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.

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.

Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery is a cemetery that is in Glasnevin, Dublin, in Ireland. This was the first place that the tour visited as they had a café that served breakfast. We had to wait for our rooms to be ready for us as we arrived in Dublin before 10 am.

Glasnevin Cemetery has a very special place in history because of the circumstances in which it was established. It was created in 1832 under the influence of Daniel O’Connell. Prior to this cemetery, the Catholic people had nowhere that they could bury their dead according to their rites. The Catholic priests had shortened their service in the protestant cemeteries to alleviate problems with the authorities, but that was not good enough for some people. There were people who felt that either the dead had to be buried in accordance to the Church of Ireland rites or not be buried in consecrated ground.

Daniel O’Connell felt otherwise. Daniel was part of an influential family who was fairly prominent in politics. He also became active in politics and was elected to Parliament in 1828 but could not take his seat because of the oath of supremacy. Eventually, King George IV was convinced to emancipate the Catholics and give the Catholics and the Presbyterians the right to be able to sit in Parliament without swearing the oath of supremacy. However, this was not retroactive and Daniel had to be re-elected before he could take his seat.

Daniel was known as The Liberator or The Emancipator. Later politicians questioned about the titles, but Daniel did do some good work for the Irish Catholics.

One of the good works was the cemetery in Glasnevin. You cannot miss the monument to Daniel O’Connell. It is the tower that is seen from the road and can be seen from a distance. The tower is right over his grave. Unfortunately, I was not feeling very well when we were there and missed being able to go closer.

There is a tour of the cemetery that you can take. There are a number of Irish notables that are buried there, many of them being leaders from the hunger strike, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, and government leaders. There are also writers, art collectors, artists, and many others from all walks of life.

Each burial plot has a story. Some of the stories are about the famous and some are about those who lived their lives the best way that they could. Many of the burial plots have headstones that are reminiscent of the history of Ireland and there are also many more modern headstones.

This cemetery has Catholics, Presbyterians, and Anglicans buried within its walls. If the people of Ireland prior to 1922 could not live peaceably together in Dublin, they rest peaceably together in this cemetery.

If you go to Dublin, you should try to include Glasnevin Cemetery as part of your itinerary. It does have a peaceful feel to it. Take the time to be part of a tour to gain a full understanding of the significance of this piece of Ireland. Then wander at will to make discoveries of your own.

Day Eleven – Field Trip, April 2016

Well, we are no longer in Northern Ireland. We crossed the border about 8:30 this morning at a crossing where there used to be a huge British military camp. This was to prevent anyone who had no legal need from entering into Northern Ireland during The Troubles. At that time, the British presence was a fact of life. Thankfully, the British and the Irish have come to a point ten years ago where they have started to live more peacefully. They still have more work to do to sort out issues, but they are doing well, given the circumstances.

Our first stop this morning was at Donegal Castle. This castle was built approximately 1,000 years ago and, for approximately 300 years, sat empty and became run down. Part of it has been restored and they did an excellent job of it. Hopefully, more of the restoration will happen in the future.

We then walked around the corner to visit a shop where they weave their own tweed. We were greeted with Irish coffee of which I did not partake as I do not drink coffee. This was followed by a demonstration of the types of tweed that they make there and the process that is involved. It was interesting to watch the tweed being woven. They do produce some very nice tweed but I had no interest in purchasing any.

Back on the bus, we then travelled to Drumcliffe to visit the cemetery where W.B. Yeats is buried. We were given a short biography on the bus and we had the opportunity of finding the grave as well as visiting the church that is there. This particular cemetery has a long history as some of the graves have headstones made with the celtic cross. I would have liked to spend more time, but we were running a bit lake.

Lunch was at a restaurant named The Helm which is situated on Clew Bay. Because it was mid afternoon, we were not expecting a big meal. We were wrong. However, the food was delicious.

After lunch, we were taken over to Westport House. It is another site that has a long history. We heard about Grace O’Malley and her descendants. We were given a tour of the first floor and then left to explore the rest for ourselves. I found the dungeon and enjoyed the bit of fun that it provided.

We are now at our hotel and will shortly be going for dinner. Tomorrow, we have some more touring to do, but we will not be changing hotels.

Your Cemetery Tool Kit

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the wealth of information that a headstone could hold. I also mentioned that, sometimes, headstones need to be cleaned before you can read it. Today, in preparation for spring, I want to pass on information that I learned about in 2012. I wrote the following in December of 2011 for publication in a newsletter in 2012.

During the snows and cold of the Canadian winter, it is difficult to visit the final resting places of our ancestors to gather information about them.  These visits must be done during the good weather of the spring, summer and fall.

As many of you know, you will need to prepare to visit a cemetery so that you will get the most of your visit.  This preparation can be done during the cold winter months.  The first piece of information that you will need to find your ancestor is “where is the dear one buried?”   Bits of information that will help you with this are things like:

Where was his residence?

What Church did he belong to?

Was there a family plot?

Is there a published family history?

What cemeteries are in the area?

Now, you think that you may have your ancestor located.  Are you ready to go to find his final resting place?  The groundskeepers do not have the time to look after individual headstones, so you need to be prepared for this. 

Part of your preparation for your trip is your tool kit.  Why do I need a toolkit, you say.  I have gone to a few cemeteries without one and regret it every time.  You don’t need much, but here are some items that will help with the success of your trip.

Notebook and pens or pencils (for copying the inscription)

Carpenter’s apron (handy way of carrying your equipment)

Gardener’s knee pads (to pad your knees when kneeling)

Garden shears (to trim grass and weeds)

Whisk broom (to remove trimmed grass, weeds, and dirt)

Sponge and water (to rinse the headstones)

Sunscreen or Sunblock

Non-ionic detergent and a white soft-bristled brush

Moist towelettes

Bug Repellent

Camera (Film or Digital)

We have learned over the past few years that great care must be taken with cleaning headstones.  They are delicate artifacts that give valuable information about our family.  We must learn non-abrasive ways of maintaining these treasures for future generations of our families.