Castles, Coadys, and Crackers

FMM: 3.5 mi

Good morning, Strangers and Strange Folks,

I will start the week with 2 jokes. One I personally tried out on an unsuspecting dental receptionist, but I just couldn't help myself. She gave me a card with my appointment on it and, lo and behold, it allowed me to use a joke I've been harboring for years. The appointment time was the perfect time for a dental appointment: 2:30. I enunciated, "Oh, my appointment's at 2:30? The perfect time for a dentist appointment!" Then I attempted to stifle a chuckle. She looked at me blankly...On to my other joke. Bob asked a man on the bus if he had lived in Ireland all his life. His reply, "Not yet."...Yesterday we took the train to Malahide Castle. Like the Coadys, the Talbots of Malahide Castle were French Normans who arrived in Ireland around 1100. And like another Coady I know whose family has lived at 509 Marshall since 1896, they liked where they were and managed to keep the castle in the family for 800 years! Next we wandered into a church bazaar and bought a most exciting gift: a mirror for a euro. Bob thought it an unnecessary purchase, especially as he had to carry it for 2 miles, but Megan, Molly, and Nancy will be delighted to have it next week...We learned about a popular custom here: Christmas crackers. No, you don't eat them, they are like little firecrackers filled with gifts that you and another pull apart at each end and little to the "crackle". The word "Christmas crackers" seems to refer to just gifts, too, but we're not sure..

Making wisecracks wherever I go,
I remain,
Tizzie/Tiz/Tizmom/Mom/Liz/Elizabeth