SORRY to be late with this blog, but we ran a little late last night. Instead of coming back to the apartment and unwinding from the day with the evening news and blogging while our travels were still fresh in our heads, things ran a little late. So, here's the "morning news," instead of the "evening news."
Congratulations are in order for Bridie back in Westport for her efforts on the beautification team whose efforts got them winning another "Tidy Town" award for the town of Westport.
We think we heard the newscaster say on the TV last night that the "Tidy Town" program, that recognizes towns, villages, and cities for how well they keep their town looking clean and beautiful, has been going on for around 50 years.
Not only did Bridie and Westport win a "Tidy Town" award for the second time in three years, but they were also awarded the grand prize of the "Tidiest of the Tidy Towns." And, as you can see from the photo we took of "The Mall" in Westport, the town has certainly been well-maintained.
We even thought we saw Bridie on TV during the awards ceremony shown from Dublin.
We started our day with a walk to the post office and then the local bakery for scones. Then we drove to the legendary "Kenny's Bookstore" in Galway City that is known world-wide to book lovers, primarily for their online sale of used and new books. They were only doing online sales for the last year or so, but have recently opened up a retail store again.
Not only do they have their own line of published books for sale,,,
...but they also have a HUGE selection of used books. We could have scheduled a whole day and them some just to look through row after row of books, new and mostly old. I assume, if you google "Kenny's Books Galway," you will get to their website. The founder, Des Kenny, even put out his own book entitled, "The 100 Most Important Books To Read" that focuses on Irish literature, history, and culture.
We picked up a book and an old "Ordinance Survey Map" of the County Mayo and County Galway region where our Prendergast ancestors are from.
From the "words" of Kenny's Book Store, we proceeded to the "wagers" of the Galway Races. They have a three-day horse racing venue this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
We stopped along the way at "Keane's Pub and Restaurant" for more pub grub in Oranmore---and only got lost twice along the way.
And don't think for a moment that going to the races is all "fun and games" (and food and drink and bold talk). Well, it is all that we suppose, but it is also hard work.
First, you study the "race book" for the statistics on the horses in each race and read who the experts think are the likely winners.
Second, you watch the horses in each race being paraded around the paddock area to see if your chosen horse or horses look as good as they sounded in the race book.
Then you go visit these nice men (and a few ladies) and check "the odds" on each horse. If you picked out a horse and then saw that the odds are "13-to-1" or "25-to-1," you might want to reconsider your wager, since you're "backing a long-shot" and not likely to win. If you picked the horse with the best odds, like "2-to-1," you might make at least a little money.
Here's one of Sue's picks "winning by a nose" on the inside---our new best friend, a horse by the name of "Conclave."
The same thing happened with one of my picks that "won by a nose" and so they show the "photo finish" right up on the giant screen that shows the entire race live and then reruns it while the next race is getting lined up.
Here's our bookie, Mr. Flood, who was kind enough to take our money, but then had to give it back and then some when we won on four of our 12 wagers.
We made a grand profit of 51.75 Euro for the day. (We wagered "peanuts," so we only won "peanuts.") What a relief not to be moving up into a higher tax bracket.
We even made a wager on "Sandymount Lady" in honor of our friend Marie from Dublin. Unfortunately, it was one of the long-shots and was too much of a lady to run with the 18 others in that race.
We were worried for a while that these monks we saw at the races were wagering all our "penny candle" donations, but it turned out they were manning a stand that was taking collections for the repair of the roof on their abbey.
And we would like to let our nephews, Peter, Dan, and John, in Las Vegas know that we have our own "Caesar's Palace" right here in Salthill. Not quite as large as theirs in Vegas. We may just try the "early bird" bingo in their honor so they can roll their eyes, shake their heads, and have a laugh.
And so we hope you will understand and forgive our tardiness in posting to this travel journal, since it was the hard work at the Galway Races that kept us out so late and unable to share the news in a timely manner with "All Those We Left Behind In America."
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