Around the North Coast

On June 8, I got up about 6AM, but we didn't eat until 9:30 or 10AM, so, though Nat had invited us to the Larne Market, we couldn't make it before it closed at Noon since it was an hour and a half drive from Ballintoy.  But I used the time to label Mini-Dvs, film canisters, etc., and to get ready for the days ahead.  I also took some pictures from the front of the hostel.  They are in order from left to right as taken from the hostel.

That's Sheep Island out there, hence the name of the hostel.	Just the west edge of Ballintoy proper.	The meadow/pasture shown in this and the previous picture had sheep grazing in it at times.
Sheep Island There are no sheep on the island, actually, but the ones seen here are in the meadow just across the road from the hostel.

 After breakfast, we went to the library in Bushmills which has two computers for internet access.  I had to make an appointment to use one, so while waiting for the appointment time, we went to the Giant's Causeway for me to take pictures I missed taking last year when our camera was being fixed.  Here some of the pictures of the Causeway:

	If you look closely on the left a little above mid-way up the hill, it looks like an old woman carrying something on her back up the hill. A dulcimer, maybe?	This is called the organ because it supposedly looks like organ pipes. It really looks like a dulcimer sitting on its top rail.

After the Causeway, we went back to the library where I checked email and let people here know we'd made it there.  Then we went to R. McIntosh where we bought an extension cord/power strip to use with the C-PAP and the Video Camera.  Ate lunch at the Copper Kettle in Bushmills, bought more groceries, found the Post Office and mailed postcards, and found the Community Centre so we would know where to go for the dance that night.  During the search for the centre (it was not easy to tell where it was on the road, though our directions were accurate), we drove into a car park on the banks of the River Bush which runs through the town and gives the town its name, Bushmills.  There is a nice old stone bridge which crosses the river which one can see well from this car park, and I got a picture of it which turned out rather nicely.

Bridge over the River Bush in Bushmills

We then went back to the hostel where I took a nap.  While I did that, Brandy walked up through town toward the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge.  Later on in the trip, we went back to see some of the things she had seen that day, so more of that later.

Once I woke up, we ate sandwiches for supper, then went to the Bushmills Community Centre for the Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced KAY - lee) Dance.  I had the opportunity to play in the band with Ciaran Kelly (Squeezebox), Susan Miller (Fiddle), Dick Glasgow (Fiddle) & Naomi Warner (Whistles).  We also were treated to the singing of a local fellow named Stuart.  Here are some pictures of the dance:

Naomi Warner (Whistles), Susan Miller (Fiddle), Dick Glasgow (Fiddle), Ciaran Kelly (Squeezebox), and myself.		Stuart singing.
		The lady in the center here is Lynda, the instructor.

It turns out that Ciaran, when he was first learning to play the squeezebox, was taught some American Old-Time tunes, though he didn't know it at the time, so we played some Old-Time tunes, June Apple, Barlow Knife, and, I believe, Turkey in the Straw for one of the dances.

During the dance, we met some festival participants we had not met except via email, the Malyuk family from Ohio.  We also saw Christine & Sheila from England who attended the last Cork festival, and Cork festival regular Jenny Coxon and her husband, Tony, from England who had just arrived that evening.

After the dance, we were invited with Dick to Lynda's (the dance instructor) house for coffee, so we went and visited with her for a while, then off to the hostel and bed.

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