Irrevocably Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone.

I'm one-quarter Irish.  As the story goes, my grandfather, John Clarke, came over from Ireland when he was in his late teens or early twenties supposedly with an older brother.  The brother went back to Ireland, but my grandfather stayed.  It's never been clear whether he legally immigrated or not, but he married my grandmother Louise Truslow Cooper, and my father was born in August, 1907.  I never met either grandparent as my grandmother died when my father was only 5 or 6 years old, and my grandfather died when my father was 16.  But I was always made aware of my Irish roots, even though those roots were rather vague.

My sister and I have done some genealogical research and know a lot about my mother's side of the family, but have yet to find much about my father's side.  We have never found a birth certificate for my grandfather and don't know what part of Ireland he came from. One of my dad's best friends was Don Beggs, also with Irish connections.  Once my parents moved back to Colorado, the Beggses and the Clarkes were nearly always together on St. Patrick's Day.

I visited Ireland in the 70's and felt pretty much at home, especially in the countryside with its green rolling hills and seaside vistas.  How could you not?  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that trip.  Since I didn't want to go by myself I joined a tour group and here we are in all our glory in Killarney.

We traveled by motor coach and our tour guide was also the bus driver.  In Killarney, we were treated to a tour by horse-drawn cart.

 

From Killarney we drove around the beautiful Ring of Kerry.

 

I don't remember now exactly where this was, but, of course, we had to see the peat bogs...

 

...where we met this charming fellow.

Okay, maybe he wasn't so charming - in fact he pretty much ignored us.  Then on to horse country in Kildare.

 

And somewhere along the way we spotted this thatch-roofed cottage completely covered with seashells.

Of course, you can't go to Ireland and not visit Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney stone.

 

 

You have to lie on your back and bend over backwards in order to do it!

Hope you enjoyed your very quick trip, but someday I do hope to get back there.  And so I leave you with an Irish blessing.

Walls for the wind

And a roof for the rain,

And drinks by the fire.

Laughter to cheer you

And those you love near you

And all that your heart may desire!

Ireland, it's the one place on earth that heaven has kissed
 with melody, mirth, and meadow and mist.

Erin go Bragh!