Midgies Are Evil

It's been an eventful week. The restaurant was closed on Monday so we decided to do a group camping trip. During the day Ben, Tamara, and I went hiking while JK and Oran went to the beach to set up the tents. After the hike we met back at Portfinn and all five of us headed out to the beach. We spent the evening playing frisbee, roasting marshmellows, drinking cider and listening to Metallica. It would have been a perfect night if not for the midgies. For those of you that don't know what midgies are, they are like mosquitos only they are very tiny and there are millions more of them. I hate them. I coated myself in bug spray but I don't think it helped.

On Tuesday we spent most of the afternoon recovering from our camping trip and opened for dinner Tuesday night.

Wednesday we closed the restaurant and had another day of unbelievably warm weather. Oran and I went on a 15 mile bike ride around Killary Harbour and to the Delphi Mountain Resort. They have a new spa there that just opened and I wanted to check the place out. Absolutely gorgeous!! I plan to become a regular as soon as they start offering pedicures.

http://www.delphimountainresort.com/about-delphi

After our ride we headed over to the local "cruise ship" that does tours around the Killary for the tourists. It's free for locals though and it was really very interesting. There's some amazing history in Co0nnemara and the tour really inspired me to learn more, particularly about the Great Famine. There's a hiking trail that runs along the harbor (which is actually a fjord) that's called the Famine Walk. One of the most memorable quotes from the tour guide was when referring to the famine he said "A million people went to the New World and a million went to the next."

http://www.killarycruises.com/

Wednesday night after our cruise Oran and I went to the Blackberry Cafe for dinner (it's one of the 4 or 5 places to eat in Leenane). It was a really great day all around. I think from now on Wednesday will be date night. Oran, I hope you're reading this!!

Thursday and Friday we worked. I'm actually starting to enjoy working in the restaurant, although I still can't carry more than two plates at a time (I spill) and nearly everyone wants to know where I'm from and what I'm doing in Leenane. That slows me down considerably. Also, I tend to get people confused and call them by the wrong name which horrifies Oran to no end.

Friday would have been a perfect day if not for the f%$#@ midgies. They are my new nemisis. They are worse even than the infinite roundabouts, which I will grudgingly admit are not at all complicated and kind of fun when you get the hang of them. Oh I can't tell you how miserable the evil little things make my life. My skin constantly itches when they're around. I can't get comfortable, I have no appetite, and I become a fidgety, whiny baby. Apparently they aren't a problem when there's wind and rain, but all this beautiful weather has brought them out in swarms. God I hate them.

Life is otherwise very happy here, although I miss diet cherry coke and the ability to order chinese food at 2am.

I have tons of pictures I want to share but I can't fit them all here so I'm going to put them online and post the link. Stupid slow Internet connection.

I hope you're all well.

Love, Kim