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
Painted utility boxes in Ballincollig. I love this idea.
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Fitzpatrick’s Of Kanturk
Denis Fitzpatrick of Kanturk was a very successful businessman. In the 1960s he had three grocery shops, a bakery and confectionary and an ice cream factory.
Someone sent me this pennant photographed outside a shop in Cork in the 1950s. I have no idea why it was cream ices instead of ice creams.
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Date for the Diary
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Helping me Collect my Books
Paul, Eileen, Alice and Bridget having a first read of my book in Listowel Printing Works in Tannavalla on Friday, September 6 2024.
Listowel Printing Works is now in its busiest season of the year as they embark on the mammoth task of printing thousands of Christmas cards for schools all around the country.
These very popular cards featuring the children’s artwork are bought and treasured by most of Ireland’s schools. Designing and printing them, packaging and dispatch is a huge task for which Listowel Printing Works employs up to 50 extra staff and the facility works flat out.
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The Homecoming Symbol
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A Tony O’Callaghan Bronze
I thought that this plaque might be something to do with Writers Week. I was wrong. While O’Callaghan specialised in bespoke commissions, this is not one of them. Apparently he reproduced this one several times. The names in the book are the names of lots of writers, several of whom were dead before Writers’ Week came about.
Thanks to Vincent Carmody for clearing that one up.
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A Fact
A fingernail or toenail takes about 6 months to grow from base to tip.
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.
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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…
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A Horsey Photo
Photo; Fred Ward
My brother, Pat, admiring Felicity’s horse at a recent show
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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
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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.
The lovely 5 year old Kerrie Browne and her dog, Milo, pose for the camera beside Paud Pelican’s skilfully constructed turf stuaics.
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Ballincollig, Supporting Cork, Win, Lose or Draw
The bunting is still up. The pain of what might have been still being felt.
The real winner on Sunday July 21 2024 was hurling. The game was broadcast by the BBC and the reactions of this new audience say so much about hurling as the best game in the world.
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The Big Fair
We have had a very interesting email from Kay Caball.
Mary, your readers might be interested in this significant piece of Listowel history recovered by the Virtual Treasury.https://virtualtreasury.ie/ It is the Licence granted on 13th August 1688 by William [20th] Lord Baron of Kerry & Lixnaw to hold a Wednesday Market, & two Fairs on the Feast of St. Swithin (15 July) & St Luke (18 of October) on the day before each, at the Town of Listowhill.
I am sure many of your older readers will remember the ‘Big Fairs’ that took over the town each May and October.
I don’t have to tell you of the great work being done by the research partnership of the Virtual Treasury recovering and reconstructing, through digital technology many of the records destroyed in the disastrous fire of our national archives in 1922
Kay
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A Definition
From The Devil’s Dictionary
by Ambrose Bierce
circus, n. a place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.
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A Fact
In 1981 in Florence, Sebastian Coe set a world record for the 800m. that stood unbeaten for 16 years.
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.
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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.
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Remember this?
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So Sad and So True
Many of us have stood in a stupor at a graveside like Greg Delanty
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A Fact
The official name of the U.K. is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The year 2022 was a bad year for Martin (McEvilly), health-wise. Cancer entered his life and hard training was ruled out. “You need hard work for the world championships and there was no way that could be done” he says. “I had neither the speed nor strength for the course in Torun”. The two hills on the course were the worst! You would want to be doing twenty mile runs to run decent on that!
Martin rates Danny McDaid, Donie Walsh and a young Jerry Kiernan highly in his thoughts of running in days gone by. John Treacy and Eamonn Coghlan are up there in a great era. He remembers the late Pat O’Shea from Kerry as a great man over the track and the road. Martin beat him only once on the road in Adare, “but Pat probably had a bad day that day!” A solid Kerry man was Pat O’Shea and Martin could handle him ok in cross country. They shared many masters international trips together. “We were good friends” he says sadly on the loss of a fellow-athlete.
Martin’s plans are to get fully fit again and compete for the Irish masters as often as possible. He will be 75 in July so he moves up to the next bracket. He can do the long runs on his own but he hopes to do more speed work and he can only do this with groups. It’s easy to get the people to run with “but it’s not too easy for me to keep up with them!” Of course some of his speedy partners are much younger than him.
Age Is Only a Number
“My ambition is to run as fast as I can for as long as I can!”
If he can do it injury-free, it will be a bonus. Age doesn’t matter anymore. “Why can’t we do it if we want to do it.” Age is only a number, he jokes and adds with respect “The Irish women showed that in Torun. They were super”.
And they were too.
And then Martin McEvilly was off into the plane on his way to Dublin and Galway to continue for a new beginning. Adversity overcome. Secret to life tucked in his heart.
I made a note to try to run in the dark.
To be continued
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A Memory from the 1986 Yearbook
July 13 1985 is a date I’ll never forget for on that day I gave birth to my younger daughter.
The world and his mother was glued to the TV as a massive concert on both sides of the Atlantic was raising funds to save starving babies in Africa. My little mite came in at just under 2 lbs but she was had the benefit of first world medical care and lived to tell the tale.
I was cruelly aware of the difference location makes in your chances of survival.
Here is an account of that day from girls for whom the concert was the highlight of the day.
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Shrove Tuesday; Skelliging Night
Today is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. Traditionally households feast on pancakes, in an effort to use up all the eggs and flour in the house before the austerities of Lent.
Another tradition dates back to the time of the monks on Skellig. When the method of calculating Easter was changed, Ireland stuck with the old method initially but eventually came into line with the rest of the christian world. That is, all of Ireland except Skellig Michael.
Mariages were not celebrated for the 40 days of Lent so anyone who wasn’t married would have to wait until after Easter Sunday to get hitched.
That began this grotesque custom, whereby men and boys were allowed to chase unmarried women, tie them up and pretend to transport them to the remote Kerry Island which was the only place they could marry them.
It was all a bizarre pantomime but a fairly cruel one. I’m told Skelliging, as this custom was called, was practiced in Listowel up to the 1950s.
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A postbox in Ballincollig
I looked up the An Post website but I couldn’t find any account of when this branding with the “An” left out came in.
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A Fact
Catherine Moylan started this by gifting me a bo0k of facts. Now other blog followers are helping out with this little end piece that has become a popular feature of Listowel Connection, despite having little or no Listowel connection.
Today it’s the turn of Helen Mitchell, formerly Helen Gore of this parish.
Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth)
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it. The severity of arachibutyrophobia varies from person to person. Some with this condition may be able to eat small amounts of peanut butter, but others will completely avoid eating peanut butter.
