Welcome home Judy

Well, Judy is home from her trip to Italy and Greece. She and Christopher arrived safely in Minneapolis in the early hours of this morning after a gruelling and exhausting trip from Athens. I have to be honest and say, while tracking her journey last night on line and hearing about the long enduring layover at Frankfurt airport, that I thought to myself there is no way that any trip is worth this.

The layover of more than 6 hours in Frankfurt was anything but a pleasant experience, but then what layover is? Airport staff though and the way you are treated can make such a layover either a nightmare or slightly tolerable. Certainly having to vacate your seats when you are comfortably settled, to await the long delay, to make way for travellers catching an earlier flight is something I have never heard of in my life.

I contrast this with my stopover at Chicago when I was returning home from Minnesota. Two aircraft left from the same gate as ours before our flight was due to depart. Was anyone asked to vacate their seats to make room for the passengers boarding those flights? Heck no!! There, airport staff were kind and courteous and went out of their way to make everyone comfortable. And remember, this was Chicage O'Hare, the largest and busiest airport in the world.

I'm sorry for venting about this, but it upsets me when people I care about are treated with less courtesy and dignity than they deserve - especially in Europe which is my neck of the woods. I live in hope though that perhaps I am not considered a European yet. I'm quite happy to remain an Irishman - thank you!!

Well that said, I talked to Judy earlier today and she is somewhat the worse of wear from her trip and suffering from jet lag and a cold. I hope a good rest will soon have her right.

She shared some of her marvellous pictures with me of the places visited on their trip. I have to say it forces me to reconsider my earlier observation. To hear her talk about the places they visited on the tour and the quality time she spent with her grandson Christopher, plus the wealth of pictures which she captured and which I hope she will soon be able to share with everyone, must surely have made the whole trip worthwhile.

Welcome home Judy. We all missed you.

My Visit To America....Part5

Visit to Estherville Iowa

Wednesday March 14 was the day I was due to talk to Sara Beth’s class of sixth-graders at Armstrong-Ringsted School.

The class was doing a unit on Ireland and the Wright family thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of my visit and have me talk to them about Ireland. A great idea, but like all such things, the sacrificial lamb is the last one to know. Well in truth, I did know about it from the onset, but what I didn’t know was that there would be three reporters there from the local newspapers to record the event. Judy had tentatively told me that “well there might be one reporter there. Just might perhaps”. In the event there were three with pencils and note books at the ready to record my every utterance.

Our plan was that Judy, Tom and I would drive to Estherville, Iowa on the Tuesday where we would meet up with Adam, Sara Beth and their three children, Joseph, Kallsen, and Parker at the Wellness Community Centre where Kallsen and Parker were taking their regular tumbling class and later have dinner with them at their home. Meeting this family was another event that I had greatly looked forward to, but first there was the drive through part of the beautiful state of Iowa to get to Estherville.

Welcome To Iowa

The drive through the Iowa countryside was a great experience. There are few roadside hedges as we in Ireland know them, just the road running through acres and acres of open rolling snow covered farm land as far as the eye can see on either side. Here and there this scene is broken by groves of conifers which surround the beautifully constructed farm houses and their accompanying farm buildings.

Iowa Farmhouse and Farm Buildings

My Irish farming friends may be interested in some farming statistics about Iowa: It has about 107,000 farms. The size of the individual farm averages about 313 acres (127 hectares). In 1952 Iowa became the first state in the nation to produce a billion-dollar corn crop, although its surpluses sometimes contribute to depressed farm prices. Iowa ranks at or near the top among the states in the production of corn, soybeans (rich in oil that provides many other products), hay, oats, and hogs (pigs to us) and in the marketing of grain-fed cattle. The state annually produces more than a billion bushels of corn. Much of it is used to feed livestock.

Dairying, which provides valuable milk and butter, is an important industry in the north-eastern part of the state. This area is often called Little Switzerland. Iowa also ranks high in the production of sweet corn, popcorn, and sorghum.
Of the many famous people that came from Iowa, it is worth noting that it was the home of two men – much loved in Ireland – John Wayne and Glen Miller.

A Unique Iowa Farm Building

We arrived in the town of Estherville, just at night fall and proceeded to the Wellness Community Centre to meet the next branch of the Wright family.
Although I had never spoken to Adam and only briefly spoken to Sara Beth on video, due to the many pictures and videos I had seen of them, meeting them in person for the first time was just so normal and held no apprehension whatsoever. There were hardly any need for introductions and we were soon involved with Kallsen and Parker in their activity.

Joseph and I were old friends as we had spoken to each other many times on video. He’s such a nice pleasant young boy (incidentally, I feel great pride in the fact that we share the same name).

We arrived at Sara Beth’s school on Wednesday where I would talk to her class about Ireland. When the class of boys and girls was finally assembled, Judy introduced me by relating to them, of course, who I was, how I came to be there. When she told them how she and I became friends through the medium of a senior chat room and how our friendship later came to encompass our two families, one little guy in the class displayed his approval with an exclamation of Kool!! Kool!! He was really impressed with the chat room bit. Lol.

With Judy’s introduction and her enthusiastic supporter in the audience, going Kool!! Kool!! I thought anything after this will be a “walk in the park”. What a warm-up session it was. Any trepidation I had went out the window.

Judy’s introduction was marvellous. She was so impressive with her knowledge of Ireland and when she wrote the Irish phrase ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ on the board and explained its meaning, she stole the show. Based on Judy’s introduction and the fact that they were already doing a unit on Ireland, I thought the best approach was to invite them to ask any questions they may have about Ireland. I was delighted to see the hands shoot up. We were off to a flying start!

First I told them a little of the history of Ireland and showed them on the map where I lived. Then the questions ranged from Irish holidays, typical Irish food, (Do you have a McDonald’s in Ireland?), Irish sports, Irish fashion (Do the kid’s dress like us?). And of course the inevitable question about leprechauns (I think that one came from one of the reporters).

I told them as much as I knew about the history of St Patrick and how we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It being only three days before St Patrick’s Day, and the fact that celebration of the day has a strong tradition in this area, I had brought a good supply of St. Patrick’s Day badges. Those were warmly received by everyone present.

St. Patrick's Day Badge. GOAL is our national charity that provides assistance to victims of man- made and natural disasters worldwide.

All in all, the session went very well and it got very good coverage by all three of the media present. It was comforting though to have Adam present. Any awkward questions that arose from the reporters that I didn’t feel comfortable in answering, or that Adam felt wasn’t part of the agenda, he kicked them to touch with a question of his own. What a guy to have on your team! Thank you Adam!

Well soon it was over and unfortunately, as Tom had to get back to work, we had to say an early goodbye to Adam, Sara Beth, Joseph, Kallsen and Parker. But I would be fortunate to have many more meetings with this family at Tom and Judy’s home before my holiday came to an end.

Sara Beth

Before the Class of Enthusiastic Students

With Sara Beth and Her Pupils

Interestingly, there is a strong Irish connection to Estherville. Estherville is the county seat of Emmet County. Emmetsburg is a town in that county.

In the mid 1800s, migration from Ireland to America was at its peak. After arriving in New York, many Irishmen worked their way west. Six such families, attracted to the fertile land of Northwest Iowa, established a frontier Irish colony in Palo Alto County on the banks of the Des Moines River near the present site of Emmetsburg. In later years, they were joined by other Irish immigrants homesteading throughout several townships within the county. Later, a town was platted and named Emmetsburg in honour of the Irish Patriot, Robert Emmet, who in 1803 was executed by the English government in Ireland’s fight for independence. A statue of Robert Emmet, one of Ireland’s most venerated heroes, stands in the Palo Alto County Court House square. The culture and customs of the Emerald Isle were preserved in the area. One such custom was the observance of St. Patrick’s Day. The festivities have grown from a small group of men marching down Main Street with the Coat of Arms and green derbies to a gala three-day celebration that includes a variety of activities to please people of all ages.

The link to Ireland was further reinforced in 1962. Negotiations between the Emmetsburg Mayor and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, resulted in a joint proclamation officially declaring the two as “Sister Cities.” Through this declaration, they agreed to join together in the rejoicing and celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.