Duckett's Grove/Castle, Co. Carlow

Golly I am tired tonight! We had a really busy day. We went into Carlow town to return a pair of sweatpants that R. bought and didn't like. I also went to the Bank of Ireland and started up my bank account. They do things very differently here than in Sierra Vista. There are no tellers for simple deposits or withdrawals; the bank branch in Carlow consists of four ATM machines and one international exchange cashier. And three personal bankers who are extremely helpful. I discovered that you don't make a deposit, you make a lodgment. Weird, eh?

We went to Tesco's after the bank to get our every-other-day food shopping done. Small refrigerators--have to be careful in buying. We also bought some new "orthopedic" pillows that will hopefully help our neck issues. Bought a couple of pre-made sandwiches and ate them in the car when we parked at Duckett's Grove. Duckett's Grove is a ruined 19th century great house whose owners kept redesigning the original house until it resembled a castle:

The house was destroyed by fire overnight on 20 April 1933, no one knows the cause. It is a very spooky place and at night many people claim to have heard and seen strange goings-on. I think day time visiting is just fine by me.

Oh and I have to record that yesterday I drove myself to the gas station store! Yes, it was only about a mile and a half but I did it! Richard didn't come with me because we make each other nervous. Hope we get over that or he is going to be doing a lot of driving here!

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