Match Maker, Match Maker......

^^ that's Leitrim... and Mohill is down in South East Leitrim...

Speaking of Roger, where is that boy?

Oh Roger, where are you?

Match Maker
drom-et-eve? - -I know Fitzpatrick's as well as I know the other 10 or 12 pubs in Mohill. Most of them are very nice. Yes Val Fitzpatrick and his wife are nice folks. Did you by chance adventure down past O'Carolyn, the blind harpist monument to Casey's Pub? A favorite of the Travellers?

My favorite pub in Mohill was, is? John James McKeon's on Glebe Street where all the traders hung out on cattle and horse auction days at the mart. I liked O'Callaghan's too mainly because I liked Eilish the publicanette!

I believe Kelly's may have changed hands. I find it nowhere mentioned in Michael Slevin's website on Mohill. Lot of fun there on weekends. I knew "Gabriel" that worked the ticket booth at the disco. "Come late Jack and we'll ease you in." Never paid admission to the disco! Enjoyed a lot of dance steps and Smithwick's there though! :wink:

ok,drom. Thanks.

Jack, are you from Northern Ireland? Smokingunne probably won't be back for a while because he and his wife are involved with renovations
on their home.

Hey, Jack:

I didn't see that much of Mohill, since I was there for something like five hours on a hectic tour, but I remember dropping into Casey's pub, with all the travellers; I love McKeon's, though I thought that Philomena Brady's was a friendly place too.

Did you go there often, Jack?

(I hope that the renovations go swimmingly for Smoking .)

Match Maker
No Letty, I am a Connecticut Yankee. My grandparents were from Mohill. I have many distant relatives in Leitrim (strangers) but made many new non-relative friends during the nearly three years I was there helping voluntarily with computer workshops at The Marian College.

My wife had recently left me after almost thirty (30) years of marriage. Can't say I blame her. Thirty years of Jack is to much to expect anyone to put up with. Nevertheless I felt heartbroken. Never angry, just immensely disappointed.

What better thing to do than leave the country, go to Ireland, meet new people, enjoy the company of the greatest joke tellers, story tellers, dancers, comedians and all around best people in the world. Plus I enjoyed lots of beer, horses and cattle. Great women there too!

I have visited "The North" on a number of occasions and I always felt as welcome there as I was in the Republic. As a Yank I had the best of both worlds.

No place like "The Coast" though. :wink:

A, it was a wise choice too, Jack (though I'm sure that you're putting yourself down too much.) My grandparents on one side were French people who fled to Ireland and became truly initiated over there; it surprises me a lot that there is so much anti-Irish sentiment over in England, and that Irish people are considered stupid over there, when Eire is truly an island of saints and scholars at every step. There are very few other places that are so welcoming...

Now let's see, drom. With whom can we match Jack? Should it be a Damn Yankee or an Irish Rose? I know at least one erstwhile Irish lady.<smile>

Match Maker
drom_et_reve, I used to spend a good deal of time in Brady's. Mr. Brady (Kevin) and I would shoot the breeze during the afternoons. He died of a heart attack at the bar. I left Ireland in the Summer of 1990. This is perhaps a very morbid thing to post but it is my understanding that Philomena (Mrs. Brady) died in an auto wreck since then. They had a very beautiful young daughter, I don't recall her name, that would now be around thirty (30). Could she be now the owner? Or has someone just passed on some bum scoop about Mrs. Brady's passing I wonder?

Yes, Kelly's was next door to Brady's and Brady's would take in the early overflow of the disco crowd waiting for the disco to begin which was around 9:00PM. Very nice pub Brady's clean, carpeted, well maintained.

I am thinking about going back for about a month a year from October. Maybe bring someone with me? Show her the real folklore of rural Ireland first hand. Minnie would have loved it but she decided to move on. :wink:

((Smiles)) I do too. I have a few lovely friends over in Wicklow who would be delighted to meet Jack too.

O, Heavens, I never knew that either Mr or Mrs. Brady had passed on . It is a great shame; for the short while that I knew them, they treated me as though I had known them for years. You really should get going back... find out for us! I do hope that it is a lie, as I am in a very autumnal mood as it is.

Match Maker
drom_et_reve, as you probably know the French made there marks in Ireland as did the Spanish.

I recall how rather? Well, I cannot say I was really disappointed but my mind's eye view of Ireland was a place consisting predominately of red-haired, blue-eyed people. Having been there you know this is not the case. When Eilish the publicanette said she was going to Del Sol in Spain to tan her fanny she meant it. She had blue eyes but very dark hair and . . . .she tanned her fanny. Returned from holiday to Mohill all tanned. Lots of beautiful raven haired Irish women that surpass Maureen O'Hara!

If you are interested. A good historical novel "The Year of The French" by Thomas Flanagan is a good read. Story takes place in 1798. The French Army goes to Ireland more to harass the British than anything else.

There is a lot of... natural beauty in Ireland, I guess . Is there anyone that you met the last time in particular that you want to meet again? Where abouts did you stay?

(And I will definitely check that out . My cousin wrote one third of a book about the black and tans in Co. Carlow and Kilkenny, which was an interesting read but one that made me think: 'how much history is there of this one island?' It seems as if every little village has a spectacular story to tell..

Hmmmm. I do believe that drom has met her match.

Ahh, good relations between the French and the Irish are deeply bound within Catholicism and date back to medieval times. Check out this timeline for Chateau Haut-Brion, one of the first houses to be included in the 1855 Bordeaux classifications as first growth wine: http://haut-brion.com/home/en/history/pontac.php Now....the winery was established by the Pontac family in the 15th century. Why was it named Chateau Haut-Brion? The legend has it that a certain Irish soldier, O'Brian, and his men were pivotal in defending the land from the English in one of their many raids throughout history. As a reward, said soldier was granted land in Bordeaux, and the now famous winery was named after him. More Irish-French wine related history: http://www.irlfunds.org/events/winegeese.html

My success in match making has beeb phenomenal. Over a period of about 45 years I have introduced four couples who fell in love and married.

They are so grateful to me

But I attribute all the credit to them.

Hey, Joanne. It's been a while. Someone said that you had a match yourself. Glad to know that.

I heard that too! How are things? It's been lonely on the ED thread without you and Jjorge. I hope that all is going well .

Wine Geese
cavfancier -- I enjoyed reading your links. Irish Funds, Wine Geese have an office in San Diego.

Never realized there was a wine relationship between France and Ireland. Interesting. I have enjoyed a glass of wine now and then. Mainly when there was no good beer. Not that I am a Cretin but I just sort of enjoy the beer culture more than the one of wine. Or at least I did for years until several years ago when I backed off everything other than non-alcohol beer on doctor's orders.

The late Sister Ciaran, Priniciple of The Marian College once attempted to re-culture me with regards to my choice of beverage. She found out I was a great man with the Guinness and Smithwick's and in her case I know she believed me to be a Cretin. Of course she had more than one reason to believe that. She invited me out to dinner one time.

So down to a nice hotel we went one evening in her Volvo. Carrick-on-Shannon? Longford? I forget. We ordered steak and from the moment we sat down she lectured me on how much better it would be if I switched to a glass of wine now and than rather than pint after pint of the black stuff.

For some reason, I just enjoy talking and fooling around more quaffing ale than I do sipping wine. That is just the way it was.

Things change though. I notice women prefer wine or mixed drinks over a cold one any day. Especially older women. And of course they can roar with the best after they have had a little wine too.

You know cavfancier, it is really amusing as hell to sit and have a few alcohol-free O'Doul's (made by Budweiser) while a lady friend just mellows away on wine. :wink:

I don't look like a coleen álainn, though. I am dark and pale, recluse anti-chic, hence my not having a favourite part of the body. That information was interesting, Cav. The French and the Irish are still very close to-day; both were (sometimes oppresively) provincial countries that produced so many Renaissance minds.