St. Patrick’s, Leprechauns, and Ireland
Murder Book is coming soon! 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Last year at this time I was in Ireland, visiting Preston during his break at student teaching. In Ireland, schools are off from St. Patrick’s Day to Easter. St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is similar to Thanksgiving in the U.S. Families get together for a big meal and some cities have parades, but the people out getting drunk on St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland are primarily tourists.
St. Patrick's Church 
A 4 mile pilgrimage is made up a mountain to pay homage to Jesus Christ at this cross at the beginning of lent. 
Do you recognize the Harry Potter library?
In a country that is 90+% Catholic, they take Holy Week seriously--all adult servers and amazing choirs. 90% of the schools are “Catholic public,” which means free, and the sacraments are available through school, but not required. The Irish are frustrated over Muslims coming to Ireland and requesting religious symbols be taken down in churches and hospitals. They feel, justly in my opinion, that you come to a Catholic country, tolerate it. When we go to Muslim countries we don't expect any of the Middle East countries to change for us.
2016 was the 100th year anniversary of the beginning of 'the rising' in Ireland. They celebrate the year the movement for freedom from England's rule began. This is an intense celebration, as keep in mind their grandparents fought this war. The British had taken control of the best land, leaving most people in Ireland on land they could only grow potatoes on. When 2 million Irish people starved to death (1 out of every 4 people) due to the potato famine, large amounts of barley and wheat were exported out of Ireland by the British. England had seized estates (over 100 acres in size) in Ireland and had them run by English lords. Even though the Irish were starving, they wouldn't let the Irish hunt on those lands. Cork is referred to as the "rebel city" in Ireland due to the strong anti-Britain sentiment. It is a place where the Irish go on vacation. In Cork they view the potato famine as an attempt at genocide against the Irish by the British.
Michael Collins is considered a hero in Ireland as he led the attack on England. With the intention of minimizing the deaths during this conflict, he set up assassinations on British aristocrats in Ireland. England responded by killing Irish families, and warning they would stop the attacks when Ireland did also. The attacks on families by the British served to solidify the Irish anger toward Britain. The British soldiers searched all over for Michael Collins but he roamed about freely as they didn't have a picture of him and the Irish citizens loved messing with the British by giving them a variety of contradictory physical descriptions of Michael. Britain eventually responded by marching soldiers into a soccer match between Ireland and Whales, and had the soldiers open fire on Irish fans. Ultimately a deal was struck where most of Ireland was set free while Northern Ireland remained part of England. Michael Collins supported the agreement as he felt it was time to stop the killing. Eamon de Velara, the president of the new free Ireland wanted all of Ireland to be free. After Michael Collins was killed trying to protect the agreement, Eamon de Velara stated in frustration that when it all plays out, he might find himself on the wrong side of history. The agreement has finally settled into acceptance. There is a very strong sense of fair play in Ireland, which I love. When Ireland achieved independence, they didn't take the land back from the British Lords. The Lords simply had to accept that they were now Irish. They wanted to end subjugation from the British, as we did here in the U.S 150 years earlier.
We visited the Guinness brewery, which opened up my taste buds to a different taste in Guinness (best described as a barley, coffee and cream combination, but velvety smooth). Guinness should be poured into a glass as it’s designed to continue to finish brewing minutes after it’s poured (see picture). In Ireland they don’t hand you your glass until it has rested five minutes.
Guinness glasses 
Guinness Brewery
After our events of the day we'd stop at a pub and enjoy a pint of ale. We went to Oliver Plunkett's and had a pint of Murphy's ale. Heineken has a brewery in Cork that brews Murphy's, which is very close to Guinness. The band was great and played Santana with a fiddle performing the guitar parts. In some of the pubs, anyone can bring their instrument and people sit around and play music. In Cork, I sang a John Prine song with a band in a pub. They started the song and I yelled "John Prine." They invited me to sing it with them , and I figured hell, I'll never see any of these people again, so I did. It was a blast! I'm probably the least qualified of all in our family to sing, but perhaps the least bothered by it. 
We avoided the Jameson tour, which involves tastes of 10 different whiskeys and a free cab ride home. We did stop at the Red Fox Inn in a coastal area called the Ring of Kerry where they make trays of “Irish coffee” for people passing through. Irish Coffee involves coffee, fresh thick cream, and a shot of either Irish Baileys Cream or Jameson Whiskey. We also enjoyed the traditional Irish breakfast--4 meats, eggs and toast.
It's wonderful to walk around Dublin. No weapons, even knives are not allowed. The police only carry mace. Ken and Karine Connolly were gracious hosts. We were given a private tour of Killruddery in Bray and spoke to the current Lord, in his 30's, who was teaching his daughter to ride a bicycle in the driveway. It’s a beautiful marble mansion, with an addition larger than our house that has a glass domed roof for sunlight. The horticultural and pastoral staff work outside the 12 foot walls surrounding the estate. They grow their own crops in a greenhouse that's about 50 yards long and have pigs, sheep, cows and chickens that are butchered on site.
We kissed the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, which involves being held by your feet and hanging over the side of the castle. (It is supposed to give you the gift of eloquence for 7 years.) The story is a prince saved a woman from drowning in a river and when he pulled her to shore she asked what she could do for him. He struggled with stuttering. She told him if he kissed this particular rock he would get his wish (carefully deflecting having to kiss him I might add). Within 2 hours his soldiers noticed that he no longer stuttered. So he had his soldiers place the rock in the wall of Blarney castle.
The prisons under the castles are creepy and not for the claustrophobic.
We went to Cobh where the Titanic and Lusitania launched before their demise. Cobh has the second deepest port in the world and the second largest manmade port. The largest and deepest port is Sydney, Australia. The price of a 1st class ticket on the Titanic is the equivalent of $69,000 today. John Astor, who was the richest person in the world at the time, died on the Titanic. John was on a honeymoon with his 19 year old wife (2nd wife) at the time. The titanic took 3000 men 3 years to build in Belfast, Ireland. The Lusitania was a cruise ship sunk by a German U-boat in World War I. Germany had violated international laws by sinking a non-military ship; however Britain had also violated the laws by carrying munitions on this passenger ship. This attack provided Britain with the propaganda needed to get America involved in the war. (128 Americans died on the ship.) The Lusitania was the biggest ship in the world when it first launched.
While they love to show off their “pudding,” which we call sausage, it was not all that impressive to me as I’m from Pierz and we have Thielen Meats, so we eat the best sausage in the world. The fish was great (fresh every day) in their fish and chips, but the chips were like thick soft French fries. American fries are better.
Preston and I took a tour where they dropped us off an hour or two in an area, pick us up and then took us to the next city along the coast. The bus driver, a large cantankerous red headed man, had to read a list of names from various countries and when he mispronounced a name, he'd simply say, "That's how your name is pronounced in Ireland." When we stopped to observe the cliffs, he said, "'If you fall off the side, yell your name so I know to mark you off the list." One person asked if he ever played soccer, to which he responded, "My body is built for comfort, not for speed."
Much of the grazing land in the country of Ireland is "commonage" which means any farmer approved by farmers in the area can graze sheep on the land. We saw the Skellig islands, which is where Star Wars was filmed. The local fishermen were paid $1000 a day not to fish during filming. The Star Wars crew is returning in the fall for another sequel.
Star Wars was filmed on the islands behind Preston.
They have county teams for Gaelic football and hurling (similar to lacrosse), like Minnesota has amateur baseball teams. I think the Irish teams feature the players, while American sports feature the coach. In Ireland they play for 40 minutes and take a halftime break. No stops. Imagine basketball played with 2 halves and no time outs. The players would have to know how to adjust on their own.
I loved the endless cache of stories from Irish folk. An older man in a pub told us, “I’ve got a funny story for you. An Irishman named Dan Murphy, and Englishman and an American all wanted the last sip of ale so they decided it would go to the man who could toss a stone the highest. The Englishman threw a stone 20 feet high. The American threw the stone 50 feet high, and then when Dan Murphy threw the stone it never came down.” He stopped and said, “Okay, maybe it’s not that funny. Here’s another one. There was a woman on a plane who couldn’t find her cat. They searched the whole damn plane for that cat and couldn’t find it. Then they looked out the window and you know what they saw?”
A female waitress interrupted, “Not her cat?”
He said, “Hell no. How would a cat get out of a plane? They saw Dan Murphy’s stone.”
And that is Ireland. Ireland is beautiful and I will return!
Thanks for listening,
Frank
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Last year at this time I was in Ireland, visiting Preston during his break at student teaching. In Ireland, schools are off from St. Patrick’s Day to Easter. St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is similar to Thanksgiving in the U.S. Families get together for a big meal and some cities have parades, but the people out getting drunk on St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland are primarily tourists.
St. Patrick's Church A 4 mile pilgrimage is made up a mountain to pay homage to Jesus Christ at this cross at the beginning of lent. Do you recognize the Harry Potter library? In a country that is 90+% Catholic, they take Holy Week seriously--all adult servers and amazing choirs. 90% of the schools are “Catholic public,” which means free, and the sacraments are available through school, but not required. The Irish are frustrated over Muslims coming to Ireland and requesting religious symbols be taken down in churches and hospitals. They feel, justly in my opinion, that you come to a Catholic country, tolerate it. When we go to Muslim countries we don't expect any of the Middle East countries to change for us.
2016 was the 100th year anniversary of the beginning of 'the rising' in Ireland. They celebrate the year the movement for freedom from England's rule began. This is an intense celebration, as keep in mind their grandparents fought this war. The British had taken control of the best land, leaving most people in Ireland on land they could only grow potatoes on. When 2 million Irish people starved to death (1 out of every 4 people) due to the potato famine, large amounts of barley and wheat were exported out of Ireland by the British. England had seized estates (over 100 acres in size) in Ireland and had them run by English lords. Even though the Irish were starving, they wouldn't let the Irish hunt on those lands. Cork is referred to as the "rebel city" in Ireland due to the strong anti-Britain sentiment. It is a place where the Irish go on vacation. In Cork they view the potato famine as an attempt at genocide against the Irish by the British.
Michael Collins is considered a hero in Ireland as he led the attack on England. With the intention of minimizing the deaths during this conflict, he set up assassinations on British aristocrats in Ireland. England responded by killing Irish families, and warning they would stop the attacks when Ireland did also. The attacks on families by the British served to solidify the Irish anger toward Britain. The British soldiers searched all over for Michael Collins but he roamed about freely as they didn't have a picture of him and the Irish citizens loved messing with the British by giving them a variety of contradictory physical descriptions of Michael. Britain eventually responded by marching soldiers into a soccer match between Ireland and Whales, and had the soldiers open fire on Irish fans. Ultimately a deal was struck where most of Ireland was set free while Northern Ireland remained part of England. Michael Collins supported the agreement as he felt it was time to stop the killing. Eamon de Velara, the president of the new free Ireland wanted all of Ireland to be free. After Michael Collins was killed trying to protect the agreement, Eamon de Velara stated in frustration that when it all plays out, he might find himself on the wrong side of history. The agreement has finally settled into acceptance. There is a very strong sense of fair play in Ireland, which I love. When Ireland achieved independence, they didn't take the land back from the British Lords. The Lords simply had to accept that they were now Irish. They wanted to end subjugation from the British, as we did here in the U.S 150 years earlier.
We visited the Guinness brewery, which opened up my taste buds to a different taste in Guinness (best described as a barley, coffee and cream combination, but velvety smooth). Guinness should be poured into a glass as it’s designed to continue to finish brewing minutes after it’s poured (see picture). In Ireland they don’t hand you your glass until it has rested five minutes.
Guinness glasses Guinness Brewery
After our events of the day we'd stop at a pub and enjoy a pint of ale. We went to Oliver Plunkett's and had a pint of Murphy's ale. Heineken has a brewery in Cork that brews Murphy's, which is very close to Guinness. The band was great and played Santana with a fiddle performing the guitar parts. In some of the pubs, anyone can bring their instrument and people sit around and play music. In Cork, I sang a John Prine song with a band in a pub. They started the song and I yelled "John Prine." They invited me to sing it with them , and I figured hell, I'll never see any of these people again, so I did. It was a blast! I'm probably the least qualified of all in our family to sing, but perhaps the least bothered by it. We avoided the Jameson tour, which involves tastes of 10 different whiskeys and a free cab ride home. We did stop at the Red Fox Inn in a coastal area called the Ring of Kerry where they make trays of “Irish coffee” for people passing through. Irish Coffee involves coffee, fresh thick cream, and a shot of either Irish Baileys Cream or Jameson Whiskey. We also enjoyed the traditional Irish breakfast--4 meats, eggs and toast.
It's wonderful to walk around Dublin. No weapons, even knives are not allowed. The police only carry mace. Ken and Karine Connolly were gracious hosts. We were given a private tour of Killruddery in Bray and spoke to the current Lord, in his 30's, who was teaching his daughter to ride a bicycle in the driveway. It’s a beautiful marble mansion, with an addition larger than our house that has a glass domed roof for sunlight. The horticultural and pastoral staff work outside the 12 foot walls surrounding the estate. They grow their own crops in a greenhouse that's about 50 yards long and have pigs, sheep, cows and chickens that are butchered on site.
We kissed the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, which involves being held by your feet and hanging over the side of the castle. (It is supposed to give you the gift of eloquence for 7 years.) The story is a prince saved a woman from drowning in a river and when he pulled her to shore she asked what she could do for him. He struggled with stuttering. She told him if he kissed this particular rock he would get his wish (carefully deflecting having to kiss him I might add). Within 2 hours his soldiers noticed that he no longer stuttered. So he had his soldiers place the rock in the wall of Blarney castle.
The prisons under the castles are creepy and not for the claustrophobic. We went to Cobh where the Titanic and Lusitania launched before their demise. Cobh has the second deepest port in the world and the second largest manmade port. The largest and deepest port is Sydney, Australia. The price of a 1st class ticket on the Titanic is the equivalent of $69,000 today. John Astor, who was the richest person in the world at the time, died on the Titanic. John was on a honeymoon with his 19 year old wife (2nd wife) at the time. The titanic took 3000 men 3 years to build in Belfast, Ireland. The Lusitania was a cruise ship sunk by a German U-boat in World War I. Germany had violated international laws by sinking a non-military ship; however Britain had also violated the laws by carrying munitions on this passenger ship. This attack provided Britain with the propaganda needed to get America involved in the war. (128 Americans died on the ship.) The Lusitania was the biggest ship in the world when it first launched.
While they love to show off their “pudding,” which we call sausage, it was not all that impressive to me as I’m from Pierz and we have Thielen Meats, so we eat the best sausage in the world. The fish was great (fresh every day) in their fish and chips, but the chips were like thick soft French fries. American fries are better.
Preston and I took a tour where they dropped us off an hour or two in an area, pick us up and then took us to the next city along the coast. The bus driver, a large cantankerous red headed man, had to read a list of names from various countries and when he mispronounced a name, he'd simply say, "That's how your name is pronounced in Ireland." When we stopped to observe the cliffs, he said, "'If you fall off the side, yell your name so I know to mark you off the list." One person asked if he ever played soccer, to which he responded, "My body is built for comfort, not for speed."
Much of the grazing land in the country of Ireland is "commonage" which means any farmer approved by farmers in the area can graze sheep on the land. We saw the Skellig islands, which is where Star Wars was filmed. The local fishermen were paid $1000 a day not to fish during filming. The Star Wars crew is returning in the fall for another sequel.
Star Wars was filmed on the islands behind Preston. They have county teams for Gaelic football and hurling (similar to lacrosse), like Minnesota has amateur baseball teams. I think the Irish teams feature the players, while American sports feature the coach. In Ireland they play for 40 minutes and take a halftime break. No stops. Imagine basketball played with 2 halves and no time outs. The players would have to know how to adjust on their own.
I loved the endless cache of stories from Irish folk. An older man in a pub told us, “I’ve got a funny story for you. An Irishman named Dan Murphy, and Englishman and an American all wanted the last sip of ale so they decided it would go to the man who could toss a stone the highest. The Englishman threw a stone 20 feet high. The American threw the stone 50 feet high, and then when Dan Murphy threw the stone it never came down.” He stopped and said, “Okay, maybe it’s not that funny. Here’s another one. There was a woman on a plane who couldn’t find her cat. They searched the whole damn plane for that cat and couldn’t find it. Then they looked out the window and you know what they saw?”
A female waitress interrupted, “Not her cat?”
He said, “Hell no. How would a cat get out of a plane? They saw Dan Murphy’s stone.”
And that is Ireland. Ireland is beautiful and I will return!
Thanks for listening,
Frank
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