I had the great pleasure of going to Ireland one winter. I’m a hearty Midwesterner, having lived most of my life in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and yet I found Ireland to be surprisingly chilly. I spent the first half of my trip looking for the perfect hat and scarf to keep me warm. (Such fun shopping, looking through all those beautiful woolens. Ireland is a knitters haven with it’s wools and cables.)
The air temperature wasn’t what made Ireland cold like here in Minnesota. It was the dampness of the Irish air that let the cold settle into your bones, chilling you through. I finally found the perfect hat, soft and warm, in Galway. When the humidity is high and the temperature cold here in Minnesota, I am reminded of that visit to Ireland. They are good memories.
I tried to capture some of that cold dampness in my story. I felt the weather was another character because so much of what the people of Lough Key did was dictated by the weather and the traditions they’d established over the years.
What’s your favorite weather? Does it make you think of a certain place?
