“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”Earnestine Ulmer
National Dessert Day is celebrated every year on October 14. It is a fun holiday that honors all kinds of sweet treats, such as cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream, and brownies.
No one knows exactly who started National Dessert Day, but it became popular through food websites, holiday calendars, and social media. The day was created to encourage people to enjoy desserts and celebrate the happiness that sweet foods can bring.
The history of desserts goes back hundreds of years. Long ago, people enjoyed simple sweet foods like honey, fruits, and nuts. As sugar became easier to get, people began creating many new desserts.
Over time, cooks invented recipes for cakes, pastries, puddings, and cookies. Today, desserts are enjoyed around the world and are often part of birthdays, holidays, and other special celebrations.
There are many fun ways to celebrate National Dessert Day. You can bake your favorite dessert at home, visit a local bakery, or share treats with friends and family. Some people have a dessert party where everyone brings a different sweet dish to enjoy.
Others try a new dessert they have never tasted before. No matter how you celebrate, National Dessert Day is a great time to enjoy something sweet and spend time with people you care about.
What’s Your Favorite Dessert?
The Irish apple tart is often considered the most popular and iconic traditional dessert in Ireland. It is a simple dessert made with sliced apples baked inside a buttery pastry crust and is commonly served warm with fresh cream, custard, or ice cream. The Irish apple tart has been enjoyed in Ireland for generations and is especially popular during the autumn apple harvest.
KIDS IN THE KITCHEN
Irish Apple Tart
Ingredients
2 cups flour
½ cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
6 tbsp cold water
6 small pink lady apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 egg, beaten
Whipped cream or ice cream, to serve
Directions
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 ̊F and grease a 9-inch ovenproof plate.
Place the flour in a large bowl and rub the butter into the flour and toss through 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Add six tablespoons of cold water, bring the dough together using a cold knife to create a soft dough.
Roll out half the pastry to the size of the plate and lay across. Toss the apple slices in the remaining sugar and arrange over the pastry, leaving about 1-inch diameter around the outside edge.
Roll the remaining pastry a little wider than the plate, dampen the edges of the pastry which is on the plate and place the second piece across the top of the apples. Seal the edges using a knife or fork. Hold the plate with one hand and using your other trim any excess pastry from the rim of the dish using a knife.
Poke the top of pastry with a fork to allow the steam to release or cut four slits into the pastry near the center, but not joining. Brush the pastry with the egg wash to create a golden crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is nice and golden brown and the apples have softened.
Literature Corner
The Cookie Crumbles by Tracy Badua and Alechia Dow.
The Great British Bake Off meets Knives Out in this fun and propulsive middle grade novel following two best friends who must solve the mystery behind a baking competition gone awry.
For ages 8-12, 320 pages.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Nuemeroff
This book is a great first introduction to Mouse, the star of the If You Give series, and a perennial favorite among children. And with its spare, rhythmic text and circular tale, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is perfect for beginning readers and story time!
For ages 1 and up, 40 pages.
Lardie’s Laughs
Q: What room does a ghost avoid? A: The living room!
Q: Why don’t vampires have lots of friends? A: Because they’re a pain in the neck.
Gab in Gaelic
Will you have a piece of cake? = An gabh tu pios caca? (pron: on govh two pee-sah caw-kah)
Statement from Green Party Leader Roderic O’Gorman
“Now is the time that all countries have to ramp up their efforts to reduce emissions so that the overshoot is as small and short as possible. We have the natural resources here in Ireland to allow us to lead on this and to put pressure on the international community to play their part.
This country has been dominated by two political parties that make decisions based solely on short term political gain. They have to move away from making decisions that will impact our lives and the lives of our children and their children simply because they can’t think beyond the electoral cycle.
That means investing in wind, solar and battery storage and not importing fracked gas from superpowers. That means spending money to enable households and businesses to reduce their energy use. That means large scale recycling, keeping our waters clean, building sustainable public transport, investing in nature restoration. These are all things that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have not done.
While the headline from the UN is scary, the report itself is full of hope that we do not have to wave the white flag, there is so much more we can do.”
So states former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The British leader shared his opinion in a recent broad interview with The Guardian newspaper.
It is encouraging to hear British establishment figures acknowledging this straightforward and logical statement. A very much welcome statement, particularly in contrast to Taoiseach Micheal Martin’s disappointing, maddening and incomprehensible mealy-mouth comments that the current focus should be on handholding rather than on any border poll.
Even more frustrating is his timing, stating this shortly before his first visit with new U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burham. This weak-tea statement by the Irish Taoiseach gives the U.K. P.M. a free pass to put the Irish question on the back burner.
For goodness’s sake, if the Irish government is not pushing Irish unity, who should be? Dublin continues to fail to lead on the issue of Irish Unity.
Halloween Limerick
A ghost a witch and a broom, and a ghoul and a bat in a room, Stayed up very late, so that they could debate, About who should be frightened of whom.
JFK
Remember when the word “Presidential” meant something positive and consequential? To remind ourselves, I share the following quote from JFK, given at Amherst College a month before his death in Texas. The President, who was a Pulitzer Prize winner author himself, speaking on The Arts and Literature shared:
I look forward to a great future for America, a future in which our country willmatch its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose. I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our natural environment, which will preserve the great oldAmerican houses and squares and parks of our national past, and which will build and balanced cities for our future.
These words are even more beautiful and remarkable in contrast to the mono syllabic noises of the gauche resident currently defiling the White House. Viva La Resistance!
Presidential Response
Infantileis the nature of President dTrumps response to a court order to remove his name from the Kennedy Center. The dTrump Administration is threatening that The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts will need to be torn down and replaced by an outdoor bandstand if dTrumps name is removed.
Evidently dTrump is the only one who can “save” the living memorial to the slain 35th President. If dTrumps name is forced back on The Memorial, it might be preferable to tear it down.
Evidence of Collusion
Cadawallader’s book was later made into a Royal Television Society award winning documentary, “Unquiet Graves.” Check it out free on Youtube.
The human rights organization, The Pat Finucane Center, recently unearthed documents showing that the British Government, then Prime Minister Edward Heath’s office, put pressure on the BBC to provide false and incomplete information of the Brit Army’s murder of 15-year-old Danny Hegarty in July of 1972. A memo from Northern Ireland Office (NIO) press secretary shows that the Brit authorities knew Danny was an unarmed teenager and that a Brit soldier shot him twice in the head at point blank range with his “general purpose machine gun” without provocation.
It continues to be unearthed decades after the fact. Evidence of the collusion by and between British intelligence and Loyalist paramilitary death squads. The basic case was made in Anne Cadwallader’s seminal book on the subject, “Lethal Allies.”
It continues to be unearthed decades after the fact. Evidence of the collusion by and between British intelligence and Loyalist paramilitary death squads. The basic case was made in Anne Cadwallader’s seminal book on the subject, “Lethal Allies.”
The NIO Press Secretary wrote in his August, 1972 memo that “After a major effort, the NIO managed to get the item removed from Monday’s programme.” Further evidence of Collusion was also recently shown with the admission by convicted Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member Paul Beattie. The Belfast Telegraph recently reports that Beattie was one of the UVF’s most active gunmen and was sent to Maze prison for murder and later released under the general amnesty provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.
The NIO Press Secretary wrote in his August, 1972 memo that “After a major effort, the NIO managed to get the item removed from Monday’s programme.” Further evidence of Collusion was also recently shown with the admission by convicted Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member Paul Beattie. The Belfast Telegraph recently reports that Beattie was one of the UVF’s most active gunmen and was sent to Maze prison for murder and later released under the general amnesty provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.
Beattie shares he fully accepts he killed people and would gladly give relatives of his victims the truth about what happened. The Telegraph goes on to quote Beattie: you see at the end of the day loyalism was run by MI5 – when Sinn Féin called us ‘death squads’ they were 100 per cent right because we were being controlled by MI5 – they were sending us out to kill people. Note: MI5 is shorthand for British Military Intelligence, Section 5, the United Kingdom’s domestic counterintelligence and security agency and the core of the Brit secret intelligence machinery.
Irishtown Bend
Great Viewson the worldwide interweb will give you some great visuals of anticipated aspects of the proposed 25-acre Cuyahoga River front park. www.irishtownbendpark.org/irish-heritage. Of particular interest is an ability to share family history and ties that you and your relatives might have to Irishtown Bend.
The first of three phases is now complete with the stabilization of the sliding hillside. Also good to see the massive billboard at W. 25th and Detroit Rd., which sat upon the top of the former Royal Castle HQ building is now down and gone. The view of downtown is fantastic.
The second phase focuses on the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail and the third phase will be the actual park, anticipated to be completed in 2029 and include the following elements: Great Lawn – concerts, events, watch the fireworks; Wetland Healing Garden – sit quietly to watch butterflies, read a book; Hilltop Grill Garden – buy picnic items at West Side Market and have a meal; Amphitheater – to watch the freighters navigating the S-curves, watch rowing competitions, movies projected on the footings of the Detroit Superior Bridge; Pond, bike and walking paths, and a cafe to sit and have lunch or grab and go.
Irishtown Bend pogress winning great response
This generational project will be impactful on Cleveland and honor its waterfront heritage. The Park will beautifully link to the Greater Cleveland An Gorta Mor (Great Hunger) Memorial (aka Irish Famine Memorial) sited further up the Cuyahoga, via the Center Street Swing Bridge and across from the Flat Iron.
The Irish American Archives Society has been a significant contributor to forming the Cleveland Irish American experience story; however, it is important that as park plans continue to solidify that the Irish community continue to lobby to keep the Irish in “Irishtown” Bend. This is a great opportunity to memorialize the Irish immigrant experience and the Irish contributions to the Greater Cleveland and Great Lakes region.
How to Lower LDL Cholesterol Without High Dose Statin Therapy
After my annual lipid panel results came back higher than usual, I asked my physician to order advanced lipid testing. I expected the results to reflect the healthy lifestyle I had maintained for decades. However, my testing revealed elevated apolipoprotein B and elevated lipoprotein(a).
The lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), result was particularly important. Lp(a) is predominantly genetically determined and is considered a cardiovascular risk-enhancing factor. Although my current cardiovascular risk remained relatively low, my physicians recommended reducing both my LDL cholesterol and ApoB to below 70 mg/dL to reduce cumulative atherosclerotic exposure over the coming decades.
My primary-care physician prescribed rosuvastatin at 5 mg per day (the lowest commonly prescribed daily dose). However, for anyone who knows me, this was obviously unacceptable. I immediately began researching what I could do, and as a result, I implemented a structured, evidence-informed strategy. Approximately two months later, my lipid panel showed my LDL had fallen nearly 60%.
Not a Statin-Versus-Lifestyle Experiment
It is important to interpret this result correctly. I began rosuvastatin and intensified several dietary interventions simultaneously. Therefore, I cannot determine precisely how much of the reduction came from the medication and how much came from the dietary changes. This was not a randomized trial, and I did not complete a statin-only treatment phase.
Rosuvastatin was almost certainly the largest contributor. In the randomized SPORT trial, rosuvastatin 5 mg lowered LDL cholesterol by an average of approximately 38% over 28 days. Applied to my starting LDL of 113 mg/dL, an average response of that magnitude would have produced an LDL near 70 mg/dL. – My actual result was 49 mg/dL.
That difference does not prove that my dietary regimen contributed the entire additional reduction. Individual responses to statins vary considerably. Nevertheless, my result is consistent with research showing that several evidence-based dietary interventions can produce additional LDL lowering when used alongside medication.
My Healthy Regimen
1. Rosuvastatin: 5 mg Daily.
I used a low dose, rather than high-intensity statin therapy. Statins reduce hepatic cholesterol synthesis and increase the liver’s clearance of circulating LDL particles.
I did not use red yeast rice or other supplements intended to imitate statin activity. Prescription rosuvastatin provides standardized dosing, established manufacturing controls and extensive cardiovascular-outcomes evidence.
2. Psyllium Husk Twice Daily
I consumed psyllium before breakfast and again with or before my afternoon meal.
Psyllium is a viscous soluble fiber that interferes with bile-acid reabsorption. The liver must then use additional cholesterol to synthesize replacement bile acids. Controlled research generally demonstrates modest but meaningful LDL reductions with regular psyllium consumption.
Importantly, research examining psyllium as an adjunct to statin therapy has found that adding psyllium can provide further LDL lowering beyond statin therapy alone. Because psyllium may alter the absorption of medications, I separate it from my prescription medications according to product and physician guidance.
3. Plant Sterols with Meals
I consumed the labeled therapeutic dose of plant sterols, distributed across meals. Plant sterols resemble cholesterol structurally and compete with it for intestinal absorption. A daily intake around 2 grams has commonly produced an LDL reduction of approximately 8–10%, although individual responses vary and higher doses do not necessarily provide proportionally greater benefit.
Plant sterols should not be viewed as a substitute for indicated medication. They are an adjunct that may help reduce intestinal cholesterol absorption.
4. A Portfolio-Style Dietary Pattern
My dietary changes resembled elements of the Portfolio diet, which combines several established cholesterol-lowering foods: viscous soluble fiber, soy and other plant proteins, legumes, and low saturated-fat intake. In tightly controlled feeding studies, a complete Portfolio dietary pattern has produced LDL reductions approaching those seen with an older, first-generation statin.
Real-world results are generally smaller because adherence is less exact, but the strategy remains evidence based.My weekly protein pattern emphasized foods such as tempeh, tofu, edamame, beans and lentils, salmon, skinless chicken breast, and 99% lean ground turkey.
5. Lower Saturated-Fat Exposure
My diet was already considerably healthier than the average American diet, but closer analysis identified several recurring sources of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol: whole eggs, dark chocolate, nut butters, and hidden coconut oil in several “healthy foods.”
None of these foods were harmful in isolation. The issue was cumulative exposure.
For the intervention period, I eliminated whole eggs, higher-fat dairy and discretionary saturated-fat foods. I continued consuming nuts, seeds, olive oil and fish because these foods predominantly contain unsaturated fats and have broader nutritional value.
The goal was not to remove all fat. It was to replace more saturated fat with unsaturated fat and plant-based protein.
What my experience does (and does not) demonstrate:my experience demonstrates that a highly motivated patient may achieve a very large lipid improvement. It does not demonstrate that everyone can achieve an LDL of 49 mg/dL with this regimen. It also does not demonstrate that dietary interventions can replace statins in patients for whom statins are indicated.
Baseline LDL, ApoB, genetics, medication response, adherence, metabolic health and established cardiovascular disease all influence treatment requirements. Some individuals will need higher-dose statins, ezetimibe, PCSK9-directed therapy or combinations of these treatments.
The more useful question is,what is the lowest-burden combination of evidence-based interventions that safely gets me to my treatment target? In my case, the answer may be a very low dose of medication combined with a highly targeted nutritional strategy. Rather than treating medication as permission to disregard diet (or treating diet as proof that medication represents failure) the two approaches can be complementary.
The central lesson: my LDL cholesterol did not fall by 57% because of one “miracle” supplement.It fell after I combined the strongest intervention: prescription lipid-lowering medication with several smaller, evidence-supported interventions that acted through different physiological mechanisms.
The statin reduced cholesterol production and increased LDL clearance. Psyllium increased bile-acid loss. Plant sterols reduced intestinal cholesterol absorption. The dietary changes reduced saturated-fat exposure and increased plant protein and viscous fiber.
That layered strategy may not eliminate the need for medication, but it may allow some patients (under medical supervision) to achieve their targets using lower medication doses than would otherwise be required. My experience should not be interpreted as medical advice or as evidence that anyone should reduce or discontinue prescribed medication. It should be interpreted as a reason to discuss comprehensive lipid management with a qualified physician rather than viewing statin dose as the only available lever.
Medical disclaimer: This article describes one individual’s experience and is provided for educational purposes only. Medication selection and dosing should be determined by a qualified clinician based on the patient’s complete cardiovascular risk profile.
The SDLP’s Colin McGrath MLA has welcomed news that the Royal County Down golf course is to receive an upgrade to its championship course, citing hopes to see the Open Championship finally come to Newcastle.
Commenting, the South Down MLA said, “The news that Royal County Down is seeking to upgrade its championship course is extremely welcome and represents a hugely positive development for Newcastle and the wider Mournes area.
“Royal County Down is already recognised as one of the finest golf courses in the world, and we saw with the Irish Open in 2024 just how much major golfing events can bring to our town.
“The prospect of these improvements potentially paving the way for The Open Championship to come to Newcastle is particularly exciting. Hosting one of the biggest events in world golf would be an enormous achievement, bringing international attention, visitors and significant economic opportunities for our local hospitality and tourism businesses.
“Of course, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done before that could become a reality, but this is a very welcome step in the right direction.
“Newcastle already has so much to offer, from our stunning coastline and the Mourne Mountains to our outstanding hospitality. Investment like this will only help cement its reputation as a world centre for golf.
“I congratulate everyone involved in bringing these proposals forward and hope that, in the years ahead, we might see the world’s greatest golfers competing for the Claret Jug right here in South Down.”
If you have never thought of, yet alone, tried Apple Shortcake, here is how to make what you have been missing.
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
4 Large Biscuits or Scones
6 Apples I like a mix of Granny Smith and Gala
3 teaspoons Cinnamon
½ cup White Granulated Sugar
½ cup Caramel Sauce
8 dollops of Whipped Cream
Directions
The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it all from scratch and as homemade as you like or make it entirely from store-bought ingredients.
You can make the biscuits or scones or buy some wonderful ones from local bakeries.
Peel and slice the apples. Toss in the sugar and cinnamon and set aside. If you are adventurous, pick the apples yourself from one of the many fruit farms we have in this area.
Slide the biscuit or scone in half and place both sides open faced in a bowl or dish.
These can be warm or room temperature.
Top with whipped cream – this can be from a can, tub, or made from scratch.
A bowl, whisk, some heavy whipping cream, a little powdered sugar, and a splash of vanilla and you have amazing, whipped cream.
Drizzle caramel sauce over the top. Again, this can be warm or room temperature.
The leaf you reach for after that most annoying Irish country complaint, a nettle sting, is called a dock leaf. It takes the sting out. I know the Saw Doctors’ nickname has nothing to do with those leaves, but the image fits: their enduring gift is turning ordinary rural Irish life into mostly light-hearted anthems that take the sting out of the everyday humdrum.
Ambling Away?
That gift was on my mind when I saw the young and surprisingly popular band Amble, in Cleveland at the end of July. The large bar was packed, standing room only, beers sloshing liberally.
But when their most popular song, “Mary’s Pub,” began, the crowd became one, singing right over the band. Amble seemed genuinely surprised to have their lyrics sung back to them in a city they had never visited. These scenes are direct parallels to a Saw Doctors concert.
Then someone shouted for “The Green and Red of Mayo.” Lead singer Robbie Cunningham politely declined, saying, “Yeah, it’s a good song.”
That moment of interruption and polite decline made me miss my Saw Doctors. It left me wondering if there was a generational shift happening and the Docs were on their slow slide to the musical dust heap. Was a handoff of the torch of Irish cultural troubadours in the making?
Don’t Count The Saw Doctors Out Just Yet
That handoff matters, because the Saw Doctors have spent most of their career being underestimated, the punch line of “what’s playin’ in the tractor?” The music business once suggested they would never be more than local legends. Forty years later, they are still playing to crowds who know every word of their deep catalogue.
So when I scanned the pre-festival hype for the annual outdoor Irish music festival, I looked for them on the list with nerves and my old loyalty. Amble were a headline act, and the Saw Doctors were on the bill too.
I am emotionally attached to the Docs, and I felt a bit of trepidation on their behalf: yes, they are doing limited touring and were last in Cleveland in 2025, but it felt possible that they might be dated or had overextended their shelf life.
But don’t count them out. The band that made the papers after Electric Picnic was the Saw Doctors. They played the instruments for “The Green and Red of Mayo” while the champion Mayo footballers mounted the stage and sang along with the audience. If any of the Saw Doctors were singing, you couldn’t hear them.
Irish Springsteens
How do they still manage to cause so much enthusiasm and loyalty when bands that were once their contemporaries are now relegated to singing their one-hit wonders before shuffling off the stage? The Saw Doctors songs speak to the Irish soul in a Patrick Kavanagh, Bruce Springsteen kind of way. They are the pedestrian poets of everyday, rural, small-town life, and that is why their music keeps finding those rooms full of people ready to sing along.
Their poetry is local and specific. Listen to “Red Cortina.” There is certainly some Springsteen in the wistful depiction of unrequited first love: a girl, emerging from a car with no thought but going to school, totally unaware of how she affected a boy. The towns in “Never Mind the Strangers” and “Sugar Town” may have passed a mythical prime, but the days they describe are so real you can taste the tea.
The songs also move into rural work, sports and the little rituals of small-town Irish life. “Hay Wrap” is a a punny rap on the excitement of hay making as a kid. That song generated one of my all-time favorite T-shirt lines: “get that wasp off my sandwich.”
“The F.C.A.” explains why the average Irish lad might join the Irish Army, nicknamed the “Free Clothes Association”. Other songs capture the epic importance of local sports, especially football in the West. “ Broke My Heart” is all about the frustration of knowing you could save the day if only somebody would pass you the damn ball. The wistful “To Win Just Once” is relatable to every Cleveland resident, and it is soo much more.
Their best-known songs turn those specific, idiosyncratic details into relatable anthems. “N17” was the first, capturing all the angst of late-1980s emigration. It begins with the drive to Shannon from the West and ends with the fear that you can never go home again.
In concert, the band is drowned out by the audience singing that song back to them. It is the same with “Green and Red of Mayo,” a triptych of Mayo that takes in everything from Clew Bay to the last Sunday in July, when pilgrims climb the Reek. “Joyce Country Céili Band” manages to parody a country band while getting the audience out of their seats with the same country music.
The Genuine Article
We have met them casually a few times, and they are exactly who you think they are. Davy is a great man to meet out, quick with stories, smokes, and rounds. Leo is a little more unpredictable, a warm curmudgeon. He has been “small-town sweet” talking about a mutual acquaintance’s Granny.
Another time, in Neachtain’s, he was clearly looking to have a quiet pint when we said hello, but his curiosity got the better of him, and we ended up in a long chat about the state of the Irish language. We had to fight our way out of the conversation to get to the door.
The following summer, I saw him at Neachtain’s again. I said hello and reminded him that we had talked there previously. His reply was, “Oh, I suppose you think I’m sitting in here drinking all the time.”
Then he posed for a photo with me. I can’t think about it and not laugh.
That warmth is what really makes them special. Their songs radiate friendship: a universal kindness, a “look, here we all are” kind of vibe. You walk out of their concerts smiling, looking at those around you with the camaraderie that comes from all having been at a small-town gig with the local lads. And it’s a party.
That is why the dock leaf image fits after all. The Saw Doctors take the sting out not by going away from ordinary life but by highlighting how worthwhile that life is. Their songs are all about friendship, place, and belonging.
You leave a Saw Doctors concert smiling at strangers because for a few hours, no one is a stranger. And, of course, there’s the party.
American Brexit Committee Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
President Trump’s recent visit to Ireland included his remark that “…Irish unification would be fantastic.” The New York Times news item depicted that as breaking a ‘precedent’ although none was cited. The President’s casual but repeated remark must be viewed in the context of his mostly ad hoc, chaotic, transactional and disruptive foreign policy. There was no official purpose for the visit i. e. a US-Ireland policy shift. But as Gerard Howlin of the Irish Times noted: “A U. S. President’s words [on Irish unity] matter.” Think of the President’s ‘diplomatic trash-talk’ as a recognition that Britain has forfeited any right to govern in Ireland.
Just what ‘precedent’ was violated by the aspiration for a reunited Ireland? There is none save Britain’s wish to exclusively dictate America’s Irish policy. The so-called ‘US-UK special relationship’ is complicated and has suffered ever since the American brokered 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and Britain’s 2020 break from the EU. Britain’s opposition to Ireland’s reunification, and its violent lawless legacy there has ruptured that relationship. There is a difference with a distinction, for example, between President Trump’s casual reference to an aspiration shared by many in Ireland, America and around the Irish diaspora and the dismissive “off the table” dictate by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The conduct of such a referendum is a Treaty obligation; the wording and timing is negotiable. Unilateral action by the British would violate both the letter and spirit of the Good Friday Treaty. Britain’s days of dictating to Ireland are well and truly over. Apparently, both leaders fail to realize that the reunification of Ireland is a ‘low hanging fruit’ prize with tangible benefits for both countries in a world awash in conflict.
HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS
The modern era of Irish history (1918-present) was preceded by 17th century Penal Laws which punished use of the Gaelic language, banned Catholic liturgies, imprisoned Catholics, and deprived vast parts of the population of education. The 19th century brought genocidal land clearance and deportation policies resulting in deaths of millions. Cromwell’s Protestant soldier/ settlers were paid with stolen land. This gift was to guarantee the violent persecution of Catholics in the 20th century conflict. Whitehall provided the media with the innocuous cover label ‘troubles’ to mask its sinister purpose. The following actions indicate America’s unprecedented and ongoing demand for British accountability in that conflict.
The result of the British General Election of 1918 was an overwhelming (72%) vote for Irish independence advocated by Sinn Fein and Labor candidates. Many of the successful candidates were in prison or unopposed. Refusal to grant Ireland independence followed imposition of martial law, sets a precedent for abandoning the rule of law. American public demands clemency.
In 1919 the British Conservative leadership conducted treasonous efforts to arm NI loyalist and anti-Catholic bigots. The British Army leadership refused movement of troops to suppress armed Protestant rebellion in North. British Army Irregulars (Black & Tans) deployed to terrorize throughout Ireland. America supports self-determination!
1923 Parliament adopts partition without even one Irish vote. Northern Ireland carve-out touted as “a Protestant state for a Protestant people” becomes the consolation prize for the Conservatives and a bastion of anti-Catholic hatred. In 1968, Britain responds to civil rights protests with lawless killing, human rights abuses and imprisonments. U. S. President Jimmy Carter establishes a precedent by publicly protesting police human rights abuses and violence of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Suspends RUC arms sale.
Two decades (1970-1990) of Hunger strikes, plastic bullet killings, murder of Sinn Fein elected officials and campaign staff, unjust imprisonments, systemic housing, employment and voting discrimination and a widespread campaign of killing by loyalist murderers with the help of British Army, police and MI-5. In 1995 American President Clinton wants dialogue and sets another precedent by issuing a visa to Gerry Adams, then a Member of Parliament.
Britain tries to bury their corruption of law and justice in NI with a 2023 N. I. Legacy law opposed by all in Ireland. The Law is a violation of 1998 Human Rights Act, the EU Constitution, the EHRC and violates the letter and spirit of the GFA treaty. In an unprecedented act, President Biden issues a diplomatic notice called a ‘demarche.’ Britain withdraws the law for amendment.
IRELAND AND BRITAIN TODAY
Soon after his election, Prime Minister Burnham was briefed by the Ministry of Defense on the current status of the Risk Register. Northern Ireland has been resident on the Risk Register since its creation in 1921. After Ireland became a Republic In 1949, British Cabinet papers noted: “Northern Ireland should remain in His Majesty’s jurisdiction even if the inhabitants voted to leave.” London’s policy of anti-Catholic discrimination required a garrison economy, and a corruption of law and justice. Two incidents, the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings (33) and the 1998 Omagh bombing (29), killed 62 innocent women and children and maimed hundreds more. These so-called ‘bookend bombings’ framed the intensity of the conflict: one fomented and sustained by Britain’s lawless police, Army, intelligence forces, spies and double agents. The murder of attorney Rosemary Nelson in 1999 was a GFA postscript message to America to ‘butt out’ of Britain’s affairs.
Britain’s Legacy Law 2.0 is being reviewed in Parliament and little changed. The lawful investigation and prosecution of 1100 killings is to be abandoned so as not to blow the cover of complicit security services. Britain’s policy was to delay those processes and to obstruct all lawful requests for information on those killings. The Ministry of Defense remains a law unto itself and will not include references to the involvement of spies and double agents responsible for as many as 500 of those 1100 killings. Job #1 for the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Bryant, will be to defend the revisions with Ireland and the related legal, human rights and victims’ groups and to insure its adoption. After that, a discussion of a timetable for the reunification referendum becomes simply a bargaining chip exercise.
Conservatives see the timetable demand to hold an Irish unity referendum as an intolerable distraction not as a GFA Treaty obligation. They argue the effects of Brexit, a Starmer budget heavy on the military spending, growing N.I. Legacy costs, and Labor’s agenda spell gridlock and for a push to the back burner. These circumstances in the past, would yield a staple tactic of the security services. Stir the pot of loyalist anti-Catholic hatred and savor its destabilizing effect. Enter the Orange Order, a customary tool for such purposes for their trek down the Garvaghy Road
FUTURE MIRED IN MENACE?
America can make another meaningful contribution to ending Britain’s ‘forever’ manipulation and menace of Ireland. Skip the reunification referendum for what it always was, a British ‘stall tactic’, and proceed to a Parliament proclamation for Ireland’s unity. Ireland needs a leader who will not go ‘bananas’ over reunification. The UK needs a Prime Minister who has staying power. The EU is key to a trifecta for peace and prosperity: a) the reunification of Ireland; b) the return of the UK to the EU and c) the financial and political support of America in a new economic colossus.
In the meantime, we thank the following Members of Congress for their letter to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Bryant recognition of yet another threat to the Irish peace process.
Richard E. Neal (MA) Timothy M. Kennedy (NY) Brendan F. Boyle (PA)Lloyd Doggett (TX)
Stephen F. Lynch (MA)John B. Larson (CT)Joe Courtney (CT) Mike Kelly (PA)
William R. Keating (MA) Val Hoyle (OR)Debbie Dingell (MI) James P. McGovern (MA)
James Gallagher (CA)Jimmy Gomez (CA)
Please extend to them your appreciation of their concern. Join your voice and activism for Ireland’s unity by joining the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Irish American Unity Conferenceor the Brehon Law Society.
Among the grazing sheep in a field in County Roscommon, are the remains of a monumental mound. Rathcroghan was at the center of the ancient kingdom of Connaught that thrived during the Iron Age, two thousand years ago. This important historical site is being considered by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Rathcroghan’s archaeological sites date back even further, about 5,500 years. There are burial mounds, ring forts, standing stones, ritual sites and the entrance to a cave.
Oweynagat was believed to be a gate to the Otherworld. Druidic beliefs centered around nature and the interconnectedness of all life.
Many of their rituals honored the cycles of nature and the changing of the seasons. The druids believed in a type of reincarnation, where the soul could be reborn into a new form of life after death. All, alive or dead, were members of the community.
Yearly Festivals
Historians believe that it was at Rathcroghan two thousand years ago that the feast of Samhain, the Irish New Year, originated. In pre-christian times, the year was divided into summer and winter. There were four important festivals observed during the year.
They were more than just feast days, they brought the entire community together. Disputes would be arbitrated and settled, community protection was discussed, marriages, trading and all manor of social activities would occur.
Imbolc was celebrated on the first of February, it coincided with lambing season. Bealtaine followed on May 1, and marked the end of winter. A time for growth and fertility.
The harvest was celebrated on the first of August, it was dedicated to the god Lugh and called Lughnasadh. Samhain was on the last day of October. It marked the end of the year and the beginning of another. It was also the time of year when the inhabitants of both worlds were at their closest.
At Rathcroghan, the celebrations would include offerings to the spirits of the Otherworld. Animal and sometimes human sacrifices would be among the offerings.
The Otherworld was home to Tir na nÓg, the land of the immortals, demons, beasts and monsters. At Samhain, they could pass between both worlds, many finding passage through Oweynagat Cave.
Oweynagat (oh-ee-na-gat) is the anglicized form of the original Uaimh na gCat, which translates to cave of the cats. So named due to the legends of the wildcats that were sent to test the warriors and heroes from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. It is also home to the Morrighan.
The entrance to the cave is small and lies in the shadow of a hawthorne tree. Ireland is dense with historical sites and Oweynagat could have easily been lost like so many others.
Nature has a way of taking over, obscuring such places. It would be very easy to overlook, had it not been for the extensive archaeological studies of the area.
During the feast of Samhain, the spirits, monsters and ghouls would leave their home in the Otherworld and ravage the surrounding landscape, stripping it of anything remaining after the harvest. The people benefited from that activity, as it helped prepare the fields for the coming winter.
To protect themselves, the people would light ritualistic bon-fires on the hills and in their fields. To go unnoticed by the visitors from the Otherworld, they would dress as ghouls themselves, so as not to be dragged through the cave where they could not escape.
Some archaeologists believe that Rathcroghan may be Europes largest unexcavated royal complex. It predates Ireland’s written history and has only been studied using noninvasive technology. Scientists are collecting artifacts found in the area in order to attempt to understand Rathcroghan’s role in Ireland’s history.
The Irish have known of the site for centuries and of it’s place in mythology. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that a team of researchers began to use remote sensing technology, a form of underground mapping, to study the secrets buried in the earth.
That approach minimized the damage to the site, preserving Rathcroghan and Oweynagat Cave for the centuries to come. As we celebrate our Americanized version of this Halloween, remember it’s Irish roots. There are stories from Irish mythology and folklore that are scarier than anything Hollywood has dreamed up. Ok, Dracula was pretty scary, but wait, he was Irish too!
Clusters of deep purple blackberries are ready to burst along the brambles that line the path from St. Patrick’s School to the rolling hills above the village of Rock Strand. Petey and Paddy Corrigan know the route well as it winds through town and past all their favorite shops.
“Paddy, this time of year is surely heaven on earth. Just look, we have all the blackberries in the world ready to stuff into our mouths on one side of the lane and Big Tom’s Emporium of Sweeties on the other. Sure, life doesn’t get better than this.”
[Pic 1] The twins were known among the villagers for their mischievous charms, as well as their talents. Petey could sing like heaven’s own cherub and Paddy was St. Patrick School’s spelling bee champ.
On this autumn day, the sun dimmed pink and purple across the village of Rock Strand. The fields seemed even more beautiful because Bridie McCracken and her twin sister Rosie decided to allow Petey and Paddy to accompany them home from school.
Rosie was as sharp as a nettle in June, and her sister, well, she could sing like a robin in spring. Rosie and Paddy may have been rivals, but Paddy could only be so competitive when he thought of the grand freckles that dotted her nose. Sure, didn’t Petey reckon the wee spots that swept across her sister Bridie’s cheeks looked as sweet as a pack of chocolate buttons.
“Boys,” the girls lectured in unison like only twins can. “Big Tom won’t like it if you smear up his window with your greedy faces pressed against that glass. Sure, ye both are slobberin’ more than our collie Poppy!”
The Samhain Harvest Fete was a mere three weeks away, and Big Tom had all his sweets displayed in true celebratory fashion. Every year, Tom McIntyre hosted a homemade sweetie competition. Talented confectioners across Rock Strand vied for the win.
Big Tom would give the winning sweet a proud display in the storefront window. A miraculous confection in itself, Big Tom’s window was filled with carved turnip men, strange creatures with bulbous heads and hooked noses who peered into black vats teeming with wrapped candies.
In another window, branches of bog oak held willow baskets bursting with Licorice Allsorts and colorful Wine Gums shaped like tabby cats. The bowed windows were draped with tattered muslin curtains. Long branches of elderflower and prickly blackberries from the wood on the Stoney Bank Road draped the borders.
“Sure, isn’t it as eerie as the Banshee’s howl, Rosie,” whistpered Paddy. “This here window gives me the same shivers as those tales Mr. Yeats tells in his Celtic Twilight.”
Rosie began to recite, “In Ireland, this world and the world we go to after death are not far apart. I have heard of a ghost that was many years in a tree . . .”
“Aw, would ye two stop recitin’ poetry or prose, or whatever tis’. Ye are both diminishin’ my appetite for the sweeties in yer turnip man’s cauldron,” moaned Petey.
Pulling his thick black spectacles down the wide slope of his nose, Big Tom finally took note of the four children outside his shop. “Will ye youngsters stop droolin’ on my prize window and come in to say a proper hello?” laughed Big Tom McIntyre.
“Do forgive me Mr. Tom, but Bridie and I never slobber. That poorly habit is reserved for wee dogs and hungry lambs, like our companions here,” chastised Rosie with a nod toward the boys.
“Come in children,” welcomed Tom. Perhaps young Petey would trade a song for a pack of sweets? the jovial shopkeeper laughed.
After three rousing choruses of TheRattlin’ Bog, the children were rewarded with a bag of penny candy each. As the children turned outside the Emporium and walked toward the bog road that led out of town, the sun was nearly tucked into the horizon for the day.
Autumn nights fell swiftly in Rock Strand. The wind seemed to raise the branches of the rowan trees that grew sparingly in the bog. Sure, didn’t they look like the goblins in Big Tom’s window. Chilled, the children huddled together, hugging their heavy books and bags of sweeties close to their worn woolen jumpers, as they made their way home.
The Corrigan’s cottage rests just above McCracken’s Field. Though the night began to thicken over hills filled with heather and great tufts of McCracken’s famous holly bushes, the boys wanted to see the girls safely home before heading onto the stone path that led to the their own cozy cottage.
A fine baker, Mrs. McCracken always had baskets of fresh currant buns waiting for visitors. The children could just see the welcome figure of Mrs. McCracken through the candlelit window. She was standing at the hearth stirring a pot of deliciousness.
Sensing the change in weather, Bridie and Rosie’s da had already brought the cow into the shed for the night.
A man who could tell a tale as fine as any seanachie, Mr. McCracken would often remind the children, “When the wind shifts north and the autumn wind whistles like a fairy’s pipe through the furze, tis’ a night for the Sidhe, the fairy folk, to arise and traipse through the fields of Rock Strand.”
Before running up the path to the McCracken’s half door, the children carefully closed the sturdy gate. Mr. McCracken crafted it from ocean reeds and field stone. Surely, it could keep out a fairy or two.
As the gate creaked shut, however, the children thought they heard the shrill tune of a fairy’s pipe and the low moan of words floating on the wind. They looked at one another with terror in their blue eyes.
Sure, their collective imagination was as vast as the sea. They remembered a line from one of Mr. McCracken’s most haunting tales.
“Shree, shree, no more shall ye traipse through the fields that belong to the Sidhe.”
Startled, Bridie grabbed hold of Petey’s hand. On a fine day, Petey would be pleased as punch with this endearment, but on this windswept night, he was as frightened as Bridie and grabbed tight to Paddy’s arm, while Rosie clutched her books even tighter.
The children were almost at the McCracken’s red half-door when a cloaked, bulky figure appeared to creep out the cottage’s side door. In the spare light of the new moon, the creature appeared hunched over and draped in dark linen.
“Rosie, Bridie, I do hope that is your neighbor Joe who lives on the road below the field,” whispered Petey.
“Sure, its knickers must be near as big as your Auntie Nor’s. I’ll swear off my readin’ if that t’isn’t a giant from the land of the Sidhe,” croaked Paddy.
Feeling brave, Petey took over, “Paddy, stop your squawkin’ and let’s get Bridie and Rosie safe to the door and the warmth of their mammy’s kitchen.”
Petey took Bridie firmly by the hand with her book satchel safely tucked under his arm, while Paddy stepped in front of Rosie, guarding her from phantom dangers. Feigning courage, the brothers were nearly faint with fear at the thought of the Sidhe creature.
“Mammy,” shouted Bridie and Rosie in unison. Mrs. McCracken smiled at the sound of her girls and teased, “By Saint Anthony’s donkey, ye wee’uns near gave me an early death.”
“Surely, the look in Mrs. McCracken’s eyes and stutter in her greeting was as queer as a fox cub howling at the summer sun,” thought Paddy and Petey. “Maybe the crayture took over the Missus’ kitchen already. A grown changeling!” whispered Paddy.
“Lads, I have your currant buns at the ready, but ye must be runnin’ along straight away. The wind is calling for a fairy night.”
Sure enough, the rowan trees sang to their fairies all through the long dark evening. At bedtime, Paddy and Petey were still unsettled as they huddled beneath their goose down blankets, comforted only by the dim glow of their new battery charged torches. To pass the dark hours, the boys read from Mr. Yeats’ Celtic Twilight and reread the tale of The Wee Woman.
Early the next day, the lads met Bridie and Rosie out in the field where they were helping their da with the cow. “Girls, we think t’was the Wee Woman who came to call on yer ma last night.”
“Sure, she didn’t appear wee to me,” questioned Bridie.
“Y’see, the Wee Woman t’isn’t really wee. She tends to the Little People, the fairies. So, they call her the Wee Woman. In truth, the Wee Woman is bigger than yer Auntie Nor,” whispered Petey.
“So, ye lads reckon that humped crayture we saw was the Wee Woman payin’ a visit to our mammy,” queried the girls.
“Aye, and trouble she is. She’ll make yer ma work twice as hard. Mr. Yeats says that the Wee Woman slips into the family life and on Hallow’s Eve will pass the night with yer ma by the hearth,” explained Paddy.
“Sure, the next day, there won’t be any saints at your table, only the Wee Woman who will have taken yer mammy’s place,” continued Petey.
Wee Woman or not, the two sets of twins had plenty to do in the upcoming weeks. The October days turned to night by the time the children finished play practice for the upcoming Harvest Fete.
Mrs. Honor Jack, the music teacher, was directing a brilliant play called The Hound of the Baskervilles. Petey and Bridie were to sing the part of the baying hounds, while clever Paddy and Rosie were cast as Sherlock Holmes and Watson.
Pockets loaded with treacle toffees from Big Tom, the children once again found their way through McCracken’s darkened field. Mrs. McCracken’s kitchen glowed with familiar light, but a rare scent of sea salt and golden syrup rose up from the chimney. Feeling like Hansel and Gretel approaching the gingerbread house, the children walked entranced toward the cottage.
The cow was again in the shed, and the night air was unnaturally still. A faint creak rose from the back of the cottage.
The eerie silence turned into a loud uproar when Bridie and Rosie’s collie Poppy and the boys’ own spaniel Blarney careened around the cottage corner with a torn willow basket and an oddly familiar brown tattered shawl.
“The hounds, the hounds have taken down the Wee Woman,” cried Petey. The three children almost fainted with the terror of it all, as the humped crayture, larger than any human, made its way toward the excited dogs.
“Holy Mary, what is all this racket about,” scolded Mrs. McCracken.
“Mammy, Mammy, watch yerself. Tis’ the Wee Woman comin’ to take yer place at our table,” cried Bridie.
“Well, I’ll be donkeyed,” laughed the shawled figure. “Wee, I ne’er been called!”
The four children turned a scarlet brighter than the dawn before a storm.
“Missus, uh Auntie Nor,” stuttered Petey. “We thought ye were The Wee Woman, the mother of the fairies stealin’ yer way into the McCracken home, and we aimed to stop ye,” said Paddy.
“The only thing you children are preventin’ is my winnin’ the homemade sweetie competition at the Harvest Fete,” laughed Mrs. McCracken.
“Nor here was visitin’ me as of late to share her secret recipe for treacle sweeties. Ah, with the bayin’ of the hounds and children, sure the whole of Rock Strand will know that I have a conspiracy tied to me apron strings!”
“We beg yer pardon, but would ye mind if the hounds and us starvin’ children could avail ourselves of these sweeties in the basket?”
With the full moon shining bright over the village of Rock Strand, Paddy and Petey spent an hour tasting the finest sweets in the county, while Rosie told her mother and Auntie Nor all about Yeats’ Celtic Twilight.
“Ach, surely if the Wee Woman were to come to your table Mrs. McCracken, she would never leave,” exclaimed Petey with a wink at Bridie and her grand freckles.
