Nora Roberts's Blog, page 67

Ireland Day 7 – On the move

Laura’s note: sorry to be a little late today, gang. My husband and I are moving to Maryland tomorrow so it’s been chaotic to say the least. I think I have everything set to post tomorrow and Tuesday’s travelogues from my tablet. Fingers crossed!

All packed up, and once again Kat performs her logistical miracle so all the bags fit in the car. They’re prepping for another wedding as we check out and head on our way. It’s goodbye to the wild Atlantic coast and the mountains, and onto Cong.

It’s...

Ireland Day 6 — Staying put for a time

We take a day to vacate with a lazy start. Just roll easy into the day. It’s another bright one, and I’m grateful for the weather we’ve had so far. We can hope it continues.

An hour of yoga for me–the first time in weeks I’ve been able to do planks comfortably on my wrist. Feels just marvelous. Then I settle into work. More solid progress on the second draft and that, too, feels marvelous.

Clean up, change from my workout gear and take a nice walk. There’s another wedding today, and people are...

Ireland Day 5 — Up the road to farmers and Fields

It’s bright and cool again as we head out to travel north. Our goal is Ceide Fields, with stops between. The land gentles as we drive, goes to rolling green, bisected with those wonderful stone walls or clumps of hedges. Cows and sheep–and I spot a deep brown sheep. Too bad we can shear it for Kat!

Some we pass is thick forest, deep and mysterious, and a village where they’ll have a big fair the next day. The Titanic village–to honor 14 who went down on her.

We’re after Errew Abbey, follow a si...

Ireland Day 4 — A little work for one, a sea voyage for three

The weather looks promising enough my gang decides to take the ferry to Clare Island. Though I have Dramamine, the results are iffy for me when it comes to boats, so I opt to stay back.

My life-long motion sickness deal is an annoyance. I love the water, but just can’t travel on it comfortably. I like trains, but am inevitably sick on them. It does get me out of wild amusement park rides I’d rather skip anyway, so there’s that advantage. Always a silver lining.

I get in an hour’s workout, using...

Ireland Day 3 — A day in town and an evening of wonder

I wake early, more usual for me, and get in forty minutes of yoga with my man Rodney Yee. And spend a couple hours on the second draft of the wip. Both feel most excellent.

BW and I drive down to Westport where Kat and Jason will meet us once they’re organized. We drive down, drive around. And around. Traffic is thick–it seems this is the main route to a lot in this area. The stop and go, the circling finally get to me–the way boats do–so when we see a spot across the street, I get out. I’ll s...

Ireland Day 2 — Walking in a medley of Irish summer weather

Ah well, I’ll own up that I’ve hoarded the photos thus far, but thought it only right to share. We’ve got an array of photographers this go round as Nora, Jason and Bruce have all sent snaps. ~Laura

A day of sun and rain and rainbows.

BW has fond memories of Connemara and Clifden, so we head there. Lovely sunshine and scenery, with those high, time-worn mountains dominating. I love the folds in them, like deep wrinkles in a tough old man, and the ever-cropping sheep. We skirt the water, wide an...

Ireland Day 2View — A walking medley in the Irish summer

Ah well, I’ll own up that I’ve hoarded the photos thus far, but thought it only right to share. We’ve got an array of photographers this go round as Nora, Jason and Bruce have all sent snaps. ~Laura

A day of sun and rain and rainbows.

BW has fond memories of Connemara and Clifden, so we head there. Lovely sunshine and scenery, with those high, time-worn mountains dominating. I love the folds in them, like deep wrinkles in a tough old man, and the ever-cropping sheep. We skirt the water, wide an...

Ireland — First full day

Our first full day in Ireland starts with a drive to Croagh Patrick. Kat takes shotgun and navigation, and we finally discover something she doesn’t do well. She can’t read Irish. She’ll likely be fluent before we leave, but for now she stumbles over the site and road names and makes us all laugh. Despite it, she guides BW to the very popular spot for what’s billed as a two-hour climb–for normal and average hikers–to the summit. The parking lot at the visitor’s center is jammed, but we get lu...

Ireland — Arrival

I’ll eventually finish the RWA recap, but I know you’ll all be thrilled with the substitution: Nora’s Ireland travelogue. Here’s Part the First:

We had the smoothest flight over the Atlantic I’ve ever experienced. An excellent start. Zipped through the airport in no time, and walked outside to a bright and breezy day. Took a nice, deep gulp of Irish air and said ahhhhh.

We rented the biggest SUV available, and when BW pulled it up in front of our mountain of luggage (four people, two weeks. And...

Recap 3: A signing and a move

A moment to back track:

When Nora and Ruth got up on Tuesday morning, a ceiling tile in their little kitchen/bar had fallen to the floor and water from the AC pipe was dripping everywhere. The hotel had engineering up to fix the tile and leak, but no one cleaned up the dirty floor. Housekeeping came back and cleaned the floor, then the leak started in the powder room off the kitchen and engineering had to come up again while we had dinner on the Riverwalk.

On Wednesday morning, all was fine ini...