Last Thursday night my cousins Mike and Tom Malloy came to Galway for the night. The next morning we were to go to County Mayo, the home of our Great-Grandmother, Mary Burke and the site of the Gronell estate. We were to catch the bus to Partry a small town near the aforementioned estate and walk, hoping to find it. We had an old map and directions from family members but still weren’t sure how easy it would be. We awoke to a beautiful day (which means no rain) but we all knew not to jinx it by making a comment on the weather. We made it to Co. Mayo perfectly. The bus was easy enough as it stopped right in front of a pub in Partry. And when we went inside the bar keeper knew exactly were we were to go. A man at the bar even said, “oh yeah the Gronell Place. I know where that is…” I was filled with pride and happiness!! People in Ireland knew my family’s name like it was a local family in a small town, which actually it was for many years.
The property was about a 15 minute walk down the main road. Luckily there was a footpath and loads of sheep and other farm animals to make the trek all that more pleasing not to mention safe. The house itself is in ruins but we expected that. It had been at least 20 years since anyone had lived there. And houses like it were common all over Ireland. Small, made of stone, with what used to be thatched roofs. They were abandoned for more modern housing in Ireland or wherever people emigrated to. Back to the story…
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The three of us took numerous amounts of pictures, both of the house and each other. It was a proud moment for us all as we looked at old pictures of our grandparents and realized that we were standing in those very same places. We then met Eleanor the neighbor living across the street, who happened to be going for a walk. She and her family had bought the land from my Grandmother about six years ago and she had met many of my aunts and uncles who had come to visit at one time or another.
She invited us to go to her mother in laws house which was situated next to hers and just down the road. We were on a roll as everything seemed to be working out perfectly. Maura was a delightful woman at approximately 85 years of age. She was mildly forgetful but she knew our Grandmother May Gronell and was happy to entertain us. After about thirty minutes of
questions about our time in Ireland, our family and talk of the weather we all gave her a hug and proceeded on our way back to the bus stop.
On our way we took more pictures from behind the old house and of a local church that we suspected our great grandparents attended while still in Partry. One stained glass even was donated on behalf of our family.
That evening we caught a bus to Limerick for my cousin Mike’s Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. We woke up Saturday and headed to University Limerick. We thought we would take Bus Eireann but it zoomed right past us. Luckily another bus came shortly after and was headed directly to the University. We made it to the campus and were lucky enough to see a flying Frisbee appear over a hill top. Amazingly and quite randomly we had found the tournament! The pitch, consisted of three main fields with games or practice going on on each. Tom was there watching
Mike get ready for his second match of the day. Cousin Mike must have talked us and our frisbee skills up because we were quickly recruited for the Cork B team (which was made up of non-students or beginner players) as soon as we got to the field. We found Tom and he became our photographer. The team was very friendly and happy to have some subs to make the game a tad bit less strenuous for everyone. They lent us shirts and everything. The game was a bit lopsided in the other teams favor but yours truly did make a diving catch that lead to our first score.
The property was about a 15 minute walk down the main road. Luckily there was a footpath and loads of sheep and other farm animals to make the trek all that more pleasing not to mention safe. The house itself is in ruins but we expected that. It had been at least 20 years since anyone had lived there. And houses like it were common all over Ireland. Small, made of stone, with what used to be thatched roofs. They were abandoned for more modern housing in Ireland or wherever people emigrated to. Back to the story…
squared.jpg)
The three of us took numerous amounts of pictures, both of the house and each other. It was a proud moment for us all as we looked at old pictures of our grandparents and realized that we were standing in those very same places. We then met Eleanor the neighbor living across the street, who happened to be going for a walk. She and her family had bought the land from my Grandmother about six years ago and she had met many of my aunts and uncles who had come to visit at one time or another.
She invited us to go to her mother in laws house which was situated next to hers and just down the road. We were on a roll as everything seemed to be working out perfectly. Maura was a delightful woman at approximately 85 years of age. She was mildly forgetful but she knew our Grandmother May Gronell and was happy to entertain us. After about thirty minutes of
questions about our time in Ireland, our family and talk of the weather we all gave her a hug and proceeded on our way back to the bus stop.On our way we took more pictures from behind the old house and of a local church that we suspected our great grandparents attended while still in Partry. One stained glass even was donated on behalf of our family.
That evening we caught a bus to Limerick for my cousin Mike’s Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. We woke up Saturday and headed to University Limerick. We thought we would take Bus Eireann but it zoomed right past us. Luckily another bus came shortly after and was headed directly to the University. We made it to the campus and were lucky enough to see a flying Frisbee appear over a hill top. Amazingly and quite randomly we had found the tournament! The pitch, consisted of three main fields with games or practice going on on each. Tom was there watching
Mike get ready for his second match of the day. Cousin Mike must have talked us and our frisbee skills up because we were quickly recruited for the Cork B team (which was made up of non-students or beginner players) as soon as we got to the field. We found Tom and he became our photographer. The team was very friendly and happy to have some subs to make the game a tad bit less strenuous for everyone. They lent us shirts and everything. The game was a bit lopsided in the other teams favor but yours truly did make a diving catch that lead to our first score. The rest of our day was spent in downtown Limerick. We toured King John’slong.jpg)
Castle and walked around the city taking in all the shops, wonderful architecture and old buildings. The Castle was awesome as it offered a great view of the city and the Shannon River. Not to mention all the history it held. On the river there were about five kayakers playing in some rapids. Very neat to watch as they did tricks and turns to stay in a small pocket of the river that was particularly fierce.
After our sight seeing we met up with Mike, Tom and the team for dinner and trip to Riddler’s Pub, a seemingly tame place with cheaper prices than the Pubs in Galway. Eventually we made it upstairs to find the DJ and the “real party”. We didn’t know this but people from the various Frisbee teams had agreed to dress up Halloween style with the theme being video games. We saw great costumes like pacman and his ghost, two sonic the hedgehogs, the Mario brothers, and Lara Croft.
The team invited us to play again on Sunday but we decided to sleep in and head back home at our leisure. We slept in and made it just on time to the bus station to catch the bus back to Galway. All in all it was a great weekend. Full of fun people, a new city and a healthy dose of ultimate!
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Castle and walked around the city taking in all the shops, wonderful architecture and old buildings. The Castle was awesome as it offered a great view of the city and the Shannon River. Not to mention all the history it held. On the river there were about five kayakers playing in some rapids. Very neat to watch as they did tricks and turns to stay in a small pocket of the river that was particularly fierce.After our sight seeing we met up with Mike, Tom and the team for dinner and trip to Riddler’s Pub, a seemingly tame place with cheaper prices than the Pubs in Galway. Eventually we made it upstairs to find the DJ and the “real party”. We didn’t know this but people from the various Frisbee teams had agreed to dress up Halloween style with the theme being video games. We saw great costumes like pacman and his ghost, two sonic the hedgehogs, the Mario brothers, and Lara Croft.
The team invited us to play again on Sunday but we decided to sleep in and head back home at our leisure. We slept in and made it just on time to the bus station to catch the bus back to Galway. All in all it was a great weekend. Full of fun people, a new city and a healthy dose of ultimate!
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