Smileblog: Ireland -Day 2

Our smile for the day features none other than our very own photographer, Noelle Johnson. She's pictured here as we sip down some hot chocolate, the very thing that is generating the lovely smile! It's quite amazing how holiday changes diet, and how ok with that I am. :) It's also amazing how much better the general chocolate population is over here. And the milk. It's as though everything dairy is...well it's just way more dairy-ish. Our friend Maggie suggests that this is because their products are much less pasturized. I believe it.

Noelle at the Lazy Bean smiling over a wondrous glass of hot chocolate

Sometimes it takes leaving home to realize how very blessed we are and just how much luxury and excess we really have. Sometimes it also takes realizing that even though you've left your first world country for another first world country, there are levels of first-world-ed-ness...

Master at work

It really does make me feel like an entitled American tourist when upon entering an Irish supermarket, I catch a frown forming at the corners of my lips at how comparatively small the selection of Irish food goods and produce is, especially when considering any one single west coast Trader Joe's, or PCC. It brings me to realize just how much I've come to expect exactly what I want when I want it...it's a humbling realization and one that travel is great for. That being said, I do believe that no matter the location, culture, or level of socioeconomic complexity or development, every person alive should have access to naturally grown, highly nutritious food sources. And It's not the easiest to find good greens and vibrant fresh veggies in general here. We'd kill for a trip to sunny farms right now...

Clonmel Architecture

We went walking, shopping, and shooting in Clonmel today. It was a blast. It's most definitely a shopping center of this county and the fashions are very European. Clonmel feels as though it's about twice the size of Cahir and it's very interesting how much colder the population seems. Imaging, if you can, the difference in feel between Sequim and Silverdale (no offense if you're from Silverdale...you've a lovely town...). But the shooting was wonderful and we got some fun pictures! The architecture here is an interesting mixture of the old and the new Ireland. Imaging if you can, taking an 18th century Victorian hamlet and pouring about 100 million Euro of corporate UK into it over the course of 10 years. This place holds an antiquated beauty and beats with a very 21st century urban rhythm at the same time. I suppose this urbanization is the trend all over the world. To me, there is some kind of sadness in this. Nevertheless, we've still captured some fun images.

A dry white at Tracy's

Jet lag kills. I don't think it really started to hit us until today, nearly 3 days after we traveled, but we ended up crashing for 3 hours, and we had planned on ended the day listening to music in a pub somewhere nearby, but instead we took up an invitation from our host Tracy, drank a dry white wine in her well warmed living room, and talked Irish history, politics, and castles. all in all a very successful, very lovely day.

And now, pictures from Clonmel! Noelle was shooting, so the pictures are of Braden, and they're good...