of Sutherland, Limerick and Armidale.

Part of my schooling was at Armidale High and I boarded at St John's Hostel (shown here in earlier times). I was most unhappy even though it was grander than shown here, with tennis courts and facilities. Ric Williams.

These posters painted on the outside of Dorrie Boyle's pub in Sutherland and others of lifesavers drinking beer with pretty beach-girls were my inspiration at age seven in the world of art. I marvelled how they could be painted. I think they spurred me on to a later interest in paintings.

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Six years ago: The phone rang about 3.15.”Who’s this?” ask I. “Your neighour across the street.”

“Is that you Mary?” “Yes, who else would it be? I want your son to help me. Some messages and bringing up boxes from the basement. How much does he want?”

“He says he wants six dollars an hour. That is what he got working at the Y.”

“Well that is not enough. No one should work for that. I’ll give him eight.”

“You don’t think that is too much?” I asked. I knew how to negotiate.

“Well, I’ll give him seven, then. Send him over after school..”

Mary’s father comes from county Clare. When I was in county Clare I had walked across the bridge near the ruined castle from Limerick headed towards low grassy hills.

A man walked down the rise. “Where are you for?” He asked jovially, pausing. I paused too. “I am maybe going to Ennis. Is it far.?”

“Keep walking for a week at that pace. Or best go back into town and take a coach. Have you been away in America for awhile?” He scratched his eyebrows like my grandfather Dick O”Keefe used to do. He had the same kind of face..

“Yes, by way of Australia and Canada, a good while ago.”

“Well you’re home now, anyway.” He nodded and went down the hill.

Mrs Williams (how can that be an Irish name?) had the guest house. ”The room is up the stairs. The bathroom has hot water until nine. Breakfast is at seven until eight.”

The narrow stairs led up to a room with an open door.. There was no lock. Just a swivel piece to turn on the inside. The room was small. A big feather bed, too soft. A small grate of two shillings a time gas meter. A small window, wide open, on such a cold night. I tried to close it. It would not budge.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Williams” I said descending. ”The window won’t close.”

“Yes, I know.” she replied “Better to get fresh air. And if you smoke, it will let it out.”

“But I don’t smoke and it is very cold.”

“That is why there is the fire, you see.”

“I think you will have to close the window, please.”

“If we close the window, then the gas might get you. Is that what you want?”

“I suppose not.”

“Then I’ll see you at breakfast, then.”

The bed-sheets were icy and I remembered the dorm at school in Armidale in winter. It had been cold there too. I remembered we went supperless if our rugby union team lost to De La Salle. The pumpkin pie I hated and the mince on toast for breakfast. Once, so hungry, I cut chemistry class and went down to Souris Café. A pie, peas and potato with Fountain Brand Tomato Sauce was nine pence.

Too bad, Canon Dickens spotted me as he emerged from the post office with the school mail. Detention and the Emu squad for one week.

The gas fire sputtered and I did not renew it, aware of carbon monoxide poisoning. My feet were still icy and I curled them up and dozed off.

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County Cork to Tipperary.(my mum was an O'Keefe and proud of it.)

This area was held by the O'Keefes, princes of Fermoy and anciently chief of Glanworth (and Glen Avon), before they moved west near Duhallow. Besides Kerrycurrihy and Imokilly, the entire central part of the county, between the rivers Lee and Blackwater, formed a portion of the ancient territory of Muskerry, which name the western portion of it still retains. The remainder, to the north of the Blackwater, formed, before the English conquests, a principality of the O'Keefes, called Fearmuigh

It was the summer of 1998, when the squabble over "Angela's Ashes" was still in the literary news. Driving back to Minnesota after a vacation in the Rockies, I ventured into North Platte, bypassing the franchise land that has sprung up along the I-80 exits and heading into the now mostly forgotten town center. A storefront sign read "Espresso and Irish Specialties." Inside, I found a floor space from another era living out the last chapter in its retail life as a used books and furniture store. At the back of the store, a fountain counter featured espresso drinks, sandwiches and Irish trinkets. An older gentlemen stood behind the counter. Overhearing his accent, I asked him: "So, if you don't mind my asking, where are you from?" "Limerick," he replied with a brevity uncharacteristic of the Irish. I couldn't resist. "So," I continued, "did Frankie McCourt make up all those stories?" "Look at me!" He ordered. "How old do you think I am?" "Middle sixties?" I guessed. "That's right," he said. "And how old do you think Frankie McCourt is?" "About the same." "That's right. Same age, same Limerick, same time." The man was visibly angry. "Now you tell me how could McCourt tell the world all those terrible lies about the Church and the priests?

in 1997 McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" was the first in a series of messages about a trust betrayed by the Irish Catholic Church. In 1998 a story broke about the discovery of a mass grave of 133 young women unearthed when the Good Shepherd Convent was closed in Cork. The women were among the thousands of "Magdalenes." These were young Irish girls committed to orphanages run by the nuns where the girls labored in the infamous Magdalene Laundries. Their crime was to have born a child out of wedlock or perhaps to have impressed a parish priest, teacher or family member as displaying a promiscuous personality.

The Magdalene Laundries 6 min - 9 Jun 2008 www.youtube.com

The Good ShepherdMagdalen Laundry 7 min - 21 Apr 2009 www.youtube.com Someone once said the only thing really new in the world is the history we don't know. The Irish people are learning that right now and it's a painful experience. It began five years ago when an order of nuns in Dublin sold off part of its convent to real estate developers. On that property were the remains of 133 women buried in unmarked graves, and buried with them was a scandal. As it turns out, the women had been virtual prisoners, confined by the Catholic Church behind convent walls for perceived sins of the flesh, and sentenced to a life of servitude in something called the Magdalene laundries. ............................. One of my ancestors who happened to be a king. (Ric) ENEAS O'KEEFFE, 411 - 489*, King of Munster (1, 3, 4, 5), 453* - 489*, 36 years (3), son of Nadfraich (1, 3, 4, 5). Patrick was welcomed to Cashel and Aeneas was baptized by him about 454 having his foot peierced with the crozier (1, 4). Munster christianized at 3 pence per convert. Aeneas set a royal tax to support the Christian Church payable each 3rd year. Half Aeneas childern went into the service of the Church. South Munster occupied by the Keeffes and other Eoghanachts extended to the Suir on the East, to Tipperary & Kilfinane on the North, to the ocean on the South, and thru Slieve Lougher to a line from the head of Kenmare bay to the Shannon on the West. Aeneas gave Mag Feimhean (East Iffa & Offa, Middle third & a part of Clonmel Barony) to the Deise (distant relative who became hereditary gallowglasses & servants to the Kings of Cashel; their land almost surrounded it.) Aeneas (Aonghus) m. Eithne, daughter of Crevane, King of Leinster, & of Congain, his wife. Eithne was reared by the Deise in Munster and was called singular (Ilathach) because of their having fed her flesh of human infants to make her grow more rapidly. They were told by a priest (Druid) that she would marry a king and that they would receive title to lands as a reward for rearing her (4). (Corc, grandfather to Aeneas & other babies were said to have had their ears cropped by the Deise when infants, the flesh being fed to other children to make them grow healthy.) Aeneas and his wife slain in the battle of Ceall Osnadh, (Col Carlow) in AD 489 (1, 4). Three sons left dynasties, namely Felim for whom the (3, 4) Sullivans & McCarthys, Eanna from whom the O'Dalys of Munster, & the eldest son

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