Visited my sister, Mary, in recovery, with her grandchildren

Dublin, Ireland, March 19th, 2012

"The witty man and his joke..."

I love language and phrases
that stay in the mind,
and magically come back.
Yeats is great;
I read his Lake
Isle of Innisfree frequently.
And I remembered that little phrase
above today,
and sough out the poem,
a masterpiece
that made
me whole.

The Fisherman

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Although I can see him still—

The freckled man who goes

To a gray place on a hill

In gray Connemara clothes

At dawn to cast his flies—

It's long since I began

To call up to the eyes

This wise and simple man.   

All day I'd looked in the face   

What I had hoped it would be   

To write for my own race   

And the reality:   

The living men that I hate,   

The dead man that I loved,   

The craven man in his seat,   

The insolent unreproved—

And no knave brought to book   

Who has won a drunken cheer—

The witty man and his joke   

Aimed at the commonest ear,   

The clever man who cries   

The catch cries of the clown,   

The beating down of the wise   

And great Art beaten down.

Maybe a twelve-month since

Suddenly I began,

In scorn of this audience,

Imagining a man,

And his sun-freckled face

And gray Connemara cloth,

Climbing up to a place

Where stone is dark with froth,

And the down turn of his wrist

When the flies drop in the stream—

A man who does not exist,   

A man who is but a dream;   

And cried, “Before I am old   

I shall have written him one   

Poem maybe as cold   

And passionate as the dawn.”

Source: Poetry (February 1916).

On returning to the Outside World after you leave the Legion/Regnum

STARTING OUT

Livia Bardin, who wrote an handbook for Parents with Children in High Demand Groups, has now published a Manual for those  members who are just leaving and are new to the Outside World.
Though more tailored to the American audience it is worth a read

Photos Paul Lennon's Trip to Dublin and Family, March 2012

With my cousins Edmund [wiife Angela], Joan, niece and my cousing Harry Lennon, my sister Carmel and me


The complete collection is on Picasa

Enjoy as I did the trip to present a paper at Trinity, spending time with family and friends, visiting the city... and watching the marvelous St. Patrick's Day Parade

Mission in Ireland, March 12-20, 2012

The Custom House on the River Liffey is just across the river from my sister, Carmel's, place on Usher's Quay where I stayed after my sojourn at the O'Callaghan Mont Clare on fashionable Merrion Sq.

One of the highlights to my trip to Ireland was going to a [Sir] James Galway concert at the Dublin Concert Hall on March 18th, at 8pm with my sister, Carmel,  and enjoy Irish Vapours and Capers by Lorin Mazel besides the well known airs.

First things first and the day of my arrival I visited my sister, Mary, who was in Cappagh Hospital recovering from major hip surgery. With my other 3 sister, Patty Coscoran, Carmel Lambert and Christine Creevey we had our family reunion around Mary's bed. It was a happy occasion as Mary was recovering very well.

The outward motive of the trip was a presentation at Trinity College's Theological Society of a talk on the theme of How Cult Like Features can be present in Catholic and other mainstream religious groups and it went down pretty well. For me the most important part was meeting with the some of the audience afterwards, former Irish Legionaries, students, and friends. I much appreciated the support of my sisters Carmel and Christine, brother in law Christy Creevey and my good friend and colleague, Aaron Loughrey. Mike Garde from Dialogue Eire was also in support and he forfeited his chance to talk when I ran over time. A reception was held afterwards.

Since then I have been able to mix tourism with family: besides seeing my niece, Ruth Lambert, again I was able to meet Mary's daughters, Liz and Kate, the latter with her two children, Rachel and Robert. It did not rain on the St Pat's parade in Dublin and Carmel and I had a good view of the wonderful groups. That evening we had a great visit with cousin Harry Lennon and Joan at their home in Rathfarnam where we were joined by Edmund and his wife, Angela.

Yesterday, Sunday the 18th, we had the visit to Mary and the James Galway concert. Today I hope to visit my 90 year old cousin, Evelyn and her husband Peter Corrigan, together with their daughter, Collette. And may even more relatives.

Latin American Immigrants and others Parallel Irish Famine

With Aura in Geneva 2009 for the enactment of Jean Calvin's Anniversary...folks dressed as Calvinists

Couldn't help but be struct by the parallels between this description of Irish professor O Muchadha   of Famine immigrants to the  what I know of Salvadoran and other Central and South American immigrants to the Washington DC area:


However, surviving the voyage was not the end of the hardship for Famine emigrants. In fact, for most, it was just the beginning of a new chapter of desolation.

“A great number of these emigrants had never previously ventured outside their own local areas,” says Dr Ó Murchadha. “Suddenly, they found themselves transported thousands of miles away: from a rural to an urban landscape, to a very alien social environment where the inhabitants didn’t speak the same language and, frequently, showed a deep loathing for their Irishness and their Catholicism. This was bewildering and devastating to them.”

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/New-facts-about-Great-Famine-emigration-out-of-Ireland--revealed-139540423.html#ixzz1mw3NmfZi

St Brigid's Day, Feb 1, Beginning of Celtic Spring

My heritage