We had family to stay - The Offspring and his lovely fiancée and the grand-dog Lola came to visit and stayed overnight. This was the first time that Lola had stayed and the cats were pretty indignant at having a d-o-g invade their space. It was funny to see Ruby (who is about the size of a little bit dropped off Lola) fluffing herself up - with the fur on the back of her spine standing on edge to show she was no pushover. Charlie gave some fierce deep growls to warn the intruder that this
Most of the weekend, I spent a fascinating and nostalgic time watching the ceremonies carried out in Dublin to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising of 1916. It was an important Centenary for Ireland and it re-awoke some personal memories of my own.
One hundred years ago my mother was just a baby of seven weeks, and my father was 14 months old, both born in Ireland but obviously totally unaware of the major events in Dublin that week. My grandfather though was only too well aware of what was going on. He had been friends with Eamonn De Valera who taught in 2 of the colleges where my grandfather had held the position just before him.
Fifty years later, I was in Ireland at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. My grandfather had just died and left behind his collection of technical and complex mathematics text books. (He had gained a degree in Mathematics and Classics) These were not the sort of thing that any of his granddaughters were at all interested in.The only person my mother could think of who might be interested in those books was the man who had once sent my grandfather messages in complicated codes with mathematical problems - Eamon DeValera who was then President of Ireland. He and my grandfather had broken off contact and ended their friendship as a result of 'the Troubles' and it was only when she wrote to tell him that he learned of my grandfather's death. As a result, he then invited my family to afternoon tea at his official residence Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin. I remember a very tall, almost blind old man (though he hid that most of the time, only admitting any problem when he asked my mother to pour the tea instead of going it himself) who admitted that he when he was asked to sing at school picnics, always sang The Minstrel Boy to the tune of The Harp That Once Through Tara's Hall. He was thrilled to receive the mathematical tomes, though I doubt that he was able to read them with any ease. No mention was made of any of the events of Easter 1916, or afterwards, even though it was the year of the 50th anniversary.
The generation of my family who lived in Ireland at the time of the Easter Rising are now all dead, but later this year, the Babe Magnet and I hope to revisit the country of their birth to mark this centenary and to visit and the family landmarks - the house where my mother was born in Clones, the church she was married in in Limerick, my grandfather's house in Dublin. That will bring full circle the memories that this 100th anniversary has sparked off.
