Leftover Images from Ireland: Last Batch

These are the last of the pictures I have to show you from my trip to Ireland.  I hope you have enjoyed the ones that came before.  This batch is a little different.  I need to begin with a little preamble:  When I traveled to Italy some years ago, I was with a group of colleagues.  I arrived a day ahead of time and spent my first night in Rome.  This was before the days of iPhones and GPS, and while I needed to go out to get some dinner, I was terrified of becoming lost.  Traveling alone in a country where I didn't speak the language and becoming lost was more than my little brain could contemplate, and so I decided to go out of the hotel, turn left, and then walk in a straight line without veering.  Then, when I was ready to come back, I would simply need to turn around 180° and find my way back.  A good strategy, and it worked.

Here's the preamble part:  Before I could walk one block, in Rome, this is what I saw.  Honestly, it was almost literally the first thing I saw in Rome:

The "No Bush" stickers were mildly amusing.  But really, McDonalds?  In Italy?  Where they make some of the best food in the world?

So with that in mind, here are some of the things I saw in Ireland that I really didn't want to see in Ireland.  If I want to see this stuff, or eat this food, I can do that quite nicely without hopping on three airplanes and flying for 16 hours.  

Nike?  Really?

Don't these people know they'll get as fat as Americans when they allow this fast food scourge to take hold? Speaking of invasive species. . . 

This was a procession to celebrate some young girl's First Communion.  Somehow the image loses some of its charm when Subway is in the background.

Now this one surprised me.  I had no idea The Salvation Army was at work in foreign countries.

Okay, so enough complaining about multinational corporations.  Now I want to show you some of the doors of Ireland.  Some of these are going to be made into quilt blocks to commemorate my trip . . . if I can get my rear in gear to do it.  I think I will.  I'm kind of excited about it.

Initially when I started taking pictures of the doors (and there are hundreds of pictures!), I was interested only in the door.  Then I realized that the window or flower box beside the door was equally interesting or amusing or charming.  Then I began to notice the facades of the buildings, and the signs above or beside the doors.  So with that in mind, here are some of the doors of Ireland.

I love the name of this bicycle shop.

Love the sconce hanging to the left side of this next door.

They were repairing the facade on this building, but I have to admit liking the bare bricks showing through.

And who could resist these thatched roofs?

This next door has to be a part of the quilt.  I love the shamrock.

So those are just some of the doors of Ireland.  I'll have to pare them down and decide which ones I want in the quilt, which ones I feel capable of making into a quilt blocks, what size to make the quilt blocks, and how many to include.  Which ones are your favorites?

I hope you've enjoyed this trip within my trip to Ireland.  This is the last of my images.  Thanks for coming along with me.