Lots o' pictures

Sorry for the short absence. It seems tourist season has begun...
We had Orrin's aunt, uncle, and cousin staying with us for a few days. They were good company- just always a little hectic having house guests- having to have an actual well rounded meal every night, get dressed and taking a shower before noon, missing out on my afternoon nap. Add to that, the uncle's uncanny ability to bring up painful conversation topics; in the course of five minutes we discussed my parents housefire and how all my childhood toys and mementos were destroyed, and the death of two beloved grandparents. Good times.

Being a tour guide sure takes it out of you. Of course so does trying to keep a teething baby quiet at night so everyone else can get some rest. So, yeah, I'm pretty tired today.

So here's a picture of Silas, the Rock of Cashel, and me. Originally a large fortification stood on the top of this hill, overlooking the plains of Tipperary. But who the kings brothers and sons were all fighting over who would get the land, he gave the castle to the church. So there is a round tower, a Romanesque chapel (12th century), a gothic cathedral (15th century), the archbishop's tower, and the vicars choral house. It's a pretty large complex and has some really stunning views. At the bottom of the hill is the ruins of the Cistertian Abbey.
We also visited Kilkenny castle and St. Canice Catherdral, the namesake of Kilkenny City. Kil is the anglicized spelling of ciall which is Gaelic for church. So ciall canice eventually became Kilkenny.

And then, I promised I would put some pictures up of the furniture Orrin bought at the auction. So here it is. Yeah, I know I said I wanted a sideboard, but here's what arrived on Monday. So why did we leave our furniture at home? Ok there is also a wardrobe and a second sideboard but it's not uploading and I'm giving up. You get the idea...

What else? Oh yeah, let's see if the pictures from Kinsale will upload... No dice. I don't know what is up. Sorry about that.