' For the whole family , makeshift beds lined the wall's with little else in the way of furniture -possibly a couple of chairs, cloths, and well worn blankets that had been given to them by local charities'. 

'Bridget's assumption that that her grandparents had been tenant farmers was gleaned from the many conversations that she would hear her parents and the neighbors talk speak about as times went by . These people who had evicted from their homes as the rich English Landlords all had to try and exist and live by any means available to them '

My Granny O'Rourke was the was the mainstay of our household. The Kavanagh family was made up of five children, Mam and Dad, and Granny's other grandchild (Terry) whom she also raised (read "That's Just  How It Was").  We lived with her and she had a huge influence on all our…

I was born on the the 8th of January in 1945 -- the year the war ended in Europe.  By chance, I also share  a birthday with Elvis Presley.  He would have been 80 years old on the 8th of January, 2015.  

My memories of my birthday are very precious. This was due to the fact…

Excerpts from That's Just How  It Was 

 'So it was on that Easter Monday morning from the moment that Patrick Pearse finished reading out the Proclamation at around eleven 'o clock that the ' something big' started. The Battle raged around the General Post Office Dublin, with 250 British soldiers either killed or wounded with many Irish volunteers  as facilitates also. It was a bloody war-  together with the  fact that the gunboat Helga had sailed up the Liffey and hadshelled…

Excerpts from- That’s Just How it was

Happy day’s I spent in Bray

The Town below the hill

And thought tonight I am far away

I am dreaming of it still 

'stories about the banshee would come poring out ; and she would have to smell the tobacco smoke as well, as the pipe was handed from neighbor to another' .................................

I wonder who she is coming for tonight'-'did you hear her last night ; keening and wailing '---

Christmas Eve was always’s a hive of activity as it dawned  with crispy white show on the trees and on the hills surrounding Wolf Tone . Granny O’Rourke was always up early on Christmas Eve as there was always a lot to do. The fire grate would have to be cleaned out and the fire…

My name is Mary Thorpe and I am the author of "That's Just How It Was."  I believe my book will hold a great deal of interest for Irish emigrants and their descendants,…