Blue Skies, Sunshine, a Wedding and Travel

Dear Friends and Family,

     Here are the recent happenings from Galway, Ireland.

Presenting Gary and Michele Ramsey married on April 7th. The new couple pose for pictures in Coole Park. Michele's wedding was one of the highlights of our stay in Galway. She and her children are members of the Galway Branch.

The wedding took place in the Lady Gregory Hotel. It was a lovely affair!

The wedding and reception took place in the village of Gort, at the elegant Lady Gregory Hotel. It was a lovely, fancy affair, the first of its kind we have attended. Gary performed the ceremony; he was so nervous, but of course did fine. Between the ceremony and dinner, while the bride and groom were having a picture session, the guests visited and enjoyed an amazing chocolate fountain(upper right) with fruits, cakes and other yummy tidbits for dipping, another of Michele's brilliant ideas. She also provided a newsy little booklet of quirky information for wedding guest. 

Michele put a great deal of effort into planning her wedding making meticulous plans. One of her ideas was to have their guests sign the frame of the above picture instead of having a guest book. It turned out really cute. Michele knit and crocheted her own wedding dress, it was beautiful, also crocheted a top for each bridesmaid, the flower bouquets and boutonnieres. It’s the first time I have seen knit flowers in an arrangement. They were lovely. At 5:00 a bell rang announcing dinner. The guests were then ushered into the above dinning room. The meal was delicious with four courses. Dancing followed afterward, but we left for home; Gary was suffering from a cold and exhausted after a long day.

Friday after the wedding we decided to take in one last sight-seeing tour. We headed toward Dublin to visit New Grange, a neolithic passage grave.

The mound is 249 feet across and 39 feet high

New Grange was constructed about 3200 BC. Inside is a passage way 60 ft in length leading to a central chamber with a corbelled vault roof as seen on lower right. Off the central room are 3 small chambers. The entrance to the mound is aligned with the rising sun; above the entrance is a roof box, upper right, light floods the chamber through the roof box on Winter Solstice (December 21) each year and for a few days before and after, flooding the chamber. New Grange is considered the great national monument of Ireland. 

This is the end of our Ireland adventure, it has been an amazing adventure.

Love,

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister Weber