I want to return to Western Ireland for spiritual and artistic reasons. In college I fell in love with Irish literature, from the pagan/pre-medieval myths to the current day. I love Irish music, too. And oddly enough, I married a man from County Cork (we met in college). My mother’s family has a lot of Irish heritage as well. We are descended from a man who came on a ship to New York Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1847. I can only imagine what was in Martin’s heart when he left Cork and when he…

I remember the first time I learned from my father that we are Irish.  I was a little girl, not even old enough to go to school yet, and he told me that our name, O'Brien,  means that we are Irish.  I cannot explain it, but from that time forward, I was so very proud of my last name.  In the years that followed, I became more and more interested in my heritage, a past that was not shared with my father by his family.  I discovered that my father's great-grandfather had come to the United…

Visiting Ireland has long been one of my deepest desires. I have Irish ancestry on both sides of my family, but sadly very little of the Irishness has been passed down, save my red hair, a few sayings, and tall tales that are no longer credited to their birthplace, but relegated to Ozarkian culture.

As a history teacher, I include a…

Growing up in a Donegal emigrant household in the New York Metropolitan area shaped my life profoundly. From the beauty of the Gaelic language spoken in our sitting room to the wild yarns spun around the kitchen table to impromptu trad seisiuns and step dancing at parties, our rich cultural heritage permeated every aspect of our family life.

I'm saddened that my seven-year-old daughter, Brídín, has missed out on these experiences. She was born and reared in Tennessee, and although I…

My husband passed away 3/31/15. I did not need a boulder up side my head to make me realize that tomorrow is not guaranteed. But a boulder it was to be.  We had many plans but alas, that was not in the cards. I promised my husband that I would not sit in the house and wither away. What better way to keep that promise than to go to Ireland and explore? What little I know of my "roots" is my family, the Parhams, left England for Ireland. Where it goes from there I know not but it will be…

I have been to Ireland twice. But I NEED to go one more time. On my first trip my best friend and I rented a car and had the most amazing visit. But even then we knew that we weren’t seeing the “real” Ireland. By the time we got to the Blarney Castle, we didn’t even want to go in – and we didn’t. There were so many tourists and it just didn’t appeal to us. By then we had been several days into our visit and we found that what we really enjoyed…

One May we rented a house on the shore of Lough Swilly in Rathmullen, Co. Donegal, within sight of the cove that launched the famous Flight of the Earls.

Just after dawn one morning, as my wife and granddaughter slept, I grabbed my camera and car keys and slipped into sweat pants and a plaid shirt and went out the door into the fresh Irish morning. I drove north up the coast road for four or five miles then turned off onto a narrow lane that disappeared between bight…

Hoping to win The Wild West of Ireland contest.

Ireland has always held a special place in my mind and heart and fantasies.  From pictures and reading; I see Ireland as an exciting and beautiful country physically, spiritually, culturally and historically.  

Irish people are strong, hard working, romantic, talented, and witty.  I love their humor.

Celtic Woman is beyond description with my feeble skills with…

(Resurrected below are a few travel tips I scrawled to my much-loved older sister/guide a decade ago.  She prevailed upon me to enter them in your contest.  If some other lucky blokes win, perhaps they'll find them useful.)

Hey, Helen - The Ireland thing is for real.  The mistake most people make in…

The Grace of My Grandfathers

I arrived at dawn at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya jet-lagged from my 30-hour journey from San Francisco.  A battered taxi conveyed me over the rutted highway into the city and to the overcrowded matatu that would carry me several hours into the bush for three months of medical relief work with AIDS orphans. …

I am a 68 years old descendent of an of an Irish immigrant to the United States. Michael Leonard was my ancestor. He immigrated to Canada in 1829 and went from there to Lockport, Niagara, New York. He worked on the canals and farmed in Wiscosin until his death in 1861. My dream was to visit Ireland and walk the land and breathe in the air that my great greats had originated from. I have a fairly active imagination since I am a photograph, teacher and artist. 

I visited Ireland in May…

What an exciting opportunity this might be - to win a trip to Ireland at age 77.  When I was 32 years of age, my husband and I won two tickets on Aer Lingus to Ireland.  While our grandparents had emigrated from the auld sod in the early twentieth century, John and I had never set foot in the Emerald Isle.  What a delight when we saw the green fields from our airplane seats!

We went immediately by car to my grandaunt Alice McMahon's cottage in Miltown Malbay.  Alice had emigrated to…

The W.B.Yeats Society of New York observed its 25th anniversary June 9  with a "Roast and Toast"  of founder Andrew McGowan at the National Arts Club. The event also celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of William Butler Yeats, the immortal Irish poet and playwrite, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Yeats was born in Sandymount, Dublin, on June 13, 1865.

The stellar evening at the landmark NAC offered readings of Yeats's poetry, as well as in-person and video…

How I long to walk with Yeats to Benbulben's mountain top to view lovely Lissadell and the Strand's shoreline;

then on to visit Drumcliffe Churchyard and the High Cross there.

Then onward and southward to Gort in County Galway to walk along the pathways at Coole Park,

and sit under the Autograph Tree;

and end my day at Yeats dear home at Thoor Baylee.

Tell us why YOU want to experience the ‘Wild West’ of Ireland, and you might win a free 9-day…

Remembrances of the First Time

Farewell to my friends and relations as we leave to go

To the place of my ancestors, so long lost in the fogs of Donegal

We walk on the cliffs that sing with the wind that

Once filled the sails of escape and sadness

I long to trace those roots back to times filled with hope...and gladness

Send…

A trip to the West of Ireland would be a lifetime dream come true for me.  I have never been to Ireland and have always had a great longing to go.  I live in the western side of San Francisco and have many Irish friends and neighbors.  There is a spirit among these people like no other I have felt before.  My Irish friends are loving, spirited and proud people with a gift of gab.  I love spending time with these lovely people.  I have some Irish roots but have not formally explored my…

Well, considering that I have yet to contribute anything to this site, now seems like an excellent place to start. My knowledge of Irish culture is considerably lacking and I wish to amend this vexing predicament, preferably by going on an all inclusive trip to Ireland. Though I may have an innate fondness for all things potato related (or the "starchy tuberous crop" as it is described on Wikipedia), I wish that there could be something more substantial and less spudly connecting me to my…

Dearest Ireland and your Wild West heart, 

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to visit you, yet, Ireland. Somehow, I've known you my whole life without having met you, and always felt we would meet one day. I let it live deeply and quietly within as I dreamed myself into a…

My childhood was blessed with but one grandparent, my County Donegal, Ireland born grandmother.  Fondly I remember "Gamma's" pancakes sprinkled with sugar and warm milk, her boiled apple dumplings and fried doughboys, along with supervised bedside prayers each evening...bodily sustenance and soul food.  Most precious of all, though, were tales of her homeland, last seen as a young woman, which always ended with, "When my ship comes in, Patsy, you and I will go to Ireland".  The seed was…

You never forget your first time in Ireland.  Actually, you never forget anytime spent in Ireland.  Like many others, to me, Ireland feels like home.  Yes, it may sound trite or clichéd, but it is so true!  This is not only because I have Irish ancestry, it is also because I seem to have always been drawn to Ireland.  I have…