Monday, June 30, 2008

Rita's Relations

Rita's father's people are from County Kerry. We were told that she had relatives in a place called Kilgobnet. No one we spoke to had ever heard of the place. Fortunately, Google had, so we were able to place it generally, near Killorglan, the place where Puck Fair takes place. Rita's father's boat was named Puck Fair in honor of his ancestors.

Unfortunately, most of the people in Killorglin had never heard of Kilgobnet either. We ended up stopping at a private home and got directions that brought us close. We asked about three more people before we found the Kilgobnet Post Office. Here's Rita with the pictures that she'd been sharing with postal employees. They got us close. The last person we talked to turned out to be the next door neighbor of our target. The place she sent us to was a working dairy farm.

We went to the designated house and Rita knocked on the door. The woman who answered was Nora O'Shea and, after a moment of hesitation, greeted us warmly and invited us in.

It was a delightful visit. We had tea and, just as we were about to leave, her son, Cormac, showed up. He runs the farm and was equally gracious.

Here's a video of the great meeting.

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