This is Simon, one of Niall Hynan's (my cousin) friends that had visited me in New York in the summer of 1996. He picked me up from the airport in Dublin, and continued to be the most helpful of all...chauffeured me around the whole time I was there! He also made me eat cat food, we played pin the burger on Jennifer Aniston, he let me write all over his bedroom wall, and he gave me his smelly "Trainspotting" shirt (which I will NEVER wash)...that's my Simon. Don't let the suit fool you!
 
This is Niall and Simon's friend, John Reilly. I had heard all about him before I got to Ireland because other people that I know online had met him while they were in Ireland. He's a great guy, really looks out for other people...the type that treats others better than himself....I had a lot of fun with him.
 
Hmmm...what can I say? I Didn't hit it off as well with Paul as I thought I would...mainly because he was expecting me to be some kind of airhead who ran around pointing at things...jumping up and down like a puppet, squeaking like a mouse, talking about sex...and I thought he could tell through e-mail that I had a mind...oh well. Us Yanks are all alike. 

Gaze amorously at his chiseled features as he clutches his groin. Ohhh babee!
 
Ahhhhhh! EMMET!! 
This one was a little strange...he was very nice...and generous...but he wouldn't stop making Beavis & Butthead references or stop pounding his head against the wall.
 
This is my friend Iain from Belfast. We met at the bus station (after I was an hour late when my bus broke down) and he showed me around city centre. We went to the Crown Bar to wait for Stu. We were there for 5 hours because Stu's flight was delayed and he called me at the pub twice from the airport..."Is there a Mary Hynan in the house??" Iain was extremely cool and let Stu and I stay at his home in the country (Downpatrick) that evening... but we got there so late that I didn't get to speak to his girlfriend Rona at all...she was already sleeping...too bad, she seemed like a great girl.


 
Two of many murals in Belfast


Stu and I stopped to hang out with some cows on the way to Donegal. They were really cool,
because they were as interested in us as we were in them. They came right up to us!
And THIS is the amazing Stu! He came down from Scotland, to meet me in Belfast, so that we could attend a wedding of one of his friends together. We spent 4 days together and really hit it off. The wedding was in a little village in Inver and the reception was in Donegal at the Hyland Central Hotel. We had a potpourri fight when we got back to our b&b that night...and I still have some pieces out of the basket in my coat pocket. Stu and I drove around the Inishowen Peninsula, stopped to gaze at a lot of cows and sheep, visited the town of Muff (very dull), dropped in on my friend Chris up in Coleraine, and then headed back to Belfast to meet Iain again. We hit it off so well that I ended up in Scotland the following weekend...to be continued...


The Wedding

The newly wedded couple: Anne & Karl Pedersen & Family


 
L: Stu, a plate of sandwiches, and me R: Me with two of Stu's friends


This is Chris from Coleraine. I started writing to Chris after he had sent an e-mail to me and my friend Don. He was interested in finding out about the indie film business in New York, as he had planned to move to New York for two years in August of 1997 to make his first film. (didn't happen, that's INS for ya) Chris is actually a South African citizen. His parents are both from Northern Ireland, but he was born and raised in South Africa.


Back in Belfast


After Stu left, I headed back down to Dublin. I hung out with Simon, Mairead, John Reilly, John Daly, Manus, Cian and others.  

Left photo: Cian, very animated...very funny...I think I made him nervous though! I was able to prolong the staring match just as long as he was. 

Bottom left: John Daly 

Bottom right: Cian, Mairead, John D. & John R.
 


 
Here's a shot of Stu in Scotland. That's Edinburgh Castle in the background.
 
Here's another one of Stu. This was in the Scottish countryside.
 
As soon as I left Scotland and arrived in Dublin again, I picked up my rental car to head off and see the western coast of Ireland. John Reilly met me at Dan Dooley rent-a-car and decided to come with me. We started out in Galway. I spent hours dangling over a cliff at the Cliffs of Moher (and I actually got a sunburn!), went to Tralee, drove over Conor's Pass to Dingle and then ended up in Kanturk, where my great-grandfather was married...Here's a shot of me on the road by Kanturk Castle.
 
Here's one of me in the castle


 
Here's one of the Cliffs of Moher, and a nice silhouette of me dangling off of one


 
After Kanturk, I drove around the Farran Doyle area and tried to find the church where my great-grandfather was married. I was told that there was only one church in Farran Doyle (left), and I stopped and talked for awhile with the elderly and deaf priest. I thought he was going to hit me with a ruler...he kept quizzing me...do you know about the catholic emancipation?? What about the potato famine?? Anyway...he was missing 50 years of marriage records, so I found no record of the marriage of Patrick Hynan and Eliza Dineen. When I drove closer to Farran Doyle, I found an abandoned church (right). I suppose they could have been married in either one.


After Farran Doyle, John and I drove down to Cork to visit with my friend,  
Barry O'Sullivan.
 
Barry was very sweet and a lot of fun. I had only been writing to him for a few weeks and really didn't know what to expect...I was very pleased. He gave me a Frank O'Connor book to read on the plane, and wrote a special note inside. Very sweet.
 
That afternoon in Cork, John e-mailed Simon and found out that Stu was on his way to meet me in Dublin for my last weekend, so I packed John into the car, and off we went on our 4 1/2 hour ride to Dublin to pick Stu up from the airport. 

Here's one of Stu in the Irish Film Centre the next morning.
 
Here's Stu at Trinity College (I spent A LOT of time at Trinity - dragging my suitcases across those cobblestones was NOT fun).
 
Mairead, Si, Donnla Nic Gearailt, and a friend of Donnla's from France 
 


The Cute Couple 

This was my final night with Simon and Mairead....and YES, that's how Simon usually dresses! 
 
 
 
 

I returned home on July 14th for a month...then went back to Scotland for 10 days. I only took one roll of film this time...maybe some day I'll add them.