Agricultural Show day: Irish country music on Main Street, children fizzing with ice creams and cotton candy, blue and red ribbons adorning chicken crates. Tommy would have been thrilled by the fine weather.

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My birthday twin surprised us today when she came in for a pint. After living on a boat in Portugal for a year, she moved to the wee island of Inis Oírr in February, helping her friend run the art centre there. She loves it, the peace and quiet, the sea storms and the gracious people. Unmarried, without children or debt, she lives a marvelously spontaneous life; there is something fairy-like about her.

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The director of our art centre was, in another lifetime, an actor in Ros na Rún, an Irish-language soap opera.

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