Ireland Journal
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A Day of Beauty in Counties Cork and Kerry
On Monday Mark and I left Killarney for the Beara Peninsula a little later than we expected. When I tried to unlock the car with the fob, it wouldn’t work. Mark thought maybe the battery in the fob had gone dead. But when we got in the car, it was the car battery that was dead. …
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A Find on the Beara Peninsula
Mark and I drove from Killarney to the Beara Peninsula yesterday. Our specific mission was to find the Cailleach Beara, and we did find and meet her. I’ll write more about that later. As we drove back along twisty, narrow, fuchsia-laden Ring of Beara road, we saw a sign that said, “Pottery”. We drove up…
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Two Sheela-na-gigs in Athlone Castle
Mark and I went to Athlone Castle on Saturday, on our last full day in Athlone, to see the Sheela-na-gig. I read in Sacred Ireland by Cary Meehan that there was one there, right in my Irish backyard. Imagine our surprise when we were let into the musty, dusty museum in the castle’s round tower…
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The Irish National Stud – and Japanese Gardens?
How do these two things go together? Well, it all started with a wealthy English man, Colonel William Hall-Walker, who had a stud farm in Tully, just outside Kildare. In 1906 he arranged for a famous Japanese garden builder to come to his stud farm and build a garden. It was completed in 1910. The…
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Mammy, Where’s Me Tay?
Mammy, where’s me tay? Mammy, where’s me tay? I’m your pride and joy, your blue-eyed boy, Though me hair is turning gray. Mammy, where’s me tay? Mammy, where’s me tay? Your love for me, given tenderly, Made me what I am today. Mammy, where’s me tay? Last Saturday night, June 27, I was at the…
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Three Dips, Three Sips at St. Brigid’s Well in Kildare.
One of my favorite stories about St. Brigid is about how she destroyed her beauty – long red-gold hair, big blue eyes, peachy skin – so that she wouldn’t have to marry and could devote her life to her faith. Once she took her vows, her beauty was restored. The way I tell it…
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Yes We Did! (Visit Obama’s Ancestral Irish Hometown)
Mark and I drove to Moneygall in Co. Offaly on Friday. Moneygall is the hometown of Barack Obama’s great great great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, who left Ireland when he was 19 and arrived in New York on March 20, 1850. I’d heard about it during the election, and on inauguration day CNN showed the residents…
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There Once Was a Charming Larne Farmer
There once was a charming Larne farmer, His soul clad in poetic armor. When he was reciting, Those verses inviting, We forgot he was ever a farmer! One of the special guests that Liz Weir invited to the session on Saturday night was Wilson Logan. Wilson is a very accomplished reciter, and he…
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The Two-L Llama? In Ireland?
The one-l lama,He's a priest;The two-l llama,He's a beast.And I will betA silk pajama,Saint Patrick neverSaw a llama. (with apologies to Ogden Nash) It was a gloriously sunny, bright day. Liz Weir drove us up narrow Knowehead Road, between Broughshane and Ballyeamon Barn. The trees made a green tunnel. Slemish, where Patrick worked as a slave after…
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The Saturday Night Session at Ballyeamon Barn
Liz Weir hosts a session every Saturday night in the bottom floor of the new addition to the barn.The addition was completed about 18 months ago. It has an apartment on the top floor, and an open space for workshops or sessions on the ground floor. The downstairs has a toilet and a small kitchen with beautiful cabinets made…
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The Esker Castle Sheela-na-gig in Doon
Barry and I were looking at maps the other day, and I remembered that I'd read about a Sheela-na-gig on a castle seven miles east of Clonmancoise. We were invited to dinner with friends in that general direction yesterday, so Barry drove Bob Farwell and me to Esker Castle in Doon on the way. …
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Storytelling = Energy
I can’t remember where I first learned that. I know Marilyn Torres has talked about it, but I don’t think I heard it from her first. I couldn’t help but think about how storytellers move energy as I reflected on the annual evening concert of the Three Rivers Storytelling Festival. This year’s concert was…