent three nights at the Towercrest Inn. Mary Griffiths runs this spot which is about a 10 minute walk from town along the bay. Her husband runs the adjacent farm. It was kind of neat to walk out to the carpark and see sheep and goats grazing in the fields behind our car. This B and B was purposefully designed and beautifully decorated. The rooms were very large and bright. 

Breakfast was a feast, commencing with fresh hot scones served by very friendly staff. It was lovely and quiet, away from the noise of the pubs.

In Galway, we stayed at the Petra House. Frank and Joan have a lovely home with a very formal dining room. Breakfast, as we had come to expect - was exceptional, with Joan even sharing her recipe for scones.

   

 In the Aran Islands, we stayed at the Seacrest Inn, on Inish Mohr. Geraldine, our hostess was warm and inviting. It was a very comfortable stop for two nights, like spending the weekend at the cottage. Her Irish breakfast was number one on our list. 

Angela at the Boulevard House in Westport runs a bright and cheery place situated near the bridge, around the corner from Matt Molloy’s pub. Her fruited porridge hit the spot on what was another dull and damp Irish morning. 

Antrim House in Portrush, a seaside resort town in Northern Ireland was a centrally located Victorian Mansion with it’s own private carpark. The rooms were huge and comfortable. The full Irish breakfasts were certainly a good to start the day.

I honestly don’t know what I appreciated more, the quality of the food, or that fact that I didn’t have to prepare, serve and clean-up afterwards. 
Bed & Breakfast's are a great choice for lodging. You can share your travel experiences with the other guests and benefit from their input. The hosts are also good ambassadors for the local area.

Not your basic pub grub!!

I hadn’t given any particular thought as to what we would be eating on our vacation. I guess I assumed we would have the traditional pub fare of fish and chips, shepherd’s pies and variations served to us in the pubs. We were in for a surprise. From our first lunch to our last dinner were were treated to great meals. I decided to start snapping photos of our plates, because I didn’t think people would believe how well the food was prepared and served. We sampled everything from duck springrolls, goat cheese tarts, lobster, to fishy pie.

goat cheese tart

 

duck spring rolls

 

The sandwiches which we often enjoyed for lunch were constructed of big slices of fresh homemade breads with thick fillings.

 Our favourite bowl of fish chowder was at Ladyswell in Cashel, County Tipperary. A creamy golden broth held spoon sized portions of salmon, white fish and mussels in the shell. This was accommpanied with warm slabs of brown bread. This feast inspired me to sample the chowder as we crossed the country. The bowls of chowder varied slightly in each county and every bowl was good to the last spoonful. 

In Westport, we dined at The West, a pub famous for it’s award winning chowder. We decided to order the fishy pie which uses the chowder as its base. It wins the award for the best fishy pie. It had a toasted crust of parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and was smooth and creamy. One evening we dined on salmon that was so rich and buttery, it melted in your mouth.

According to our internet search, the fish at Leo Burdocks, Temple Bar, Dublin is the best you can get. Of course, we had to sample it. The fish platter arrived with a massive order of chippys. We also tasted the fish and chips at Ti Joe Watty’s on Inish Mohr. It was excellent and the chips are served in their own little metal fry basket - too cute. 

Leo Burdock's fish & chips

Ti Joe Watty's fish & chips

I was really pleased with the amount of salads and vegetables that were available with our meals. In previous trips to Europe, fruits and vegetables were severely lacking. I remember after having been in London for 2 weeks, stumbling upon a Pizza Hut with an all you could eat salad bar. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. Another positive food note, was that the majority of the menus in Ireland listed items that catered to customers with gluten free dietary requirements.

We shared a few desserts along the way. Most notable was Irish ice cream, banoffee pie from the Harbour Inn, Portrush, and a hot fruit crumble served at The Smokehouse, in Dingle.

hot fruit crumble

The quaint cafe at Dun Aenghus served a good coffee cake which we enjoyed after a long hike up to the fort on Inish Mohr.

cafe at Dun Aenghus

Too much Irish cream, Guinness, gourmet food and Irish craic - that simply adds up to a memorable trip to Ireland.

Canadiana

Since Maryann is the cultured half of our marriage, I am going to give her the keys to the blog to raise the level a bit. This is her first of many posts.

Ireland is a 6 hour direct flight from Toronto. During our road trip across the Emerald Isle, we often discovered that we really weren't too far from home. Upon our arrival in Dublin, our first stop for a quick lunch was a quaintly decorated tea shop, "The Queen of Tarts". Beside our table we spied something familiar and sweet - a display of jugs of maple syrup for sale, courtesy of la belle province, Quebec.

Later that evening, in our hotel pub, Darkey Kelley's, the beer coasters on our table were advertising Molson Canadian Beer. The bar had just installed a Molson's tap and were promoting their new beer. Also, while listening to a pub band announce their set list, they introduced music originating from Cape Breton.

In Kinsale, we were greeted with a huge familiar sign, advertising Tim Horton's coffee, available from a vending machine in the local Spar supermarket. What a surprise to get a quick fix of Timmy's coffee for our road trip. We set our radar for Tim Horton's at Spar markets for the remainder of our trip and were not disappointed.

Later that week, we encountered a group of students from High River, Alberta on Inish Mohr, Aran Islands. We commiserated and shared stories of how the Calgary floods were affecting our families.

In Derry, the common room of Paddy's Hostel was decorated with flags from around the world. A previous employee and resident had crafted a Canadian flag from scraps of calico and it was proudly waving from the window.

At Leo Burdock's, a Dublin fish and chip shop, we found a fish fryer who had an interesting sign on his tip cup. It said" Help send Justin Bieber to the moon". Apparently, this cook was not a big fan of our young Canadian popstar.

 
On our last night in Dublin, Bob met two little Dubliner girls who, upon learning we were returning home to Canada, exclaimed that they wanted to move to Canada. Why? Because that is where Justin Bieber lives. Ah, true Beliebers.

 I hate to say it, but it truly is a small world. Ireland became a home away from home.