A warm hearth is a great comfort and a gathering place for family, friends, neighbors, and travelers, the heart of Irish hospitality. Welcome to Irish Culture, come often and stay long.

Come in 'round the peat fire, sit down, and rest yourself. What's on your mind today? Do you have a joy or a question or a worry? A memory to share, stories to tell? Post them here.

Our forebears love to be remembered---as will we---and they stay most alive when we talk about them, when we share memories of them. It eases our own passing through this mortal coil to remember those who went before us. Feel free to talk about your people, their lives and loves, their stories, idiosyncracies, and even, God forbid, their mistakes. The best stories live in families, and who knows who we'll meet on the road if our eyes are open?

I'll be tending this hearth in Meenacross, at the crossroads overlooking the bay---making tea, baking scones, making butter and jam, washing spuds, tending hens, milking, midwifing, and putting the ashes in the garden. I love the company and look forward to meeting you all.

Let us all keep the hearth fires burning with good cheer and good stories, and the wisdom of the generations.

Gr�,

Good morning to you all!

I've just posted an article on one of our family favorites, brown bread.

Irish Brown Bread

Healthful and delicious, it is appreciated by both family and guests. I love to serve it to people who haven't tasted it before. There's a look that comes over them...

Mary, that scent of brown bread baking is so familiar to me - charming article was a pleasure to read!

Puts me in mind of my John McGahern book article - I will go look for it.

I will be baking some Odlum's bread!

Hi Mary, and thanks for the invite! What a great place to gather for stories and such. I brought some sweet cream butter for that bread that is baking.

How do you make your scones? I love homemade scones with butter and jam and a good mug of tea!

Hi,



Thank you.

I'll have a good source for the Irish baking products in a couple of days; I'm almost out of whole meal flour myself.

I had a slice of brown bread with melted cheddar on it today. I haven't been hungry at all since. (At least not until I started thinking about it now!

My Dad would have called a pan of Irish Soda Bread a scone, and the O would have been pronounced very long. O like O'Donnell rather than o in on.

But! Here a scone is an individual bread, a smaller, lighter version of my Dad's feast. A little cream, a little sugar, some raisins, Craisins, maybe even some candied peel. They're always great.

I'll work up the recipe and post it soon.

Thanks for the butter! Here's your tea.

Oh! I also brought a little peat log for your hearth.

May your cottage be filled with laughter and may it ring from floor to rafter.

Ah, thanks for the turf! There's no perfume to match it.

Laughter, yes---and music too! We're "mad for trad" around here, and listen to all kinds of Irish music. Planxty is a favorite, as is the great uilleann piper, David Power.

There's always room for dancing in the kitchen.

Lovely day at the crossroads. In Ireland, spring flowers come up a full two weeks ahead of NYC. The "rocky road to Dublin" is lined with a profusion of daffodils. Pansies are popular as well. They love the Irish climate.

Be well, my friend.

It's funny, the other day, I was reading a bit John (himself) had written:

Baltimore - Baile an T� Mh�ir - Townland of the big house. There are a few places in America that have Irish language place-names. There is a Baltimore in west Cork, but the Irish for that Baltimore is D�n na S�ad. However, there is another Baltimore, in County Longford and it is called Baile an T� Mh�ir in Irish.

The Baltimore in Maryland is named after Cecilius Carver, the second Baron Baltimore who was a member of the Irish House of Lords and later became the founding proprietor of the Maryland Colony. (His father George, the 1st Baron Baltimore was to get the proprietorship but died shortly before he was able to receive it.

So, there's more to Baltimore than meets the ear. My dad used to get happy when we drove through Baltimore, and he'd see O'Donnell Street.

I always thought Bayonne must be an Irish word because there were so many Irish-born people (and then their families) living there, and the name sounds so good with a brogue. It was only recently that I came across Bayonne on a map of France.<G> Ah well.

Does anybody have a favorite Irish place name that has been "transplanted" elsewhere, like Dublin, Ohio?

I love the Irish pubs around Nevada. One is called "Filthy McNasty's Irish Bar"

Others are:

Corrigan's Bit O'Ireland
Foley's Irish Pub
Napper Tandy's Irish Pub
Paddy and Irene's Irish Pub
Shea's Tavern