Day 8 - A pleasant Sunday

Sunday Mass coming out of Lahinch Church

I had a nice and easy start to the day, with the Church bells reminding it me it was Sunday. I didn't need to leave my house until 2 minutes to 10, and when I stepped outside there was literally a procession of people all coming to Mass. I think most of Lahinch must have been there!. The Church was three quarters full. 

The poor Parish priest, Fr Willie, didn't deliver a sermon, because he said 3 masses yesterday (including First Communion) , 3 masses today and he was scheduled for 3 more tomorrow (including a funeral).

Sadly his fellow priest, Fr Des, has leukemia and has been in and out of hospital, hence the extra workload for Fr Willie.

But I was reflecting on the faith of the people of County Clare, and I realized that was where my faith came from, and that of my family. My great grandfather, John Curtin, migrated with his wife and young son and brought with him a strong Irish faith that originated here and has been maintained through at least 4 generations. Be interesting to see where it leads with our youngest generations... :)

I was reminded of the strong local faith yesterday at Marie's house, where she showed me her altar to Our Lady for the month of May. She lights her candles every night as a symbol of her prayers for everyone. I think candles must be a very Irish thing, because my friend Bernadette in Geraldton is nearly burning the house down with candles for me while I'm away!! 😂🙏 Thanks Bern.

Our Lady's altar at Marie's house

Just thought I'd take a pic of the Parish Bulletin, because I always reckon they carry a snap shot of life in the Parish!

Church Bulletin

After that I went for a walk along the beach and bought another coffee at The Coffee Hatch. Very popular place. And just sipped it as I wandered along the Promenade. I've been very lucky with the weather so far... yesterday was absolutely glorious - I was in shirt sleeves (see washing pic!!) In fact that was why we hung the washing on the line, because it was sunny with a lovely breeze to dry the washing!

Sunday Coffee

The lady who took my pic was from Texas and we had quite a chat about where we came from etc... You can always strike up a conversation here... people are very open and friendly.

Here's the beach this morning

Sunday morning Lahinch Beach

If you look carefully you will see that there are lots of swimmers and surfers in the water - the locals love this "mild" weather. I still had my jacket and scarf and hat on, because the wind had quite a bite to it!

You may not realize it, but Lahinch beach is quite famous for it surfing. Lots of tourists come for the surf alone. Apparently in the summer you can't move for all the campervans and caravans etc... I'm glad I've come now, on the change of the seasons.

Lahinch Surf Club

On a completely different note..

I forgot to mention from yesterday that Sean is taking his cows out of the shed now that the weather has improved. Apparently they are kept in the shed over winter because it's way too cold to leave them outside. He said he's a bit late bringing them out now, because they've had an exceptionally wet Spring. When we arrived up at the farm to visit Nora yesterday, Marie was telling that the cows are dirty at the moment, because they've been in the shed so long. So here's a pic of a "dirty old cow"!!!

Dirty cows

So all the farmers around Lahinch and Tullygarvan, where the Curtin property is, are very busy getting their cows out. You could hear them bellowing quite loudly and Marie said that's because they're missing their mates who haven't made it out yet. I could learn so much just hanging around the Curtin family!!!

Anyway... back to my pleasant Sunday.

After lunch I went shopping in Ennistymon, because I was out of  a few essentials of life... including a bottle of wine. Interesting the Australian brands that are available here.. I would consider them all the cheap and nasty brands that I wouldn't bother with in Perth... hope we are exporting some of our better brands as well. 

Then I stayed home and cooked a chook, while I watched the Gaelic football game between Clare and Kerry. Clare have been doing really well lately but they faltered badly today and sadly lost by quite a margin.

When the chook was cooked, I ventured down the street to get my half pint of Smithwicks, and the game was on the TV in Flanagan's Pub. I didn't stay long there - they sort of shoved me in a corner out of the way! So I finished my drink and took off!

Flanagan's Pub

Now I'm about to cook some vegies to go with my Roast Chook. And I did manage to find a nice bottle of Oyster Bay Sav Blanc - just to help me wash my dinner down!!!

So that has been my pleasant Sunday. Didn't do too much or move too far, but that suited me just fine!