A Tragic Tale, No Worries and Irish Sheep Farming...

Céad míle fáilte, welcome to your Letter from Ireland “Shorts”. Each Tuesday we’ll bring you a quick-read of some of our favourite and interesting Irish things for this week.

FAVOURITE PLACES IN IRELAND
Doolough Valley, County Mayo. We visited this place a few weeks back – it was an incredible day with blue skies as far as you can see! While the landscape is amazing it’s also tied to a tragic history. Watch this video to hear Carina tell us a bit more about the history.

FEATURED IRISH SURNAME
Our Irish surname of the week is Moore. The name has a number of roots in Ireland, England and Scotland and is still numerous across the country. “Ó Mordha” or “O’Moore” was also one of the great clans of Leinster and chieftains of Laois. The similar surname of “Muir” is also quite numerous in the Belfast area and comes from the Scottish for “moor”. To see where the name appears in Ireland in the mid 1800s go to this page on Johngrenham.com

BOOK I’M READING NOW
This is Happiness by Niall Williams. A profound and enchanting novel from a Booker long-listed author about the electrification of a small fictional Irish town called Faha in County Clare. It has several intertwining threads featuring travelling workers employed by the electrification authority in Dublin who chase after a famous musician playing in the local Clare pubs and a young man falling in love with a local doctor’s daughter. Recommended! See the book on Amazon here.

IRISH WORD OR PROVERB

“Gan Bhó – Gan Stró“
(pronounced “gone voe – gone stroe”)

Which translates literally to “No cow – no worries“! or in other words, “if you’ve got no responsibilities, you’ve got no worries”.

Not only a great phrase – but it also tells you something of the old culture of Ireland.

IRISH CRAFT/PRODUCT WE LOVE

One place that is truly a unique experience in a great location is Kissane sheep farm. It’s a traditional sheep farm situated near the iconic panorama of “Moll’s gap” near Killarney national park in Co. Kerry. If you are in the area we would definitely recommend visiting for a sheep dog demonstration, or if you’re not travelling then you can even “adopt” a sheep!

Kissane is a working farm and they offer all of this with the aim of preserving the heritage of mountain sheep on the ring of Kerry. Click here to see more about Kissane sheep farm.

kissane sheep farm kerry - A Tragic Tale, No Worries and Irish Sheep Farming...

That’s it for this week. Send us an email with any of your own favourites for inclusion in future emails, or if you’re a plus member leave a comment below.

Slán for now,
Mike & Carina.