We encountered some friendly motorcyclists when our coach driver stopped to allow us to take photos on the Dingle Peninsula. These gentlemen were from England. I’ll call this, “Watch for Motorcycles.” I’m sure my motorcycling friends will know what bikes the guys were riding.
No visit to County Kerry would have been complete without a trip to Ross Castle. Had we had more time we might’ve taken a boat tour of the waterways around the castle, but instead we walked the grounds. There’s nothing like a castle to stir one’s imagination. I almost expected a dragon to come roaring across the water to find a perch on the stone crenellations.
Some folks were made to twirl a baton. I was not one of those people; although, I can still do the figure eight with style and grace. Or at least with style. Okay. No style either.
The Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland, provided epic scenery around every turn in the road. And there were MANY turns in the road.
Let’s call this one, “Let Sleeping Giants Lie.” Do you see him?
The Sounds of Making Plans
By Leslie Noyes
Percolating pensiveness, a dollop here, a shuffling of papers there. Tap typing a google search for some
Place warm, but not too hot. A clattering through a drawer of pens and pencils, finding one with ink or another with
Sharpened lead, or sighing in frustration and tossing the whole lot clutter bang in the garbage bin then wondering
If the recycling box is more appropriate for this detritus. A nose wrinkling search through mushy mulch reveals the remains of
Coffee grounds and last night’s leftover pizza among discarded writing implements in the bowels of the trash.
Dropped lid, startled cats. Swishing of soapy hands under running water, ripping strip of paper towel to dry. Sliding out
Boxes of atlases and crinkled yellow maps. Exclaiming over destinations visited; sighing over those that might never be.
Another photo from our trip to southwest Ireland. I guess I should call this one, “I’m Sorry if You’re Tired of Seeing Photos of Ireland, but Bite Me.”
Words amuse me. After visiting Ireland I find that I’m even more interested in colloquialisms and regional sayings. Learning just a smidgen of Irish Gaelic had me scrambling to find this old piece from the early days of my blog. Fittingly, I couldn’t remember what I’d called it. Go figure.
The Gaelic Muse
This lovely statue in Killarney pays tribute to the poets of County Kerry. I discovered it just a block from the Malton Hotel and asked the muse for a bit of inspiration. I’m a patient lass, but any time now would be good.
Wouldn’t you love to know why Pierce Ferriter was hanged? Well, I looked him up on Google:
“Piaras Feiritear, better known via the Anglicized name Pierce Ferriter, was an Irish poet who also served as an officer during the War of the Irish Confederacy, 1641 – 1652. Piaras may have been born about the year 1600, the son of Eamon Feiritear, (Edmond Ferriter)a landowner whose lands on the far western part of the Dingle Peninsula had been the Ferriter family’s homestead for about 350 years when Pierce was born.
Much of what is known or surmised regarding Pierce Ferriter the man extends from his surviving poetry. His use of the Irish language, themes, and imagery indicates that he was a man of education, and probably well taught in both English and Irish. By account he was a harpist as well as a poet. The surviving body of work represents some of the finest Irish language poetry of his era.
Less is known of his personal life. Evidence exists that he was married and from this marriage, there is known to have been children: two sons and a daughter, Dominick, Richard, and Helen. We also know that Piaras was friendly with both the nearby family of the Knight of Kerry, who were Geraldines, and the more distant FitzMaurice family – also a Geraldine line. From the Lord of Kerry (FitzMaurice) he was favored with a commission to raise an armed company from his lands and neighborhood on the Dingle Peninsula. Pierce’s arming and leading of the local citizens was to be in support of the English Crown however, rather than going to war with the Kerry Catholics, he aligned himself with the anti-English forces, and brought his men to join in the siege of Tralee in 1641.
During the siege of Tralee Peirce was wounded, and his active involvement in the fighting after the fall of Tralee is uncertain. With the fall of Ross Castle in 1652, the war in Kerry was lost, and other defeats brought the war to an end in the rest of Ireland as well. Pierce Ferriter’s sons Dominick and Richard left Ireland as “Wild Geese” under agreements made by Lord Muskerry. Pierce remained at large for almost a year, and many of the folk tales and legends surrounding his abilities as a warrior emerge from this interval. At last, in 1653, Pierce Ferriter was brought in to Ross Castle under an assurance of safety.
After an unsuccessful parley was Pierce began his journey from Killarney homeward. Somewhere near Castledrum, he was apprehended by men dispatched by the erstwhile negotiator, Colonel Nelson, and brought back as prisoner. Pursuant to a trial of which no record remains, Piaras Ferriter was hanged, presumably for having been a rebel.”
I tried to find a sample of his poetry, but came up empty handed. I’ll keep looking.
Peace, people!
When one’s singing is so awful it requires police intervention, that’s really bad karaoke.
Well thought out. Well written. Well worth freaking out over. Read more at driftingthrough.com.
“I was asleep before… that’s how we let it happen. They suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary.”
This is Offred’s stark warning.
A narration of regret.
Her name’s not really Offred. It’s Jane. Or June. Or something that I can’t remember because her name no longer matters. She is no longer a human with an identity, she is the property of Fred. And she is the main character in Hulu’s series The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel.
Offred is a Handmaid in Gilead, the religious fundamentalist reincarnation of the United States. After a terrorist attack and environmental disasters left the republic weakened, a strong-arm theocracy took hold. Patriarchal control was the new order. Women, no longer allowed to work, read, vote or hold property. Children, taken at will from parents who refuse to conform. Traitors, hung along the river, government spies around…
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Praying for Eyebrowz 
