Saturday - Week IX

Another overcast day but still warm enough to keep me happy. I took another walk along the promenade this morning and discovered when I got close to the water that the city was pretty much fogged in. I took a few pictures of the same area as yesterday and now you can't see anything in the distance. Amazing what one day will do.

After a leisurely walk I settled down in a lovely cafe near the beach and had something to eat. I had brought some of the wonderful Spanish cold cuts Patricia gave me yesterday and ate them with my toast. As I was finishing my breakfast who walked in but Patricia with an older gentleman named Donncha pronounced Donaka and it comes from the Gaelic words Donn Ca meaning brown Hound. His name in English would be Dennis which admittedly is much easier. She is teaching him Spanish and I am sure she's great at it. I told her today she's like a ray of sunshine she's always so happy and today was no exception. I took a picture of them as they worked since my student was now teacher. Interestingly her student only a half hour or so before he met Patricia at the cafe had gone for his morning swim in the ocean. Yes, I said swim in the ocean. He goes every single day of the year, as do a few of his friends and that included the last two weeks with the freezing temps. I must say he looks great for a man who must be easily in his 70's. It was so interesting talking to him and it turns out his daughter's name is Gabnait which means Deborah in Gaelic. I'm not sure if I'd like to be called Gabnait but it's always fun to know what you'd be called in other languages.

I left them and took a relaxing walk into the city center stopping off at the Budding Cafe to pick up some hot coffee to bring to Frank who was working at the outdoor market selling flowers and various other gift items.

Mom and Jean Marie met me at the Budding Cafe and then we were off to drop off a flower delivery for Ellen at a town about 20 minutes or so outside of Galway city centre. We then had a lovely lunch in a charming town called Loughrea which comes from the Irish Baile Loche Riach (The town of the Grey Lake.) We only got to see a little bit of the Grey Lake because of all the fog but it turns out this little town has a lot of wonderful things to recommend it. St. Brendans Cathedral for one boasts the best collection of Celtic Revival art as well as an array of magnificent Modern Irish stained glass windows.

As we were ordering lunch at a pub/dinner who do you think we bumped into but Donncha the man who was with Patricia this morning. It was such a nice surprise as well as being so completely crazy. It turns out he and his wife like to go shopping in this town for home goods because they love this particular store as well as a steak house that he said is incredible.

So now we were off once again to drive past the many farms and sheep/cow pastures on our way into town and to the gym. It was so nice for us to get into the warm water and then float about the pool for awhile.

We saw Fiona who has just finished getting a facial at the spa upstairs. Her skin was glowing and it was it was nice that mom got to meet her. I am sure we'll be seeing her later this week.

The staff at the gym, as I know I've mentioned before, are wonderful and a great bunch of young people. They recently had a party for the children members and had rented costumes so tonight Dara who is a adorable twenty-something young man modeled the Garfield costume for us.

It was a very nice day and I think mom is getting acclimated to the new time zone pretty well.