SAINT PATRICK'S SEMINARY

Saint Patrick - in all his garrish glory.


These snakes are really scared.

I saw signs for an estate sale at Saint Patrick's seminary. I decided I would check it out.
Neighbor Paul needed a ride to Redwood City to drop off his car for repairs. I followed him over there then we had coffee at Peet's then walked through the Farmers' Market. I dropped him off at home but later he wanted to check out the estate sale so I agreed to take him over there.

The estate sale was interesting. It seemed like the sale was winding down a guest house for priests. The house was a three storey building with individual suites of bedroom, sitting room, bathroom. Most of the furniture was a mix of French and Mission Revival. It seemed like all of the bargains were sold on the first day of the sale - yesterday. Isn't that always the way.

I did bump into Síle O'Reilly at the sale. I have great memories of seeing Síle perform with her choir in the chapel of Saint Patrick's. It was good to see her again and chat about her hens and bees.

SANTA CRUZ

Tom and Ellen




I'm still on vacation, though the days are dwindling before I start school again on Monday. I'm making the best of it.
I called Ellen to see if she was not too busy with the new grand-daughter. She said "Come on down".
I drove over the hill in the afternoon. When I arrived Tom suggested a walk on the beach. We drove the short distance to the beach. It was beautiful. I took off my shoes and let my toes go wild in the sand. The sky was clear - no haze or clouds or fog. We walked along the beach closest to the marina. We avoided the part of the beach with the Boardwalk. On the way back Ellen spotted the fins of porpoises playing in the water. There was a harbor seal too hanging out.

Ellen and Tom had been invited to a birthday party of a friend at the Cash Store in Davenport. I tagged along. We drove up the coast to Davenport. At the party there was a live band playing and lots of wine flowing. I met Tom's ex and her husband. They have a house in Mexico, close to Manzanillo, a place that holds fond memories for me. We chatted about Mexico and their travels in France.

We spent about an hour at the party then headed back into Santa Cruz for dinner. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant: Ristoranti Avanti, a family run place that was very comfortable. Tom had forgotten his glasses but the waiter brought him a selection of glasses to try so that he could read the menu. Restaurants are responding to the greying of America in new and subtle ways!

DUBLIN'S PÈRE LACHAISE

I've been meaning to check out the new museum building at Glasnevin Cemetery since it opened two years ago. The building is unusual for a cemetery but Glasnevin is an unusual cemetery. It was founded by the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell after he wrested Catholic Emancipation from the British. Churches and churchyard cemeteries passed into the hands of the established church - the Protestants - during the Reformation. Catholics were limited in where they could bury their dead by the Penal Laws. Catholic Emancipation eliminated the worst aspects of the Penal Laws, allowing for new churches to be built and cemeteries for the city to be opened.

Like Père Lachaise in Paris, everyone who was anyone in Dublin society is buried in Glasnevin. The history of the country - plagues, wars, revolutions - is written on the headstones.

IRISH ICONS

Spit on me, Dickie





Helen was going in to Town to look for an outfit for the Big Wedding. I rode along with her to Jervis Street but she made it clear she wanted to do her own shopping. I walked up to Parnell Square to the Municipal Gallery. I never miss an opportunity to see Francis Bacon's Studio (more than 7000 artifacts arranged exactly as they were in his London studio) and the treasue trove of Impressionist works that Hugh Lane collected for the city.

I walked back down O'Connell Street and cut across the Half Penny Bridge into Temple Bar. I was looking for the Gaelchultúr building but I never found it. Instead, I wandered around until I came to a less-developed part of Temple Bar. On Bedford Lane there are panels by individual artists who are part of a co-operative, The Icon Factory. The panels, as the name suggests, depict icons of Irish social, cultural, and sporting life. Everybody who is anyone (or was anyone) in Ireland in the past 150 years is depicted. There is a funny commentary for most panels that gives some idea of the context of each personality or group. My favorites were the literary panels and the panels on the greats of traditional and popular music. You can bet that Shane MacGowan is up there with the best.

Back on the other side of the river I met up with Helen again for coffee before we went home.

FARMLEIGH

The State Guesthouse

August Bank Holiday means that there is a farmers' market on at Farmleigh. Helen wanted to go so that Timmy would have some time to work on his thesis for his school inspector qualification. We drove over to pick up Aimée and take her with us.

Farmleigh was the former residence of Lord Iveagh, a kind of townhouse set in 75 acres of parkland close to Dublin. The house and grounds were bought by the Irish Government when the Celtic Tiger was still roaring. The Government use the house to board foreign diginitaries, including Mrs. Windsor and her hangers on. Barack could have stayed there too had he spent more than 45 minutes in the country. In fact, he would have found it very comfortable since there are two completely separate suites for men and women - a nod to Muslim potentates like Obama.

We walked around the market enjoying sight and smell of the variety of foods now available in Ireland since the Lace Curtain fell and Ireland opened itself to the world.

MO RANG SEAN-NÓS

Last day of the sean-nós class.

SUNDAY WALK

"go ciúin sa ghleann ina luí"




Each year the ard-rang goes out for a walk with a local native speaker. This year, the usual “victim” Paddy Beag was not available so Tony Birtil from Liverpool led the group. Usually, Tony “teaches” the hillwalking class but today he took us on a less strenous hike to the church.
We were a big group – Rang 6, Rang, 7, and Rang 8 all together. We walked in bright sunshine, seeing the valley at its best. Tony pointed out the damage to the trees from the storms of the previous Winter. Many of the trees suffered from the increased salt in the air. The fir trees, in particular turned brown and ugly and many other kinds of trees died. The local people refer to this phenomenon as “an gaoth rua” – the red wind.

At the church Tony opened the access to the souterrain. There is a wooden ladder now, something that wasn’t there last year. It is a lot easier to climb down into it than ever before. No one had a flashlight. I used the flash on my camera to poke around but I’ve been inside it so many times that I didn’t really need a light to find my way around.

After the church the group split up. Today is Open House at the Folk Museum. The majority of the group headed up there to get a taste of life in Sean Dún na nGall while a small group went with Tony and Seosaimh Watson to investigate a group of passage graves that the local people refer to as the “Necropolis”.

DONEGAL TOWN

Mary offered a ride to Donegal Town. Sandy wanted to come along but she also wanted to spend the day in the Gleann. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, the perfect day to go swimming. We agreed we would go into Donegal to do the weekly shop but try to be back early so Sandy could go swimming.

When we got to town we parked the car and split up. They were going to the castle first but I wanted to get a little breakfast. I walked out to the Catholic church by myself then walked a little further to the Famine Graveyard. I was surprised to see that all the rowan trees along the edge of the graveyard had been cut down. It seems the County Council is making an effort to clean up and maintain the site. Schoolchildren had planted a bed of flowers to commemorate the aid sent by the Choctaws during the Famine.

I walked back towards town. I crossed over to the other side of the river to explore a different part of town. I found a newly opened restaurant where I could sit outside and have a cappuccino. Directly across the street was the Magee's factory.

I went back to the castle. There was a tour about to start so I waited in the courtyard for a few minutes. I love visiting the castle and try to take the tour every time I visit Donegal. I love hearing the story of the Ó Domhnaill and how they defended Ireland from English encroachment. Ultimately though, they were defeated and we haven't had a day's peace since.

The tour was hardly finished when I got a call from Mary. Sandy wanted to go back to the Gleann. I had to meet them right away so we could do our shopping and they could get back. We went to the SuperValu together. Yuki (Sneachta) was there doing shopping too. Mary offered to take her back in the car so I decided I would stay in Donegal and take the bus back later.

I met Marcas in the Diamond. We had agreed earlier that we would have dinner together. We walked over to the Blueberry which wasn't as crowded as usual. I had the special - lamb kebabs served in a bhajji that was more like pita bread. Marcas had the chickeny thing. I couldn't resist the strawberry-rhubarb crumble with fresh cream. Everything was delicious.

When we were finished there was very little time left for walking around. We took the bus home, well satisfied with our day out in town.

MO RANG (MY CLASS)

My class is interesting. There are about 18 people in the class. Most of the people, maybe 10 or so, were in my class last year. I have the same teacher, too. Eithne is a lexicographer who is working on a massive project to identify every Irish word that has ever appeared in print. She is directing the project from a center in Donegal. The biggest part of the project is to digitize every book and manuscript that has ever been published. Each entry will have a paragraph from the original showing the word in context. Every spelling or varient form of the word will also be included to show how words have changed over the centuries.

Eithne has to do a lot of research as part of her job. Last night she gave a lecture on some of the more interesting material she has been working with. She showed slides of handwritten texts that children collected from the old people in their community in the mid-1930s. The school children of the country were given the task of collecting stories, songs, poetry, and games and this huge collection of material is maintained by the Folklore Commission. More than 100,000 children participated so there is material from every parish in Ireland but Eithne focused on the material from Donegal.

The class is well structured and for the most part everyone is at the same level of ability in Irish. Madelyn, the Swedish woman from my class last year, has really improved. Last year she struggled a little but this year she is able to hold her own in any conversation. Barton and Scott are back again but Scott left today to go back home to North Carolina. Barton is a Fulbright scholar, originally from Santa Rosa who has moved with his wife to Belfast. He is very funny. Some of the other people from last year have moved up a level to the translation class. They spend their time learning how to translate government documents into Irish. It seems awfully boring to me.

SIÚLÓID: A NICE WALK

Marcas invited me up to his house for dinner. When Marcas is here his parents rent a cottage and the whole family comes down together. Marcas teaches the lower level class.
Before dinner we went out for a walk together. Marcas' friend Colm came along, too. Colm has no Irish so we have to speak in English when he is around. I know that irritates Marcas.
We walked up the hill from the cottage where they are staying. The rain had stopped earlier in the day but there was still plenty of clouds in the sky and gusty wind. We walked for about 45 minutes in the direction of the Atlantic then turned around and walked back to the house for dinner.

Marcas' mom is the cook. His dad is a dentist but he is retired. They are both well educated people and have a lot to say about the situation in Belfast where they live. It was good to hear the perspective of people who live there.
We had a really good dinner. His mom baked fresh local salmon and made mashed potatoes and mashed turnips to go with it. I was put in charge of making the white sauce to go with the fish.

FIDIL

Fidil

The boys were back in town, fresh from their triumph at the National Concert Hall in Dublin the night before. I saw them last year here and was really impressed but this year they were even better.

The evening started with a warm-up act – a group of three young local women who sang a bunch of traditional songs in harmony. It was really nice to hear these fresh interpretations of old classics like An Cáilín Rua and Cad É Sin Don Té Sin. Two of the girls also played a few tunes on the fiddle. It was a really nice complement to the main act.

Fidil were absolutely brilliant. They had their patter down pat for the audience and they certainly seemed in command of their instruments. Two of the boys are from this part of Donegal so it was something of a homecoming for them. They played many local favorites and remembered the great local fiddler James Byrne by playing some of the tunes associated with him.

Ray, Mary, Sandy, Yvonne