Crackers

Keith and I have finally arrived in Rosslare, where we will be based through the end of March. For my part, I am relieved to be here, especiallyafter a slightly taxing New Year's weekend in Kinsale. We were invited to stay in a house rented by some friends, PJ and Caroline. There was a total of 15 in the house, plus some others who were staying in town. It was another boozy weekend; fun but exhausting. And then I started getting sick. I think it was about 3 am on New Year's when I thought maybe all this partying was going to take a toll on me. It has. I also blame Frank (or as people have nicknamed him, "Toxic Frank"). He has had a persistent cough for a few weeks and tends to stand a bit close to people in conversation. At some point I compared him to Typhoid Mary, but no one had ever heard of her. In my spare time I looked her up on Wikipedia and you'll never guess where she's from. That's right! Ireland! Anyway, back to New Year's Eve-- it was actually a good time. We had some trouble figuring out when midnight was exactly. We opened crackers, like in Harry Potter. I like crackers a lot. You pull one open with your neighbor at the table and out come items such as paper crowns, jokes, and toys. There was also singing in English, Gaelic, French. Most of the songs were traditional ones about better times in the past. The French one was about cannibalism. It was a bit strange for me, but I liked it as long as I didn't have to sing. Keith says "the Irish are mad into singing" and that if a party goes on long enough that's what it leads to.

Before I post some photos, here's a quick Baz story for you. Because we were moving to Rosslare after Kinsale, Keith and I had packed the car to the brim with our wordly possesions. About an hour in, not too long after we had gone around a traffic circle I looked to the back seat and a suitcase and several jackets and sweaters had fallen over on top of Baz. He didn't even notice I was looking at him because was holding his neck straight up, still trying to see out the window. Jeez Baz, why didn't you say something?