Dorans Then and Now, Patrick Keough walks the Kerry Way and a Station Cat

1916 commemorative Garden, July 2018

<<<<<<<<<<<

Crowley's Corner now Doran's Pharmacy

Photo: The John Hannon Archive

<<<<<<<<<

Hiking The Kerry Way

A friend recently sent me a link to this blog post

Trecking The Kerry Way

Read this account of Patrick Keough's walk and you will want to "arise and go there"

Here are just a few snippets.

The Kerry Way Trail takes you over some of Ireland’s highest mountains, majestic coastlines, remote valleys, native forests and breathtaking scenic vistas.

The terrain along the Kerry Way is much more extreme and remote than the Camino to Santiago, however the scenic views are magnificent and awe inspiring. I also got myself lost a few times hiking the mountain ridges in dense fog. It was a frightening experience not being able to find the trail markers then looking at my phone and realizing I had no service. Luckily after about 4 km of searching and some praying I found my way back to the trail. It was an introspective trek, in addition to a great personal challenge.

After a week of hiking over rugged deserted terrain I started thinking what it must have been like for the Irish people 200 years ago. No creature comforts, no cars, phones or electricity. I can’t even imagine how hard life must have been just traveling from town to town by foot or horse cart.

It’s difficult doing justice with words describing the majestic beauty of the Kerry landscape. It’s the same as it was thousands of years ago. Towering rocky hillsides, flowing dark rivers and miles and miles of wet boggy grass and yellow gorse. I feel very blessed and a little overwhelmed hiking in this timeless unspoiled environment. Looking upon my surroundings this morning bathed in crisp dawn light I feel Gods presence in nature.

This is just a small taste of this marvellous blogpost. Here is the link again. Read it all and look at Patrick's marvellous photos. If you don't have the energy to undertake it, this is the next best thing to being there.

The Kerry Way

All photos and text are copyright  to Patrick Keough

<<<<<<

Summer Visitors

When I called in to Listowel Writers' Week office last week, I found Máire and Eilish entertaining Jim and Liz Dunn and their visiting grandchildren.

<<<<<<<<

This Cat is going nowhere

Member of staff at Tralee railway station

Philip O'Carroll of Cahirdown

Three from the internet to start your day!

I wonder how much it made?

>>>>>

This has to be the dearest carpark in Ireland.  It's in Dublin.

Adds a bit to the day's shopping bill!

>>>>>>>>>>

A giraffe Mammy kisses her new baby in Dublin Zoo last week.

>>>>>

Why did I put three instead of two or one?

Here's why.

The "rule of three" is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of threes. A series of three is often used to create a progression in which the tension is created, then built up, built up even more, and finally released. –Wikipedia

>>>>>>>

There is a good piece in last week's Kerryman about Dr. Philip O'Carroll, another very talented son of Listowel. Philip is a brother of the late Louis. Philip now lives in a prestigious area in California, a world away from his native Cahirdown where he grew up in a family of 15. Like many of his siblings, Philip is multitalented and has risen to the top in his chosen profession; neurology. His main area of interest is Alzheimers Disease. He calls it the "revenge of unexpected consequences for modern medicine." More people are living longer and so more people are getting diseases usually seen in the elderly.

But this is not why he is in the news. He has co written a screenplay and we could be seeing it on our screens in years to come.

<<<<<

I found the following photo on the internet, Do you remember when Lower William Street looked like this? Was Centra Crowleys?