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...And a great time was had by all, from what I understand, though I was a bit late to the party. Especially by a certain host and a certain Canadian spousetype®: you never know what devilment two peas in a pod will get up to! We had a lovely trip to the wilds of the Aran Islands on a gorgeous, sunny day. Many scoops of Guinness were consumed at the local pub, and you never knew what you might encounter on the road home...
New sights, new sounds, new accents and new words--everywhere. I have to say, I wouldn't have minded if someone had warned me that the local road marking signs would be in Irish--only! I honestly have no idea how I made it, sometimes, to where I wanted to go; the magic of Ireland, I suppose. Rubrick, thanks a million for the Bodhran lesson--I absolutely loved it!
Those who were absent were missed--a lot.
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Pooh-Bah
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History, indeed, I fear: already it seems like weeks ago. 170 miles of empty, bumpy road, folowed by 2 hours of smooth sea, then 170 miles of smooth, but crowded road has distanced Lettermore much more than it ought. Add 1½ days of intense work and the distance is magnified. But with distance comes perspective. One day of rain and three of cloud and cold is put into perspective by the warm, sunny day on Sunday, when we were packing up to go, when there was no breeze and the midges made up for the lost week by attacking us unmercifully. Thank goodness that didn't happen at all during the rest of the party! We were able to wander between the three cottages without problem (apart from drizzle on the Thursday) and often to sit outside and talk. The book-swap took place on Saturday afternoon, sitting in a circle outside, with glasses of Pendle Witch (courtesy of Moorhouses Brewery, Blackburn) to loosen our tongues - as if that were necessary! As expected, a collection of excellent reading matter appeared and went to good homes. It was a little spooky, having musick there by proxy and taking part in the swap, and underlined how much we missed his real presence.
(Hope you enjoy the read, K!)It was interesting to see the ebb and flow of people, and who was in which group at any given moment. The whole affair was enlivened by the Micro-Remingtons, a lovely pair of children who fitted in to the proceedings without disrupting them. We're just waiting until JUnior TEd is ready to join the board - his vocabulary is already massive - goodness knows what it will be like when he's in his teens. The trip to the Aran Islands was excellent, you know what I mean? - a gloriously hot day, calm sea, plenty of interesting things to look at - what more can you want. On top of that, the chance to spend multi-dollars on genuine Aran sweaters, knitted in a factory in Northern Ireland.  Seriously, the sweaters are beautiful pieces of work, and very warm in the winter winds. Originally, each family on the islands had a different pattern, which was exclusive to them. Each member of the family had their own variation of that pattern. This was so bodies of drowned fishermen could be recognised when found after a week or two in the sea. The same thing occurs in Fair Isle, Guernsey, and Yorkshire fishermen's sweaters - and no doubt elsewhere as well. The evenings were the main time for talk: starting as we waited for the communal meal to arrive - and many thanks to those who slaved over the turf-fire to roast the pasta and the sausages and black pudding, to say nothing of the roast chicken! - and continuing until the early hours. games of scrabble, cribbage, "Apple to Apple" (highly recommended!) and other pastimes filled what few gaps there were in the proceedings. In addition to all this, there were forays to the local Golf Club. This was about a mile down a little lane, very scenic as we went down in the daylight and somewhat treacherous as we came back in the dark. I would have you understand that we didn't go down there to play golf except at the nineteenth hole. They served a very pleasant pint of Guinness there, although the noise level was very high at times - all the more remarkable because the noise was all in Gaellic. Now, we are all looking forward to next year's event: where's it to be, ladies and gentlemen? Well - that's my take on the Emerald WaP, fwiw. Next please! 
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Canada? Favorable exchange rates for US and Euros! Nova Scotia? Montreal? Ottawa (ooooh Mounties on horses!) Mercy, be still my fluttering heart!
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ooh, I like that Canada idea, especially Montreal!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Canada sound good..i have only visited the coasts (Nova Scotia, and BC), so any where else would be lovely..
(i did take a short cut through canada on my way to lansing, and even spend a night.... but that hardly counts..
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old hand
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Re next wordapalooza:
Sorry, Hev, it looks like the bottom-dwellers are reneging on the promise of an antipodean bash after all.
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Carpal Tunnel
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To all the antipodeans: My credit card is already throbbing. Yes, I bought one of the very nice machine-made Aran sweaters and a sheepskin, as well. Down Mav and Pfranz! As much as I would love to have the next Wap with you guys, I'm afraid my reasons for not coming would very much mirror your own for not being at Wap1 or Wap2. Although time and money mean nothing to me, they would certainly hold me hostage if Wap3 were held upunder. 
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old hand
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I'm afraid my reasons for not coming would very much mirror your own for not being at Wap1 or Wap2.
Add Wap3 to that list.
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Add Wap3 to that list.
With all due respect... can't we have it in your *backyard, sjm?
(I'll have to take a vacation sooner or later this century...)
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Pooh-Bah
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if it were to be held in, say, LA in, say, March or April? That's the shoulder season and fares and accommodation should be considerably lower ... eg. £250 return from Heathrow flying Air New Zealand or Virgin and even less flying United or AA. I haven't looked at accommodation yet, but the airfares should make it more affordable. LA usually has bearable weather no matter what the time of year.
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Pooh-Bah
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>I did take a short cut through canada on my way to lansing
I know that my geography is a little basic, but. I'm sure that it seemed like a good idea at the time!
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Pooh-Bah
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As you say, Capfka, LA (or alternatively, San Francisco) is fine for flights from the UK (and the least bad for Antipodeans) although it does seem to cost nearly as much for USn's to get there from the East Coast or Mid West as it does for me to get there from Edinburgh! The main problem with the springtime is that for those tied to educational establishments that do not allow vacations within termtime, the Easter holiday and spring break tend not to match up.
Looking at the prices on E-bookers.com from the UK, New York, Boston, Denver, Miami and Orlando all offer cheap flights. Examples at today's date: New York £175, Boston £179, Washington £184, Chicago £214, Denver £237, Miami £218, Orlando £261, Los Angeles £215, San Francisco £214, Toronto £431, Montreal £342, Vancouver £514, Quebec £448.
I suppose that much depends on someone volunteering to organise the next event.
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Re a detour through canada...
it sounds strange doesn't it? but Route 80, is the major road from NYC (well actually it start in NJ) heads west. I-80 has to dip south, round the lake erie, starting just about at the edge of that lake, which is near the NY/Pennsylvania boarder, before ohio,as does route 90!
a 40 or so mile detour,(north) on picturesque road and you are in Niagara NY, and then you can cross over into canada, and travel along the north edge of the lake on a road that also heads back south, and bring you to detroit.
its one of those geographic surprizes.. if you are in downtown detroit, and travel south, what would be the next country you enter? most people guess mexico, or some south american country, but the answer is canada!
a penisula of land on the northern edge of the lake, slips under detroit.. once you are in detroit, a few miles on another interstate road, you meet back up with I-80 which works its way back north..
There is US interstate system of road..with even numbers tend to be east west, odd numbers tend to be north south that criss cross the country.
the interstate Routes, (10, 20,(30?), 40, (50?), 60, 80, and 90) are the big east/west ones. they start in the south with 10(and i don't know if all the numbers are used,) and end in new england with 90
I-80 takes you (i know this one best!) from NJ to SF, CA.
I-90 from Boston to (Seattle? Portland Oregon?) but as i say, the great lakes cause the northen edge of US to take a dip..(and I-80 and I-90 share the same road for a while)
Running north and south, I 95 is the major road in NY area, it goes from Maine to Florida...and I-5 is in California, (going from mexico boarder north to at least seattle (i think it meet up with the old road, 99, which is called the Alaskan Highway, and runs along the coast from seattle, to alaska (the route might change names in Canada) but if you were driving, you'd basicly stay on the same road.. and except for the customs house/immigration stops, would be unaware of the boarders..
we US's tend to forget what a good neighbor we have in canada, and our border with canada is one of the largest unpatroled, and largely un fenced borders in the world! in some places, in northern montana and the dakota's, farms straddle the boarder, and farms cross back and forth freely as the plow there fields!
another feature of the system, are ring roads around major cities...so DC, NY and Boston all have routes I-495 (three digits indicates a ring or spur road)
there is a ring road round chicago too (I-480?) i am unsure of the number, because last time i traveled thro chicago, it was undergoing a major overhaul, and i didn't take the ring road.
what is really nice, is the major US road heading East, (near the lakes) and many heading north, link up with roads just as nice in canada. i don't know if those road always existed, or if the canadians just were kind enough to build in response to our system.
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>It's one of those geographic surprizes.. if you are in downtown Detroit, and travel south, what would be the next country you enter? most people guess Mexico, or some south american country, but the answer is Canada! Which suggests that flipping the question around and asking those same people, "If you're in Windsor, Ontario, and head north, which is the next country you enter?", would really have them scratching their heads.
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Pooh-Bah
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Thanks for that. I've met people from Windsor, Ontario and had never looked it up on the map before. This interactive map answers both questions: http://www.ontario.worldweb.com/Maps/mapviewer.html?map_id=19044Incidentally - travelling eastwards will take you to Essex, travelling north east will take you to Bradford en route to Perth and travelling north will get you to Tobermoray. Be very careful about applying the directions on the rest of the map to Windsor, UK or else you will be taking a very strange route to London and you would have great problems navigating your way to Cornwall.
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Carpal Tunnel
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LA in, say, March or April?
As someone once said :
The trouble with LA is there is no "there" there!
If you want the west coast it should be noted that San Francisco has a moderate climate all year round. From a few visits there I must say it is an easy city to get around in... with many points of interest. Also there is excellent public transport, including vans from airport. Whereas LA requires a car.
But like any major city the hotels, motels etc are pricey! Sigh. Is there anyone among us who lives there?
Is there any problem with early Sept? Or does it conflict with too many school openings? An extra three months gives a few more months to save up.
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well i have a granddaughter in the SF area, so i won't argue.. one option is going cross the bay to emeryville or oakland.. hotels are much cheaper, and then car pooling cross the bridge to see the sites is an option.. parking is expensive in SF, but as much fun as it is to get a hot sporty little red convertable, one or two mini vans would schelp 7 or 8 people at a time.. once your in SF, there are connects to buses, (cross the golden gate, to marin county, and the park) the cable cars, tour buses, and even a small subway system.. so if there was a plan for a car rental to include a van.. (and then some way of working out comp for the van renter/driver(cost more than a car)/gas/parking.) places like rent-a-wreck(which aren't wrecks, but also aren't current model year cars) are good options for saving costs.
it would take more coordination.. how did you guys work things out in ireland? did everyone rent their own car, or did you car pool?
some of the motels in oakland/emeryville even have shuttle buses cross the oakland bridge. and because the land is cheaper,they also often have outdoor pools. they also often have conference rooms, too, that can be booked..
any one who really want to see things (say drive 4 hours down to monterey bay) could rent their own car..if you do, take pacific coast highway, Rt. 1, not I-5. Route 1 is the old coast road, (the ones the spanish monks followed!) it hugs the coast, and passes all the old missions..
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I liked the way that the first WAP worked, with a core weekend, where most people were there at the same time, allowing other people time to travel there and combine with other trips.
San Francisco has better than average public transport. Some friends found a reasonable place to stay near the ferry, so that they were able to get in and out easily without the expense of hiring or parking a car.
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Pooh-Bah
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Well, one of the reasons for suggesting LA is its relatively equable year-round climate. Yes, I know it can get cold, but it generally doesn't get all that cold and in comparison with most other parts of the US or Europe at that time of year it is positively tropical. SF is nice, but the weather can be much worse. San Diego, on the other hand, might be doable. And it's a nice town. If we did LA (or anywhere in Southern California), we could time it so that the majority of people could be there. We could take a straw poll of dates to ensure that the most people can come. And for most USn's it would almost count as foreign travel, wouldn't it? 
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San Diego sounds good to me ... lots of military bases! Sailors! Marines! Hunks. Hooo-Ahhhh OK! OK! -- like the man said "just because you're on a diet doesn't mean you can't read the menu!" Alternately : Even if you aren't going anywhere it's nice to hear the train whistle! There was a motel near the beach, the Zoo and half a block from the bus terminus...Roberts-At-The-Beach. Oldder, clean, pleasant people Rate was about $69 a night. Found a listing at : http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60713-d119632-Reviews-Roberts_At_The_Beach_Motel-San_Francisco_California.html#GuidebookSorry, that shorter link never works for me. Page lists other venues and there is a link to economy places. Whatever.
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old hand
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For a number of reasons I can't attend any WAPs outside Oz.
Prime among these is the cost of travel within and ex Australia. Because the prices are simply ridiculous, the average Strayan such as I only manage one or a few family trips overseas per lifetime. Putting business trips aside, the rule we seem to have adopted is if one goes, everybody goes, thereby quadrupling the cost. Maybe things will change once the kids are off our hands and I'm in my dotage.
Perhaps the only exception would be Bali. For us Sand Gropers it's closer than the eastern capitals of Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and considerably cheaper as a holiday destination than travelling interstate.
THANKYOU to Jackie and the other WAPII attendees for your postcards from the Emerald Isle; I will treasure them. It is a good feeling when you know 'virtual' friends are thinking of you on the other side of the world.
stales
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Pooh-Bah
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We could take a straw poll of dates to ensure that the most people can come.
Yehbut -- one of the reasons that the PaddyWaP was held when it was, was becos I took a straw poll. Most everyone said, "don't matter - I'll come if I can whenever it is." Two people said, "It has to be in the end part of June - that's the only time I can come." So, we set in at the end of June. Neither of those two people came. They had extremely good reasons why they weren't able to make it, which came up after they had said when they were available. But the same happened to a couple of people who ha\d said they'd like to come and hadn't specified a date. The moral of all this long-winded guff is: It doesn't matter when you set the date - some will come, some won't. So set the date to fit the weather and we'll all do our best to get there.
And, fwiw, I've always wanted to go to SF, whreas LA doesn;t attract me at all, at all.
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addict
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I've always wanted to go to SF
Yes, I've heard it's a very gay city....
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Carpal Tunnel
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THANKYOU to ... WAPII attendees for your postcards
You're welcome, Sweet Thing. You are highly valued, even though you're not around as much as we'd like.
Money, money--that and time. Two things which we all seem short of. I occasionally come across comparatively cheap fares to Oz and NZ. But those are only from the U.S., and even then we'd all have to pay to get to the departure city, adding to the cost; IF we should all just happen to be able to go at that time--not likely! And yeah, I understand about the family bit. Even though I (only) went to Great Britain and Ireland, for the next time I don't care whether my husband says he can't make it--he's going. Kids too, if they're not in school. I would be utterly terrified of going to Bali (too "foreign" to me, plus I don't really speak the language), but would love it nonetheless.
Sounds like we might be considering going coastal :-). I've always had a desire to see San Francisco; none, for the rest of that foreign country known as California. (!)
I would like to say that, if it's hot wherever we are, I would VERY much like to have the option of staying in somewhere where it's air-conditioned. As to Seattle--I spent 3 days there, one February a few years back. And while I was amazed to see live flowers blooming, we only had sunshine for about 15 minutes total. All of my pictures are gray and depressing, though I had a great time.
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Thanks for the lovely postcard from Wordapalooza and the Paddy Bear! We all appreciate your thoughtfullness.
What a wonderful community of wordlovers this is!
Here is to many more Wordapaloozas in the years to come!
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Carpal Tunnel
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You're more than welcome, sir! [blowing kiss e] Much love to you. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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It was a little spooky, having musick there by proxy and taking part in the swap, and underlined how much we missed his real presence. (Hope you enjoy the read, K!)
The more I hear about it the more I really wish my *life was 'in order' enough to have been there. For all those curious these were the books that were exchanged. I received the Caufield and I am enjoying the read, Rhube...
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
The Easter Rebellion by Max Caufield
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Winds Over Fish Lake by Marie Engebretson
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Selected Short Stories by Guy De Maupassant
Daddy by Loup Durand
The Men and the Girls by Joanne Trollope
How To Live With A Neurotic Cat by Stephen Baker
Getting Rid Of Bradley by Jennifer Cruise
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"there is a ring road round chicago too (I-480?) i am unsure of the number, because last time i traveled thro chicago, it was undergoing a major overhaul, and i didn't take the ring road.
The ring road in Chi-town is 294 and is so far out town that going from Indiana to Wisconsin on it would add an extra 1/2 to 2 hours depending on time of day, even without the perpetual construction.
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perpetual construction
Reminds me of your comment when cruising the roadworks about Chi's having only two seasons - Snow and Construction :)
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