Update On My Life

Some of you realize that I have had weeks where I missed posting an entry. There were days when I was so busy with other things that I would forget to post. And then there were other days when the energy had just disappeared.

This week was a little bit different. It goes without being said that having a long weekend can sometimes throw your daily schedule off for part of the following week. Well, that happened to me this week. I have not been sleeping well lately, but I am hoping that over the next week or two, it will be rectified.

Yesterday, I had an appointment at the Orofacial Clinic in St John’s. I had been to my dentist in early July as I was having some pain in my gum and it was also swollen. After an x-ray and some poking around, I was informed that it looked like one of my teeth had a fractured root. I was going to be sent to a specialist in St John’s who deals with root canals. It was going to be a six- to eight-month wait to get in to see him.

About a week or two later, I noticed something strange. After the antibiotics were completed, the swelling was gone but there seemed to be a white line in my gum. I didn’t do anything about it then, but within a week, it was starting to break through the gum. I did a quick visit to the dentist and, it turned out that the fractured root had decided that it didn’t want to stay in place and wanted to see the world. It had actually cut through the gum. The visit to the previous specialist was no longer the option. Instead, I was sent to the Orofacial Clinic to have the tooth and root fragments extracted.

This visit happened on Thursday of this week. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday getting ready to go and still forgot to take some of the paperwork with me. My husband had to go with me as I was in no condition to be doing any driving on Thursday. We left to arrive in St John’s early enough to go see the Star Trek movie that is currently playing at the show. Then we checked into the Comfort Inn on Airport Drive. I chose this one because it is very close to the clinic. Unfortunately, I did not set my alarm properly and woke up about twenty minutes late. We still made it in time and we got lost along the way.

I was put right under because I made sure that I didn’t get enough sleep so that I would have no problem going to sleep. Apparently, the procedure only took about ten minutes. I was woken up about 9:16. My appointment started at 8:00 am after I filled out the prerequisite paperwork. We were sent on our way by 10 am.

I had a couple of places that I wanted to go to since we were in St John’s. One of them was the Maritime History Archives at Memorial University. I had sent them a list of ships’ records that I wanted to get a copy of. This was our first stop. We had the work done by 11:45. From there, we went to the library of the Newfoundland Family History Society. I asked some pertinent questions regarding cemeteries and found that my best option would be to join the society and I would be able to do what I needed to do to start that particular research at home in comfort.

From there, I had wanted to make a stop at the Family History Library and the St John’s Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to see what records they have and a quick trip to Avalon Mall to get the hand soap that I like. I decided that I had done enough and needed to start for home instead. I still hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since the night before and the freezing was coming out and the pain was starting.

We decided to see about filling the prescription for the pain killer and the mouth rinse that were prescribed. We went into a branch of the pharmacy that I deal with in Gander, but I would have had to fill out the paperwork again and didn’t have the insurance information with me, so I decided that I could wait until we got back to Gander.

We tried a restaurant in Paradise but they didn’t have anything that I could eat. We then tried a pub about five minutes away, but they didn’t serve any food. So we drove down the highway about an hour, when I told Gordon that I needed a stop. Within five minutes we came across a gas station with a restaurant called Monty’s Restaurant. They were quite happy to give me what I wanted. I needed soft food and asked for scrambled eggs, with soft toast, and a bowl of seafood chowder. The chowder was fantastic.

I slept most of the way home, but the road is under construction right now and my sleep was not very good. I honestly thought that I didn’t sleep very much, that it was more of a doze. When I went to bed last night, I had trouble going to sleep. The first stop that we did when we reached Gander was to fill my prescriptions, of which I took the first dosage of painkiller when we arrived at home.

Today, I was able to function more normally, and did some of the things that I needed to accomplish today. I am at a point that I think that I will be getting a better night’s sleep tonight.

In a sense, I am happy that I have been able to complete the entries for the trip to Ireland, but now I am betwixt and between what I want to write about now. I will find something soon as soon as my head clears a bit more. I know. I want to rant about having to fill out more forms for the chain of stores where I already frequent one. More of this next time.

Have a good weekend.

Donnybrook

On our last night in Ireland, it was decided that we would have a special dinner, one that gave us a chance to spend time together without any real rush. This event took place in the community of Donnybrook.

Donnybrook is a district of Dublin which is in the south side. It has an interesting history that goes back to the 12^h century. At the beginning of the 13^th century, King John signed a charter for the Donnybrook Fair which existed until 1866. It started off as an agricultural fair, but degraded into a fair that promoted “fun” and drunkenness. Things got to be so bad that the local people raised money and prominent citizens and clergy purchased the rights to the fair. The fair had been held on the property that is now used as the Donnybrook Rugby Ground and the Ever Ready Garage. The name, Donnybrook, came to describe a rowdy brawl.

Donnybrook is a civil parish that consists of sixteen townlands. Twelve of the townlands belong to the Barony of Dublin. Three of the remaining townlands belong to the Barony of Rathdown. The final townland, Sallymount, is in the Barony of Uppercross.

On Morehampton Road, you will find a small establishment that looks like a pub from the outside. I’m not sure what the main floor of the restaurant looks like as we were ushered upstairs to the Belmont Room which is designed to host parties up to 90 participants. It has its own bar and washrooms, as well as a lounge area and fireplace. The dining area is split into two areas, upper and lower. There is also a fairly large reception area as you enter from the stairwell. Entertainment had also been arranged for us, we were treated to a final night of Irish music.

When we arrived, we were presented with a demonstration of how to make Irish soda bread. We were even given a copy of the recipe and told about possible pitfalls. After this, we then sat down to a very good meal. I believe that there were either three or four choices which were made before we even arrived in Ireland. The food was delicious and plentiful. I cannot for the life of me what I had as we have been back for three months now and a great deal has happened since then.

Once the food was out of the way, we had a bit of an appreciation party, giving thanks to Lesley Anderson for all of the work that she had done for us both before and during the tour. We also showed our appreciation to our bus driver and guide, Austin, from CIE Tours in Ireland.

The time came that we had to vacate the restaurant and travel back to our hotel for our last night in Ireland. We had a long day ahead of us with our travel back to Canada and to our various homes, mostly in Ottawa, but a couple from Alberta, three or four from the States, and myself currently living in Newfoundland.

It was a good trip. I plan to go back to Ireland to visit the places that I want to get to know better and to do some research that I can’t do in Canada. Who knows, this might happen sooner than later. We will see.

I am sure that Lesley Anderson will appreciate the following picture. My brother and I had gone for a walk on our last night in Belfast so that I could get some pictures. I came across this one during that time. Lesley, if you are reading this, please enjoy:

Trinity College

Did you know that Trinity College has another name? It does. Trinity College is also known by University of Dublin. Since there is only one campus, the names Trinity College and University of Dublin are interchangeable.

Trinity College was established in 1692 and was modelled after Oxford and Cambridge, but only has one college whereas Oxford has 38 constituent colleges and Cambridge has 31. Trinity College is the oldest school in Ireland and was set up in part to consolidate the Tudor rule over Ireland. According to Wikipedia: Trinity College “was seen as the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. 

Although Catholics and Dissenters had been permitted to enter as early as the end of the XVIII century (1793), certain restrictions on their membership of the college remained until 1873 (professorships, fellowships and scholarships were reserved for Protestants). From 1956 to 1970, the Catholic Church in Ireland forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without permission from their archbishop. Women were first admitted to the college as full members in January 1904.” There are different ratings for Trinity College according who is doing the rating and, for the year 2015, was rated between 78 and 170 best in the world. It is rated as the best in Ireland.

You can read more about Trinity College and its history on Wikipedia.

Trinity College library is well known and is a legal depository library for Ireland and the United Kingdom, and contains over 4.5 million volumes, significant number of manuscripts, maps, and music. One of its most famous holdings is the Book of Kells.

The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin which contains the four gospels as well as various prefatory texts and tables. It is believed that the book was created approximately 800 AD at a Columban monastery in Ireland or that a number of Columban institutions across Britain and Ireland contributed to it. It is the most complex illuminated manuscript of its time. The illustrations are composed of human, animal, and celtic knots with a good variety of colour.

Today, the manuscript is composed of 340 folios in 4 volumes. The leaves are made with calf vellum and is worth making the trip to see. The name of the book comes from the Abbey of Kells which was its home for centuries.

If you make it to Dublin, you really should go to Trinity College and see the Book of Kells for yourself. There is a cost. The price ranges between €9 and €28, depending on your circumstances. Be ready to wait in line to get into the library. As a matter of fact, I would not be surprised that there is a long line every day, all day. The line does move fairly quickly. The first part of the display gives some history about the making of the Book, with static presentations on how the ink was made, how the vellum was prepared, and what life was like when this book was being created. After going through the displays, you then go upstairs to the room where the Book of Kells is kept. It is in a locked display cabinet where no one can touch it but you can see the superior workmanship that went into it. Before seeing it, my brother believed that we would be seeing a copy, and would not believe me when I told him that we would be seeing the original book. I don’t know what the security is like for this book, but I don’t think that I would like to be the person who trips the wire, so to speak. If you are planning to take some pictures with your camera, think again. Cameras cannot be used while viewing the displays and the Book.

When you are finished looking at the Book, your way out will take you through the Old Library Hall. And, yes, it looks the same as in the pictures. When I am surrounded by that many books, I have absolutely no idea where to start.

I did discover that there have been reproductions done on the Book of Kells. There were digital photographs taken that were put on CD and sold through the College gift shop. These are no longer available. However, those digital photographs can now be seen online at:

http://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/home/#folder_id=14&pidtopage=MS58_007v&entry_point=1

Enjoy!

Glendalough

Glendalough is in County Wicklow, on the way to Dublin from Waterford. One of the things that it is famous for is the monastic settlement established by St. Kevin that dates back to the 6^th century. This settlement was host to a total of seven churches and a tower.

St. Kevin was someone who had connections at the time period as he was descended from one of the ruling families in Leinster. He studied under three holy men in Glendalough and returned later to establish a monastery in the vicinity. He had a following and left a number of writings that scholars still study. It is believed that he died about 618 AD and the settlement continued to flourish for the following 600 years.

In the twelfth century, St. Laurence O’Toole became Abbot of Glendalough and later became Archbishop of Dublin. He was known for his sanctity and hospitality. After his appointment as Archbishop, he still continued to visit Glendalough.

In 1214, the dioceses of Glendalough and Dublin were united. Once this was done, the settlement in Glendalough began to diminish and, in 1398, was destroyed by English forces, leaving it a ruin. However, it continued to be a place of pilgrimage.

Today, there is a Visitor’s Center that gives a fair amount of information regarding this location. There are also guided tours available. The guide that we had was quite knowledgeable and the tour took about an hour. There is a lot to see, you could spend easily spend a day there as there are also a couple of trails to follow. In order to see everything, an hour or two is not enough time.

A Walk Around Waterford City

First of all, I want to apologise for not posting anything for almost a week now. I have good days and I have bad days. I have mostly good days, but when I have a bad day, it can take a couple of days to recover from it. It also doesn’t help if I stay up too late at night. When I get working in something that I am interested in, I have a tendency to give it my full concentration. Sometimes, I even forget some of the daily housekeeping that I need to do in order for things not to back up on me. Anyway, please be patient with me. I am still a work in process.

After visiting New Ross in Wexford, our trip took us to Waterford City, in County Waterford. It is situated on the River Suir not far where the River Suir and the River Barrow join before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. The River Suir and the River Barrow are two of the Three Sisters, with the third sister being the River Nore. The River Nore joins with the River Barrow before meeting with the River Suir. This all takes place on the southeast coast of Ireland.

Waterford has a very long history. Waterford was one of the first communities established by the Vikings in 853 AD. It wasn’t 50 years before the Irish forced the Vikings out. Because of this settlement, Waterford had the distinction of being Ireland’s first city.

Approximately 250 years later, Diarmait Mac Murchada, the deposed King of Leinster, tried to take Waterford and failed. Three years later, he came back with mercenaries and Richard de Clare, the 2^nd Earl of Pembroke, and took the city after some desperate defense. King Henry II came in 1171 and declared that Waterford and Dublin were royal cities and Dublin the capital of Ireland.

Waterford went through the English political problems with two pretenders wanting to base themselves there. They also went through the Protestant Reformation but afterward remained Catholic. There were other events throughout history, but I will let you look some of it up yourselves.

Originally, we were supposed to have our walking tour after we had dinner in Wexford, but something caused it to be changed. We were hungry and tired, and would have appreciated having some time to eat and relax before going on the tour. As it was, we were waiting for quite a period of time for our guide to arrive, and, I think that all of us were getting to the point that we wanted to forego the tour.

Our guide was Jack Burtchaell and he was running late when we arrived in Waterford. He finally arrived and took us around the harbour area for an hour’s tour. This area of Wexford had a nice blend of history and modern conveniences. The oldest building was a short tour not far from the harbour. I have included a few pictures that I took while on the tour. There is even a replica of a Viking longboat in the tourist area.

One thing that I would like to mention is that one of my ancestors came to Canada and probably came either through New Ross or through Waterford to board the ship. I would like to go back to Waterford and spend some time there, a few days anyway, to get to know the city better. Maybe by that time, I will know which ports my ancestors travelled through.

New Ross and Dunbrody Famine Ship

New Ross is in County Wexford and is a port that was used during the time of the Great Famine to send emigrants from Ireland to other parts of the world including Canada and the United States. It is my belief that New Ross may also be the same port that my great-great-great-grandfather, John Jackman, came through to board the ship named Ann to sail to Canada to start a new life. I don’t know why he decided to do this but he did.

New Ross has a tourist site that is not usually seen in most Irish ports, a replica of a famine ship. The original ship had the name of Dunbrody and has been replicated well in most respects. I believe that the replica was built in the same shipyard in Quebec as the original ship.

The original ship was built to bring lumber, furs, and other natural resources from Canada to Ireland. As it was going to be sailing back to Canada with no cargo, the Dunbrody was outfitted with bunks and took famine victims with them. The bunks were removable so that they could continue to carry cargo on their way back to Ireland.

There were two types of passengers, passengers who could pay more and have a cabin and passengers who paid less, or whose landlords paid passage for them and looked after their own needs while onboard ship. Once arriving in Quebec, they often had to wait onboard before disembarking at Gross Iles for medical inspections. Most of the emigrant ships did not prepare well for their passengers, some of them running out of fresh drinking water before their turn to disembark their passengers, but the Dunbrody had a couple of captains who were humane and made sure that there was enough water for consumption as well as cleanliness. They had very little loss of passengers and their passengers wrote back to Ireland praising the two captains.

There were also some actors who helped to bring about the vision of what life was like on the famine ship while enroute to Canada. The people portrayed were real people and the program was an interactive presentation. I am sure that I have a better understanding of what happened to the people of that time. I don’t know if any of my ancestors experienced this as most of my Irish ancestors came to Canada in the early 19^th century.

New Ross is a port that is located on the River Barrow and is near the border with County Kilkenny. It is about 20 miles north east of Waterford which is another port. It is about 23 miles west north west of Wexford, the county seat for County Wexford. New Ross is the third largest community in County Wexford. The day that we were there, there was a cool breeze and it did rain while we were visiting the Dunbrody.

New Ross looks as if it is a clean town. We were at the waterfront and did not have much of a chance to see the rest of the town. Once we were finished at the Dunbrody exhibit, we were on our way back to Waterford, for a walking tour, dinner, and a night’s rest.

Kissing the Stone of Eloquence

There is a legend in Ireland that if you kiss a certain stone, it will give you the gift of eloquence. A great number of people say that if you believe that, you are full of the blarney.

Well, enough of puns. I don’t profess to use puns very wisely.

When visiting Ireland, most people say that you must visit the site of this stone of eloquence. You really don’t have to, but if you do, you should bring back some proof that you were there. I did. I wasn’t going to, but I decided, why not. So I paid my money, got the two pictures and the pictures have me very red in the face. I’m not even sure when the pictures were taken. I just know that when my brother and I went to collect our pictures, they were ready for us.

In the past, when I thought of kissing the Blarney Stone, I thought that it was a stone at ground level and there would be no real effort to kiss it. Boy, was I wrong! The first thing that you have to do is get into the property. Yes, there is a fee for kissing the stone. Then, you have a distance to walk to get to the castle itself. For those of you who have mobility problems, it can be exhausting. Okay, now you reach the castle. It’s time to enter the castle and then climb the stairs. Did I forget to tell you that there are stairs? These are stone stairs and it’s a circular staircase. However, there are landings at each level. I have no idea how many landings there are. These are good for a short rest before continuing up. I stopped at one landing, thinking that I would never be able to make it to the top. I then learned that I only had about two more landings to go and I would be at the top. I decided that to get that far and not go the rest of the way was not appropriate. As well, until I found out how to get to the stairs going down, I would be going against the flow.

So, I arrived at the top of the castle, and took the time to catch my breath again. My brother arrived shortly after I did, and we joined the line to kiss the stone together.

When you finally get to the stone, as it is mentioned in the website,

“Once upon a time, visitors had to be held by the ankles and lowered head first over the battlements. Today, we are rather more cautious of the safety of our visitors. The Stone itself is still set in the wall below the battlements. To kiss it, one has to lean backwards (holding on to an iron railing) from the parapet walk. The prize is a real one as once kissed the stone bestows the gift of eloquence.”  http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/kiss-the-blarney-stone

There is actually two people there, one helps you to get into the position to kiss the stone and the other takes the pictures. When the person helping you need some help, the gentleman taking the pictures will assist. There are two pictures taken, one either getting up or getting ready to kiss the stone and the other while you are kissing the stone. Once you are finished, you follow the parapet around until you get to the staircase (once again circular) going down.

There is more to Blarney Castle than just kissing the stone. Even though I had exhausted myself, my interest was caught. I saw the sign “Poison Garden” and I had to know what that entailed. I did go through two parts of the garden before I started heading towards the exit to go find the bus or somewhere to eat or get a drink. I do want to go back to Blarney Castle. The next time, though, I will not be going to kiss the stone. I want to go wander the property to see everything that is there as I think that I saw maybe a tenth of what they had to offer.

As we were there at the end of April, there were no real shops to be able to get something to drink near the Castle itself. I actually got all the way over to Blarney Woolen Mills before I was able to get a drink. I can’t even remember if I ate something as well. I think that I did. Oh, well, if I didn’t it was because I wasn’t hungry.

One thing that I did not mention earlier was that our group divided up for this stop. Some of us when to Blarney Castle while the rest of the group went to Blarney Woolen Mills. We then all met the bus in the parking lot for the Woolen Mills.

We found that at every stop, we had to wait for some one or a couple of people before we could continue on our way. This stop was no different.