This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

Year: 2024 Page 19 of 48

Travels and Animals

Doggie visitors returned to base

An Irish Summer Holiday

My Cork family had a bit of a staycation in Killarney. Rain, mist and wind was the order of the day.

One of the highlights was having deer grazing on their lawn.

My Staycation

I had a lovely break with my Kildare family. Be forewarned. I’ll be posting Kildare photos for a while.

I travelled by train from Cork. Cork railway station, when the stations were renamed to commemorate the signatories of the 1916 proclamation of independance, got Thomas Kent.

I like to arrive early. I had plenty of time for a wander around the station. This is what I saw.

There are opportunities for entertainment in the foyer as well.

the “take a book; leave a book” library is a good idea but….. the selection was poor and displayed on open shelves in a very busy area. The books were old and grubby. To be successful, the books need to be protected from dirt and dust. They need to be replaced regularly and displayed in a tidy and inviting manner. It wouldn’t take much to make this a very useful service for travellers.

Next stop Portlaoise…

A Horsey Photo

Photo; Fred Ward

My brother, Pat, admiring Felicity’s horse at a recent show

The Joys of Gardening

by Mick O’Callaghan

Cabbages and Catterpillars

Whenever I hear the word butterfly, I recall my late father and his horror when he saw the cabbage butterfly, or large white, appear in the garden in summer. He grew a lot of cabbage, and the white butterflies loved to lay their eggs on the cabbage leaves and the ensuing caterpillars could devour lots of cabbage overnight.

I was appointed the exterminator person to dispose of these eggs before they emerged into caterpillars. I rather enjoyed my role as inspector of cabbage leaves. You had a choice of squashing them or throwing them into a bucket of water.  I was successful in protecting the cabbage crop most years. There was also an added incentive in that I was allowed sell some fresh cabbage every day and enjoyed the pecuniary reward for my labours and industry.

I, like many more people admired the butterfly who got all the publicity and admiration, because of their elegant colours and flight patterns, while their offshoot commandos, the caterpillars, did all the destruction of the cabbage crop and later devoured our nasturtium leaves as well.

Apart from my father’s hatred of the large white we loved to see the Red Admiral butterfly appear and we ran around after them with our jars and lids to catch them and have a close-up view of them. We never damaged any and they were released quickly.

I also loved the ‘Comma” butterflies which appears around gardens and woods and are particularly fond of areas where nettles flourish . I have seen quite a few in our garden this year despite our lack of nettles. They are very like the ‘Tortoise Shell’ butterfly and are very attractive with their light brown colouring.

 Pride of place must go to the “Peacock Butterfly’ for all its beautiful colours. We have noted quite a few of them in the woods this summer season. They frequent an area near the river where nettles abound. They are truly aesthetically beautiful and add so much colour to the environment they inhabit.

All butterflies start as tiny eggs and then out comes wriggly caterpillars ready to gorge on juicy cabbage and other leaves. Later the caterpillar makes a chrysalis and starts to change. In the season after the chrysalis the caterpillar has turned into a lovely butterfly after the cocooning and is ready to fly and start the whole metamorphism all over again.

Mohammed Ali was one of the greatest boxers of all time. I remember him being asked about his style of boxing and his movement in the ring. He said, “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” What a lovely description of his boxing performance. You can mentally paint a picture of a butterfly floating around the sky on a nice sunny day and then picture Mohammed’s ducking and diving and floating around the ring.

People use butterflies to describe nervousness. Before any tense situation a person might say, “I’ve got butterflies in my tummy, ‘or” I’ve got butterflies flying around in my tummy”.

I leave the final bit of this to that lovely Danish writer of children’s’ literature, Hans Christian Anderson in his book ‘The Butterfly “when the butterfly says “Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower “.

Go on, be a daredevil, get out and taste the freedom of the great outdoors today and come home with lungs full of the fresh outdoor air and your nostrils full of the aromas and smells of the great outdoors. You might even see a butterfly and evoke some childhood summertime memories.

Mick O Callaghan

05/08/2024

A Fact

The five Olympic rings are symbolic of the five continents, and the colours were chosen because they all appear on the flags of all the competing nations around the world.

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Important Visitors

Courthouse Road

Molly on her Kerry Holidays

She has made herself at home on every chair in the house.

Returning to the home of his ancestors

Dr. Michael O’Connor opened a door to many many memories on July 31 2024. Michael is the third generation of Michael’s to open this door. His grandfather, also Dr. Michael O’Connor lived here and his father, Michael O’Connor, the great illuminator, lived in this house too.

The house is no longer a family home. It is now Kerry Writers’ Museum. Michael is here viewing for the first time his father’s beautiful celtic artwork on display. Michael was 16 when his father died and he never fully appreciated how talented his father was.

Michael with his wife and one of his daughters in the room where Michael O’Connor’s artwork is exhibited.

The travelling party included family and friends. They were entertained to a tour of the museum by Vincent O’Brien.

Here, Vincent, in the John B. Keane room is playing his bodhrán and singing them the Sive songs.

Stephen Rynne who has dedicated much time and effort into collecting the works of O’Connor gave the visitors a talk on how he discovered various pieces by the artist. Some very important commissioned works are still out there, awaiting discovery.

Jimmy Deenihan is anxious to promote the artworks and to raise the profile of this great local artist.

The U.S. branch of the O’Connor family at the door of No. 24.

When Dr. Michael visited here on summer holidays as a child he remembers coming down these steps to go to play marbles with the local children in The Square.

Just a Thought

All of last week’s reflections which were broadcast on Radio Kerry will be in included in my new book

https://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/our-diocese/communications/listen-now/

The book will be launched next month. Look out for details here.

A Poem

I love to do crosswords. Recently I was doing the Simplex crossword with a little help from my son. The clue was a line from this poem with a word missing. Bobby had never heard of the Gray’s Elegy. Here it is (well, a bit of it) for all of us who learned it in school.

Flowers and a Stone Wall

From the Archives

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1910.

New York NY Irish American Advocate

Moore and Healy-—Kerry joins Cork. On Sunday last January 22, 1911, Cornelius F. Moore, of Newtownsandes , Co Kerry, and Miss Mary J. Healy, Ardgroom, Castletown Bere, Co. Cork, were joined in the bonds of matrimony at St. Mary’s Church, Bensonhurat, Brooklyn.

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Father Wightman,P.P., of that church.

After the ceremony was performed the happy couple were convoyed by a host of friends and relatives to their new home at 576 Seventeenth street, Brooklyn, where they entertained a large crowd of relatives and friends and gave them a most enjoyable time until a late hour on Monday morning. Mr. Moore has been president of the Jolly Sports Social Club for the past five years and is highly esteemed by its members,

The brides-maid was Miss Hannah Healy, a cousin of the bride, and the best man was James Foran, of Ballyguiltanan, Co. Limerick.

A Fact

Why do Olympic gold medal winners bite their medal?

It is a silly tradition that harks back to a time when buyers sometimes tried to trick merchants by passing off inferior metals as gold. The trader would bite into the coin to make sure he was not being cheated, Biting into gold leaves no teeth marks. The biting now is purely symbolic as the medals aren’t gold anyway.

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Chance Meetings

Listowel flowers against an old stone wall

Past Pupils

Connie Barry, Cáit McEllistrem, Caitríona Dillon and Julieanne Galvin in Lizzie’s in Listowel on August 2 2024

Friendships made in school often last a lifetime. It was lovely to meet up with these four lovely young ladies. I knew them first when they sat in front of me in their brown uniforms.

I wasn’t the only former teacher they met, for some friendships formed in the staffroom are enduring as well. Breda Ferris, Bridget O’Connor and Geraldine O’Connor and I were dining out too. Lizzie joined us for the photo. She is also a past pupil.

A Horsey Photo

If you love horses but can’t afford one and have nowhere to keep him, you can lease one. This is Róisín with her lovely Eclipse whom she has leased. Happy days!

Taking inspiration

Mick O’Callaghan read a piece on kindness in my book and then he encountered a lad and the meeting plus the reflection inspired him to write this.

Life

There is little joy in growing old, some maturing people say

As they get stressed with the ageing process, trying to cope

With health, death of partners, accommodation

And who will look after their daily needs as they age

Their household and personal requirements

Finances, health issues, nursing home facilities

Or maybe they want to keep their own independence

Will family members pop in and assist with household chores

Will they be able to cook and mind the house

With assistance from home help and meals on wheels

What family member has space in their home where they can live for a while

Will they be able to get respite care when they need it.

Decisions, decisions, mostly out of older peoples’ control

They are really difficult decisions to be decided

Which put a strain on family relations

This can result in arguments and bitter feuds

Which are sometimes nasty and deeply wounding

Often caused by some simple silly remark

Or misrepresentation of some retort

Which should be ignored by sensible  people involved

Sadly, this does not happen on a regular basis

Forgiveness is often forgotten about

I am sorry, I regret what I said or why can’t people say

Sorry I misunderstood what you said or did

Instead of prolonged shouting and arguments

Followed by legal advisers and costly court cases

These bitter family feuds can go on for years and years

Causing more stress, anxiety and tears

This is so sad when a family member dies

And some other members refuse to attend

Wakes, reposing, masses, funerals or cremation services

Tensions are unfortunately unnecessarily risen

There are stern stressed looking countenances

When feuding members meet socially or on the street

Scowling and frowning and attempting avoidance

Eyes down, looking in the other direction

With every facial and body muscle tensed and stressed out

When a simple hello how are you?

Or warm embrace or a hug or handshake

                                                      Could soothe and resolve the nastiest of rows.

In my life I have seen family members excluded from wills

Court cases ensuing, arguments, fights and injuries

Even death and murder most foul

Caused by not getting a few acres of land

A bit of financial endowment or house in a will

And mental and physical stress continues to the grave and beyond.

Mick O Callaghan. June 2024

I love the chorus line of Ken Dodds song  ‘Tears’ written in 1930 that goes ‘Let’s forgive and forget
Turn our tears of regret ,Once more to tears of happiness’

Or as the American journalist, author and world peace advocate Norman Cousins [1915-1990] said ‘Life is an adventure in forgiveness’.

’What a great country we would have If we could have more forgiveness and less tears and regrets.

A Fact

The last time Olympic medals were made of pure gold was in 1904. Nowadays the medals are silver with a gold finish.

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John J. Foley

The Square

Brilliant Footballers

Photo: Radio Kerry

All Ireland champions 2024

Behind the Smiles

Photos from Rte website

Delighted Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy on the podium at Paris 2024 holding aloft their prizes and wearing their hard earned gold medals.

But what is in those long boxes that everyone is being presented with along with their medals.?

Answer; A map of Paris

Look at the happy smiles on those two Cork faces. Observe the gaunt, spare frames. They haven’t eaten a solid meal in months. They have put in hours and hours af gruelling training. They have sacrificed everything to their sport. The jokes and banter hide a steely determination coupled with talent and perseverance second to none.

John J. Foley of Tralee

Maeve Heneghan sent us this photo of her great grandfather. Let me remind you of his Listowel connection from 1901.

Foley was a local performer, singer and reciter of humorous verses, some of which he wrote himself.

In 1901 when he was aged 34 Foley performed at a grand concert in Listowel. So popular was his act that the audience called for an encore and in that slot Foley recited his own poem, Thade Kelly’s Hen.

There was once in Ireland a taste for long humorous ballads, usually recited in a rhythm that made the words easy to remember for the performer. The poem told a story, often far fetched and ludicrous. I’m thinking here of the likes of The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God or Dangerous Dan McGrew, which were favourite dramatic monologues in musicals and concerts at the time.

There was then, as there is now, a certain kind of literary snob who looked down on this type of literature and, failing to live and let live, insisted that this “inferior” entertainment be purged from public performances.

Here is the ballad of Thade Kelly’s Hen, discovered during her research by a U.S. scholar, Christan Bush. The poem is from a newspaper archive and so of poor quality.

A local literary snob, who was at the concert took exception to Foley’s performance and his murdering, as he saw it, of the English language. This man wrote anonymously to the paper decrying the performance.

Back and forth the trolling and defence went on in the Kerry newspapers. Eventually the anonymous critic was unveiled as no other than Thomas F. O’Sullivan, a Listowel journalist and author. So self righteous and incensed was O’Sullivan that he descended to expressing himself in language so defamatory that the paper refused to print any more of his ranting.

This O’Sullivan was very well respected in Listowel and in 1993 a movement was started to erect a monument to him. His ill tempered spat with Foley was not his finest hour.

Now to John J. Foley who was Maeve’s great grandfather. Maybe he is the one who should have the memorial erected to him.

John lived with his family in Moyderwell, Tralee from where he conducted a thriving business as a painter and signwriter.

He was a member of the choir of St. John’s church and the Tralee Philharmonic Society. He was in demand as a performer in local concerts and shows.

He was a talented man of refinement and taste. Maeve sent us this photograph of his magnificent work on the ceiling of the chapel at Balloonagh convent.

The convent is now closed and serves as a nursing home. According to the internet, concerts have been held in the chapel. The chapel is a listed building.

I think John J. Foley’s work on the ceiling is magnificent. Remember it was done in 1901 when equipment for accessing places like this was not as readily available as it is today.

Well done John J. Foley, an ancestor to be proud of.

+ Mary Stack R.I.P.+

Last week we said goodbye to one of the most glamorous of Listowel grannies. I only knew Mary through her involvement with the local chapter of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She was a lovely lady.

Barbara is following in her mother’s footsteps with her dedication to charitable works. I took this photo of Barbara and Mary in Main Street on M.S. Busking Day 2018.

Here is Jennifer Scanlon’s lovely tribute to her beloved grandmother. I copied this from Facebook.

Mary, Mag, Mam,Mamie, Nana, Gan. Mary Stack had many titles and she relished every role that she fulfilled. She was our matriarch, an incredible woman of dignity, integrity strength and resilience. She led the way by her example. 
She reached the wonderful age of 91, her quick wit and humour with her until the very end. She loved to travel and possessed a spirit of adventure and independence to be admired and emulated. 
I am eternally grateful for her love, guidance, friendship, encouragement and support. She was my cheerleader and encouraged me to keep going and “mind that shop”.
Nana was integral to my life when I had my babies, she minded Robbie, Lila and Ogie in her kitchen when they were tiny babies and I was straight back to work. She allowed me that time. I would be behind the counter and she would appear at the door with a baby and say you’ll have to come in to feed! We would swap positions and she would serve my customers while I fed the baby. We made a great team. She got her hip done when Lila was 9 months old and she was delighted to have the buggy to do her walking because there was no way she’d be seen with a walking frame in public. 
Gan wanted to be at home, her home in the shop where she has lived for over 70 years. She got her wish.  Her loving family wrapped themselves around her and cared for her in her final days, where she was and always wanted to be. 
We knew she was declining the last few days, but she insisted I press on with my sale. The show goes on. Ever the professional. 
My shop is right beside her kitchen and I’d pop my head in to see her throughout the day. She would look at me from her blue chair and wink at me and ask “are you busy?” I’d answer and she would say, “go back out now and mind your shop” and I did, I kept the shop face on as best I could. 
We will miss her so much. Her kitchen; always warm and cosy (too hot for me) will not be the same with the empty blue chair in the corner. 
I am the 6th generation of Stacks to trade at The Arcade and I will endeavour to make my nana proud and guide a thriving business into the future. I am beyond grateful for the opportunities she gave to me .

❤️

 Rest in Peace Gan

A Fact

Early Olympians competed wearing only loincloths. In 2024 some athletes favour figure hugging bodysuits. I’m told the tightness of the costume is to compress the muscles and make the body more aerodynamic.

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A Friday Miscellaney

John B. Keane’s

In Ballincollig

Meitheal at work; Tidy Towers and volunteers from the nearby estate cutting back the grass that was encroaching on to the footpath at Carriganarra Road, Ballincollig.

Something for the Weekend

from the internet

J.J. Foley Entertainer

Maeve Heneghan has been in touch. Maeve is the great granddaughter of John Foley of Tralee.

For those of you who have forgotten the story of this man and his entertaining rhyme of Thade Kelly’s hen, I hope to revisit it all next week. I have forgotten how it started but it was an American scholar who was researching a little known Irish poet.

Look out for a laugh on this one next week.

A Fact

A typical microwave oven uses more electricity keeping its digital clock on standby than it does heating food.

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