I am in the middle of updating and revising my 2012 book, Celtic Spirit and I have a rather fun dilemma regarding sheep. Yes, sheep. I have pictures of sheep in the middle of the road in Scotland and Ireland that dates back to my first trip as a teenager in 1963. All my Snapshot travel books have pictures of sheep, I have fond memories of sheep everywhere and a collage of sheep on the stairway wall. Colorful sheep symbolize the Celtic lands I love.

On my last trip to Ireland pre-Covid, my friends and I stayed in County Clare and then went over to Dublin and back to Shannon airport. We never encountered even one sheep in the road. In fact, only a very few in the fields. Come to find out for economic reasons,  the land was being used for development or cattle. We kept joking about it right up to when I left them at the airport and drove on to Achill Island, County Mayo. Two hours after leaving them off, I had to stop twice for sheep in the road. Then when I arrived at my AirB&B, I discovered them grazing in the driveway where I was to park the car. A bit inconvenient but fun. So I sent my friends, still at the airport, pictures of what they had missed.

So the dilemma? One of my characters (Who is grumpy and critical because her adult daughters bailed on joining her for the tour) offers up a great line on the way into Dublin:

“Damn, sheep. I am so sick of sheep. Thank the good Lord, we are back in civilization” (i,e, Dublin)

Does the sheep situation get updated or left as I remember them?  Remember, these scenes can be found in Ireland, just not as prevalent. The issue itself is no big deal but the message about traveling is. If you want to travel, do it! The world becomes more and more homogenized. Airport canned music upon arrival in a foreign capital, motorways that allow travelers to read village names at off-ramps rather than require them to drive thru, restaurant menus that have nachos and chicken wings listed before local offerings.

Each to their own. I can’t wait to get back to Ireland and see all the damn sheep I can see. We will let my character Mary Helena return to Boston and never travel again. Will I keep the sheep in the book? Not sure yet.