Today I'm Sixty-Four

Some people may see this title as a shameless ploy for comments -- I might be one of them -- or just an homage to one of my favorite songs by the Beatles, "When I'm Sixty-Four." The song has been in my mind for a blog post title for months, and today, my friends, I am 64. I get to share my birthday with #RingoStarr and I am happy to give Ringo, who happily is still going strong, a birthday shout-out. Happy birthday, Ringo, and here's to many more years that we will share our birth day. Happy and healthy!

I'm home from my travels, and happy to report that my luggage decided to come home, too. I'm slowly unpacking and contemplating the mountain of laundry that is waiting for me. Yes, even on birthdays, there is laundry, if I want to have something to wear when I'm sixty-four. There was also grocery shopping first thing this morning and later this afternoon there will be a few errands, first of which will be taking my ailing iPad to the Apple Store. My body is still on Dublin time and though I woke up at my usual time, just before eight o'clock. But it was eight a.m. in Dublin and, unfortunately, three a.m. here. I'm hoping to make it awake to nine tonight and get myself back on a New York schedule.

I've been an inconstant blogger and it feels good to be back at the computer blogging away. I'm going to share pictures of the trip in no special order. My mind is also back in Dublin and that's where I'm going to start today. I had long wanted to visit Dublin -- maybe forty years -- and see the Book of Kells, and it more than lived up to my expectations. What I didn't expect was the beauty of the Trinity College Library, where the manuscript is housed. I felt as though I'd walked into a scene in Harry Potter, but it wasn't a film.

Trinity College Library, Dublin, founded by Queen Elizabeth I

This is the Ha'penny Bridge, one of the bridges that connects the North and South areas of Dublin, divided by the River Liffey. I was so lucky to be there at twilight. The toll for the bridge was once a ha'penny.

Sunset at Christ Church Cathedral

I had a wonderful long weekend in Dublin. Besides my visit to Trinity College, I visited the Dublin Castle, the Beatty Library and its extraordinary manuscript collection and the National Gallery of Ireland. But I also just enjoyed the city, wandering down medieval and Georgian streets and snapping lots of pictures. It was everything I'd hoped for and I'm already thinking about a return trip to see more of Ireland. 

The laundry calls. Thanks so much, blogger buddies, for sharing my trip, and as always for your friendship. I am a very lucky sixty-four year old and I don't feel a day over sixty-three.