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

Author: listowelconnection Page 55 of 192

Mary Cogan, retired from teaching in Presentation Secondary School, Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am a native of Kanturk, Co. Cork.
I have published two books; Listowel Through a Lens and A minute of your Time

Easter Traditions

Schiller in The Garden of Europe at Easter 2024

Celebrating Easter

On Good Friday a huge crowd turned up for the annual Hospice fundraising walk.

Some old stalwarts still helping out

Meanwhile in Athea they were praying an outdoor Way of the Cross

Meeting an Old Friend

I met Dolores O’Connor and a young friend on one of the finer days .

Glory Days!

Finches in Kanturk

In my homeplace the focus has shifted temporarily from horses to finches. These little birdies are attracted to the new bespoke finch feeder filled with their favourite nibble. It wasn’t mealtime when I visited and a big bully of a bullfinch was scaring off all the lovely little goldfinches.

The feeder is positioned outside a big glass door so hours are spent observing the antics of these lovely feathered friends. The record so far is 40 birds either feeding or waiting on the fence for their turn at the table.

A Fact

Chocolate eggs at Easter first appeared in the court of Louis XIV. Before that, and in some countries the tradition is still carried on, real eggs were painted red and displayed to signify the blood of Christ.

<<<<<<<<

Easter 2024

Photo; Raymond O’Sullivan

Easter 2024; God and Mammon

I was in Ballincollig for my Easter break.

The sun shone for a short few hours while we were walking in the beautiful Regional Park.

In the church of St. Mary and St. John the monstrance and crucifix were covered in purple drapes. The altar had no flowers and the atmosphere was solemn and prayerful.

Meanwhile in the nearby busy shopping centre it was all bunnies and chocolate.

You Win Some; You Lose Some

The family had mixed fortunes in the Rushbrooke Easter tennis tournament.

Anne and her partner, Martina, won their competition.

It was great to get to support them. The final on Monday was played in glorious sunshine, in contrast to the earlier rounds which they played in torrential rain.

Remember this?

So Sad and So True

Many of us have stood in a stupor at a graveside like Greg Delanty

A Fact

The official name of the U.K. is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

<<<<<<

Drama, Poetry and Idioms

Ground cover in Gurtinard Wood in March 2024

Danny O’Connor has been in touch, to alert us to the need for early booking for this one. Tickets are selling out fast.

The Patrick Pearse Motel Tuesday 2nd to Sunday 7th April at 8pm

The Lartigue Theatre Company are delighted to present Hugh Leonard’s hilarious comedy caper directed by Denis Mahony.

When her husband Dermod is away in Cork with his business partner Fintan, Grainne seizes the opportunity to spend the night with an ex-flame, who is now a TV personality. However everything doesn’t go quite according to plan !!

The Cast includes Laura Shine Gumbo, John Healy, Joanne Prendeville, Mike Moriarty, Con Kirby, Lucille O’Sullivan, Robert Bunyan and Aisling Griffin.

Tickets are €15 and are available from St. John’s Box Office on 068 22566 or info@stjohnstheatre.ie

A Poem

Above is the anthology. Below is the poem. Many of you will remember this poem in Irish from your schooldays. it celebrates the imagination of a child, in sharp contrast to her Daddy’s “blindness”.

Working Dog

If you encounter this cute puppy in the local shops, don’t be tempted to pat him or otherwise interact with him. He is working and needs to concentrate on his job as he still at the learning phase

A Memory

My friend, Alice, was in Dingle and spotted this sign. Fitzpatrick’s of Kanturk once had three grocery shops in town. They had a bakery and an ice cream plant as well.

Fitzpatrick’s used to sell broken choc ices to the local children. You could buy a bag for 6d. If you were lucky you might get more choc than ice.

Happy days!

Idioms of Yesteryear

Internet survey statistics

50 Phrases Going Out Of Fashion

(% shows how many have never used the phrase)

1. Pearls before swine 78% 

2. Nail your colours to the mast 71%

3. Colder than a witch’s tit 71%

4. Pip pip 70%

5. Know your onions 68%

6. A nod is as good as a wink 66%

7. A stitch in time saves nine 64%

8. Ready for the knackers yard 62%

9. I’ve dropped a clanger 60%

10. A fly in the ointment 59%

11. Keen as mustard 58%

12. A flash in the pan 57%

13. Tickety boo 57%

14. A load of codswallop 56%

15. A curtain twitcher 56%

16. Knickers in a twist 56%

17. Dead as a doornail 55%

18. A dog’s dinner 55%

19. It’s chock a block 55%

20. Storm in a teacup 55%

21. Could not organise a p*** up in a brewery 54%

22. Not enough room to swing a cat 54%

23. Flogging a dead horse 54%

24. Toe the line 54%

25. Popped her clogs 54%

26. Drop them a line 53%

27. Steal my thunder 53%

28. A few sandwiches short of a picnic 53%

29. A legend in one’s own lifetime 52%

30. Be there or be square 52%

31. Fell off the back of a lorry 52%

32. A bodge job 52%

33. Eat humble pie 52%

34. Having a chinwag 52%

35. Put a sock in it 52%

36. Mad as a Hatter 51%

37. Spend a penny 51%

38. Cool as a cucumber 51%

39. It’s gone pear shaped 51%

40. It cost a bomb 51%

41. Raining cats and dogs 51%

42. See a man about a dog 51%

43. It takes the biscuit 50%

44. He’s a good egg 50%

45. Snug as a bug in a rug 49%

46. Chuffed to bits 49%

47. Have a gander 49%

48. Selling like hot cakes 49%

49. Pardon my French 48%

50. A Turn up for the books 45%

A Fact

Most of us have two Christian names. A U.S survey found that 43% of middle names honour someone in the family. Only 27% of first names do.

<<<<<<<<

In Praise of The Library

Looking down Courthouse Road from the library in March 2024

The Marvellous Facility that is the Public Library

If you haven’t been to the library in ages, don’t leave it any longer. Go today.

Once you have joined and got your membership number a whole world of free entertainment is open to you.

You can download a few apps to your computer, tablet or phone and the library is in your home.

On Borrowbox you can read or listen to any one of thousands of books available free.

On PressReader, you can read newspapers from all over the world. There are magazines catering for every kind of interest there and even comics…all free.

Libby has loads of magazines.

If you prefer to read an actual book or newspaper, these are also available in the library. There are computers, printing facilities, reference books and the marvellous Swap Box where you could pick up a book to take home and keep or where you could donate books you are finished with.

I forgot to mention the free wifi and the friendly helpful staff. The local library is one of my favourite places in Listowel.

Colloquialisms

From Stephen Twohig

There are many phrases and expressions that are both colourful and unique to us. As time goes by I suppose you will hear them less and I am sure they would be circled in red on your English essay, but so be it. They are just another linguistic and oral tradition we must remember and not forget. 

           If ever there were a people for sayings, proverbs and blessings then it is the Irish. There is hardly a house of someone of Irish origin that hasn’t got some Irish Blessing or other hanging on the wall. Our blessings I suppose are only a match for our curses, but that’s another story. Again the blessings and sayings come from very simple rural origins, natural but perfectly matching the metaphor of their intent. There are, as you would expect proverbs in lrish and those translated into English. It seems that there is a proverb for any topic on life. As many as old wives tales. Or I suppose as stories by the fire. The number and variety indicative of a past richness in spoken and conversational wit and banter. Let’s first look at some of my favourite sayings in lrish. These old sayings are referred to as “seanfhocail'” or old words or wisdom. The one over my own fireplace is a good one: “Nil aon tintean mar do thintean fein”, There’s no hearth like your own hearth.

 Everyone has heard in school “‘Aithníonn ciaróg,ciaróg eile”, or every cockroach recognises another. The following is a list of my favourites. 

“Má tá tu ag lorg cara gan locht  beidh tú gan cara go deo”. (If you are looking for a friend without fault you will be without a friend forever.)

“Trí ní is deacair a thuiscint; intleacht na mban, obair na mbeach, teacht agus imeacht na taoide. (Three things hardest to understand; the mind of women, the work of bees and the comings and goings of tides. At least the tides are predictable! Ouch!!)

 Giorraíonn beirt bothar. (Two shorten the road.)  

“Obair gan chríoch, obair bean tí. (Work without end is housewives work) No comment !

“ Is fearr glas ná amhras. (A lock is better than suspicion.) 

“Nil aon leigheas ar an ngrá ach pósadh. The only cure for love is marriage.

 And the emigrant’s proverb; ”Bíonn súil le muir ach ni bhíonn súil ón uaigh”. (There’s hope from the ocean but not from the grave.) 

“Is maith an scáthan súil charad.” (A friend’s eye is a good mirror.)

 And lastly; “An áit a bhfuil do chroí is ann a thabharfas do chosa thú”.

(Your feet will bring you to where your heart is.) 

My family climbed a Mountain

Killarney held a great festival, Wander Wild, last weekend. There were all kinds of outdoor activities on offer.

Bobby and Killian opted to climb Carrantuohill.

Sunday, March 24 2024, was one of the wettest, dirtiest, foggiest, coldest days so far this year (or any year !)

Drenched to the skin (literally) and frozen to the bone, they soldiered on, encouraged all the way by their lovely guides.

Finally they reached the summit. They could see nothing through the dense fog. They could barely stand on the top, battling against an Arctic wind. But they were glad they did it.

Micro Mosaics

Some beautiful pieces in Olive Stack’s window.

Remember tonight’s the night for the reception and exhibition at the gallery. The event starts at 5.00p.m.

A Fact

Apart from the fact that it is smaller, the biggest difference between the brain of an ape and the brain of a human is that the ape’s brain is symmetrical.

Our brains have evolved into an asymmetrical shape as we have assigned different skills to different areas of the brain.

<<<<<<<

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

St. Patrick’s Day 2024

Getting it Right

and getting it very wrong.

Tasteful, stylish grey and red branding on MBC new offices in Church Street

Garish, unsightly signage at the new Mr. Price store. We know the goods are cheap. We don’t need it shouted at us from every window.

A St. Patrick’s Day Card

I was telling you before about my experience with An Post’s AI generated card. My friend, Catherine, fascinated by my account of this new product, sent me one.

I dont know which category of image she chose, could be strange Irish animals. Is that fellow in the centre a lion?

Catherine let AI compose a “poem” as well.

No words!!!

Daffodil Day

Friday March 22 was cold and windy. The hardy souls of the Irish Cancer Society were out in force selling their daffodils.

Alice and Rachel were on the island in Main Street.

Anne and Áine were at Carrolls.

More Colloquialisms

Stephen Twohig of Kanturk and Canada says;

Here are a few more old sayings that us Wild Geese may have forgotten .

Little by little  and without notice they slip away from you and you hardly ever miss them. Like the shadows of a twilight or the chatter of little birds before dark. What I am referring to are some of the old sayings, axioms and expressions of our elders. From a more simple life and time. Some of these sayings I suppose are derived from our native tongue. Some are still in use today by those of you closer to the well. As before some of you will remember them, others will come back to you like an old friend. Most are sayings you would never hear at this side of the Atlantic. Here are some of my favourites with their corresponding meanings for those who have forgotten them. 

A ruction is a commotion.

 “‘Next nor near’ nowhere near. 

“Make a fist of”, to try to be good at.

 “Fit to be tied”to be angry or annoyed

“Fair play” , the same as “fair dues”, a term of praise or acknowledgement .

‘Heel of the hunt”‘, in the end. 

“Bad cess”, an old term wishing bad luck to someone or something. ·

“For love or money “self explanatory but hopefully not a regret after marriage! 

“‘Hale and hearty … happy or joyous. ·

“With a heart and a half”, with great generosity. 

“Between two minds .. , undecided. I think. but I’m not sure! 

 “A right fix” in a tough predicament or situation. Like being “found on” after hours. 

‘Real old stock,  a term to describe someone as coming from the older and purer generation. 

“‘Great gas … great craic or fun. ·

Straight away” promptly or right way. Not usually associated with any government body or public works. 

“To put your oar in” , to put a word in, or add to the conversation. Rarely done at home! 

”Heart in my mouth, scared. 

The time that was in it … the time that was left. 

“The fat in the fire’·, trouble brewing. Like if you forget her Birthday or Anniversary. 

“ A jorum”, a drink. 

“Traipsing”, to saunter or drag yourself along. Like the County Council. 

“Mooched”, to indulge oneself in the generosity of others. And I will let the poor Cavan people alone. ··

“Highfalutin”, high on the hob, law di daw, or seemingly well off. In looks anyway. 

“Joe Soap”, a term like John Doe or your average Joe. Just as we say “‘Happy as Larry”, whoever or wherever he is. 

“The Hammers of hell”, a term to suggest immediate urgency. To do something in great haste. Like vacate the premises when the twin bulbs (squad car) shows up. 

“Within an ass’s roar”, nowhere near. As up near the counter on Paddy’s night.

“A caper”, a racket. Not as in tennis but in underhand dealings. As opposed to backhand. 

“Pulling  someone’s leg”, having them on or playing a joke on them. 

“·Putting something over” on someone as in pulling the wool over someone’s eyes or deceiving them.

A Fact

On March 23 1906 the Wright brothers received the patent for their flying machine.

<<<<<<<<<

Page 55 of 192

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén