The Old Schoolhouse

Ballinamore Festival 2009 and Schoolhouse Allsorts

Here we have a pot pouri of pics taken during the week when Pam and I were down at the Old Schoolhouse, Aughawillan for the Ballinamore Festival last week.

 

 

 

 

 

Two sweet old nests that Ed found when he was chopping logs from the fallen trees in the garden. Gotta love nests especially the real thing. We are always finding treasures in the garden of the schoolhouse. We found a collection of YR sauce bottles that the children used to bring to school filled with milk.

We had a great time at the festival down in Ballinamore with Pam and Zinda and Paul. We had a pub crawl on Wed. night as there was entertainment on all over the town....Jazz and Swing, Country and Western, Dj's, Karaoke, Rock, and more.....

Zinda, Paul and meself at Bobby Joe's

Zinda bought me this glam form in Mullingar Pewter. OOh la la. Love it Zinda!

 

 

Pam, Zinda and me...

At that giggly age....(50-ish!)

Scottie begs nicely for a cup of tea! These two adorn the right hand side of my halldoor inthe Schoolhouse.

The Webmaster.....On my windowsill is this little man in need of a good dusting!

An old milk churn makes a good garden ornament especially with a doty plant on top.

 

 

 

On the left hand side of my hall door are these two lovelies.

 

 

 

Now what do you think this is??

Well - it is part of a frame from an old school desk that Ed dug up when he was gardening in the girls side of the dividing wall in the garden.(Boys and girls were separated for classes) Just one of the school related things we have unearthed since we have been here.

Here is the rest of the girls' yard now growing apple trees and fairy toadstools!

 See the trees at the end of the garden? Well, one day when I was having a leisurely breakfast a knock came to the door. I opened it and a bunch of old ladies walked in!

"We planted the trees at the end of the garden during the thirties and we are having a reunion"

Well, they were already in ....and weren't looking like they were going to leave......so what could I do?

I let them wander all over and enjoyed their stories about the various rooms and the memories they brought up for them.

Yes, we actually found a red mushroom with white circles. ...  I meant to add a fairy figure and take a pic...when...batteries died. Oh well, another missed photo op.

Aughawillan Walls

My very dear friend and talented musician/singer/songwriter, Kevin Molloy came to visit us here in The Old Schoolhouse. He was so touched by its atmosphere and history and having read the book it is featured in, Memoir by John McGahern, that he penned this beautiful song...

(John McGahern went to school here and his beloved mother was the teacher)

 

Aughawillan Walls

 

 

 

Teacher tell me once again

The wonder of your world back when

How it was for you back in

your childhood Leitrim days

 

The singing of the barrack keys

Still floating the Coothall breeze

I see your face high in the trees

Your ghostly footsteps fall

 

Down leafy lanes, in Leitrim streams

Your spirit ebbs and spreys

Your heartbeat still - your silent quill

Your whisper in the trees

 

On down the corridors of time

Your childhood echo calls

Stored here for now, forever

In these Aughawillan walls

 

I feel your rhythm in the rain

The wind still whistles your refrain

That we may face the rising sun

A new dawn's spirit crawls

From Aughawillan walls

 

Teacher teach me one more time

The wonder of your every line

Let your astral wisdom shine

Till dusk as darkness falls

on Aughawillan's walls

Friends gather at the schoolhouse.

Ah yes, I had a stolen weekend [one where I thought I would be working ] but i managed to get off!!

So Sunday morning -  being my favorite time of all, fire blazing, tea and toast, I was quite content....when Zinda and Pat called in, then Pam and Paul called in and last, but not least, Bren dropped by.....Sooooh--- we had a session in "The Gathering Room"! 

A few songs and craic (craic is perfectly legal in Ireland 'cos it means fun) [Ed and Paul on guitar] I was having a ball, jokes and stories were flying and the craic was mighty!!!

 

 

Pam was taking photos left, right and center [for the blog] ...pics of treasure I have gotten over the last few weeks and interesting corners and artifacts about the place. Hope you had a good weekend too!. Enjoy the pics! Angie x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the Gathering Room from attic bedroom

Attic bedroom that overlooks the lounge and mezzanine

Uncle Tim's statue

 

 

 

Ed's family

Angie's grandmother and children (Da is the cute one top right)

  Get yer' ducks in a row!...

and the quietest room in the house...the entrance to the attic bedroom

A lovely old French dictionary with two Parisienne ladies calling cards

 

Ed's Mam's old typewriter

  A bodhran - traditional Irish percussion instrument

Auntie Eilleen's Singer sewing machine

  1950's Chocolate box

front door knocker

The lovely uppity downity corridor

Pretty mannaquin  - a gift from Bren

John McGahern Weekend in my Schoolhouse

Hi all, I'm still laid up with dodgy right arm - not a ligament intact.

However I have just survived the official John McGahern commemoration weekend here in the Old Schoolhouse. We had hordes of people doing a tour of the house as it is the one that he writes about in his autobiography "Memoir" (or All Will Be Well...the American version) ...as it was the annual celebration of this award winning Irish writer. Great book ...an amazing read by the way.

I was, of course, in the bed... indisposed don't ye' know...bad arm and all that...and found myself sneaking to the loo in me nightdress amid all these tourists making their own of me house! Ah, sufferin' heart!

I'm sure they thought I was like Jane Eyre's..mad wife in the attic!

Ah well, Pam says that's what I get for buying an historic house. They're all gone now and I can feel the peace and tranquility descending again. Ahhh, just the way I like it.

I am posting some more pics of the garden...this shows the apple tree in full blossom with apple blossoms..of course. The wall you can see is the one that separated the girls from the boys. This was taken from the girls' side of the shoolhouse garden.  McGahern writes about it on page 64 of the book.

The apples are now ripening on the tree and I hope to harvest a few before the birds have a feast on them.

 

...and here is one of the many birdhouses scattered about the schoolyard garden.  Enjoy the quiet...before next year's invasion of literary tourists!                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ssshhhh...look at the quiet

Sometimes when I am in The Old Schoolhouse alone...I can "hear" the quiet. Total peace and tranquility. How to photograph it though?..to share with others...I think I have managed it...sssshhhhhh...look...and listen.......

Will ye' have a nice cup of tea?

 Ah ye will, ye' will...go on go on go on...

Kimme and her lovely husband Patrick of irish Cottage Dreams (see sidebar) came a visiting and...I wasn't in!

Sorry 'bout that Kimme and Patrick...but if I had been in this is what you would have got and we don't take no for an answer!

So here is your virtual "cupán tae agus caca milise"

When you call again I'll give you the real thing! 'Cos I owe you...A nice cup of tea!

Beauty and the Beasts

In the Old Schoolhouse beautiful artefacts live quite happily along with well...interesting looking garden gargoyles.

Beauty is an exquisitely delicate antique Dresden statue that I rescued from being dumped in a skip when her owner passed on. She is not perfect and the lace in her dress is chipped in places. She now lives under a glass dome to protect her.

Now for the beast or rather beasts...gargoyles have invaded the dry toilets at the end of the garden. This of course is their natural habitat and as they are a protected species we cannot disturb them. They are mostly harmless and just frighten off the odd stray toursit that end up exploring the garden. Here are some more pics of Beauty and the beasts...

The Job is Oxo!

Recently while Daisy (Angie's MIL,) was rummaging in her treasure press (where she put things away years ago) she came across this delightful book published by the makers of Oxo. It was out in the eighties but has a wondrful vintage feel to it. It would bring out the latent cook in anyone!

...and of course it's no good inspiring one to cook if you don't also supply a 200 year old blue and white family heirloom cassarole dish to do it in!  Thanks Daisy! The job is Oxo! (this is an old Dublin saying meaning -"consider it done!")

...And, meanwhile Mick sniffs the air hopefully. He is surely saying "...and if there are any leftovers to be dealt with...well, I'm yer' only man - The job is Oxo!"

Schoolyard garden and more...

I have just found a mixed bunch of photos I took in and around the schoolyard. First one shows the sloping schoolyard with a rustic see saw.               

This is an old teapot that Angie uses to water her window boxes

A tranquil Leitrim lane that John McGahern describes so well in his book Memoir, next is a traditional Irish music session in nearby Battlebridge. A regular Friday night event. The local musicians just turn up with their instruments and it is always a fabulous night. Anyone playing gets free Guinness for the night. I can spot five pints on the table! The man on the left is playing a bodhran (pronounced bough-ron) which is goat skin stretched tight on a frame and played with various sticks for different sounds.

MMM...what is this sign telling us?

This is the grave of Irish author, John McGahern and his mother Susan in Aughawillan. Pic shows Angie laying some wildflowers from the shoolyard garden.

Squeezin' chickens for breakfast

Down the road from Angie's house is an old renovated house that is known as Mahon's Shop as it used to be a shop. The owner keeps chickens and sells the free range eggs from the house. So when we were preparing breakfast in the schoolhouse last Saturday Angie says to me "Nip down to the Eggman and get half a dozen fresh eggs for the breakfast"

When I got there and asked for six eggs the chap looks at me and says "but I've only got three left"

"They'll do" says I.

"Hang on a minute" says he with a wicked smile while pulling on his wellies (rubber boots) ..."I'll go over and squeeze the chickens!"

He came back with two more eggs and says "Now they are fresh!"

And so they were (straight from the chickens a...)...here is a photo of the freshest eggs ever with feathers and such still stuck to the nut brown shells - they were delicious!