St. Patrick's Day 2018 in Listowel and a family outing to Ballybunion

Listowel Folk on their way to mass on St. Patrick's Day 2018

 Mary and Joe Hanlon were celebrating 45 years of wedded bliss.

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Ballybunion, March 18 2018

Molly was the only one of our little troop with a fur coat in Ballybunion on March 18 2018. The rest of us were as cold as we have ever been in our lives.

Meanwhile Daniel and Majella were playing golf

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Music, Poetry and Craic

All roads lead to Ballydonoghue this weekend for their first ever Bardic Festival.

Look what's in store

Ballydonoghue Bardic Festival 2018

Grandchildren in Kerry, Hamilton and St Mary's Stained Glass

Kevin Day of East Cork Camera Club called his photo "On the Lookout" when he entered it in the Rebel Cup photography competition.

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Girls in Kerry

My girls posed for me with the Feale monument in Listowel town square.

I snapped this man mowing the grass in the pitch and putt course. Members work hard to keep the course  in tip top condition these days.

Modern girls playing an age old game of "Soldiers"

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Meanwhile in Chicago

Have you heard of Hamilton, the musical?  It's the hot ticket in the US right now.  Hamilton is a musical based on the life of one of America's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton.

My nephew, Philip and his wife, Anna secured two tickets, to the great envy of their friends.

Their verdict: It lived up to the hype. It was brilliant.

The good news is that there are plans for a movie so we'll all get to see it next year.

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St. Mary's window

This magnificent stained glass window is behind the main altar in St. Mary's Listowel. As you can see  from the below pictures the window was donated to the church by the women of the parish. This fascinates me. Who decided that only the women would make such a huge donation? Who organised the collection of the money?

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The wireless comes to Asdee  (Jim Costelloe)

These were the days before electricity, when the storm lamp and the double burner lamps were the only source of light. The Tilley lamp was a great improvement- part of it was the mantle which could not be touched or it would completely disintegrate. These were also the days of the wireless with the wet and dry batteries. The wet battery had to be charged. That meant cycling to Timmy Kennelly’s in Ballylongford. There was no wireless in The Blessed Well Bohreen in 1947 and I have vivid memories of the All Ireland Final that year which was played in New York. Slatterys inn Asdee cillage was one of the few houses to have the wireless then and a large crowd of us gathered there to listen to the match. The window was open and we stood outside in the evening sunshine, enthralled by the magic of Michael O’Hehir’s voice. The first wireless around the Blessed Well Bohreen was at Moloney’s. A test of the worth of the wireless was how far it could be heard at full volume. Innocent days of outr youth, where are they gone?

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RTE Stars of the Seventies

Photos of Dublin on Facebook shared this great old promotional picture. The ones I can name are Vincent Hanley R.I.P., Pat Kenny, Jimmy Greally? and Maxi. At the back are Dave Fanning, Jerry Ryan R.I.P. and is that Shay Healy?

"Time and tide wait for no man."

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Just Rewards

I met some of the girls from Presentation Primary School marching band at Super Valu on Monday May 8 2017. Their teacher, Miss Molyneaux was rewarding them with ice cream because they had given up their free time on Sunday to lead the parade for Coiste na nÓg.

St. Mary's Listowel, Jesse tree, Travellers and Limerick at Christmas in 1972

Radio Kerry in Town last Week

The panto crew, Maria, Danny and Mary were one of the groups interviewed

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Changes at Christmas

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St. Mary's in Advent 2015

The Jesse Tree is one of the oldest Christian Christmas traditions. It often appears in stain glass windows. The most famous Jesse tree window is in Chartres Cathedral which was dedicated in 1260.
Jesse was the oldest known ancestor of Jesus so the tree is a kind of family tree for Jesus. Our one in St. Mary's Listowel is decorated with symbols from the old and new testaments.

The tablets of stone with  The Commandments

Noah's Ark

 The angel Gabriel, I think

 Crown of Mary Queen of Heaven

The apple that brought about our downfall.

David's harp

Joseph's coat of many colours

The manger at Bethlehem.

Do drop in and see these and many more.

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Traveller Encampment

Liam O'Hainnín posted this great old photo of travelers on their way to the races in the bad old days.

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Road works off Colbert Street

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Limerick at Christmas time in 1972

Limerick.ie

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Neighbours and Friends

Christy and Noreen Brennan in The Square on Sunday December 6 2015

Mary Moylan and Clíona Cogan

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Seeing Red!

Apologies friends. Every now and again, despite my best efforts, some text appears in red. It is black when I type it and then when the post uploads it is red. I thought the techie in the family had solved it, but alas, no. Just now it's happening again. If anyone is  reading this who knows anything about Blogger, I'd really appreciate if you could tell me how to correct this annoying quirk.