Kissing the Castle---Who needs the Blarney Stone!

    I am in the midst of nursing two sick, one cranky, birds back to health.  Did I also mention that I am also helping my HS senior fill out college applications?  Oh, yes and a two tweens on two different planets.  One husband working his butt off and me?  Well I am getting older and its colder so I am hanging on to the hopes of something fun.  Okay one of my son's teacher's was arrested for assault that made me happy--she deserved it!  Problem is the school still let her teach.

  So what do I have to cling to?  My trip next spring to Ireland!  My best friend went several times to Ireland in college and listening to her it sounds like a place I could move to and call home.  Of course I would want to live in a castle with some kind of rodent protector....and an elevator...yes I know I am pushing it, but living in a castle would either give me nightmares and pain from the drafts..or maybe it would be a magic castle where I would turn into a woman of the Manor who found secret passages interlaced with old notes stuffed into walls.

    Unfortunately my mom beat me to Dublin...she picks up and just goes places..but was only there for a couple hours.  So the next couple months I will be trying to find a route through Ireland with maybe a stop in England.  Any hints, suggestions, let me know.  Travel guides are great, but hearing the ups and downs of a country from someone who has been is much more informative!