Tynanwoods Day Ten

October 24, 2006
Day Ten: More dead Irishmen, and some live ones

We spent most of this morning writing and hanging about the cottage. In the afternoon we visited the Ennis Friary, an old Franciscan monastery first built in the late 1200s and later expanded, rebuilt, bricked over, partially torn down, and partially restored over the next 600 years. It was in a jumble of architectural styles, from gothic to quasi-modern. It's famous for some of the earliest medieval art in Ireland; carved figures of Jesus and St. Francis, for example, both of whom looked more than a little like space aliens.

As with every old monastery we've visited, the floor was paved with the gravemarkers of dead monks, so old and footworn as to be entirely unreadable. More bodies had been stashed in wall crypts; these appeared to be from affluent families -- McMahon and Gore were two prominent names -- and dated from the 18th and 19th century.

Then we found Christina's cousin Nora at the photography store. Sixtyish, white hair, but with a twinkling eye and a sharp sense of humor. She took us upstairs to the living quarters above the shop and showed us a wall of old photos, each accompanied by a story. It was a spontaneous meeting, and we were late for meeting up with Xtina's Great Aunt Nuala, so we had to cut our time short.

We then met up with Nuala, her husband Dick, their son Leo, his wife Jenna, and their 16-month-old son Ronan at the Old Ground Hotel on O'Connell Street. (Every major Irish city appears to have an O'Connell Street, as well as an Abbey and a Parnell.) We had tea - well, Leo and I had beer, Jenna had red wine -- and went for a stroll round Ennis, where we confirmed that yes, we had indeed found the home where Nuala and her brother Michael (Xtina's father) were raised.

We had drinks in Brogan's Pub with Leo, Jenna, and Ronan (he mostly slept), then "tea" at Nuala's -- dinner, to Americans. We sat on the couch in her tiny living room and ate cold ham and cooked rashers (like bacon, only much meatier and more flavorful) on rolls with butter, followed by tea cakes with more butter on them. The cholesterol level of the average Irishperson must be 400, at least. Nuala and Dick were very sweet and hospitable -- she gave us cakes to take home, secretly pressed money into Cole's hand on the way out the door, just like my grandmother used to do to me whenever we visited.