Post on 14-May-2015
description
Four Chums on a Romp
In the Emerald Isle !
Moved by the spirit and led by the heart
ContentsThis presentation has some rhyme, but no reason or logic. It was born of the spirit and it speaks with the accent of the heart.
Characters
Four Chums on a Romp(Cast of)
(not in rational order)
Part 1
Our Pilot par excellence!
He drove.
We prayed.
Bill, a pro on hair-pin turns on a cliff’s edge, clearly showed leftist leanings.
He looked hi and lo for a rosary (for his Irish aunt).
He learned that they don’t say the rosary any more.
Bill Keane, the Pilot
Karen LoveWorld class Navigator
shows an unerring nose for
bargains
—except with fish mongers.
KL
Regal as Victoria,formidable as Thatcher, charming as Sarah Palin x
2.
I.e., the best
vacation companion
She kept us in high gear,and, thank heavens, she kept Bill off the left
gutter and on the straight and narrow lane.
Mother, Nurse,Cook and Caretaker of Us All !
Sanguine, indefatigable, primal mother,Born to nurse the world
Her dear ones know her as “Ms Right,”(middle name: “Always”).
Ms Right was in heaven when a flirtatious Celt cooed: “You look so Irish.”
She cooked and cared for us
with person-
centered TLC.
She advised and admonished us with the infallibility of a Hitler.
The Resident Maverick
He has a weakness for seedy limericks and shady rhymes
Was born a contrarian, he presumes you are wrong!
Walks with an unsteady gait,but speaks with unshakeable conviction.
The Maverick: A Profile
Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch a keg of brandy Jack got stewed Jill got screwed Now its Jack, Jill and Andy!
seed
y
rhym
eA
Gearoid O’Donoghue (GOD)
Our Guiding Light
A Reverend,
A Professor,
A Promoter of obscure saints and heretical theories ,
The best of friends.
A priest in rocky settings
and in rocky times.
A scholar who sailed across the Atlantic twice.
Editor’s note:Mt-n is conspicuously absent in the following photo gallery, for a good reason. The pics come from her private files—she shot them all.
Mt-nMay the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Swinford, a market town, in County Mayo on Route N5, lies on a tributary of the famed River Moy.
Our starting point
Courtesy of Tom Fairchild: Swinford our 1st sojourn.
from where we set out each morning seeking adventure
to where we returned for warmth and love
where we sat at the kitchen table for a hearty meal and a boisterous argument on measures of LTC quality.
Home is …
…where the neighbor’s poochgreeted us every morning !
Home is …
…where the neighbors got very familiar with our non-designer wardrobe.
Home is
History is the womb that nourishes Irish daily life
Irish history: Religious footnotes
When they die, they lie beside their ancestors
Founded by St Maolcethair (died in 636)
The only thing new in this world is the history you don’t know
The Cross of Cong
Made and ornamentedfor King Connact (died in 1156 AD).
Christ Church was founded after Irish King Sitric Silkenbeard made a pilgrimage to Rome in 1028
Both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church officially claim it.
In practice, the former has held it since the Reformation.
Christ Church is built on these ruins of the Augustinian monastery (1163-1537 AD).
The monks lived here and prayed for sinners like Henry VIII who confiscated all Catholic property.
VT-N advances ecumenism.
Chats with Dean of the Cathedral.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
It was built between 1191 and 1270.
At this site St. Patrick baptized converts.
It is the largest church in Ireland.
The non-famished wait for the
Famine Museum
Irish history: Famine footnotes
The Brits packed half-naked Irish in sailing ships, poorly built and unseaworthy, that came to be known as the famine coffin ships.
Irish history: Titanic--The Irish Connection
Last picture of the Titanic
• It was constructed in the Belfast shipyard notorious for its “no Catholics need apply” policies
• Irishman Thomas Andrew designed the Titanic
• Irish oak forests were raided to build it
• Titanic was built, crewed, and travelled
on mostly by the Irish.
The Titanic
• It carried the super-rich in I Class
• It put the poor emigrating
to the New World in III Class.
• It held these like prisoners; they were the last to leave the ship.
• 40% from the I Class and 75% from the III Class perished.
• The British Inquiry into the disaster was a disgraceful whitewash.
Irish emigrants and their descendants, outside Ireland total over 80 million,
i.e., 13 times the 6.2 million population of North and South Ireland.
Irish history: Irish excel at
mutiplicationThe Irish Diaspora
Irish history: The Irish Diaspora
It is a parade of heavy weights, feather weights and dead weights
Discern the Irish character from the following sample of the good, the bad and the ugly among the emigres.
Stars and lesser lights of the Irish
export.Anne Boleyn
Bill Maher
Bill O'Reilly
Bruce Springsteen
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Diana, Princess of Wales
Eugene O'Neill
Gene Kelly
George Clooney
Georgia O'Keefe
Henry Ford
John F. Kennedy
John Wayne
Judy Garland
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lucille Ball
Maureen O'Hara
Merv Griffin
Paul McCartney plus JL, GH
Stars and lesser lights of the Irish
export
Peter O'Toole
Pierre Trudeau
Princess Grace of Monaco
Richard J. Daley
Robert De Niro
Ronald Reagan
Sean Hannity
Stephen Colbert
Tony Blair
Stars and lesser lights of the Irish
export
Now consider the super-novas in the constellation of the Irish Diaspora.
Mary Tellis-Nayak
Karen Love
Bill Keane
(Irish by contamination) V. Tellis-Nayak
New sensations
Lasting impressions
Precious memories
We zigzaggedAcrossthe Irish map
Via highways & byways,Up rocky hills And down pricklyfields Dodging cow chips And other surprises
with Bill at the wheel
Karen reading theroad signs, and
some naughty limericksthat added laughter to our joy.
“There are no strangers here. Only friends who have never met.”
The wonder land !
God’s Rock Garden
1.7 Rock of the agesRock Creations
Rock Formations
Rock of all Ages
Ubiquitous stone fences
Cliffs of Moher: Vote to select CoM as a Natural wonder of the world
Vote for CoM
Ireland In summer and in shadow
When Irish hearts are happy, All the world seems bright and gay
Hear the lilt of Irish laughter
1.6 from glen to glen
in lush meadows
on rolling dales and in hushed valleys
and down the mountain side
the summer’s come !
and all the flowers are smiling !
When Irish eyes are smiling Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring.
The Irish animal kingdom
As Paddy does, cows come home …
…in no particular hurry
Who has the right of way?
Don’t ask. You don’t.
And you can do nothing about it.
St Brendan’s fosterage guarded by a bad-tempered bull
The view that nurtured St Brendan’s missionary vision (484-488 AD)
The fighting Irish: Alpha Bull picks on VT-N
The bullocks are itching to join the fray
Bird’s eye view
MTN’s eye view
This Alpha Swan
from this swanee river…
furiously chased off Bill (indiscreet & curious)
Wool:3 bags
full
Wool:No bags full
Mary had a foolish lamb,It sat on an electric pylon.Ten thousand volts shot up her assAnd turned her wool into nylon.
Mary had a little lamb,But the price of meat displeased her.Tonight she's having a leg of lamb,The rest is in the freezer.
Mary had a little lamb,The doctors were surprised.When old MacDonald had a farm,They could not believe their eyes.`
Proceed on to Parts 2 and 3