Participles and Portents (19)

Tales and Travel

Lin was more than a little unsettled as the family put themselves together for the trip.  She packed almost randomly, continuing to think back to the time in the cavern.  She hoped that Roary would prove successful in taking care of the swan.  She steadfastly refused to think beyond that thought - anything else that might have transpired was not worth the time or consideration.  Sean interrupted her contemplations to inquire about when they would be going to Inishkea.  She reminded him that would be the last stop.  He whined a bit about the delay, but eventually wandered off to continue his packing.  Ian was next to break her train of thought.  He wanted to know which dolmens they would be visiting.  She assured him that they were going to the one that was on the top of his list, the Dolmen at Poulnabrone in the Burren.  Pleased with her response, Ian went off to make sure he packed all the information he had regarding that area.  Finally, Fiona came in.  Thank goodness she did not have any inquiries regarding the trip.  She just wanted to know if Lin needed any help.  Assuring her mother that she was fine, Lin put the finishing touches on her packing, adding the little green notebook to her pack.

They had everything settled in the car and were on their way with just enough time to make it to the bed and breakfast they had selected near Coole Park in time for a late supper.  It was an interesting drive, with Nana giving the boys a lengthy description of the literary history of Coole and Ian joining in with a background on the geologic features.  Most surprising perhaps was Sean's addition of a quote from one of Yeats' more noted poems about Coole.

       "Under my window ledge the waters race,
        Otters below and moor-hens on the top,
        Run for a mile undimmed in Heaven's face,
        Then darkening through 'dark' Raftery's 'cellar' drop,
         Run underground, rise in a rocky place
         In Coole demesne, and there to finish up
         Spread to a lake and drop into a hole,
         What's water but the generated soul?"

Ian noted that the lake Yeats referred to here was one of the turloughs on the grounds of Coole, a unique geologic feature typified by the inclusion of a swallet or swallow-hole where the water that is gathered during the high-water periods of the year seeps back into the earth at a sometimes very rapid rate.  Even more interesting, he noted, was the sheen of white marl that is sometimes left behind on the turlough bed and the vegetation giving rise to speculation that turloughs were faery-held places.  Nana, not to be outdone in the tale of the place, told them about its history in the development of the Irish National Theatre and the Gaelic Literary Revival in the late 19th Century.  Here she definitely caught Sean's attention as she noted the autograph tree, the great copper beech that was said to be a source of inspiration for the launching of these ideas.

With all of this to cover on the drive, it did not seem to take any time at all to reach their destination.  At the bed and breakfast they were given two rooms, one for Lin and Fiona and another for the boys.  The proprietor, Shannon McFinnerty, offered them a late supper of shepherds' pie.  The boys were in heaven.  Luckily, Guinness was also on the menu as well as a glass of wine for her mother, making the first evening of their expedition very comfortable indeed.

As Lin settled into bed for the night, she wondered briefly why she had felt concerned at the start of this journey.  Everything was running smoothly along.  Unlike the stories you hear so often of families bickering on long drives theirs had been incredibly fun and everyone had been involved and interested.  She smiled to herself.  This trip was definitely worth the effort.  Everything she wanted, everything she needed, was all together in this space and it was working.  With that one grand, peaceful thought she drifted into sleep.