Photos, top to bottom:

1-5 Daring air dancer

6- Air dancer, and Clifden parade crowd

7-rest Clifden Parade participants

Recently, we went to Clifden, our favorite local (35 minutes away from Carna) shopping town. Our primary mission was to get our visas extended to one year. We had to see the local Gardia (police) there. The one who did the visas was working the late shift, so we hung around the town. Fortuitously, it was the last day of the well known Clifden Arts Festival. We saw lots of local art. It would be displayed out town, in storefront windows. Then, we saw this "air dancer" for lack of a better description, hanging from a crane, over the town square. She was quite graceful, and she did some real acrobatics, high up in the air.

At dusk, there was a town parade. This was a joint effort between a professional organization and the local school children. Apparently, the professional organization helps local communities put on a parade. They supply lots of equipment, and some ideas. The community decides what they want, and there is a synergistic display of this collaboration. The schoolchildren are intimately involved in this event. A good art adventure! Justine said it was the best, and wildest parade that she has ever seen. There were lots of loud instruments, and great lighting. The children's costumes were brilliant. I have no idea what they guy with the toilet plunger was doing. Yikes.

After the parade, we trudged over to the local Gardia. We learned some interesting facts as we completed our visa extension process. The local police do not carry guns, and only recently they got mace, after their guild lobbied hard for that. There are only 2 patrol cars at night, covering from past Carna to Clifden, a fairly huge area. Fortunately, the population is pretty well behaved. No drug scourges. It kind of feels like the wild west around here, but fortunately it isn't very wild.