I don’t know if you heard, but Barack Obama was in Ireland a couple of weeks ago. Just kidding! Wait until you see the t-shirts! My favorite shows Mr. Obama, of the Moneygall O’bamas, hoisting a pint of Guinness to his lips. Below the image it says “Tall, Dark, and Had Some.” This is a double joke, as Guinness has had an ad for years that shows a beautiful big pint with the words “tall, dark, and handsome.” If you had any doubt about how important pub culture, and Guinness in particular, is to Irish identity then doubt no more. Whoever it was on Obama’s team that figured out that he had to drink a pint was a genius. Almost every stranger I’ve spoken to while I’ve been here has wanted to talk about my president, and more particularly that he drank a pint. It means that he truly accepts Ireland and his heritage; he is one of them who has finally come home.
But did you know that Obama did some shopping while he was here? Well, he did. He purchased a beautiful 7 piece set of Shannonbridge Pottery for his mother-in-law. You can see the set here on Shannonbridge’s site.
I was intrigued, so I went out to their shop, conveniently located in Shannonbridge, to check out the pottery. I didn’t go for the mother-in-law set, but I did get myself a cute little teapot for one, milk pitcher, and a mug for Mark in the same presidential shamrock pattern. I pressed them into service immediately upon my return. In the picture below, the teapot is steeping one bag of Barry's Tea Gold Blend. Now to find those t-shirts!
Here's my route. On the way home between Shannonbridge and Cloonbegaun I passed huge fields of peat being harvested by Bord na Mona to burn for electricity.The photo at the top is Shannonbridge.
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