Newlyweds in a VW bug gave me a ride up the coastline about 100 miles — Macroom ⇒ Kenmare ⇒ Killarney ⇒ Tralee ⇒ Listowel ⇒ Kilrush ⇒ Kildysart. This was not the first honeymoon I had ruined. Back in '72, or was it '74, I hitched a ride around Nova Scotia in the pouring rain with another overly generous couple who, by the third day, had grown weary of sharing their love with me, and whose only desire was to continue their mutual explorations without kibitzers present. Lucky for me, their good vibrations flowed over me and would not let them toss me out into the wet world.
No such problem with these honeymooners. We only shared part of a day together and then they went on their merry way. I wish lovers could stay in love, but everlasting love does not seem part of the human psyche. Even quasi everlasting love requires a very simple life which most of us are not attuned to or capable of — simple foods, overdoses of oxygen from trees and plants, silence, and living alone with lots of empty space and time.
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| Macroom | Macroom | Kenmare | Kenmare |
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| Killarney | Killarney | Killarney | Killarney |
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| Killarney | Killarney | Killarney | Tralee |
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| Tralee | Tralee | Tralee | Listowel |
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| Listowel | Listowel | Listowel | Listowel |
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| Kilrush | Kilrush | Kilrush | Kilrush |
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| Kilrush | Kilrush | Kilrush | Kilrush |
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| Kildysart | Kildysart | Kildysart | Kildysart |
These conditions lead to a happiness that is contrary to the American dream which requires a continuous pursuit of happiness. For the religious minded, replace the word HAPPINESS with the word GOD which, we should all know by now, is an acronym for Greater Other Dimension. And as all wise fools know, pursuing happiness is not happiness — it's more like torture. Relax. Or find a way to relax without drugs of any kind. Easier said than done. Sadly, only a few of us have the personality traits that enable happiness, and then most of us few stumble onto happiness because we did not have the resources to continually acquire more and more stuff. The lack of stuff improves the chances that our foods will be simpler, our air cleaner, and our spaces and times less cluttered.
Slept in Kildysart on the Shannon River Estuary either in a graveyard Graveyards are especially tranquil at night. or close to the wreck of the Matrisha.
