RAINY DAY REFLECTIONS

There is something mysterious, and
magical about the wind driven rains
that come ashore from the Atlantic.
They clear the air and bring renewed
life to the land in Spring.

The winds that bring us rain off the
Atlantic here in Albany, today, put me
in mind of the Atlantic wind born rains
that fall on Skellig Michael and the
wild Beara Peninsula of West Cork
Ireland.

It would be a grand day for Mick
Paddy and me to to be roaming the
boreens around the townlands of
Coulagh, Inchinteskin, Coulagh Ard
Urhan, Gowlane, Kilcatherine and
Adrigole in the Northern parish;
Allihies, Killaugh and Lehanmore in
the Western parish;or Shronebirrane
Cummeengeera and Lauragh in the
Kerry part.

I would be staying with Noreen on
the Strand Road or going for a pint
or two in Donal Harrington's pub
where I would see his mother
Teresa, his sister Mary the Postmis-
tress in Eyeries, and the rest of the family.

A stop in St Catherine's Church
opposite Donal's Pub, to say a
prayer for all my relations and
friends, living and dead.

My father went to this church
and told me of the Black and Tan
raid on a Sunday in the time of
the Troubles (ca. early 1920's)

The Tans, fired on the people
leaving Mass but the heaviest rain
my father ever saw fell at that
moment. Not a soul was hit by
gunfire that day.

This post contained a narrative
of a ramble from Eyeries village
to the High Cross, west past the
graveyard to Coulagh, Coulagh
Ard, Urhan, over the mountain
to Allihies, through the Barnes
Gap to Killaugh and Brendan's
house, which was originally
our Great Grand Uncle Paddy
Sounish's farm. I recalled
people( mostly all relatiions)
and events along the 12 mile
ramble made in 1989.

However, while editing the
post, I lost the vast part of
it. Tried to retrieve it without
success. It does not reappear
here, but is in my memory
still.

Memories allow us to travel
back through time to recall
places and people we once
knew. The places are still
there but have changed and
most of the people have gone
on to the next world. A few
remain as links with the
past.

We live in the present, but
rainy days bring back memories.

Joe Sullivan