After getting my legs and feet done, my aunt Marie drove us up to the Glen of Aherlow (pronounced "arlow") where my cousins Riah and Jodi both had their wedding receptions at Aherlow House Hotel. It's easy to see why the glen would be a great place for a wedding, just check out the view:
The views of the Galtee Mountains are just gorgeous. At the top of the hill, next an information placard about nearby mountain bike trails, is a large white statue of "Christ the King." According to the plinth explaining the history of the statue, all the glen, it's people, and any who pass through this locale are blessed by his raised hand. It was first erected in 1950, but was replaced (it doesn't say why) in 1975 with an exact replica made from Irish limestone. Thanks for the benediction, I hope I don't have anymore tumbles or accidents on my travels.
After Aherlow, we went into the village of Cappawhite, where my father - along with his 6 brothers and 2 sisters - grew up. Yep, Irish families are big! The O'Meara's have lived around this village since the 1500's and at the house at Greenfield since 1937. The house itself dates back to the 1800's and still has some items belonging to the previous owners. One item being a stuffed pheasant (see photo below) that was shot in 1910 by a fellow of the initials J.B.P. My uncle Talbot tells me that J.B.P came back to Greenfield in the 1990's to see his childhood home. He told the story to my uncle of shooting the bird, and then about going off to fight in WWI where he saw some awful atrocities. My uncle Talbot thinks he found some solace in coming back to Greenfield - I never met the man, but I hope he did too.
One of my most cherished childhood memories of Ireland happened at Greenfield. My uncle Eugene (the youngest of the 8 kids) runs the family business - a poultry farm. When I was about 10 or 11, I assisted my uncle, along with my sister Aisling, my cousins Aoife and Doireann (more points for pronounciation!) with the happy and very adorable chore of unloading 750 baby chicks into a room with heat lamps. The chicks were in cardboard crates with holes in them, and the sound of "cheep-cheep!" filled the air. I recall dipping my hands into the wriggling yellow fluffy mass and pulling out about five chicks in each hand. They were so cute! They didn't really peck at us while we unloaded them, and after they were all in the incubated room, we had to be very careful not to step on them. I'll never forget the sight, sounds, and feel of all those fluffy chicks for as long as I live.
Above: a side of one of the old poultry keeps with nasturtiums planted by my uncle Talbot.
Below: a selfie taken outside the back door of the kitchen at Greenfield.
It was great to see my cousins Aoife and Evan. I can recall holding Evan as a baby, and now he's 21 and studying to become a teacher. Gah, I feel old! It was good to talk with my aunt Anne and my uncle Eugene as well and was happy that we were able to all meet up.
I had high hopes of going into Limerick today to visit King John's Castle, but with the rain and blustery winds...I don't know. It's a good day to do laundry and read a book.
Tomorrow I leave for Dublin via bus for two days and two nights. I'm hoping to meet up with some more cousins that I haven't seen since I was very young (maybe only eight years old). It would be good to have someone to walk around Dublin with though, as I don't know the city well and it has a bit of a rough reputation. I'll print off a map today though and try to orient myself.
Once I leave here tomorrow, I'll be truly on my own as I have no friends or family in either Portugal or Spain. But I do have a plan, and I have hostels booked up until October 24, so things should work out ok. I'm feeling pretty confident about the next leg of my journey. I can feel how healing it has been for me to take a break from my life and see my family in Ireland. I'm hoping more healing comes when I hit the continent and begin the exploration of new sites and cultures that will challenge me and open me up to what life has to offer. Wish me luck on this next stage of my journey, and say a prayer that I don't take anymore tumbles!
I was curious about the Christ the King statue. Online google-fu just says "the statue was irreparably damaged" in 1975, so they had a replica made by the same man who made the original. It had been "unceremoniously pulled to the ground one night during the Whit weekend. Despite all enquiries the vandals responsible were never brought to justice." I then had to look up Whit weekend, which was a movable feast day / public holiday around Easter. It was a bank holiday until 1973 in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love reading all the history behind the places you're visiting.