A Sunday drive might be in order...

For endofera ....such a small world! I knew my dad was cheering for the Munster rugby team for a reason!Sometimes it really amazes me the connections made between these tiny filaments of wireless bits in the air... For any future trips, here is some reference names and I'm guessing at the dates... probably born around 1800. Maybe you can get a photo or two...cheers.
John Quilty, who married Ellen O'Shaughnessy, and whom we believe was a brother of Tom's, lived
and died in the family home at Mohernagh, Ballyhahill Co., Limerick, Ireland.
The family graves are in Kilcolinan Co., Limerick.

Digging up roots...

I've been trying to research my dad's side of the family who lived mostly in the Ottawa valley of southern Ontario. By a fluke I found an extensive family tree which goes as far back as his Great Great Grandparents who were from a small village in County Limerick called Mohernagh, Ballyhahill. There are some family graves located in Kilcolinan, though not the great greats, as they came to Canada sometime during the famine years. The ones still lying there are of a few brothers who remained.
I found this out by Googling my own name. How incredible to finally have some thread of  long ago. Its too bad we didn't find this out before we made our way to Ireland last spring...it would have meant a lot to my dad to go and visit these graves.
Anyway, through the process of looking into the records I also found some great pictures of another not so distant relative. His name was John Quilty(everyone called him Johnny) and he was my dads second cousin. I had known for a long time that he was a great hockey player and that he is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but I had never seen any pictures of him. For those who aren't aware of it, hockey is a BIG deal to Canadians and to have blood in the royal palace of hockey is pretty monumental. I had to take pictures of the computer to get these so the quality isn't the best but you get the idea...

Here he is in his prime in his Montreal Canadiens sweater, hopefully happy after winning a game!

He was also the winner of the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the year.

With the lads...I beleive he is top left hand corner...

...hmmm , maybe they lost this night...they don't look too cheerful.

This one looks like a card you would get in a pack with a stick of bubble gum.

The interesting thing about these pictures, is that when I look into them I see such a strong resemblence between my dad, his brother John, my Grandpa Jack and strangely enough, my older brother Danny....Oh how the DNA wanders and swims around in our bones...

Johnny even won the Calder Cup once for MVP

Post Script....Unfortunately  Johnny's career ended after being traded to the Boston Bruins.On January 12th, 1948, in his 6th game, he violently collided with Chicago player Bob Goldham and badly broke his leg which left him unable to play as well as he had in the past. He later rejoined the Air Force and played with their teams before dying suddenly at the young age of 48, on September 12 1969, Ottawa.

Of moss and men...

Yesterday we took advantage of the dry afternoon and went for a walk on the Goose. It was quite spring like and the moss was as green as can be...

It covers every limb and rock and with the many varieties, when examined closely, it resembles tiny little forests...what goes on in these minuscule landscapes?

The little golden back fern grows along this route too.

As does the lovely copper skinned Arbutus tree.

A few relics of the old telegraph line still stand along the trail which once belonged to the railway.

The mist was hugging the mountainside and gave way to images of Chinese paintings...

And still the moss is everywhere...

 On the way home look who was parked across from the pub, just outside the village...

 

Wrapped in their fuzzy winter coats...

Trying to get a taste of my camera lense...

No doubt enjoying a bit of sun and dry weather as well.

quiet, rain and wool...

So this is what I wish I was seeing out my studio window....

But alas it's raining...

and I've been in the studio most of New Years day working on my latest needle felted creature, Ivy...

 

I've been down with a cold for a few days so there was little celebrating or staying up late...the blue moon was shrouded in cloud so I felt in the same company as her...the lights out at 10pm after a few chapters of my book. I'm not sure if it's an age thing, a country thing or what but I find that going out and staying out late just isn't as intriguing as it used to be. When I lived in town, it was definitely much easier to go out and about....I could jump on my bicycle or flag a cab and most things were within 20 minutes or so away from home. I must admit that I do miss going to the movies on a rainy night and then out for a pint afterwards but all in all I think I've become somewhat of a cocooner and it's all good. The warmth of the fire with a glass of wine and a rented movie suits me fine. I'm sure I've had my fill of late nights although I'm not saying that I'm putting myself out to pasture or anything...just that...well it's that damn woodstove and curling up on the couch with Tom that's so appealing now...have I come to my senses? Grown up? Well I do know one things for sure...you can grow old but stay childlike forever...

the things that were...

Nest

 I walked out, and the nest

Was already there by the step. Woven basket

of a saint

sent back to life as a bird

Who proceeded to make

a mess of things. Wind

right through it, and any eggs

long vanished. But in my hand it was

intricate pleasure, even the thorny reeds

softened in the weave. And the fading

leaf mold, hardly

itself anymore, merely a trick

of light, if light

can be tricked. Deep in a life

is another life.

I walked out, the nest

already by the step.

Marianne Boruch

From... POEMS: New and Selected

Published by Oberlin College Press 2004

(Used by kind permission)

Revisitng in the New Year....

O.k boys and girls...time to put away all that Christmas music thats been bombarding us for the last month, and start a new play list...I was a Clash fan in the days of 'London Calling' and 'Combat Rock' and have been revisiting Joe Strummer with his last band, The Mescaleros. Strummer had a way of singing which was raw, beautiful and full of punch...he sunk his teeth into every song he sang...even with a bit of mellowing, he still grabbed life by the scruff of the neck...A great talent we lost but his songs will be with us for a long time to come...cheers Joe.

this side of the edge of dawn...

Quite often I am up before the sun and I find this time especially peaceful and promising of the day to come.

Much of the world is still in slumber, save for the birds and creatures who call the dawn a time for their day to begin...

It's a time of day when the world starts new...ideas are born...tasks are planned...a chance to begin all over again...

To quote Harry Manx..."Morning arrives...so gorgeous like a great dog yawn..."