Frog Blog

i'm a city girl by heart and nature. give me a city any day. that said, i do really enjoy the countryside-- the fresh air, beautiful views, cleanliness of it all. today i hiked up to see the rock of cashel. it was super spooky and deserted and the tour made it even cooler. it was cold at the top and rainy and foggy and in a shroud of clouds. just lovely. after the tour i walked down the hill to see hore abbey, a 12th century abandoned monk home in the middle of a field. the path to the abbey was clogged with cows from the neighboring farm. i'd seen a couple of people walk ahead of me and they clapped their hands and the cows dispersed and cleared the walkway. when i got about halfway down the walk, i gave a pitiful clap. the cows stared at me and didn't move. i know very little about cows, except that i like steak once in a while and i have milk in my tea and that cows are really quite large when you're standing only five feet away. so i stood there staring at the cows and they stared back at me. i could have walked around them but the grass off the path was super squishy and mucky and full of cow shit and it had been raining, so, going off the path wasn't an option, especially since i have only one pair of shoes. a farmer cutting his field smiled and laughed at me standing in the middle of his farm staring at the cows. yeah. i'm a real farm joke. finally the couple came back from the abbey and the man clapped his hands and the cows moved for him. i said, hi, i'm not really familiar with the cow phenomenon and he said, no problem, you just clap your hands and they move. simple. right. so i did. i clapped and walked forward like i knew what i was doing, like i was some kind of farm hand and the cows moved. i felt like i was parting the red sea. just click your heels and say there's no place like home. voila. and the abbey was cool. and on the way back i clapped my hands and the darn cows moved again. i rock.