Going Up the Country
I’m going up the country, baby, don’t you wanna go
I’m going up the country, baby, don’t you wanna go
I’m going to some place where I’ve never been before
I’m going, I’m going where the water tastes like wine
I’m going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
All this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure can’t stay
Now, Baby, pack your leaving trunk, you know we got to leave today
Just exactly where we going I can not say
But we might even leave the U.S.A.
‘Cause it’s a brand new game, and I want to play
No use of you running or screaming and crying
‘Cause you got a home as long as I’ve got mine– Going Up the Country, Canned Heat
Due to my sheep obsession, I talked Sean into spending two nights on a working beef and sheep farm in County Armaugh in Northern Ireland after leaving Belfast. The actual quality time with sheep was not what I was expecting. We only met two lambs and sadly, their days were numbered.
It turns out visiting the farm was interesting for other reasons. Had we not gone into the country, I would have continued to assume that the Troubles only touched upon people living in the cities. That was far from the case. Bombings took place in the country, as well. Some took place long ago, in the seventies: the pub up the road from the B&B had been bombed, and there was remains of a car bomb on the farm where we stayed. More troubling was the more recent activity. We ate dinner and had a few pints in the neighboring town, Keady. I never would have suspected any problems there, but several bombs had been planted in the previous few months. Much of the activity is aimed at police. When we were standing on the road, chatting with the owner of the B&B, he waved at a passing car. That was the local police, he told us. They wear armored vests and drive in unmarked cars because too many people try to shoot at them. He said this matter-of-factly, like this was normal, whereas Sean and I were surprised, once again, how the problems in Northern Ireland are not dormant.
On a lighter note, we also saw and did some things that only happen in the country.
Went to the combination general store/post office/public phone/gas station:
Saw road bowling, something Sean had saw previously on the Travel Channel:
Made farm friends:
Saw a new, gangly, awkward, adorable baby mare:
Held a chicken:
Got up close and personal with hungry cows before moving them to a new pasture:
And saw beautiful rural scenery:
Sometimes you just gotta go where the water tastes like wine.
‘Going Up the Country’ ~ my Woodstock! 🙂
Beautiful sites ~ nothing better than being out in nature no matter where you are. Just sad that ‘the Troubles’ could even think to invade such serenity.
Hey, Sean, you look like you’re on ‘Survivor’ with that chicken. 🙂