~ Irish Rain ~ The Journal: April 2004

Brittany, France

We really learned a ton about Brittany and the Breton language. Apparently this little area of Celtic France has always considered itself very independent from France. It does, after all, have its own language, history, and traditions. The French government has never been too keen on this independent spirit, and has, historically, tried to quench anything that was not truly French. Despite political oppression the Celtic way of life continued - and was passed down from parent to child in these small fishing villages and town of the area. Everything changed with WWII. The Germans were greeted as liberators by the leaders & intellectuals of Brittany. The hope was that the Germans would allow Brittany to become independent from occupied France. The Germans moved in - set up submarine bases but never allowed independence. Eventually the area was liberated but the Breton language had become too closely associated with the collaboration with the Germans. People were embarrassed to speak the language.... and the language really suffered. As a new generation has grown up, however, there has been a renewed interest in the language and the Breton culture has lost a lot of the stigmatism that it once had. The language is being used again, and children are learning it once more.

The Long Road Home...

It has been a long, but good week away. We had to go over to France for a few days with work... "Had to" is a bad way of putting it... We were blessed with the opportunity is a better way of putting it. We spent some time over in the area of Brittany. This area of northern France has a strong history of Celtic influence, and in fact still has people that speak one of the six ancient Celtic languages that are still alive today. We were there learning more about the language, people, and work that is going on there and is about to begin. We had a great time with our good friend John, but the week went by quickly. The people were very friendly and were very patient with the fact that we didn't speak either of the two languages that they spoke. Thanks for your patience during this blackout time on the website. We will keep posting a few more stories about our trip.

Taking a break

Just a quick note to say that there will not be many posts on the website this week. Dee and I are heading over to France for a couple of days with work... Check back soon to hear about our trip.

Ceol Traidisiúnta – Traditional Music

Of all the surprises we have had in moving to Ireland… traditional music has been one of the best. We were really surprised to discover this brilliant and diverse tradition of music that can be heard all over the island. Don’t get me wrong… Ireland is a modern country that loves rock and pop… (don’t forget that it was Ireland that gave the world music from The Cranberries, The Corrs, The Frames, Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison and (of course) U2.) But there is a very important place for traditional music in the Irish heart. Deedra and I absolutely love it. We love walking down the streets of the city listening to the beautiful sounds of a tin whistle or accordion echoing off of the buildings. We try to go over to Hughes house every Sunday night to listen to the music. On Sunday nights a group of locals retreat away from the tourists and get together just to enjoy their music and hang out with their friends. You never know who is going to show up… but everyone is invited. You never really know what instruments will be brought to the session. Some weeks there might be a bodhrán, fiddle, flute, accordion, or maybe even a uilleann pipes. This last week three people showed up with fiddles, one with a flute, one with an accordion, and everyone brings their hands (to clap), feet to stomp, and voices to sing with. There never really is a plan of what music will be played… but one thing is for sure… you have to tap your foot to the music! Now… you can’t tap your foot in the American discrete way… most Irish music demands that you tap your foot hard and loud… you know that you are doing it right if your knee rises and falls three or four inches and you can hear your foot on the hard wood floor. The music goes on at Hughes and when the musicians take a break someone always jumps and sings a traditional song (Most of the time in Irish). Some songs are ones that everyone can join in on… but I especially like the laments. Whenever someone sings a lament the whole places quiets down and listens as the shaky voice sings of lost love, abuse from the English, or of families leaving their homeland….. after the lament ends… there is a little pause (almost a time of reflection) and then the music starts back up… Yes… I would definitely say that the traditional music has been one of the best surprises of living in Ireland.

It's like having a dog without all the work....

Many of you know about our good friend Rosie. Rosie is an extremely friendly sheepdog that lives in the house next to us. We first met Rosie because she would come and sit just at the right angle to look inside our kitchen window.... she has long since become a good friend. There is just something nice about having her jumping around when we drive into our car park... or having her come over wanting to play with me. She even follows us on walks from time to time... she did it again just the other day... we were happy to have her with us... and it was a lot of fun to have her down on the shore. She climbed over rock walls, barked at cows, jumped in puddles, and ran like mad up and down the hiking trail. The picture below was taken on our walk that day....

Click here for a pic of Wallace and Rosie

We now have another new little friend named Jack. Our Italian neighbor (Nino) bought Jack just a few weeks ago... as you can tell Jack is still very much a puppy. He loves to chew on everything... and we are still working on teaching him not to jump...

Click here for another pic of Jack

500

Today is a big day for our new little website! Today we had our 500th visitor! Our good friend Rachel Nichols put us over the top!!! Thanks Rachel and all of you who click on to our site!

Random Pictures For Today...

An Irish Lighthouse.....

"Sometimes You Just Have To Scratch Your Itch!"

Click here to submit a better title for this picture! (Contest ends at the end of the month.)

The bogs

We quickly discovered that Ireland is a very diverse place... there are the rolling green hills... the rocky fields with stone fences... the deep blue seas... dramatic sea cliffs... and bogs. The bogs are areas around Ireland where the massive amounts of rainfall don't drain. As a result the ground is always marshy and the grass does not decompose after it dies. These slowly decaying grasses build up over the centuries and are now meters and meters deep. This land is not good farmland and in fact is not really good for anything.... but it makes for a beautiful (and bumpy) drive. This bog is just a few minutes drive from our house... The government has opened up a wind-farm here and these giant windmills use all of the wind to provide electricity for our area.

Another Dolphin Pic..........

I hope that you enjoyed the pic of the dolphin that we had posted on the top of the page last month! The day we took this pic was absolutely beautiful. Deedra and I went on a long walk with some friends and watched this little guy go in and out of the harbor for several hours. I really tried hard to take some pictures of him... but I seemed to miss him every random time that he popped out of the water... and I mostly ended up with a ton of pictures of just blue water. I did, however, get this pic (and the one last month)... I thought that you would enjoy seeing it.