So, a few weeks ago I started thinking of Ireland and of how I have always wanted to go there. The other day I checked my e-mail and a friend of mine had sent me a website on vacationing in Ireland. I wrote her back and asked if I had mentioned that I was thinking of doing exactly that, or if she had just sent me the website by coincidence. "Coincidence" she replied. Later, I was reading a magazine and turned the page to see a map of Ireland with my name leaping right out of it..yes, Shannon is a city in Ireland and that's what my mother chose my name from. Coincidence? Perhaps.

And then, I was looking for some pictures for yet another friend, and I came across this old picture of my Grandpa...ahhh, my Irish Grandpa who was so proud of our heritage. Not so odd to have a picture of him in an old photo album, but as I looked at his Clark Gable look-alike face I noticed what seemed to be the word "Dublin" near the tear in the upper right corner. Upon removing the photo from the book, and looking at the back, I realized that it was indeed taken in Dublin. Yet another coincidence? Probably.

But then, upon checking tonights TV guide, I see that my "vice", The Simpson's is a new one...and where do they go? IRELAND!! Coincidence? With The Simpsons? I think not! I think this is the sign I have been waiting for, that Shannon should go to Ireland!

~Coincidence is logical

~Johan Cruijff

Dog sitting

Saydi (smiling) and Fisher (solomn). These are the retrievers that we dogsat for a few days.

They are brother and sister, and are very close...even "holding paws" as they rest on the floor.

This is the type of day I like to walk. It was cold, but not bitterly so. The sun was warm on our backs even though the thermometer read -14. The temperature and texture of the snow was at the point where it squeaked and crunched as you walked. Certainly there is no way to sneak up on anyone when it's like this!

~The clearest way to the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

-John Muir