Blessington; Early Morning
Sean Farrington rose early to take this photo. He posted it on the Men’s Shed’s Group page.
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Listowel Fire Fighters 2008
Photo; John Kelliher
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One of the Other Listowel’s
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A New Shop
While I was locked down this new shop appeared in Main Street. It appears to be a general clothes shop with garments for women and children, closed now obviously.
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Doon Church, Ballybunion
Pictures and text from Kilcooly’s Country House
Doon Church, Ballybunion, was built by Father John Buckley around 1830-1834, shortly after Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Local people say it was the first post-Emancipation church built in Munster.
The ruins are halfway between the River Cashen to the south and Beal Point to the north, at a point where roads met from the north, south and east. Because of this key location, some people speculate that it may have been a Mass site in the Penal days.
The church was built of stone and mortar, without internal lighting or hearting, on a site owned by Mr William Gunn. But in its time it was a ‘state-of-the-art’ church building.
The church was a ‘barn-style’ church, cruciform in shape, with three galleries, one in each transept and a third gallery at the back of the church. The doorway was arch-shaped and the walls were pierced with two-light windows.
It is said a local landlord, George Hewson, built a gate at the Cliff Road side of the new Catholic church to screen it from the view of its local Protestant neighbours.
When Father Mortimer O’Connor was appointed parish priest of Ballybunion in 1866, one of his first actions was to remove the Cliff Road gate. His action made it easier for people in Ballybunion to get to the church, and Hewson never replaced the gate.
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Amanda Gorman, Poet
This oh so stylish young lady was the big star of Joe Biden’s inauguration. I hope I am not breaking any copyright laws by printing her moving poem. She delivered it beautifully and her delivery is part of the package. It’s good to read the words too.
The Hill We Climb
by Amanda Gorman.
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while we once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
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Meanwhile in Cahirciveen
In Devlin’s Centra inCahirciveen, they were supporting a more local hero.
