Yesterday afternoon, we arrived at the zoo at 4:15, only to discover it had closed at 4. Sam was one sad boy. So we promised him we would come back today. My friend, Anne O’Sullivan joined us. This was a total act of love on her part as the weather is bitterly cold and animals are just not her thing. The great thing was that we had the zoo to ourselves, no one else was crazy enough to tromp around the zoo in this weather. Many of the animals were not visible either, they too knew it was way to cold to be out tromping around.
Ann and I eventually went inside and had tea and let Niko and Sam continue on. It was wonderful to sit with this powerful and beautiful woman who drinks in her life with gratitude and grace. Anne was a member of the Tacoma L’Arche community from 1989 to 1992. She then left our community to go back home to Ireland and start the L’Arche communities in Ireland. She has just retired after successfully establishing 4 communities.
The highlight of the zoo for all of us was the baby rhino. It was less than a week old and so, so precious.
From the zoo, we headed to the airport to pick up a car and begin our adventure. I am so excited. Dublin is a great city, but everything in me yearns to get out in the countryside and to experience the intimacy of Ireland. We are headed to Kilkenny, down through Cork and then on to the Dingle Peninsula.
Tag Archives: Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
We arrived iun Dublin on Wed. afternoon and were greeted at the airport by Rhona, the aunt of my friend, Jacqui. Rhona is a nun of the order of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception. She is here studying at All Hallows Universtiy getting a Mastgers in Supervisory practice. All this sounds very serious, but Rhona is not. She is a spitfire, who kept us going…taking Sam out for a walk so Niko and I could get ourselves settled, then taking us into Dublin to the tourist information, to buy bus tickets and shopping on Henry Street. Then back to her apartment for homemade porkchops and whiskey.
We start our meals with Rhona with a whiskey. Throughout the meal she has us laughing. Sam actually fell on the floor he was laughing so hard as she told us story after story of foods she cannot stand. Like the time she was invited to a special meal by some African friends. They presented her her plate with much enthusiasm and when she looked down, there was the head of a fish, eyes and all. To her friends it was a delicacy, but she thought she was going to die. Instead she drank her whiskey and downed the fish head.
It is not the story themselves, but the way this elderly nun tells thenm that keeps our sides splitting with laughter. She has this twinkle in her eye and an earthiness, mixed with a deep spirituality,that catch us off gaurd and make everything so much funnier.
Rhona embodies hospitality. She has welcomed us into her world, having never met us before and treated us like cherished family members. She is amazing with Sam, and perhaps a bit of a kindred spirit. She definitely keeps up with his 12 year old boy energy.
Sam has determined that his favorite time in Ireland is dinner time, when Rhona sits down with her glass of whiskey and tells us her stories and has us crying from laughing so hard.