It is the fall of 1961. I am with my father. He has returned to his homeland for the first time after thirty-five years in America. The two of us stand silently under a sullen Irish sky in the high, dry grass among the fallen stones of the old country farm house in County Sligo where he was born and raised. He is quiet for a long time, shakes his head, and then leads me down a … [Read more...] about The Old Irish Neighborhood
Flying Boats
Hundreds of misty-eyed villagers gathered at Foynes' harbor on October 22, 1945, to watch Capt. Charlie Blair make American Overseas Airlines' final scheduled flying boat departure from the small seaport that had once been the focal point for air traffic between the United States and Europe. Today, six decades after those "glamorous days" ended, a Flying Boat Museum reminds … [Read more...] about Flying Boats
The Irish Character
A year before the American Revolution, Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote a letter to the bishop of Killaloe in which he remarked, "The Irish are a fair people; They never speak well of one another." This clever characterization -- or caricature, if you like -- may rub you the wrong way, but you will recognize in it a small germ of truth, namely, the social habit the Irish themselves … [Read more...] about The Irish Character
Talking Tremane
Five phrases are all you'll need to get along in this part of Ireland. If you learn to use them fluently you can hold your own in almost any conversation. Not only will they help to keep the patter flowing, they'll also lend you an aura of wisdom that the natives will respect. Repeat after me: Nothing strange in the world. I'm easy. Ah, what harm? There's no panic on … [Read more...] about Talking Tremane
Moya Brennan: The First Lady of Celtic Music
If you don't immediately recognize the name Moya Brennan, it's only because she recently changed the spelling of her name. As the lead singer of Clannad, and now a successful solo artist in her own right, Brennan had been known as Maire Brennan for years. She explains, "I was not winning in trying to get people to say my name right, and it was harder for people to find me in … [Read more...] about Moya Brennan: The First Lady of Celtic Music