Peat and repeat were in a boat...

What is peat, anyway? Peat is decayed moss and other plants that accumulate over time (centuries to millenia) in Irish bogs (Not just in Ireland, but the subject of this blog post is our trip to Ireland, so...).

This organic muck (a.k.a turf) is dug out of the bog, traditionally with a special shovel. The picture above shows some dug by tractor.

The peat is dried and then stacked, first in small piles to finish drying, then in larger stacks for storage.

The dried turf is then burned like firewood in fireplaces, etc. It has a distinctive smell - kind of like pipe tobacco but less sweet, more spicy. We frequently caught a whiff on the breeze during our hikes and drives through the countryside.

And, like many other surprising items, you can buy Irish peat on the internet. I now have two small bags of peat chunks for use in barbecuing. It smells just like I remember. Some of you may have the chance to share the experience at our next cookout.

As is often the case, peat smoke is now the "smell of Ireland" in my mind. The scent takes me back to our trip. I can't wait to smell it again!

Let's paint the house...

People who know me would probably say I have a pretty conservative style when it comes to color. (If I even have any style at all :-) But I really loved the way Irish houses, especially in the towns made use of many and various hues. The houses in Ireland are almost all of stone or concrete covered with "plaster"... what we would call stucco. Then they're painted in almost any color. These 4 photos from Timoleague (top), Kenmare (top middle), Waterville (bottom middle), and Sneem (bottom) give a sample.

To me, somehow, the contrasting (more polite than 'clashing') colors made the towns and villages more vibrant and alive.

Too bad we have vinyl siding...

Fascinating...

This really amazed me. Many of the toilets we saw in Ireland were a bit more primitive than US toilets. But not this one:

Notice the dual controls on the wall: one big button and one little button. Each one produced a different flushing level, depending on your "business." Truly the cutting edge.