Christmas Eve Music # 1 - Silent Night - Gaelic

Rest in Peace - Liam Clancy

Irish Music Video

This is great.....

Sunday's Irish Music # 1 - Beat of My Heart

Sunday's Irish Music - Chieftains

Intro by the late Frank McCourt

Sunday's Irish Music # 1 - Salty Dog

Irish Entrepreneurs pitch in to get Celtic Tiger back on it's feet

Good article in Irish Central on efforts to improve business in Ireland

http://url4t.com/p6T -

Keep Striving for Peace in Northern Ireland

Here are a couple of links from Irish Central with information on the ongoing efforts to keep and build on the peace in Northern Ireland.



http://url4t.com/MEO

http://url4t.com/t0h

Rest in Peace - Cousin Pat

Today I attended the funeral services for my cousin Pat Gavin, he was brought back into my life a year and half ago by our cousin Sharon. She is in Germany and couldn't attend the services. These are the words she sent me to share with Pat's wife Judy and the family.

In just one moment our lives can change forever…

Ours did when Auntie Maggie in Ireland ask that we find her Sister’s families that had moved to America in the 1920’s…
In finding our Cousins we found more than just our family; we found a friendship and a kinship that has spanned the many miles between us.

And here we are in another ‘moment’; a bittersweet moment in that we are so very thankful for having known Pat, albeit for such a short time, but also so very sad that we didn’t get to share any more precious memories or indeed make many more…

Our International family in Ireland, England, Germany & Australia, joins you in mourning the passing of Pat.

We also join you in celebrating the life of Pat and would like you all to know that thanks to Pat’s generosity of spirit he will always be remembered as the cousin who held the key to our past! Pat opened up a whole new world to us in sharing precious family photo’s that none of us had previously seen; this will be his legacy to our International family…

Rest in Peace Pat.x

Cousin Sharon Burton

After Glow…

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one…
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done…
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days…
I’d like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun, of happy memories that I leave now that my life is done…



Pat’s Aunt Maggie O’Donnell is having a mass said for Pat in Foxford, County Mayo this week

Pat’s Cousin Marie Quinn is having a mass said for Pat in Attymass, County Mayo in the same church where Pat’s Mother Mary (O'dDonnell) Gavin attended as a child.

Rest in Peace - Cousin Pat Gavin Goodbye My Friend and Cousin

Today I discovered my Cousin Pat Gavin passed away in his sleep after a long battle with cancer. I was seven years old when our families fell out and we lost contact with each other. Over a year ago we found each other and came back into each other's lives. I celebrated his 70th birthday and danced an Irish Jig with him and his brother and my other cousin Jim. We spent time with each other and he and his beautiful wife Judy welcomed my family into their family. The time was too short we spent together but I feel blessed to have been reunited with him. He was a great guy and great cousin. he will be missed and loved by all who knew him, family and friends.
Rest in Peace Cousin Pat and I hope your are in Heaven dancing up a mean Irish Jig.

Sunday's Irish Music - Foggy Dew

Irish Movies - Stories From Home & Peacefire

Just saw the following films @ the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival last night. Gabriel Byrne was there for a Q&A. A interesting and fun night.


GABRIEL BYRNE: STORIES FROM HOME, Dir. Pat Collins. A revealing look at the life and creative impulse of Gabriel Byrne ("In Treatment"), one of the most respected actors of his generation. Using intimate interviews and extracts from his journals and diaries, this is an evocative and insightful film with universal appeal.

Plus "Atlantic," (Ireland, 2008, 4 min.) Dir. Conor Ferguson. A quietly gripping tale of a lonely farmer and the potentially life-changing letter on its way from the woman who loved and left him many years ago.

PEACEFIRE, Dir. Macdara Vallely. Colin (John Travers, SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY) is a joy-riding hood who couldn’t care less about the local political situation. But a chance encounter with a ruthless detective (Gerry Doherty) turns him into an informer for the so-called forces of law and order and a target for retribution for his father’s old mates in the Irish Republican Army. "...

Plus "Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty" (Ireland, 2008, 6 min.) Dir. Nicky Phelan. A seemingly sweet old lady loses the plot as she tells her version of Sleeping Beauty to her terrified granddaughter.

Sunday's Irish Music - Ronan Tynan's Ireland

Thanks to Andrea Antoniazzi Devlin - Friends of Ireland group on Linkedin

Sept 11 2001 - Never Forget - 8 Years Ago

An Irish Tribute and rememberence of Irish and Irish American lost on 9/11 and support for America's loss

http://www.irishtribute.com/index.html

Irish-American Writer William Kennedy Life Time Achievement Award

Irish America Writer William Kennedy given life-time achievement award. Read the full story @ Irish Emigrant Online

http://url4t.com/A5q

I remember reading all his books when I was in college......

Irish Movie - "At Swim - Two - Birds"

Here is some information on what sounds like an interesting Irish film heading in to production. The writer is calling the Irish acting team the" Pat PacK'

Check it out on irish Central

http://url4t.com/-6a

Sunday's Irish Music - Finbar Furey

Irish Movie - "The Commitments"

I just watched "The Commitments" again. What a great movie. One of my favorites. Makes me miss Ireland. Hopefully on my next visit I'll be able to spend more time in Dublin.

Personal Ramblings - Happy Birthday from Foxford

Life is Great.

This morning we got a Skype call from Foxford Ireland.

My 95 year old Aunt Maggie and cousins from Ireland, UK and Germany sang Happy Birthday to my 12 year old daughter. Then my Aunt Maggie sang "A Mother's Love".

Two years ago I had no contact or knowledge of my relatives and now they are singing Happy Birthday to my daughter from a pub in Ireland. Life is truly amazing.

My 95 year old Aunt Maggie just had an eye operation that restored her sight so you could see us very well in the laptop.

My Irish cousins have never been on Skype, they live on a mountain top in Glanduff. And we were found and reconnected because of the Internet and the efforts of my cousin sharon

We feel totally blessed. It doesn't get better than this.

Thanks Cousin Sharon and Gary. Up the O'Donnell's

Sunday's Irish Music - 2009 # 2 - Why Murphy's Not at Work Today

Thanks to James Hayes - Founder Friend of Ireland (FOI) on Linkedin

Sunday's Irish Music - 2009 # 1 - Galway Bay

Personal Ramblings - My Heart Is in Glanduff

I wish I could be there again, on the mountain in Glanduff where my mother was born and where my Aunt Maggie and my cousins Marie and John and Seamus still live.

My cousin Sharon and her family and her dad my cousin Tony and his wife will be visiting this week with all the O"Donnell clan. Last year I was there twice with them for two amazing and miraculous visits.

I am with them in spirit on this one and send all my love.

So up the O'Donnell's and here's to Aunt Maggie and raise a toast of potcheen for me and have a safe and great trip.

Sunday's Irish Music - 2009 # 1 - Enya

Thanks to Elaine A. DeJesus CPhT - Linkedin - Friends of ireland (FOI)

Tribute - Immigrant Eyes

I just discovered this song and video by Girsa. It's a tribute to their immigrant grandfather who came to America from Ireland and arrived at Ellis Island. Very moving and it reminds me of my father Pat Duffy and mother Ann O'Donnell who arrived at Ellis Island in 1928 from ireland. The came for the American Dream and worked hard and passed it on to me. I will be eternally grateful and will always remember them. This song helps to remind me and to appreciate their courage and sacrifice.

Sunday's Irish Music -2009 # 1 - Luke Kelly Raglan Road