Well, here we are in Ireland, which is cool. As expected, Cathi's baby is very sweet, although she's obviously going to be a handful, even at a young age. She's about 2.5 months older than Alex, so it's fun to watch her and predict what he's going to be like at the same age. Not that I haven't been through that age before with the other kids, but you do tend to forget at precisely which age they do what...

We spent yesterday driving around doing stuff, went up to a car boot sale outside Kilkenny and then went to lunch in Kilkenny, which looks like a very pretty town. Geoff bought me a lovely piece of pottery as a belated anniversary present (it was 10 years this year, astonishingly). Today, we'll probably not go quite so far afield. i don't think the weather will be nice enough for the beach, but perhaps we can have a trip to "Splashworld" later today, if it's open and if it fits into the schedule. If it doesn't rain, perhaps there will also be a walk over to the local castle or something like that.

The best thing, besides visiting with old friends of course, is that they have a big hottub on their deck, so every evening, after the kids are in bed, it's out to the hot tub for a soak and a gossip & to sort out world affairs and all that. perhaps that's what's wrong with the UN - they don't conduct their business while soaking in a hottub with a nice drink.