“Oh, and every day you gaze upon the sunset
With such love and intensity
Why, it’s ah, it’s almost as if you could only crack the code
You’d finally understand what this all means
Oh, but if you could, do you think you would
Trade it all, all the pain and suffering?
Oh, but then you would’ve missed the beauty of
The light upon this earth and the sweetness of the leaving”
Jane Siberry
It all started at last Saturday’s Parkrun with Brenda and Ger Bear talking about fish and Good Friday. I said something along the lines that the whole fish on Friday thing was actually a conspiracy started by Pope Pius XI and Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the Irish fisheries organisation. Now that I think about it, maybe it all started the previous evening at a history talk in Cahans Presbyterian Church on ‘The Decline & Fall of Dartrey Castle’ which as it turned out had to start with the rise , otherwise the rest of it made no sense. I went with our Jake and Dominic and we bumped into The Hannon, Margaret, and The Hannon’s baby, Wolfgang Thundercloud de Dannan Hannon-Joyce, on our way in and all sat together.
It was a fascinating talk which detailed the rise of the Dawson family in Monaghan, their demesne , the castle, the big house, and their wealth and possessions. At one time they had paintings by Reynolds, Zoffany, and Caravaggio but as their fortunes ebbed they were disposed of for fractions of what they are worth today. It was a thoroughly engaging talk, hampered at times by intermittent sound. These gaps were filled by my imagination and I was particularly enjoying my version of events where the library in Dartrey contained an unread , and unknown Shakespeare play titled ‘The Merchant of Monaghan’ , and that the Zoffany painting they had was the one with St.Matthew falling asleep while writing his gospel and an angel is gently stopping him from falling over. This painting was allegedly lost in a bunker fire in Berlin in 1946, but here it was in Dartrey…and then the sound started working again, and we were being told about the Wyndham Land Act.
When it was over we perused the kinky traybakes and bought a couple of books, or rather, Dominic and I bought two copies of the same book, ‘Full Circle – A Story of Ballybay Presbyterians’. I think this means, by Katy Perry metrics, that Jake, Dominic and I are all Presbyterians now, which Jake seems particularly pleased about.
After Parkrun I headed home to pack for my night out in Belfast with Micky, Ronan, Teagen , and Milo. I had to stop in a few shops before I crossed the border to pick up 21 packets of Tayto cheese & onion crisps for Ronan and Teagen to take back with them to London. They, like all decent people, didn’t want the Northern Tayto.
Ronan and Teagen were over for the weekend as Teagen will be starting medicine in Queens University in September. And Micky , Milo and I were there because Ronan was there. We were all at school together in St.Macartan’s College a short 40-ish years ago, and have remained best friends ever since. I’d booked dinner for us in Stix & Stones , a wonderful steak emporium, and met up with Ronan for a pint beforehand in The Crown. We were all due to meet at the restaurant. Micky arrived a little late, but had messaged several times with updates as to exactly where he was at all times, but there was no sign of Milo. Calls and texts went unanswered. This was very unlike Milo, who is generally annoyingly punctual. I said a wee prayer. Then I messaged Shane, a mutual friend, and alarmed him too, as Milo is never late for anything. Eventually we got a breathless call to say that he was on his way, and to order him the ribeye. When he arrived , wearing David Soul’s leather jacket from Starsky & Hutch, he apologised. After he apologised it turned out that I’d never told him what time our reservation was for.
Over dinner we gave Teagen our version of Irish history , which in hindsight, may have made Monaghan more central to the last 1,000 years of global events than was truly warranted, but we delivered it with great enthusiasm. David Bowie featured a lot too.
After dinner we went to the Grand Central and talked , chatted , and laughed a lot, the way 40-ish year friends do. It ended with ridiculously expensive cocktails, hugs, and more than one merry “I love you guys…no seriously…”.
I delivered the 21 packets of illegal contraband , Free STayto , to Ronan the next morning before heading home.
On Monday my Soulmate and I met up with the whole Aughey clan to go and see The Book of Mormon in Dublin. It was shocking ! Shockingly good. We laughed out loud at the show, and at the fact that Ray’s Mum was laughing the loudest of all. At the interval I told her that I’d pay good money to listen in to her next Confession after this. At the end when we were leaving , Mrs.Aughey spoke to Eileen about her parents and memories of holidays in Clogherhead when Ray and Eileen were kids. I said that it was great that we’d all got to know each other so , after attending the musical, we’d all be able to recognise each other in Purgatory.
Again, by Katy Perry’s definition, I think we’re all Mormons now.
I went for a 6 mile run with Elder Aughey on Tuesday and , as I have mentioned before , I sometimes pray when we’re running and not able to talk, so I had the surreal experience of silently saying a Hail Mary while Raymond breathlessly repeated some of the ruder lines from the show. I may end up in Hell, Ray will certainly be there ahead of me.
Of course this being the week where I became a Presbyterian and a Mormon, it was only fitting that my great friend Nollaig arrived in The True Centre of The Universe in a wee truck filled with 8-foot-tall angels.
I met Nollaig 5 years ago while doing a Post-Grad thing in Trinity. The best thing about that course, much like the best thing about going to school in St.Macartans, was the friendships that were formed. Nollaig is one of those.
He is also a bit of a loon. Which is why we are such kindred spirits. He has madcap ideas and just brings everyone along with him…hence I , and my ever loving, ever patient Soulmate, have ten 8-foot-tall angels beside our shed out the back.
Nollaig had organised , in 2009, a traveling exhibition, featuring 52 angels all painted by musicians, actors, celebrities, community groups, as symbols of hope. It had been a great success, and when it was over some people wanted their angels to keep, some were donated to, and repainted by, Killorglin Arts Festival, and Nollaig was left with 10 , and for some strange. bizarre reason he thought I’d have a use for them. But he was wrong, I already have many uses for them, I just can’t decide which… But we’ll get back to that.
Before Nollaig arrived with them on Wednesday my plan was to lay them flat at the end of our garden, and then when Chrissy and Shauna were home, to sneak out and stand them all up at the hedge looking into their house, but they turned out to be a lot heavier than I’d though, so we gathered them together at the back of the house beside the shed. Nollaig was helped by a bewildered nice young chap , Andruss, and as each one was unloaded he told me who had painted each one, and about the whole project. Then they rushed off to return the wee truck.
I now have, gathered together at the back of the house beside the shed, an angel painted by Uma Thurmann, an angel painted by David Evans, aka The Edge from U2, Amy Huberman, who buys decorated plates from my friend Paula, and among others, an angel painted by Cillian Murphy in the style of a denim jacket with the lyrics of John Lennon’s ‘Instant Karma’ and ‘Imagine’ painted throughout.
Some will be painted over in white paint and offered as a blank canvas to….
I’ve been on to Creative Monaghan, and the Museum, about possible community projects involving schools or groups decorating them in symbols of hope….I’ll keep you posted.
Like Nollaig, I’m an Angel Whisperer now.
But I don’t just have angels together at the back of the house beside the shed, I meet them everywhere. I volunteer with them at Parkrun, I go to history talks in Presbyterian Churches with them, I have delicious steak dinners and ridiculously expensive cocktails with them in Belfast, I see wickedly funny musicals with them, I run with them, work with them, I even married one, and helped raise three !
They are mystical, spiritual, wonderful, and they’re right there.
Aren’t we lucky ?
Toodles,
Elder Paul
P.S. This is gorgeous, and so are you, wishing you all ‘Love and Affection’
