Ellens fiddle...

Barry, Rosie and Kipper
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We left Tony and Bernies on Wednesday morning, with plans to make our way to Keshcarrigan, Co. Leitrim, where Poppy is from. On the way there we stopped in at Trim Castle - where Braveheart was filmed in 1996. What a huge place! And just the surroundings were amazing too - right on a gorgeous river and there were so many other ruins around.

We didn't think we would make it all the way to Keshcarrigan that day, but we did. At this stage in the trip Mum and I both have caught terrible colds, so we were both tired and struggling with our running noses and trouble breathing with the cold. With Tony's fantastic directions, we managed to find Rossy Lane, but didn't really have the patience, or the time (it was getting dark by this stage, at 4:30 - haha what a joke!) to really have a good look to find where Poppy grew up and the school he went to. We gave up and went to find a B&B to stay in for the night. The only thing really open at this time of year (or any time of year possibly lol) was a place overlooking a lake just out of town. The owners were lovely - not irish though - but we won't hold that against them. They gave us directions to find the church where the Quinn grave is (Poppys parents I think) and sent us off on our way with directions to find Leitrim town for dinner. When we teurned we stayed up talking for a few hours (or rather they talked, we couldnt get a word in either way) and they made us hot whiskeys for our colds. Pwoar! I had to close my eyes as I sipped because the whiskey stung them! Didn't help my cold but they went down pretty good.

Brid and Irene (Maire's daughter) at get together
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The next day Mum woke up a lot worse than she had been, so we decided that we needed to go to a doctors. The lovely couple sent us on our way to Drumshanbo, where we could see the local doctor. We didn't get round to finding the graveyard as all Mum wanted was some drugs. The doctor in Drumshanbo decided that she couldnt give mum any drugs without us first going to Sligo General Hospital for chest xrays! So we trotted off to Sligo, and spent the next 5 hours in Medical Assessment with mum having and ECG, full blood tests, and a chest xray. The nurse was a biatch - the first thing she said to me was "you have to down to admissions and sign your mother in" so I was Like ok.Come back and I'm told "no, your not allowed to be in here, go to the waiting room" so I was like "ok this is weird"... and went to waiting room and burst into tears! My irrational side was thinking "omg mum got cancer and they wont tell me anything". But really they were only doing a blood test and they probably didnt think I could handle it. Anyway next time mum was called into the room to talk to the doctor I got up too to go in with her and the nurse said "no you should wait out here" and mum told her "its ok I want her to be there" and she looked at mum with a 'oh come on are you serious' look and said (with tone!) "the doctor will be examining you!" and mums like "yeah, so?!" nurse didnt like that mum and rolled her eyes. I should have told her I have seen a lot of much more 'intimate' examinations than putting a stethescope on someones back. Jees! Anyway everything was fine in the end, and the doctor gave her exactly what she went to the other doctor for. Interesting day.

Valley did a good job!
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The next day we made our way down to Carna to meet up with all the rellies again. We all got together at the Carna Bay hotel on friday night, and the young cuzzies took me out the other pub down the road. Good night - all my cuzzies are cool! Just have to convince them to come to australia now.

Saturday we went over to Clifden to meet up with Bridie and the O'Malleys (Maura McSweeneys family) and stayed at Chrissy's. Had a great night, and it was really good to see everyone in their own country! Sarah is gorgeous as she always has been and Barry is so cute!

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Left Carna on Monday, which was a little sad to start saying our goodbyes to everyone. We made our way to Galway for a bit of Retail therapy, and met up with Maire, James, Irene and Raymond for lunch. Really nice and again, sad to say good bye...

Since hearing Rachael Quinn play Paddys fiddle the other weekend I have been inspired to take up playing again, and realised that my voilin is crap and that I wanted to buy a new one - a 'real' irish fiddle! Well I found my real Irish fiddle. We went to see a guy in Moycullen, just out of galway, as he said he had some. We ended up staying 2 hours because he just wanted to sit around and chat! We were wondering if he was ever going to show us any fiddles. Anyway, I found my fiddle - its old - very old, and looks it too, which I love. I'm so excited! I just have to get the courage up to start playing it now lol.