Dolmen

Sunday

The days are remarkably shorter now. It gets dark at 4 or 4:15 pm. The sunrise is later and later. It’s 8 or after before the sun peeks through the tree row at the east of the property.

It is interesting that the Methodist pastor, Ross, spoke of shorter days and that darkness comes in Newcastle by 3 pm because of the position of the sun and the fact that in this season, it slips behind Slieve Donard. It does seem that the Light is in a different place at seasons of our life. Sometimes hidden, sometimes higher or lower but always present, whether we see it or not.  

Ross’ 4 year old son remarked that I talk funny---like Swartzendrubers (also here in County Down and from Howard County, Indiana). He may not know the word “accent” but he can surely recognize one!

The afternoon was for reading and napping. We set off for evening services at Gospel Hall in Newcastle (Brethren Church) shortly before 6. Upon arrival we learned that the meeting began at 7 pm. We went looking for a place for coffee or tea. Not much was open but the KFC was and our taste buds were salivating. We had a diet Coke and some chicken!! This is probably only my fifth Diet Coke in six weeks. That’s quite a change for me!!

We arrived back at Gospel Hall just before 7. Women are ‘required’ to wear hats and the hats are quite elaborate. This is a very dressy church…the men all had on suits and ties, unlike all the other churches we have been in the last several weeks. Our friends, Ken and Margaret Byatt, were not at church but Daniel was. He was happy to see us and took us on a short tour of the building after.

Monday

Because we are having a group of 60 in for the weekend, Deirdre suggested we take a day off early in the week. They are generous in giving us time off for sightseeing. We reminded them that we are Senior volunteers and a 6 day week is a bit much. This is a slow time at Murlough so we have had a good deal of free time. That will be limited in the last weeks we are here as there are several Christmas dinners booked. However, in the meantime, we are doing ministry on Wednesdays (and spending Tues in prep), visiting churches on the weekend, and helping with the teens a bit. Bebe is active with Kairos. My other ministry is here at MH helping Sarah and Joan with mailings,etc. 

 We decided to try to find Legananny Dolmen and Bebe suggested we start at 9 a.m. I was up at my usual 7:30 but somehow we didn’t get away until almost 10:30 a.m. We had directions from John at Turnip House and had had a look at Google Maps. We set out, missed our first turn but saw that we were on Legananny Road. It must be this way!  We came upon the familiar brown signs…posted national landmarks…for Legananny Dolmen. We drove to the parking spaces and trekked up the lane behind the farmhouse. We were reading the signage and taking photos of the dolmen when a hiker came along. He offered to take our picture together. He told us about the area where there were more “standing stones”. The dolmen may be tombstones for early people from approximately 2000 B.C. There are at least six other dolmens in County Down but this one is the most  impressive.

Wonder how ancient people hoisted that stone?

We made our way back to Newcastle through Castlewellan for lunch at Café Crème and then shopped in a couple of souvenir shops. The cold and the standing had done me in so I was ready to go back to the house. When we arrived, we found that others had brought the Christmas decorations down from the attic and were sorting though them in the flat.

Later Deirdre and I went to Jen’s to join the girls. Some still had Candy Cane Reindeer to sell. Deirdre and Jen went with them as they canvassed the neighborhood. I stayed at the flat with Talbot, the Yorkshire terrier! The girls did quite well and have them all sold. They’ll have nearly 100 £ to spend for the needy family. Jen served up hot chocolate and Deirdre and I went home.