Sunday Morning in Listowel and photos from the Launch of The Personals and he Jimmy Hickey DVD

Rutting Season 2019

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Sunday Morning, Coming Down

" There ain't nothing short of dying half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalks, Sunday morning coming down."

The streets are quiet in Listowel too on Sunday mornings. It's a good time to snap the streetscape. The light wasn't great on the morning I took my stroll so the photographs are a bit dark.

Eileen O'Sullivan was coming from mass. She stopped to offer a few words of encouragement.

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Launch of The Personals

I have a few photographs for you from the launch of The Personals in Waterstones on October 3 2019


This book by RTE journalist, Brian O'Connell, is a look at the stories behind the small ads; the classifieds as we called them.


Brian bravely contacted the sellers of interesting items he spotted in his trawl through the small ads in the papers and on Done deal and he met with them and more often than not, got an interesting story.


The launch drew a a packed house with a few celebrities in attendance.

Seán O'Rourke told us a few tall tales of a great grandmother who regularly washed her burial shroud or habit and hung it out on the line to air it so that it would be ready whenever.... He told us of a mother who made sheets from flour bags, and he mentioned a few of the more unusual items for sale that Brian tells us about in The Personals.

The author, Brian O'Connell watching on as his book is launched.

Will you look who I met. Evelyn O'Rourke is a colleague of Seán's and Brian's. She remembered our time making a programme for TG4 with great fondness. It was she who presented the programme where Julie Evans came from Australia to research her gr. gr grandmother who had left from the workhouse in Listowel under the Earl Grey Scheme. Below is the link to the story which was picked up by the makers of the Tar Abhaile programme.

Earl Grey Story

Me in  between Evelyn O'Rourke and Sean O'Rourke.

Brian O'Connell signing my copy of The Personals. Look what he has in his left hand. I invited him to the launch of A Minute of Your Time. You'd never know. He just might come.

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Jimmy Hickey's DVD

This DVD has been years in the making. It was a labour of love for Jimmy Deenihan and a few more and I'm delighted it got such a good reception in The Listowel Arms on Sunday last and I am so sorry that I couldn't be there.

John Kelliher took some great photos on the night. These are just a few, click on the link for more.

The man himself enjoying his big night.

Jimmy in the company of his friends and fellow dancers with the North Cork music maestro, Liam O'Connor

Garden of Europe and Evelyn O'Rourke's Dear Ross

Recently I took a stroll through the lovely Garden of Europe. Several lovely trees came down in the February 2014 storms.

Two men were working clearing the fallen wood on the day I visited.

They told me that they were using the wood pulp as mulch for the remaining shrubs and trees.

These hardy daffodils were blooming on regardless.

Two dogs were enjoying the early spring sunshine.

I spotted these on a tree on the path from the Garden to Gurtinard. Nest boxes?

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This is definitely the end of my WIM Weekend coverage

I know that that is not really a headline but I thought it might be a relief for some of my faithful followers to know that normal service is bring resumed next week.
Before that I have to tell you that I met my friend, Evelyn O'Rourke in Ballybunion.

Me with Evelyn O'Rourke

Evelyn with her mum Peigí, her aunt Eileen and  friend Mairead

Her anxious mum watches as Evelyn relives a very hard time in their lives.

Breda Boderick from Listowel is a fan of Evelyn's and maybe its this selfie craze but I seem to be in far too many photos of the weekend.


Evelyn has written a book, Dear Ross, telling the story of a year in the life of her family. Evelyn was still on maternity leave with her first son, Óisín when she discovered she was pregnant. She was thrilled. The thrill only lasted a very short while as, within a week, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  
Evelyn wrote a series of letters to her unborn son, Ross, telling him how much she and his dad, John loved and wanted him and wanted to do everything possible not to compromise him in any way.
In the book we read of the horrors of chemotherapy compounded by the discomforts of pregnancy and the trials of looking after a small child.

In Ballybunion we saw Evelyn, the surviver, read movingly from some of the letters. We met Evelyn, the campaigner, passionately promoting the cause of breast cancer research. We  met Evelyn, the family woman, wallowing in the love of her old and her new family. And we met Evelyn, the great communicator standing before us, a testament to the triumph of will, of love and support and modern medicine over this terrible disease.

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During the weekend the local Creative Writing group took the opportunity to sell a collection of their works, A Little Life Music.

As part of the weekend too we got a taster eco tour of Ballybunion.
Danny Houlihan is a man of many talents. He told us about history and wildlife in a really interesting trip to the Cashen and the Castle Green. Below are a few photos from the tour

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Writers Week 2014

The programme was officially launched last night in The Seanchaí. Great night, lots of photos to come but I had to share this one.

 Eilís Wren and Máire Logue of Writers' Week fill in my lovely granddaughters on who's coming to this year's festival.

Listowel girls, Australia, Craftshop na Méar and Evelyn O'Rourke: surviver

Brenda Donovan,  Mary,Quill,  Noreen Kelliher, Marie Sullivan,  Mary Kenelly  and Patricia Tatten 

Patricia Tatten sent me this lovely photo of a group of Listowel girls, all of whom did their Leaving Cert. in Pres. in 1971. This photo was taken a few years earlier.

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A long way from Lovely Listowel!

My friend, Mary Sobieralski is back from a trip to Australia with her son, Mark. Here are a few photos she took on her travels of a very different lifestyle to ours here.

They saw all the sights and even got up close and personal with a joey.

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This is a photograph from the internet of the new Kansas City Library.  Cool or what?

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This photo from the RTE archives was taken in Limerick in 1968

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News from Craftshop na Méar

This lovely lady is Eibhlín Ní Ghliosáin of Tigh Polly Couture Dolls' Clothes

On Saturday last she gave us a demonstration on how to make and envelope bag.

Some of the attentive class

choosing a button

putting finishing touches

Eibhlín top sewing

the bag

The lovely Sharyn draws the winning ticket

Yipee, I won……Happy Days!

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The lady on the far right in the below photo is Evelyn O'Rourke of RTE. She is pictured with myself and Kay Caball in The Seanchaí during recording of the Tar Abhaile programme we made  for TG4.
Why is Evelyn in the news?
You might have seen her on The Late Late Show promoting her recent autobiographical book, Dear Ross, where she recounts her extraordinary tale of finding herself pregnant while still on maternity leave and then discovering that she has breast cancer while still in the first trimester of her pregnancy and with a 6 month old baby at home.
When we met the lovely cheerful ever smiling Evelyn, we had no idea that she had behind her a tale of pain and suffering as traumatic as any we were about to tell her.

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Dates for the diary…….promising to be a great weekend.