And another lovely day ... except the weather ... which was REALLY rough!
So - we left early from the hotel and headed to Doonbeg - one of the most famous golf courses in the world. Met up with Brian Shaw - the Club's Head Pro. Now, last night I went to bed thinking that a) golf was the toughest sport in the world b) that I was rubbish at it ... well, Brian and I played a few holes today and guess what ... I don't suck! Indeed - I played rather ok - in 45 mph swirling, rainy winds! The 14th hole is SUPERB! It's one of the greatest holes in world golf ... a par 3 ... over a gorge ... facing the sea. Sometimes, it's a 9-iron ... today it was a 6 ... tough tough tough BUT I got it on the green in one! Yay! Thank You Brian!
The course and clubhouse are superb ... and I spotted Andrea Corr ... yum.
From there we ventured to an amazing private castle - Lough Cutra Castle in Gort. Waiting for me was Julie Douglas - art teacher extrordinaire. The Castle is owned by a lovely lady called Suzy ... and her three pups ... a huge Great Dane and two smaller ones - Titbit and Tiger (who is NO tiger .. more a baby bear). The Castle "owns" the largest private lake in Europe!
OK - art and myself don't mix. I can't draw a straight line ... let alone anything that resembles a picture/painting! In fact, I was so bad at drawing/painting, that I was removed from art class and moved elsewhere. SO - I was very very very pleased when Julie literally taught me how to draw in 1 hour ... ! Yes - I can draw a mushroom. That may be easy for some but for me, it's a milestone! Move over Picasso!
After a brief visit back to Dromoland, we then drove the 30 minutes to Feakle and the Pepper's Pub. Here - every Wednesday evening - some of Ireland's top traditional musicians get together for a session. Martin Hayes ... violin player (fiddler) ... is one of the world's top Irish fiddlers ... and he was there tonight for us ... and so loads of musicians turned up to "jam" with him ... it was awesome! On top of that, Julie was there with her entire family! It was such a lovely evening! THIS IS luxury! A real luxury!
Anyway, back in my suite ... life is good, life is happy and the Ireland show is going to look very good!
Song of the Day: The Corrs & The Chieftains - I Know My Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-HU2Xh7PE
Weather: ghastly!
the crowd at pepper's pub
orla, julie, mark, rory, christie .. and me!!!
happy me outside a happy place!
a big pooch ...
a mushroom
julie - my teacher
with brian shaw on the 14th at doonbeg
amost blown away by 40 mph winds!
