I am so happy!

For those of you who don't know, I love Ireland. But can it be true love? You see, I've never been there. *heavy sigh* I've only seen movies, travel shows, and pictures. I've read books about Ireland from tourists, novels by Irish authors, histories by Irish citizens and lots of beautiful coffee table picture books. But honestly, how can you truly profess love of a location you've only seen through the eyes of others? Forgive me this sad confession. I just felt like I needed to be honest with you.

I was looking for interesting blogs to read a few days ago and ran out of ideas to search for. And then it hit me. I haven't actually tried to find an Irish blog. So I typed "Ireland Food" (I was looking at food blogs previously) into Technorati's search engine and up popped about a billion options. Luckily, right in front of my eyes were the words, Ice Cream Ireland. I moved my tiny little arrow over the words and *click*, the page started to load. It was delightful. A little ice cream shop in Dingle, in the southwest of Ireland, has a great blog with postings of recipes, their adventures throughout Europe, goings on in Dingle, and travel tips. If you click on the words above, you get the blog. Click on the store front, and you'll be whisked to the shop's website. The ice cream recipes look delicious. For example, Cinnamon, Manuka Honey and Orange Blossom, and what Irish ice cream shop would be complete without Brown Bread and Guinness? Needless to say, after roaming around that blog I was smiling. After Ice Cream Ireland, I bounced back over to Technorati again and this time tried the more general term "Ireland." I can't remember how many sites I looked at, but one of them, Gingerpixel, had these enchanting photographs. The photographer is from County Wicklow, which is on the east coast, just south of Dublin. This first one is titled "1831." I love it. This is a Eucalyptus and apparently the bark is multi-hewed. Isn't it gorgeous?
I also thought this yellow flower was incredible. The blurred edges give it this amazing, dreamy quality. I'm half expecting a pixie to fly out from under those petals. Anyway, after looking at these I totally want to go to the library and check out a million Ireland books...

The Big News: Since I checked out their blogs (and commented), I got a hit on my blog from Ireland!!! Can you believe it? For over a decade I've been watching Ireland, and today, Ireland watched me! Even if it was only for one second, I don't care. And that, my friends, is why I'm happy. (See how easy I am to please?)