I am sure one of their favorite memories when they return will be of spending time with you and Joan. I know that is how it is with our family members who have met you. You and Joan are family treasures for many of us. Dianna PorterButte > Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:38:39 +0000 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [BEARA] Butte visitors. > > *In middle of "spilling" rain, a party of 6 lovely people from Butte, > Montana, led by Jim Barry, arrived at my door yesterday evening. As usual, > I invited them in with a heart and a half. They were there to meet me. I > hope that good people mightn't get the impression from all my research that > I am a first cousin to Our Lord !!. Anyhow, we had a great evening. Being > from Butte, there always is a particular welcome for visitors from that > part of Montana to which many, many, many, workers from most parts of > Bearawho worked in the copper > mines in Allihies emigrated when work here in the local copper mines > slackened off. Many of those miners used bring some earth from Beara to the > mines of Butte in case they would never again see Beara. and the earth > would be placed on their graves in memory of our Peninsula from which they > came. After giving them a cead mile failte (= a hundred thousand welcomes) > in Beara style, we all sat down to a most interesting evening's entertainment. > I remember many of the people from Butte, while I was there, meeting such > as Fr. Sarsfield O'Sullivan and his sister Vernie, John "the Yank" > Harrington, Tom Mulcahy, Nealie Healy (from Barrakilla, Ardgroom) and his > wife, Tracey Thornton, Ellen Crain, and many other fine helpful people who > couldn't have been nicer to Joan and myself. I was in Butte many years ago > making, with Fr. Sars, the Film "From Beara to Butte" about the copper > miners who emigrated to Butte from Beara. I told them --- Jim and the > people who were with him --- about the evening when I had a great session > with "the Yank" (who lived to be over 100) playing his single-row melodion > and me with my accordion ---- the two of us lifting the roof with jigs, > reels and hornpipes; the story of when I was walking down a street in Butte > when a man came up to me and asked "Are you the guy who was in the > newspaper yesterday ?" "How do you know ?" says I. "Well" says he,"the map > of Ireland is written all over your face !!"; and about the day "the Yank" > & I were playing our Irish music on the aeroplane terrace in Butte. A big c > rowd were around us. An air hostess must have heard us, because, when I got > on the aeroplane to travel on, she asked me if I would play my accordion > for the passengers, so, on the flight, my accordion was taken out and I > entertained the passengers with plenty traditional Irish music all the way > from Butte to Salt Lake City. I told them then about the Siege of the > oldCastle in Dunboy near Castletownbere wh > ich was destroyed when an English army of a few thousand men attacked the > garrison of 143 in the Castle in the year 1601. I showed them a cannon ball > which was dug from the ruins of the Castle by a Cork archaeologist some > years ago when he was excavating. And then. of course, I took out my > accordion and played some lively Irish traditional music for them. After > about an hour enjoying themselves with us, I told them about the museum > further west in Allihies (to which they headed) which shows many things > associated with the local copper mines and the miners who later emigrated > to Butte. They also spent a most interesting hour there as well. Despite > the lashing rain, they headed back to Killarney waving heartily to Joan and > myself standing in our door and sprinkling a drop of Holy water after them > for a safe journey. > ---- Riobard. > * > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message