If you are just now checking out the posts about Ireland, be sure to click on "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page because there are several more posts about Ireland. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to look at what I have spent time and effort, in my feeble awareness of technology, to create. I'm not sure how commenting works but I would love to hear from anyone who has ideas or opinions about some of my thoughts.

     I hope I have done justice to our wonderful trip to Ireland. It was our first time there and the first time for Russ and I to stay in AIRBNB's. We couldn't have been more pleased! All the places we stayed were clean, private, picturesque and very nicely priced. We met delightful people and feasted our eyes on the scenery and our stomachs on delicious food. I am a little disappointed that I was unable to find out more about my ancestor but now I understand better why it's just not likely to ever happen. Just as anywhere else in the world, records were kept mostly by the elite and by churches back before 1800. My family were mostly farmers and I have found what records I'm going to find. Some day I will meet them, on the other side of the "veil" and will be delighted to hear their story. I'm just glad that most of the family made it to America so that I could have the blessing of being born and live out my life in this beautiful land.

A few pictures of places we stayed

Three pictures inside one of the little houses where we stayed

The outside of a second lovely home where we stayed. That's us by our rental car on the right. We entered the downstairs around the back. we had 3 spacious bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, a large living room and kitchen.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

More pictures of the Emerald Isle

Believe it or not, those dots in the distance are surfers

There may not be a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, but there is a lovely island to see.

Pictures of a beautiful island

View from the Rock of Cashel

 

                     
                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                               

The Great Irish Potato Famine

The top photo is a closer image of the buildings I posted in the last blog, thatched roofed buildings built at the time of the potato famine, mid-1800's. I have learned a bit about this sad part of Ireland's history but I'm sure I don't have a complete understanding. Before this trip, I had the image in my mind of imperious English "lords" abusing the people of Ireland that they considered inferior. (That seems to be what quite often happens with "more advanced" civilizations who step in to forcefully "improve" the lot of lesser civilizations.) They told the Irish what to produce, taking most of it to export to England or use themselves and leaving only the potatoes for the natives to eat. Although that's mostly true, the reasoning may not be completely true. Potatoes were NOT native to Ireland. They were imported as an "ideal" source of food for an island with limited natural resources. It was recognized and embraced by the Irish as a cheap, compact source of nourishment so they planted them everywhere. (One estimate is that they ate 14 pounds of potatoes per person per day.) There were still sheep and a few cows raised (mostly for milk and butter- the meat not so often) as well as salmon and other fish available. But the Irish relied very heavily on potatoes as their food. Then several decades after they had incorporated potatoes into their resources, a fungus blight developed which suddenly and completely wiped out their crops several years in a row.
     The second picture above is a memorial cross commemorating the trek of hundreds of starving Irish as they walked over 20 miles- men, women and children- in the cold and wet of winter to plead with English lords for help. The story goes that the lords got up from their laden lunch tables to turn them away saying they could not help them. The story also goes that during this time of the widespread British Empire, the "imperialists" had learned that giving handouts to "lesser" people did not, ultimately, help them. It only made them more dependent. It was ultimately better to avoid intervention and encourage more "self-reliance". So, while the English had the wherewithal to import sufficient food for themselves, they insisted that the Irish find a way to obtain their own food- even though they had little to  no actual money or means of obtaining anything beyond what they had on their meager land for which they paid high taxes and/or rent to the English. There are claims of laziness or drunkenness on the part of the Irish as well as greediness and self-righteousness on the part of the English. Since I was not there at that time, I really can't say exactly where the burden of fault lies, but it certainly doesn't speak well of the whole concept of imperialism.
     In the end, Ireland's population was depleted by between 1/4 and 1/2 through death (mostly by starvation but also disease due to malnutrition) and emigration- of which I include some of my own ancestors. One community's population decreased to 165 and still has not recovered. There are whole hillsides once tilled for planting potatoes that have lain fallow ever since because there was no reason to plant so many potatoes with insufficient numbers of people to eat them. The last picture above is the view the starving Irish had across the path/road from where the cross now stands, bleak and cold. A deep sadness came over me as I thought about the people who lived- or not- through the experience.  I have a really comfortable existence.

Ireland's mixture of old and new

     The island we today call Ireland has been inhabited for a very long time. It's fascinating to travel around seeing ancient ruins and even very old buildings still in use.

In the background you can see buildings (barns, shed, and houses) with thatched roofs, still in use from when they were built about the time of the great potato famine in the mid-1800's.

This house is obviously much newer! I took this picture of a random house when we were stopped at an intersection- or should I say junction? Anyway, all of the dwellings I saw looked very neat and tidy. Even in the cities the litter was considerably less than in most US cities. The whole country of Ireland just seemed very clean and well-cared-for to me.

Susanne and Louisa are standing in a peat bog. Multitudes of layers of decaying vegetable matter create a fascinating surface. It's not really swampy but spongy. If you stand about as far apart as they are and one jumps on the ground, the other can feel it. It's not quite like a trampoline but a similar feel. We were told that one week spent cutting peat (which is then laid out to dry) can provide one home enough fuel for a year!

At the other end of the "technology" spectrum, all over the island we saw groups of windmills like this to provide power for Ireland. I wonder if there are groups of people who protest that they're unsightly or damaging to birds???