visits from afar!

So comes to a close a very short but sweet visit from friends and family! I thoroughly enjoyed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoon with Kristen, Drew, Katie, and Katie's mother, and it is nice to finally have people who can picture in their minds where I'm living and what I'm doing. Kristen and Drew only stayed Thursday evening unfortunately, and Katie and her mother spent Friday night as well. Everyone is gone this afternoon, and alas, I am back on my own!

On Thursday I navigated and Drew drove (impressively)us to some scenic sights near Ballycastle. First, I took them to the mysterious, haunted graveyard in town. It's really Ballycastle's pride and joy ghost story, and as much as I think I don't believe in ghosts there really is something eerie about Bonamargy Friary, a friary for Franciscan monks hundreds of years ago. After the monks left, a recluse named Julia McQuillan moved in and became known as "The Black Nun". There are many different variations of the story, but the bottom line was Julia supposedly murdered a few different people, made prophecies that came true, and for years frightened the people of Ballycastle. In the end, they ended up breaking into the Friary and killing her. Nowadays, Julia haunts the old Friary and loves it when little children stick their hand through the keyhole in her gravestone, because then and only then are they marked with THE CURSE OF THE BLACK NUN. Dun dun dun...


I also took the group to (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, Murlough Bay. It's near Corrymeela and I think it has one of the biggest ocean views I've ever seen. We also drove through the quaint town of Cushendun, and played around on Ballycastle Beach. After the outdoor adventures, the four of us took in a nice meal and a few pints at O'Connor's pub. THEN. I got a brilliant idea. Why not go for a wee midnight graveyard stroll? After all, I'm sure Julia much prefers to haunt people in the dark. Drew was as excited as a little boy on Christmas at the idea, and Kristen and Katie politely said they'd wait in the car...
Good thing Drew and I are persuasive, because next thing I knew the four of us were clinging to each other weaving through gravestones and checking around stone walls before continuing through. Great craic!! Too bad Drew is too curious and had to stick his hand through Julia's keyhole gravestone. He's pretty much doomed I'd say...

Here are pics of my sister and me outside Corrymeela, a cute Irish woman walking her Springers outside the Friary(They looked just like Nitro), Murlough Bay, and Ballycastle Beach/the Pier:










I was sad Kristen and Drew could only stay one night! So good to see them. On the other hand, Katie and her mom stayed until Saturday afternoon, which gave us ample time to catch up and do some more tourist activities! I shall update later describing our adventures yesterday at the Rope Bridge, Causeway, Dunluce, Portstewart, and (oops!) a little shopping in Coleraine. Ta for now!

Karen