Since the last post, on November 3, Thanksgiving has come and gone; Alan and friends from our town here completed our great 11 day stint in Smithfield, Dublin; I went to Donegal on my own; my class at Ivy Tech has concluded; and -- most momentously -- Alan and I are united again in in the USA.
The last month was both stressful and fun. The stress was mainly from moving from the small bedroom I had in far South County Dublin to the great two-bedroom apartment is Smithfield D7, right in the heart of things in the 'Centre City'. The fun was having such a great place to be during the visits from Alan and our friends that I'd been anticipating since arriving in Dublin back in August. All the revelry with company meant I didn't go to the last two weeks of set dance, but I'd resigned myself to that earlier so it wasn't too much of an issue for me.
I learned so much about set dance during the time I was in Ireland and I had the chance to go to three celli dances held at the local GAA clubs. The latter is where you really learn, you go every weekend and hundreds of others form and reform sets for an evening of dance from 9 p.m. to after 1 a.m. I also made a new friend as a result.
I also learned so much more about the conditions under which my next visit should occur. As long as I'm healthy, I expect to do long stints in Dublin when I can. I laid the groundwork for that this time and hope there's some way of making it happen. Cracking the accommodation nut, that's the key. Dublin, especially with Brexit, is preparing for a pretty critical housing shortage in the short term. They have really just come out of 'austerity' required by the EU to pay back what it borrowed during the 2008 downtown, but they've come out in a very good position. It was a pleasure to see, even if it means it's harder for me to find a place to stay.
I also learned some new, interesting things about my 'Dignam' side, including the dates and exact places of birth for both my grandmother and grandfather. A chance meeting at a convention for seniors where there was a booth for genealogy. Who would have thought that a woman with the original derivation of my last name Duignan should be at the booth doing research on 'this small family' of the midlands. She's been amazingly detailed. It's interesting.
On my mother's side, the Gallaghers of Inver, Donegal are more familiar, despite the fact that the phenomenon of so many people with the same last name in once place was found Donegal in the Guinness Book of World Records one year. Still, our family friend -- and distant cousin, brought me to someone she thought would know something about the many sons of James and Rose (Sweeney) Gallagher. He didn't, but it was a pleasant evening with Eamonn Monaghan, during which he told stories about Patrick Pierce, Seumas MacMannus and other republicans of the turn of the century. Both Pierce, the Irish leader critically important in the fight for freedom fighter for Ireland and MacMannus, the renowned Donegal poet, spoke in Donegal during the early 1900's, That was a surprise to our local relations. His house was the Donegal cottage of old that will likely be listed an historic place very soon. The floor was made of granite from the quarry next door, including an old headstone.
It was good to end my trip on such a nice visit to Donegal. Although I was alone again after such fun at the end in Dublin, I enjoyed seeing my family and visiting my mother's grave before I left Ireland. I spent the last night in the airport hotel, which wouldn't have been worth a mention, except that the electricity went out at midnight and didn't return till the morning. I thought it was a sign. Homecoming was nice though, as seen in the picture with Lola. It was good Alan and I had the hour from the airport in the car, because Lola definitely remembered me.
