A destination to explore and an experiment along my personal "road not taken" in 2008

The destination in the title was the Yew Tree Graveyard. Inspired by a conversation at Egan's Pub, with the folks pictured here, I decided to explore a place I'd bypassed time and again.

The Bradburys are Kehoe/Keogh descendants
 and possibly very distant relatives

I'd seen the brown sign, indicating a place of historical importance, on every trip to Ireland. It's right near Minmore Mews where I usually stay, and my previous thought was "so what?" Then on one of my recent trips to and from Bunclody or Carnew, I saw the same sign, pointing the other direction. I was passing both ends of a road I'd never travelled, so why not take that road?

The day began with a vigil, hovering over my keyboard, waiting for the message to check in for my flight from Dublin to Toronto tomorrow. There are 4 unsold seats, and 4 standby passengers. So far so good. If the unsold number remains the same, we'll all be airborne together. Finally, I got the email and immediately completed the procedure. Now it's a matter of crossed fingers and timely arrival at the airport.

So what about the rest of the day? Time to get out to visit that ancient graveyard. And so I did. No messing about with directions, I knew how to get there, but would it be obvious from the road when I got there? Yep.

Just beside this fence is the entrance, secured by a chain looped around a gate and fastened with a carabiner. Undoing it was a simple matter and I set off. In retrospect, I could have driven through the gate, up to the actual site and there was room to do a 25-point turn to get out. But I parked in a kind of clearing near the road and walked. It was an easy stroll, not much up and down.

Beside the road was a field where there was a great crop of, um, something green. I'll check that out later. And in the midst of all that green, was a clump of coral poppies. Unexpected and very pretty.

Eventually, well maybe half a kilometre later, I arrived at the entrance of the graveyard itself. Apparently, some families still own the rights to be buried there, but I saw no modern personalized headstones.

Here it is, complete with a "kissing" gate

Each of those stones marks a grave. The cemetery is very old.
From what I've read, there are no ancestors of mine interred there.

Once I'd wandered enough, I returned to the car and set out in the same direction to get to the end of the road nearest Minmore. Then I decided to drive along a road I'd been on once before, but only for a few hundred metres. I'd have to drive much farther to really explore it, and I did. 

I was pretty sure I knew where I'd end up and I DID. Along the way I pulled over, on the off chance that there would be another car, and took some pictures.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
OK, you can't see the yellow here but it was all around

And here's a closer look at the sign so you'll know precisely where I was:

There were no hikers along the Wicklow Way at the time
and you probably recognize some places I've named in the past week

The road was pretty much like this all the way
And I arrived in Shillelagh, eventually, despite going
in the opposite direction from the above sign.

This was the same road that Dad and I didn't take when we were searching for Coolruss in 2008. And what a blessing that decision was.

As the adventure-du-jour was over, I came back to the cottage and enjoyed a glass of Merlot followed by a wee nap. It will soon be time to pack. I didn't bring much so it should take about 15 minutes, if I don't rush.

I'll be heading out at zero dark thirty, to the airport. I'll make a sandwich this evening to bring along as it will be too early to eat. 

I expect my wrap-up post may be delayed until late Monday, since my arrival in Ottawa will be after midnight. The first thing I plan to do is go to bed. For me it will be after 5 am, having been on the go for 24 hours. 

A little late this time

Yesterday, Caroline B. came over for lunch and a good chat and a wee bit of family history talk thrown in. Then it was off to the Rocktavern to catch up with the next generations of Byrnes and Parsons. Everyone is in good form and most are very busy – the parents for chauffeur services and kids for gymnastics and a variety of sports.

Mary Harte was chipper after a journey to Dublin to check on a problem with her eyes. All is well and apparently she has almost 20/20 vision at the tender age of 99. As far as anyone knows, she is not taking medication for any conditions, which puts her miles ahead of most. For possibly the only time in all my visits with her, she had already eaten and I was not the recipient of an extra dinner. I'd had supper at the Rocktavern. And tasty it was, as usual.

I have not turned on the tv here at all so I have no idea how well it works. The wifi has been spotty at times but it came through in spades today. When I got the message to Check in for my flight home tomorrow I was "on the case" that very second. I've completed the process and hope that I was the first standby passenger to do so. 

Last update was that four seats remained unsold on the flight and there are four standby passengers. First one to check in gets the first seat, etc. I won't know until I'm at the airport tomorrow whether or not I'll be on the flight to Toronto. That is the ideal scenario.

Should I not be fortunate enough, I might find a seat on the flight to Calgary which departs not long afterwards. I believe there are ample seats unsold, but the route will be rather long. I'd fly from Dublin to Calgary, waving at Ottawa as we fly overhead. After a bit of a wait I would connect to a flight from there to Ottawa. Back and forth across the country. Or rather, forth and then back perhaps.

No matter which flight I'm on, arrival in Ottawa should be shortly after midnight, local time. That would be after 5 am for me. Happily, a very kind and loyal friend who is of the night owl persuasion, has offered to collect me at the airport.

I won't know the final route until boarding time. It's a bit stressful, but I have no commitments on Monday at home and will be able to crash for as long as needed.

Tomorrow will begin early as I have at least a 90-minute drive to Dublin airport. First stop will be to fill up the gas tank on the rental car before returning it for the use of the next client. Then it'll be the shuttle to the terminal and checking in with WestJet. Fingers crossed that my quick check in and hopefully first arrival at the counter will get me a (middle) seat on that plane. If all goes well I'll have time to stock up on Butlers or Lillies chocolate at the airport.

It's off to the Yew Tree graveyard shortly. It's a very old cemetery and not far from here. I've passed the signs so many times over my visits here that I've lost count. That will be my outing du jour. There will be a final trip to Coolruss to find a home for any uneaten provisions and say a final farewell.

There might be a post later, but I'm making no promises. Tomorrow's report will be delayed due to travel, no matter which route gets me home.

A beautiful journey

Today's adventure was on the road from Clonegall to Castlecomer. I let Google lead the way and indeed it did a masterful job. What I hadn't expected was that the drive would be through such beautiful territory. The fall colours are not as vibrant as Canada's but there are plenty of changes in the foliage to mark the season. Along one particularly long and winding road, the view through a few clearings was over a flat stretch of the midlands far below me. The sun was shining but I only caught glimpses of the view. There was no place to pull over and take it all in. I allowed myself a fleeting side eye peek and had to store it in the memory bank.

Along the way I turned down the opportunity to visit the graves of Walt Disney's ancestors. I'm sure it would have been, um, extraordinarily similar to visitng the graves of anyone's ancestors. Perhaps one day I'll be consumed with regret, but that day was not today. If I find out the headstones have Mickey Mouse ears I might regret not stopping.

I found the Castlecomer library easily enough. Parallel parking to access the library was a tad trickier. Although driving a manual transmission is not an issue, it does add an extra element of "don't stall now" to parallel parking.

The very helpful librarian brought me the most useful books on local history and I was permitted to photographs as many pages as I wanted to. And I did. The atmosphere was anything but quiet as the local knitting club had assembled in the library. No shushing was possible - their volume was certainly tuned to max. 

I think I found everything I could in the couple of hours I spent there before heading out for lunch and the planned visit in the afternoon. Deciding whether to leave the car and walk, or move it closer to my afternoon destination was made easy by the fact that it was pretty chilly. I moved it and found a space a few feet from the front door I'd knock at a little later.

Catherine Comerford was a true delight. She was very welcoming and certainly knows her local history. She didn't have great breakthrough information for me, but knew someone who might know someone else and made a call. The original source she was thinking of didn't work out, but two more potentials came out of that phone call. I left my contact information and hope to hear something some day soon. 

I purposely left part of my head out of the photo because today was not a good hair day. I'm in desperate need of a trim. I certainly hope that Angela is available soon after I get home.

Anyway, I left Castlecomer wishing that Google didn't start with "head east." How am I supposed to know which way is East? I don't even know which direction I'm facing at home. For once, I headed in the right direction! Yay for me.

I followed the same route home and got here in time for a ham sandwich before heading to Egan's Pub. There I met a Kehoe/Keogh family that just might be distantly related to mine. We'll probably never know but they were very friendly Canadians from Toronto. Later we were joined by some of their local relatives and had a great time.

This was the second day I travelled on a new route and I didn't get lost. By now they are doing triple toe loops in hell on that nicely frozen rink. I wonder, do they have a Zamboni?

Back at the cottage now, it's getting late and the old eyelids are drooping once again. A friend is going to join me for lunch tomorrow and I'll pop over to see Mary Harte once more. She's promised to sing another traditional folk song for me. 

Prospects for returning on Sunday are getting iffy. There are 4 unsold seats and 4 people on standby. First to check-in when the 24-hour reminder appears, will get the first seat. I'm not a nail-biter but this could make me wish I were. I really won't know until after I've returned the rental car and appeared at the gate. 

That's today in a nutshell. Who knows what tomorrow has in store.

Some photos of the frivolity

I'm just finishing up the last scone for breakfast. Yum. The kitchen has been cleaned up but I'll postpone emptying the dishwasher until my return from the metropolis of Castlecomer in the north of Co. Kilkenny. 

There's a book I want to consult and it's available in the reference section of their library. It's out of print and I have a friendly offer to copy any pages I want. Should I decide that I want to add it to my book collection, I'll have to post a notice on a used book site. The price is north of $150 so I'm hoping it's not so full of good information that I go down that road.

Here are the promised photos from last night.

Three Marys in the picture

A little discussion of history is underway

A pair of Anns and a Kathy

And a few from the yard outside

Happily, this is not where I get my water

My shiny Audi with all its bells and whistles, parked in the yard

My current abode

And now it's time to hit the road to Castlecomer. I'm thanking Google in advance for directions that don't take me on every little byway and boreen. Fingers crossed.

Great day from start to finish

I took a new route to Bunclody, having guessed the direction I should go. And for once in my direction-confused life, I didn't get lost. The route was correct. And it saved me time. And, get this, I came back on different roads and ended up at this cottage. They must be skating in hell because would not happen before hell froze over.

I shopped for this evening's gathering and not wanting anyone to go hungry, I rather overdid it. The leftovers will more than last me for the days I have left. Good thing I like ham sandwiches. My landlord here even came over with a bottle of wine and a tray of the lightest fluffiest scones I've ever tasted, complete with whipped cream, butter and jam. He stayed and chatted for a while and then went off to his set dancing class.

Kathleen brought me half a dozen fresh eggs from their hens for breakfast.

Photos were taken this evening and I won't be able to post them for a bit. The wifi signal seems to have gone to sleep or at least is too weak to transfer photos. Maybe I'll have a good enough signal in the morning to post them. 

Mary Harte, our 99 year old matriarch, who's become almost a hermit, came too. And towards the end of the evening she sang us three old traditional Irish folk songs. There's little doubt in my mind that she will still be motoring along on her 100th birthday in April. She was the liveliest of the bunch when they were leaving. She seemed reluctant to get in her niece's car.

Tomorrow I'm off to Castlecomer to visit the library and to visit with a woman who is a local historian who can possibly shed some light on my Kilkenny ancestral families. It would be amazing to find more connections but I've come to expect that sort of good luck here. Must be the shamrocks.

So - a short post today and I'm heading for bed. It's nearly midnight and my eyes are at half mast.

Back online

I don't know what the solution was, but I'm once again enjoying wifi without constantly losing the signal. However, while out for dinner this evening at the Lees' home, I got a message that the problem was fixed. Great rejoicing was seen in the townland. Well, OK, just me but you get the picture.

So - what have I been up to? Well, a very successful, if late, lunch with three good friends I met in 2013. Lynne, Margaret and Anne all made it here eventually yesterday (Monday). This is a beautiful location, on a reasonably good road, with no sign at the entry making sure that almost everyone drives by a few times before figuring "this is it." Maybe I should have tied a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree. But, there is no oak tree at the entry. I thought I had been smart to say it's just about opposite the two orange traffic cones – and then someone went and moved the cones back off the road. 

We had a great catch up since our last gathering and learned of some new plans. Anne will be moving to Sligo, so that's another destination for the future. We are all involved even in small measure, in family history. No royalty in our genes though. They are all very busy women and we managed to find a day that worked for all.

I took a few photos around the entry and yard here. 

Turn right here if coming from Clonegall.
See the orange cones? They were moved a few minutes later thus removing my marker.

The entry, a left turn when coming from Parkbridge.
A nice addition might be a sign, but there are three properties off this lane.

I had to type over the words "add caption" that wouldn't disappear. So, hello.

Just to prove that we had bright sun - that's Raheengraney House

The view when I'm about to be on the road again

And this is my living room cum dining room cum kitchen. Not too shabby for a former barn.

Today I spent most of the time loafing around. I was going to shop for tomorrow's family gathering here, but decided to leave it until tomorrow morning. The food will be fresher. Does that sound like a reasonable excuse for sloth?

Without wifi I was in deep withdrawal when I got up. I mentally crawled out of that to realize that I could use my phone as a hot spot. So I did. It's not like I haven't done it many times before, I just never thought of it. I used 1GB of data this morning alone and had only used 2.5 in the past 10 days so I was delighted that the service has been restored.

As an aside, while driving back to my base yesterday from Bunclody, I had to stop for construction. When the view is this good it's not a hardship to pause. And the red light counts down so you know how long it will take. And just look at that blue sky!!!

So, what was that trip to Bunclody all about. The battery in the fob for the car was running low and I was getting nervous about how to use the "key" if the battery died. Two people (Jim and, um, someone else that I forget) told me about this chap who had a shop beside the Applegreen gas/petrol station. Bingo - done and dusted. I forgot to get a receipt but it was only €4, so I won't be out much as I can't get reimbursed without a receipt. Then it was off to Aldi for a couple of things for lunch with the girls. Naturally, the six shopping bags were sitting on the bench at my front door. Ah well, no use breaking all my Canadian habits. And, for the only time, I did NOT buy any of my favourite chocolate at Aldi. But I'll be back there before leaving for home.

Genealogy alert: 

Dinner with Eleanor and Kevin Lee was lovely, and so was Eleanor's Guinness Beef Stew. So yummy. Then we got into the history stuff. Keven emailed me (from across the room) a map and information about Arthur and the small plots of land he leased in 1842. And provided contact info for the descendant of the next door neighbour of Arthur Byrne in Augusta township. One thing leads to another ... 

It seems that despite having spent a few days at the Archives of the Fitzwilliam Estate in Sheffield, England a few years ago, I did miss some documents. It might be worth contacting them again and paying for someone knowledgeable to check them out again. I have an "orphan" page of information - don't know the source other than it came from Sheffield according to Kevin, who gave it to me a couple of years ago. The image is missing a piece of information pertaining to Arthur. Wouldn't you just know the part to be cut off would be of interest. Kind of like realizing that the information you are seeking is lost in that "gap in the records."

And that caps it off for today. 

No wifi

 Hello faithful readers

The wifi connection from the main house to this cottage must have been damaged in the storm and I have to run the laptop off my phone, which will eat up data. So, I'll save my posts until I'm once again on real wifi.

I'll try to find a location today to login.

Ann