3 years old again

The weather here in Ballycastle has been gorgeous this past week, inspiring me to act like a 3 year old again. This meant going to the beach to build a sand castle. I roped Niki into joining me, and away we went! It wasn't necessarily 'warm' outside, but we bundled up and went out anyway. Here's the final product!

Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation

Five hours in a 15-seater bus took us from Ballycastle, through Belfast, over the border, through Dublin, and into County Wicklow, where tucked away in a valley is the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (http://www.glencree.ie/). Our team of 12 volunteers plus three staff members spent a couple of days there to have a bit of respite and time together and to compare experiences and swap stories with the Glencree volunteers. We had a brilliant time. I can't say that we did a whole lot. We arrived and ate a late dinner, were shown our rooms, and hung out with the Glencree volunteers for a while over glasses of wine. The next morning we had a session with the Glencree volunteers to talk about what we liked and didn't like about where we were. We also talked about joint projects that we could do together. After lunch we went for a walk to a small nearby lake and hung out there for the afternoon in the glorious weather. After dinner, we hung out some more (notice a pattern?) and then left to hang out some more in the local pub! But we enjoyed some well-deserved time away. And it was a good opportunity for more photos!
Photo captions: First photo-view of the Wicklow mountains from the road just above Glencree. Second photo-Celtic cross that stands above a German military graveyard we visited that's very close to the Glencree site. Third photo-Christian, Niki, and Rina playing on the rocks. Fourth photo-Rina sitting on a rock, contemplating the meaning of life, I'm sure! :)