Following from lister Sarah K. - "Jean, when I was subscribed to the Scotch-Irish List, a query came through (see below) and the beautiful answer written by Joe McMaster. I saved, and occasionally read it. Mr. McMaster told me he is not a writer: I disagreed. Maybe your faithful audience would enjoy? I think he would be pleased. See both the query and answer below. Query - "If you were to take a trip to Northern Ireland to research your roots, what would you hope to see?" Joe: "Your question prompted me to write a reply, and since I grew up in County Antrim which is just up the road from you your question was of interest to me. For what it is worth I grew up in Ballymena in the County of Antrim and I don't recall being taught the local history in my going to school years, albeit those were many years ago. We were taught all about English history and that was not too bad of course except that in the meantime we somehow allowed our own history and it's icons to slip past us and fall into ruin. I am thinking that as a prime example of that mentality, was the Adair Castle in the town of Ballymena which was left to fall into wreck and ruin before finally burning down ... such a loss of our own history. The town of Ballymena as you might or might not know, owes it's birth to the Adair family and here we let this piece of our history be destroyed. But I think that prompted certain peoples to try and preserve their historical monuments, and so historical societies were formed. Perhaps my opinion is biased because whenever I returned to Northern Ireland I didn't go as a visitor but as someone returning home and so Yes! I wanted to see things from my own country and it's history preserved. In this day and age we have the ability to drive up to a thatched cottage and let loose the wrecking crew and within an afternoon we can tear down that cottage and put it into a dumpster to be hauled away .... and all of this can be done before supper time. What would excite my senses more than anything would be to leave that cottage standing and allow me to spend the same amount of time as that needed by the wrecking crew, an afternoon perhaps to just sit there and let my imagination run wild as I sit inside that cottage and try to envision the family that might have lived there and did they survive the famine years okay? and if they did, how did they manage to do that. Ah! the stories you could tell me ... and hush now! can you not hear the children laughing? A peat fire burning in the hearth would be a nice touch, and a chair to sit on by the fire as the local story teller spins his yarns and recites his poetry in the glow of the oil lamp flickering in the waning light of a Winters day. And a drop of the Irish whiskey to warm the belly and soothe the soul would be much appreciated as news of a wake being held for one of the neighbours down the road is relayed to us, by this very same story teller of course, sitting here by the open fire. Somewhere in the room someone picks up a fiddle and quietly plays a lament that embraces the words of the story tellers sad tale of the famine and the hunger and even the children's laughter is gently quiet as the story tellers words are carried off into the cold night air outside our little cottage. But inside somehow, despite all of the hardships of life, all is well for a little while in our little thatched cottage. As the peat fire burns warmly in the hearth and family and friends sit around and gather up the warmth from it as the sound of the home made whiskey being poured into a glass tells us that there is indeed another story yet to be told ... here in our little thatched cottage." Merry Christmas to all. December 2000 Joe Added Note - Talented and tall actor Liam NEESON ("Schindler's List" & "Michael Collins") grew up in Ballymena in the 1950s. Steven Spielberg has cast him in the leading role of a movie about Abraham Lincoln, to be filmed in 2009. Jean