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