Clifden and Oughterard

Happy Weekend to you. It seems that somehow I've gotten a day behind here-I think it was working out posting at the proper time. I schedule my posts for around midnight, so they will be up in the morning back home. On Thursday, we went to Clifden by the Sea and then on to Oughterard. Clifden is a beautiful seaside town, very quaint with lots of shops and pubs. On the drive out, we enjoyed the different topography(it was extremely rocky) and beautiful flowers. At one point we pulled over(miraculously there was a pull out, they are very few here) and sheep were walking up the hill to see the tourists. I imagine that they were actually hoping for hand-outs. In this area, there were big horn sheep; I ask one gal in a shop what they were used for-wool or meat and she said both, but to be honest we don't think she knew.

We walked around several blocks in town before choosing a place called Guys for lunch.  Hubby had a great BLT and I had a wonderful salad with warm Brie, roasted vegetables, greens and mango pieces. It was delicious.  While walking through town we saw a little old Westie running loose.  I hoped to see an owner about, but he was on his own.  Apparently, he is used to doing this whenever he wants. We circled the block and once again I saw him running into a driveway.  Glad he made it home safely.  I well remember the old days, in a small town when we let our dogs out to run.  It seems unbelievable to me now.  Below is the entrance to a artsy area-jewelry and pottery are sold inside. We met a wonderful gal in her pottery studio, she was kind enough to let us use her facilities.

The tide was out and we happened to see this boat.

A clock tower in Clifton.

The most exciting part of the day, for me, was finding my first quilt store, called Rags for Linda, here in Ireland.  Apparently, quilting is not a huge interest here(probably because textiles are).  As we pulled up to Linda's house, I asked if she was closed and was so pleased that she said no.  They had just run to the post, but would be happy to open up for us.  It was a small space and she was so delightful.  We talked about quilting and all of her fabrics come from Denmark, UK and the U.S.  Most of her patterns were ones I could find back home.  She was going to be teaching a class near Dublin today.  I did buy a small 1/2 meter of fabric, but I simply don't have the room in my suitcase for anything more.
We had a good dinner last night and enjoyed a Banana Pannecata.  I'll be back on Monday with more photos as our trip begins to wind down.
May your day be filled with sunshine and joy!
Noreen