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 The past few weeks have flown by! I finally got my trip to Ireland and it was amazing! There were signs of autumn, but mostly it was green--green fields, green trees, green mountains. The people were so friendly and welcoming. The only downside was driving a rental car. My friend, Pam, drove (major kudos there!) and I rode, which was equally terrifying. Some roads are only wide enough for barely one car and they're two-way roads. To add to it, they're lined with stone walls along the sides. I felt several times I was going to die, but we made it. <g>
 Toured Waterford Crystal Factory and saw how they made crystal. Fascinating! Visited Kilkenny Castle and Blarney Castle. I climbed up scary spiral steps to the Blarney Stone, but I didn't kiss it. I don't care if I have the gift of gab. <g> The grounds at Blarney were amazing--gardens, stone rings, flowers in bloom and more. I loved that. We tried to get to the Rock of Cashiel, but one of the narrow roads had decided to merge with a lake due to all the rain so we turned around. We did see standing stones at Drombeg with the ocean in the background. Not as big as Stonehenge, but inspiring all the same.
 We took a tour bus for the Ring of Kerry so we enjoyed that a lot. Saw lots of painted sheep. Apparently farmers share fields so they put a glob of spray paint in one color on their sheep to tell them apart. The tour guide said the red sheep were the Catholics and the blue were the Protestants. <g> I ate the best Shepherd's Pie of my life while on that tour. The gravy was incredible. Then to the Cliffs of Moher--equally awesome!
 One fascinating stop we added to the tour was Newgrange, where they've refurbished a massive burial mound. I think it's easily as large as a football field, but the inside is one narrow, row-lined corridor leading to a chamber maybe 10 feet in diameter, where they had laid the ashes of their special dead. The architecture that went into it blew my mind since these were built B.C.E. A tour of Dublin ended our trip and of course, we stopped at the Temple Bar. The bus tour allowed us to see all the sites in the city and we could get on and off as we wished.
 Then home--with delayed flights--ended up covering 27 hours. Whew! Left for Arizona two days later and jumped into activities here--water aerobics in the morning, gym in the afternoon with line dancing and Rattlers singing starting next week. I'm worn out but having a blast.
Of course, I haven't done much writing during this time, but have plans to get the rest of my latest romance through my critique group and self-publish my YA urban fantasy. I'm also finishing up putting the rest of my fae series into print. Never a dull moment!
And there's still the holidays ahead! I hope you're doing well. What are your holiday plans?
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