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
Poshey Aherne took this photo. He confessed to putting a little dab of peanut butter on the eye lens. Isn’t it a super shot all the same?
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I was in Grange Con
I can’t say I’d ever heard of Grange Con in Co. Wicklow until my daughter told me that we were going there for the weekend.
It’s a lovely peaceful little village within easy reach of Dublin and Kildare.
We stayed in a lovely Air BandB cottage. It is a converted old stable in the most idyllic peaceful spot just outside the village.
This is the view from my bedroom. There used to be a mill in this village before and it looks like tillage is a big element of farming locally.
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From Pres Yearbook 2003
Olivia Buckley, a past pupil of Pres., was the Kerry Rose in 2002.
(More on Monday)
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The End of the Road for Turf
This is a photograph from the National Museum collection. I think its Sligo. Its not a scene familiar to Kerry people anyway.
The reason I’m talking about turf today at all is because of the latest proposal from government. Turf as fuel is not really an issue in our cities but the turf fire is ingrained into the memories of many in these parts. Turf is the preferred fuel in many Kerry houses. It is proposed that one will be allowed to have turf for yourself but selling of turf will be banned. This sounds sad to me as many people who love a turf fire are now a bit beyond cutting their own turf. Harvesting turf is hard work.
This photo is one of several outstanding images by Mallow Camera Club members which they framed and hung in Kanturk Community Hospital.
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Everyday is a Learning Day
Crypto currency, bitcoin, blockchain, NFTs, Discord, DIEM…double dutch to you?
When I was young the only people I heard of who spoke in jargon were doctors. The rest of us spoke roughly the same language. For a while now I’ve known that young people have a specific lingo which seems to be constantly changing. Now I realise that stockbrokers and people with mega bank accounts have invented a whole new slanguage.
Firstly let me confess that I’m not an expert and I’m only giving you my take on this weird and wonderful aspect of life in 2022.
Discord is a kind of what’s app for people who like to chat about these things. Needless to remark, I am not on it.
NFT, non fungible tokens are a concept which is also a currency. They are not real money but they are bought and sold with real money.
NFTs as I understand it are digital artworks that use blockchain to prove ownership. These ‘artworks”are not your old masters but more likely cartoon drawings. The thrill of owning them is where the buzz is.
Let me tell you an NFT story. Pixelmon was developed by some smart guys anxious to cash in on this craze. They sold giant eggs for $10,000 a pop. You paid real money but you got NFTs to prove your ownership. When the eggs hatched and your artwork emerged. Not to put too fine a point on it, it was rubbish. The people who had bought these pigs in pokes took to Twitter with their own crude drawings and “I can’t believe I paid $10,000 for this .” became a meme.
Then in the most bizarre twist of all, the duped investors started trading the memes for NFTs.
So there it is, funny money, dodgy art and tech all in one package.
Our modern age surely at its most bizarre!
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Pictures of Humans with Animal Heads
Since I first started to notice these I seem to be seeing them everywhere. They are pictures with a gentleman’s body and an animal’s head.
Early hunters used to disguise themselves as animals in order to get near their prey. I doubt these pictures have anything to do with that. I have found no one yet who can tell me what this is all about.
The above charmer hangs in Durrow Castle.
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My Trip to Dublin
I haven’t wandered far since the beginning of the pandemic. My daughters decided to lure me to the big city with the promise of a slap up meal and some theatre.
We didn’t go to Bewleys of Grafton Street. I put the picture of Bewleys in as a symbol of Dublin.
Bewleys is at the centre of controversy at the moment over its Harry Clarke windows. When is a window a piece of the building’s structure and when is it a piece of art? The courts will have to decide.
We went to a posher place. The clue is in the picture below.
We went to The Ivy. It is a lovely luxurious place. On the day we were there, it seemed to be patronised by posh parties and ladies who lunch.
They take your coat at the door. If you put your bag on the floor, someone picks it up. The teapot is silver and the table linen is linen.
The most important part, the food, was really good. The drink was fine too. The surroundings and the ambiance could convince you you were in London.
This rural image is part of the collaboration between Mallow Camera Club and Kanturk Community Hospital
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A Mighty Leap
This gem is from Beale School in the Schools’ Folklore Collection.
A Local Hero The best hurler the oldest people ever remember was James Moriarty.He lived somewhere around Kilconly. One Saturday he and his wife removed to the border of the County of Cork. After going to bed that night his wife said it was better for him to be there than to be going to the “Moneens.” The moneens are in Flahives farm, Bromore. “What is in the Moneens” asked the man. The woman told him that she had received a letter that he should go and attend the hurling match which was to be held there. He made up his mind to go and jumping out of bed he went off to Bromore. When the ball was thrown up he was the first man that struck it and after striking the ball he leaped thirty three feet. There is a mark to this day on the place where he jumped. The place is pointed out above at Dan Flahive’s field of Bog.
Nora Griffin vi Beale, Ballybunion June 24th 1938 Information from people at home.
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Outdoor Dining and Performance Area
While I turned my back very briefly, work continued apace in The Square.
We got a lovely new standard light with two lamps.
Of course there is a bicycle rest. The people we imagine using this are tourists on The Greenway.
The tables and seating will be put back and then it will all be covered with three tent type structures.
Imagine yourself sitting in the sun, eating your ice cream from the new ice cream kiosk and listening to whatever performance is on offer.
If such pleasure becomes all too much for you, the defibrillator is at hand to jolt you back to life.
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Danny would be Proud
In 1972 Danny Hannon fulfilled a dream . He set up The Lartigue Theatre Company. In April 2022 the company celebrated it’s half century with a production of John B. Keane’s Sive.
I was in St. John’s on Sunday evening and I couldn’t have picked a better evening’s entertainment for my return to the theatre. After two years I had almost forgotten how enjoyable an evening of local theatre can be.
(All the photos are from St. John’s Facebook page)
The old hands were excellent, as always. If I were to single out one actor it would have to be Laura Shine Gumbo. Laura played an excellent Mena, with a mixture of good and evil. She brought out the painful conflict within this character, whose awful betrayal of Sive is motivated as much by her misunderstanding of the vulnerability of the romantic teenager as by her desire to improve her own lot in life.
There were new faces among the cast as well. A revelation to us all was Jimmy Moloney who played a blinder ss Mike Glavin. Mike is at heart a good man . He is tormented by the three women in his care. What we in the audience can see and poor Mike can’t is that he has married his mother. Nanna is the mistress of the hard word. She is as devious and manipulative as Mena, full of resentment and bitterness, bullying and taunting where she should lend support. It is a deeply unhappy household.
The final moving tragic scene is played with great pathos and empathy. Sive is let down by all the adults in her life. Such innocence could not survive in a hard mercenary world where love is lost in the hard realities and the poverty of 1950s Ireland. Everyone who should have protected her has a hand in her death.
Sive is a tragedy. Playing it out again in our times shines a light on an unhappy era, thankfully now behind us.
Thank you, Lartique Theatre Company for a great night.
This photograph by Jillian, a member of Mallow Camera Club is part of a collaboration between the club and Kanturk Community Hospital in 2017.
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Glenflesk
When I stopped in Glenflesk recently I called to their lovely church to say a prayer.
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Visit a Heritage Site on the first Wednesday
On the first Wednesday of each month, many OPW Heritage Sites offer Free Admission to independent/individual visitors and families. A list of participating sites appears on the OPW website, and details of each can be found at the relevant link.
Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and online booking will not be available. Normal conditions of admission apply. Visitors may experience delays at some of our busier sites and are advised to arrive early. If allocated a time, visitors are asked to arrive promptly. There is no guarantee that visitors who miss their allocated time-slot can be accommodated later. Children must be supervised at all times.
Access to some sites is by guided tour only. Car-parking may be limited at some sites and patrons are requested to respect the facilities and other car park users.
A few subjects crop up here regularly. One of them is post boxes. I’m terrified that these pieces of street furniture are doomed. If they are underused, and they are, cost cutting measures at An Post will surely see them condemned.
Whatever about the newer ones that are ugly, I’d hate see the old ones that have been there since we were a colony removed from our streets.
When I was in Dublin recently I took this photo near Stephen’s Green.
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Sitting on two Chairs at once
“We are delighted to announce that Catherine Moylan was voted in as the new Chair of the Board after David Brown stepped down from his position. Catherine Moylan is also Chair of the Festival for Listowel Writers’ Week. “
This recent statement from Listowel Writers’ Week may have confused you. “Surely she was already the chair,” you may have thought.
Up to now the chair of the Board of Directors of Writers’ Week and the chair of the festival have been two separate honorary roles. With the election of Catherine to the chair of the Board, these two posts have come closer in that they are now held by one person.
I wish Catherine the best of luck in her new role. I can’t wait for the first live festival in 2 years and seeing all our old friends back in town.
This image is one of a selection of photographs by members off Mallow Camera Club which are framed and hanging in Kanturk Community Hospital.
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From Pres Yearbook 2003
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Schull, Co Cork
Éamon ÓMurchú took this picture on a lovely weekend in Schull.
I was further east. I visited The Rock of Dunamase. I had so often wondered about it as I passed the signs on the motorway. This fortress once belonged to Isabel, daughter of Strongbow and his wife Aoife MacMorrough. Aoife, wife of Strongbow got Dunamase as part of her dowry from her father, Diarmuid MacMorrough.
It is now in ruins and more famous for the spectacular views it provides over the surrounding countryside.
Rock of Dunamase from the churchyard of the nearby Protestant church which is still in use
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Weather Signs from Beale School in the Schools Folklore collection
Michael Griffin, the schoolboy who recorded this, got the information “from people at home”.
Weather Signs When bad weather is near at hand you will notice in this locality the foam rise and dash against the Cliffs off the coast of Clare. The Rooks and Seagulls fly to the land when severe weather is approaching searching for food. The cat sits on the hearth, the soot falls down the Chimney when we are near bad weather. You would also notice a circle round the sun and moon and the clouds are very dark. the wind is generally from the west or south west when we have bad weather. When we have good weather in this locality you will hear the waves at the north or north east. When we have good weather the birds fly high into the air in search of food. This is generally the case with the swallow. The sun and moon shine bright and clear and the sea is quite calm.
Michael Griffin v. Bromore, Ballybunion June 23rd -1938 Information from people at home
