Maybe I'll be a monk when I grow up...

One of my favorite parts of our Ireland trip was the day we visited Timoleague Abbey. it's a ruined abbey originally inhabited by monks in the 1100's. The setting is really beautiful: on the edge of a long narrow arm of the sea in a quaint little town. All that's left is the stone walls and a variety of grave markers of varying ages. It appears that the grounds and interior of the abbey are still used as cemetery space, and have been for quite some time. Many of the rooms were marked with stone plaques to indicate how they fit into monkly life.

I was profoundly struck by the historical place of the church and our connection to that history. Sometime, almost a thousand years ago, a few monks and probably many local villagers, who were scraping a pretty hard living out of the land and sea, made a considerable investment in time and materials to build a church and associated buildings, which survive (mostly) today. They were people very much like us (though with much less stuff), who put aside their daily struggles for sustenance, security, and comfort to gather and praise, worship, and pray to the same God we know today.

I know Mike Hsu is big on our connection to the historical church, but somehow it became more real to me to put my hands on stones laid by ancient monks, look out the windows they did, and worship their God in that place. I've never had much desire to visit Israel but after my experience in Ireland, I think I may be reconsidering.

Oh... and of course we took many pictures. Here are a few.

Do the Irish really know their beer?

Back from Ireland and back to blogging after a long absence... We had a great time in Ireland. Among other things, we sampled a variety of wonderful local beverages. These included Guinness (of course), Murphy's Stout, Beamish Stout (my personal favorite), Bulmer's Cider (on tap in most Irish pubs), and Smithwick's Irish Ale (pronounced 'smitix'). All are very good beers (or cider). All are even better when drunk in an authentic Irish pub - by which I mean a pub in Ireland.

Heineken was also very popular among the locals, but we didn't drink any.

There was one other beer that we did NOT try during our visit to Ireland. It was available on tap in every pub we visited. It was apparently very popular - we saw lots of people drinking it. It was also more expensive than any of the beers mentioned above. Generally these would all be signs of quality that might entice me to try a beer. However, in this case, I was not enticed to try the Budweiser.

Goes to show that any beer is appreciated more when imported, I guess.

In a loosely related photo, here's Gina examining a strange artifact during one of our hikes. We first thought is was some kind of primitive bronze age tool. Turned out to be a primitive aluminum age Budweiser can.

Even in the dead of winter...

Even in the dead of winter, you can usually find some color if you look carefully. These are berries from Japenese Bittersweet - a vine that grows wild in NJ.

Chilly-Willy...

While we were back home in NJ this month, there was some freezing rain. Not too convenient for our travel plans - flights there and back were both cancelled and had to be re-booked. However, made for some good photos.

Portrait...

Here's a portrait I painted of Gina. Can't you see the resemblance?

Actually, it's a Picasso at the Museum of Modern Art. Gina loves Picasso.

I'm not a huge fan - a bit too abstract for me.

I prefer Monet.

A Fellow Alumnus...

While in New York, we went to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). There was a room of sculptures (mobiles) by Alexander Calder. I was reminded that Calder was a graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology, just like me. (By the way, it's more prestigious than it sounds.)

The photo above is of one of Calder's sculptures, but I actually like the one below better - it's the shadow.

Ouch...

All right class... who can tell me why they call it a prickly pear? Anyone? Anyone?