Ireland Journal
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Bad News for Athlone
I got an email last week from Gael Bradbury and Garry Hughes, the owners of the Olive Grove Restaurant in Athlone, saying that they were closing their beautiful restaurant on Custume Pier of the River Shannon in the center of town. Here is the first paragraph of Gael's letter to her customers: I have tears…
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Child of the Solstice
We were all on the bus ready to leave Loughcrew, the Sliabh na Callighe, the Hill of the Hag, when our stalwart bus driver Tom Kirwan asked, “Did you see the monument they put up to old Mick”? Mick Tobin was a fixture in the car park at Loughcrew. He’d been there every time I’d…
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Etain Makes an Appearance
While Liz Weir was visiting my class on June 6th, there was a very large purplish horsefly buzzing all around the room. I immediately thought of Etain, the beautiful woman who was turned into a purple or scarlet fly by the jealous wife of Etain’s lover. I always think of that story when I see…
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Making a Place Where Stories Can Be Shared
It’s a tradition for Liz Weir to visit my class during Study Abroad Ireland’s annual sojourn in Athlone, and she visited us on June 6th. This was the 8th group of students she’s met in the Irish Storytelling Tradition. She is the only storyteller who has told to every group. Liz’s place in the world…
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First Stories of 2013
We heard the first set of stories in The Irish Storytelling Tradition on Wednesday, June 12. They did a great job of picking stories that suited them and other than a few nerves, they enjoyed the telling. I was pleased with the diversity of stories, and also with how well they supported each other in…
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Irish Lessons
Barry and Bob and I had dinner with Brian Garvan, Jackie Gorman, and Tony McCormack of Tullamore’s Atlantic Corridor Group at the Left Bank Restaurant in Athlone on Tuesday evening. Everyone was trading stories, and Jackie in particular had us rolling. She is a fabulous raconteuse, with a great facility for finding herself in unusual…
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The Craic was Grand
We had a great night at Flannery’s on Saturday night. I hadn’t been there in two years, and there were all the familiar faces – musicians and patrons alike. Barry and I arrived at 10:30, and the place was already full. Val, who is a musician and storyteller, came over to greet us. So did…
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The Best Souvenir is a Good Story
Our students have been here for eleven days and they have been very busy. They’ve been to Emo Court, the Rock of Dunamaise, Clonmacnoise, a trip on the Viking Boat up the Shannon, and climbed to the top of Sliabh na Caillighe, also known as the Hill of the Hag. My constant refrain to them…
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My Eighth Class of The Irish Storytelling Tradition in Ireland
Our students arrived on Friday, May 31. We spent Saturday in orientation and taking a walking tour of Athlone. We spent Saturday and Sunday touring the countryside (Clonmacnoise, cruise up the Shannon on the Viking Boat, Emo Court, and Dunamase). Monday was the June Bank Holiday, so our first class was June 4th. There…
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Beginning and Ending with Laughter
I went to bed last night laughing. It's true I may have been a little over-served at Flannery's. But when I woke up this morning, none the worse for wear, I was still laughing. And then this poem came into my head. My inelegant, but descriptive title for it is "Goodbye to Parts of Self…
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Turn Right in Crookedwood
It was gloriously sunny in Ireland today so I decided to take myself out for a drive. I’d read in Cary Meehan’s Sacred Ireland about a Sheela-na-gig on St. Munna’s Church, north east of Mullingar and about an hour away from Athlone. The book instructed me to “turn right in Crookedwood” and I found it…
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“The Unexpected Constantly Occurs” – We meet the Roses!
In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.* Mark and I went to Emo Court on Thursday, May 30th. We were tasked by Study Abroad Ireland director Barry Vaughan to make the lunch and tour reservations for the students’ visit there on Monday, June 3rd, which is a bank holiday in Ireland. We…