Mike the Pies, Martin Chute, Mistletoe and Macroom

Wintry Listowel in December 2019

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Mike the Pies Rebranding

Mike the Pies has been painted green for as long as I can remember. All that's changed in December 2019. This popular music venue, where half of Listowel would rather be, is now a sophisticated black.

There I was walking on Upper William Street when I spotted the sea change.

Returning later I saw Mr. Signs himself, Martin Chute, painting the new sign.

Doesn't his I look a bit like a glass at this stage?

Spotting his friend, Eileen Worths, Martin stopped for a chat.

I was anxious not to distract the master at work. But the ever affable signwriter took a minute to greet me.

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Mattie's Letter takes a Tongue in Cheek Swipe

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Uh! oh! The Mistletoe

( from Raymond O'Sullivan on Facebook)

When the kissing has to stop!

Mistletoe is a symbol of love, affection and friendship. It is also considered lucky and a protection from evil spirits and the devil, The origin of these associations goes back to Norse mythology and the legend of the goddess Frigg, wife of Odin, and their son Baldur - too long for a FB post. Google it! Suffice to say that Frigg’s tears transformed into the berries on the mistletoe, and, on the resurrection of her son from the dead, she was so overjoyed that she blessed the plant and vowed to kiss everyone who passed beneath it.
So the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe goes back a long way, though nowadays it is confined to the Christmas period. Some accounts say the proper procedure is that a berry is plucked from the plant each time a couple kisses and when all the berries are gone, the kissing has to stop. Ah, the bashful days of youth!
In the light of the almost daily charges of unwelcome and inappropriate sexual approaches in the workplace and elsewhere, this long-established tradition of kissing under the mistletoe must be in grave danger of being discarded. We can only hope that the coarse conduct and boorish behaviour of some, including those in high places, does not jeopardize this age-old, innocent Christmas custom and consign the blameless mistletoe to the compost heap of history.

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Spotted In Macroom

Like Listowel, Macroom has retained much of its old character. When I stopped there for a spot of lunch lately (I highly recommend The Castle Hotel) I took a stroll around and spotted these gems.

A veritable old curiosity shop

Next door was a draper's shop which still hangs the merchandise outside the door.

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An Appeal

Next year, 2020 Listowel Writers Week will celebrate its 50th birthday. I'm planning to post some photos of memories of the festival down through the years. So I'm appealing to my Listowel Connection family to help me out.

If you have a memory or a photo you would be willing to share please drop me an email.

Listowel Pitch and Putt Course, Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill and Rewilding

St. Mary's, Listowel in July 2019

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Listowel Pitch and Putt Course in Summer 2019

The course is in tip top condition and a credit to all the people who look after it.

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Book of Ignorance

Another pearl of wisdom for you....

Over a fifteen year period an ecologist called Jennifer Owen discovered 422 species of plant and 1,757 species of animal including 533 species never before recorded in Britain and four were completely new to science. All this in her suburban garden in Humberscome. So if you have enough time, patience and, of course, expertise, it is quite possible to discover a new species without ever leaving home. AND if you get to discover a new species, you get to name it.

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'Sé mo Laoch......

Text and photo is a Facebook post from Raymond O'Sullivan.

While waiting and praying(?) that my old car would pass the NCT test in Charleville this morning, I jumped the wall into the adjacent Holy Cross cemetery to pay my respects to the 18th century Gaelic poet, Seán "Clárach" Mac Domhnaill. He was born in Churchtown in 1691 but lived most of his life in Charleville, and is buried there in the ruins of the mediaeval church in the centre of the graveyard. Although a labourer by trade he was regarded by his peers as Príomh-Éigeas na Mumhan or Chief Poet of Munster. He is best remembered for Mo Ghile Mear, a Jacobite ballad composed after the defeat and exile of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden in 1746. One of our most popular Gaelic songs, it has become the ‘anthem’ of our southern neighbours in Cúil Aodha i nGaeltacht Mhúscraí.
BTW, she passed the test. Never underestimate an old man with an old Nissan Micra.

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Rewilding

That's the new name for it. So if your lawn is going to seed and your garden looks a bit neglected, you can say you are "rewilding". It's the latest trend in gardening.

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So Sad

This story was all over main stream and social media yesterday so I'm sure by now people will have made out who John was. I hope he had a good turn out at his funeral.

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Good News from Ballybunion

Beach Wheelchairs
Kerry County Council have announced that there will be a beach wheelchair available on the ladies beach for the summer. The wheelchairs will be available for booking until 15th of September.
This service is free but the wheelchairs must be booked in advance and are available for up to 3-hour slots. They are available at Collin’s Seaweed bath’s phone 068-27469, Times available during weekdays are 12pm to 5.30pm and at the weekends 11am to 6pm. For further information phone 066-7162000 or email: environ@kerrycoco.ie

New Potatoes, A Book launch remembered and train Station memorials

A Cottage Window

This is one of the lovely traditional sash windows in Sheahan's Thatched House in Finuge.

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The Humble Spud

(Photo and text from Raymond O'Sullivan on Facebook)

Midsummer’s Day and the first of my own new potatoes. Modern potatoes mature much earlier than their antecedents which were not ready until around Lá Lughnassa, 1st August. In the time of our grandparents and great grandparents, when potatoes were the staple diet of the Irish people, it was a very fortunate family who had enough to last from one harvest to another. By the middle of June the potatoe pit would be empty or whatever was left uneatable. ‘The bitter 6 weeks’ they called the period from Midsummer’s Day to the 1st August. ‘Iúil an Ghorta’, hungry July, that’s what they called it, when all they had to eat was kale, cabbage and onion dip (if they were lucky). I count my blessings on this Mid Summer’s Day. 

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Launch of Robert Pierse's Book

Robert Pierse lunched his memoir, Under the Bed, on the same evening as President Michael D. Higgins and Sabina Higgins came to town. So I was late to the party. There was a great crowd gathered in the back bar of the Arms and a lively and entertaining launch was in full swing. I took a few pictures and then forgot all about them. Here they are at last.

Eibhlín Pierse and friend

Old friends, Kay Caball and Danny Hannon

Section of the large crowd

Billy Keane who launched the book, Cyril Kelly who read from it and Jeremy Murphy who edited it.

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Train Station Memorials

In Cork

In Portlaoise

Facts about Magnolia, Ballybunion Sand Art and a Concert planned for Moyvane Church

Kingfisher

Photo; Philip Blair for Irish Wildlife Trust Photography Competition

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Magnificent Magnolia

Raymond O'Sullivan lives in Newmarket, Co Cork. This is his picture and below is what he writes about it. Fascinating!

Bíonn blás ar an mbeagán’, an Irish seanfhocal which literally means little things are tasty. It might translate into English as ‘seldom seen, is much admired’. My magnolia bush hasn’t flowered for years, so I trimmed around it during the winter to give it more light, and look what happened. To say it is an ancient plant is a bit of an understatement, fossils of the flower date back 20 million years. So it predates bees and is pollinated by beetles.

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Sand Art Festival 2019

The annual Ballybunion Sand Art Festival runs until Wednesday, May 22 2019. I took the above photos on Friday May 17. The art installations are well worth a visit. We are so lucky to have such brilliant artists just a short trip away.

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Mary Sheehy and Friends

I ran into these lovely ladies in The Flying Saucer last week.
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Aonghus McAnally in Moyvane

ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR AONGHUS & CO

This coming Tuesday evening our annual Church Concert will take place starting at 8pm May 21 2019 in Moyvane Church. Doors open at 7pm.  I call on the usual stewards and helpers to be there at 6.30pm to ensure that everything runs smoothly.  Please note tickets will be available at the door for those who haven’t had an opportunity to get tickets yet or who may at the last minute decide to join us. Tickets available after all Masses this weekend. 

From Moyvane Parish Newsletter

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Listowel Writers' Week 2019 is on the Doorstep

Just to get you in the mood here are a few memories from last year.

Local supporters on Opening Night 2018

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First Holy Communion Day 2019

Saturday May 18 2019 was First Holy Communion Day in town. Only when these age old traditions are eventually lost will we really appreciate how special these family occasions are.

Steve Kelly took the photos.