Hi

Maggie was going through recipes today and found some recipe cards from the farm we toured last year in Ireland. Rathbaun Farms, over two hundred years old, and still in operation by the family.  It's a tiny farm by our standards, but it was one of the most interesting, authentic sites on our visit.

We watched a sheep dog 'rangle' the sheep. Then, one of them got a shear haircut. After the tour of the farm, we were led into the dining room and served the best brown bread and scones we have ever had. We still think of it often. One of those things you will always remember.
Anyway, the 1st anniversary of our trip is coming up and we are thinking back fondly and longingly to Ireland. So, I wanted to share it... Check out the site, Rathbaun farm, cuz there are recipes of the scones, brownbread, Guinness Fruitcake there.
A little piece o' Ireland.....
See ya...

Hello

just a note to let you know that we made it back to reality without too much damage.  The flight took over  8 hours. We got up @ midnight, cst, and are just about to cash it in.  I wanted to let you know that I downloaded the pics, all of them, to the imac, and will start the upload to flickr tomorrow.  Fear not, the whole kit and kaboodle, will be up in a day or two. Also, in the next couple days, as time allows, Maggie will tell our tale of adventure. 
As for mine, here is the readers digest version. 
It was great.  Met nice people, saw wonderful things, ate good food, did great adventures.

And, we had a mascot on our tour.  His name is Walker.  

In typical AARP fashion, I will describe him as a 'nice young man'.  He turned 13 years old on the first day of his tour.  He was with his mom, Moira. If I spelled your name wrong, Moira, I apologize. I didn't write it down, and you told me about someone else with the same name spelled different, and I get confused.
We had a GREAT TIME.  More to follow.

A hearty greeting to all of you from our tour that stop by, btw.

Time for a long summers nap.

Later. .  .

Hi
we have a friend, yes, I know that's sometimes difficult to believe, and he is riding from Seatlle Wa home, starting today.  Wow.

Here is a link to a story that the Rockford Register Star ran this morning. . .

Cyclists Journey, Because They Can . . .

http://www.rrstar.com/sports/x2136190474/index.html?printview=true

Here's the text too. . .

Cyclist journey because they can

Sep 04, 2007 @ 12:04 AM

By Mike DeDoncker

Sometime this afternoon, longtime riding partners John Dempsey and Joe McDonough are going to meet up at a bicycle shop in Anacortes, Wash., jump on their bikes and see how long it takes to ride back to Rockford.

No competition. No pressure of any kind, really. They’re just doing it because they’re pretty sure they can.

“It’s just something that kind of came up,” said McDonough, a Rockford native who moved to Middleton, Wis., four years ago. “Cycling is what we’ve done the most of, and I’ve always wanted to do something like this. This just happened to be when we could both get the time to go.”

Dempsey, a Rockford firefighter, said the two will begin their trip mere hours after arriving at Seattle’s Sea-Tac International Airport because their first full day of riding will include a 75-mile stretch through a pass in the Cascade Mountains from Marblemount to Mazama, Wash., where there are very few services.

“We want to get there in the morning and not have to worry about being in that stretch at night,” said Dempsey, adding that they want to average about 150 miles a day.

“I know that may be biting off a lot, but we’ll have nothing to do all except ride. There might be some 200-mile days. There might be some 100-mile days and, if there are, we’ll probably enjoy the break.”

Because they hope to make the approximately 2,400-mile trip in 19 days, unless they take a possible detour from Glacier National Park into Canada that would add an additional 200 miles, Dempsey said they will be traveling light.

“I did this type of ride from Rockford to the East Coast in a couple of stages about two or three years ago with some other friends,” Dempsey said, “so this kind of completes a trip across the country for me, but I’m sure Joe is going to want to talk me into doing that half again, but with him next time.”

McDonough put off any future long-distance plans, saying this is the longest ride he will have attempted.

“I’ve had some long days, but I’ve never strung essentially two-thirds of the country together into one day after another,” he said.

McDonough said he wants the chance to see the country from a different perspective, and enjoy spending time in states he has never visited, particularly Washington and Montana, and “to see how many days in a row you can get up and do the same thing and still stay in decent shape.”

Dempsey said he hasn’t done any special training for the trek because “you can ask anybody, I ride with everyone in town.

“I ride with a morning group, an evening group and a weekend group. I’m not one who logs miles or times on the bike, but I’ve probably done 6,000 miles on my bike already.”