Monday, November 24, 2008

Family Gathering

There now appears to be a set precedent in my family of origin, which dictates that if one of us is about to leave on a trip to some faraway place, my eldest sister, who loves to entertain, will arrange a family gathering at her home in Dundrum prior to the departure of the would be traveller.

Those gatherings also extend, of course, to the return home of the person. The most recent one took place on Wednesday night last to celebrate her own return from the Holy Land to where she had gone on a ten day pilgrimage with her local church group.

We were treated to a beautiful meal and a slide show of the brilliant pictures she captured while she was there. My sister, although very modernised, still hasn’t succumbed to the digital camera era. She prefers to take pictures and slides with her trusty film camera as she maintains this method of photography calls for more expertise than the point and shoot convenience of the digital camera.

Well we had a great time and I’m looking forward to the next gathering which I expect will take place to celebrate Judy and Tom’s arrival next March – I’m really looking forward to that one.

My journey home to Nenagh took me past the 13th Century Cistercian Abbey at Holy Cross. The Abbey, which is bathed in flood lights, afforded me an opportunity to get some nice pictures of this magnificent building.

13th Century Holy Cross Abbey

My Paternal grandparents lay at rest here in the adjoining cemetery. They were once buried within the confines of the Abbey, but some years prior to the restoration of the abbey in 1974, the remains of the people buried within its walls had to be moved to the adjoining cemetery.

The surviving relatives had to attend this ceremony to ensure the proper identification of their loved ones resting places and the subsequent re internment of their remains.

It must have been a very poignant and emotional task for all those involved. In the case of our family, this task was undertaken by my late father who spent many days on the site while the remains of his parents were exhumed and re interred.

Another view of the abbey

Friday, November 14, 2008

Endeavour Lifts Off

Riding a brilliant tower of flame into the night sky, the space shuttle Endeavour left Earth on Friday, carrying seven astronauts on a 15-day mission to the international space station.

The space shuttle Endeavour launched on time at 7:55 p.m. ET on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in eastern Florida, mission managers announced.

"Preparing our home in space for a larger international family," launch commentator Candrea Thomas said during liftoff.