The Land of Our Ancestors

I'm half Irish. My mother is 1/2 Irish ~ her maiden name is Kelly. My father is also 1/2 Irish ~ with relatives from Tipperary I believe. While I'm not a 100% Irish decent, it was still exciting to be in Ireland where I am descended from. My mother's side of the family has some very defined roots in Lawrencetown, which is in East Galway.

First we headed to the Milk Market in Limerick, which is on our way to the north. (We went through Limerick everyday except once to head north.) It's a traditional country type market. There was fresh cheese, breads, chocolates, fish, and so on. The weather was lovely ~ cold, rainy, and cloudy. We enjoyed the narrow streets, difficulty navigating my mother in the wheelchair, and the weather that was working on getting us sick. We bought cheese. I love cheese. Uncle Dan bought some lovely veggies ~ which would later become our meal on Monday evening.

After we chaotically ran around town, we ended up heading north to Lawrentown. We found the road to our ancestors by reading our way through the map... it was a bit tricky, but we got there all right.

There is one major attraction for the twelve Kellys in tow. The Church! We're all god fearing people, and clearly in need of a church. He he he. There is a very special window that was dedicated to my great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother. It's a beautiful stained glass scene with a small plaque commerating them. In addition, there is an offertory stand asking you to pray for the donor ~ Mamie Maldoune Kelly.

After getting busted by the local priest for our raid of the church and our continual picture snapping, we did the logical thing a group of Kelly's should do. We went to the local pub. The barmaid was friendly, a "football" game was on, and we got complimentary "chips," popcorn chicken, and mini sausages. Delicious.