Holy Day

What an extraordinary day. It began by attending First Holy Communion at Castlehaven Parish, my first Catholic experience of any kind. It was basically exactly what I expected. I enjoyed it, lots of prayers, kneeling, standing, then kneeling again. I even ate the eucharist wafer and made the sign of the cross while mumbling half of some prayer I'd heard a few times throughout the service. Reuben was singing in the choir and they sounded lovely. Here's a recording I got of them. Click HERE to listen.

The weather this morning was dreadful.

After Holy Communion Barbara's sister Susan came to collect Reuben and I and bring us back to Baltimore where she lives. Baltimore is a beautiful seaside sailing village about 20 mins from here. In the past week I've actually contacted a lady, Anne, in Baltimore on HelpX.net that has a 100 year old sailboat that needs help repairing. I told her I'd call her when I got into Baltimore. To my pleasant surprise Susan informs us in the car that we're stopping in Skibbereen to a attend a protest. Due to the economy the government is making lots a cuts, most recently they've planned to terminate the bus route from Drimoleague to Baltimore. This is the only bus to Baltimore and many people rely on it as their only from of transportation, like school children and elderly folk. A local politician organised the rally with signs and banners for us to walk through the center of town. As we were all gathering and huddling under eachothers umbrellas I was introduced to some of the locals. I kept noticing a lovely lady with long dark hair looking over at me and smiling. She eventually approached me and introduced herself as Anne, I politely responded by introducing myself but I was getting the feeling like I was missing something. It took a second to click but then I realised it was Anne from Baltimore with the sailboat. She had already figured out who I was by my American accent and heard my name as I was introduced to others. We both had no idea either one of were going to be at the protest, pleasant surprise. She introduced me to her best friend Becky, beautiful half Spanish half Irish woman, and the three of us spent the rest of the evening together.

The little one on the left is Reuben. It was his first protest and he loved every minute of it. The photographers from the local paper loved him too.

After the protest we stopped for tea then piled in the car and drove down to Baltimore. Some of the most beautiful part of the country I've seen yet. Rolling green hills with shimmering coves and sailboats in every direction. Anne and I were dropped off on the side of the road and she led me through a field, over a barbed wire fence and down to the shipwrecked cove where Atlantis Adventurer lay sleeping.



Anne gave me a full tour of the 50ft beauty inside and out then we sat in the cabin for a bit to chat. In 2 weeks when I'm done here at the O'Regan Farm I'll relocate to Baltimore and begin living and working on the boat. She's having a sea wright come to do some work and I'll be his assistant. I'm beside myself to say the least.

After the boat we walked up the road, climbed over a weathered stone wall into Anne and Becky's back patio, stepped through the small garden and into the house to make lunch. We spent the rest of the evening together preparing and eating a delicious vegetarian meal, drinking tea, lounging in the sunroom and listening to their travel stories and of the many years they lived in the commune called Atlantis in Columbia South America. It was an absolutely delightful day. I'll be joining them again this weekend.

Life gets better everyday.