By Peg Prendeville

Easter 2020 is one we will remember for being so different to what we had planned. No church services, no big family dinners, no great excitement at all. Thanks to modern technology we could attend online Masses but we could not meet the neighbours there or exchange Easter greetings face to face. My daughter set up a Zoom meeting with all our families which was nice and another new experience.

It has been a month now since the Knockdown Arms was open and life continues on, quieter but OK. Ta is busy in the shop instead of in the bar. We are all very grateful that he continues to keep the shop open as it is a necessity in the area and I am so lucky to have it just within the 2 km!

Those of us who live in the country are very lucky as we can walk the fields if not the roads and we get in nobody’s way. I am lucky enough to enjoy a physically distant walk with my grandchildren next door and can tell them stories of when their Dad walked the same fields as a young boy. I feel sorry for families in the middle of big towns and cities with no space around them. So I thank God for my blessings.

The world is getting so small. I had a message from a friend in Chicago, whose people were Daltons from Ballyhahill, telling me that a Mary Gleeson died in Chicago recently. She was originally Mary Cahill from Ballyhahill. As far as I know they lived near where Jim Woods lives now. The obituary read “A Native of Ballyhahill, Co. Limerick, Ireland, Mary braved new surroundings at a young age to make a life in America. A proud registered nurse, Mary cared deeply for others as she did for her beloved family. Her loving, courageous, and resilient spirit will be deeply missed by all who knew her.” Mary’s niece Liz Carroll is one of the foremost fiddle players and composers in traditional Irish music in Chicago. Her mother Eileen was a sister to this Mary Gleeson.

Sincere sympathy to Maria and Mossie Wallace on the death of their first cousin Patrick (Patsy) Wallace, South Mall, Glin (and formerly Brothers of Charity, Waterford) who died peacefully on the 11th of April in the excellent care of Abbot Close Nursing Home, Askeaton. May he rest in peace. It is so hard on families who have been bereaved since the Covid 19 as they are denied the normal funeral rituals to which we were accustomed. We have lost so much of what we considered normal and I fear we may have to get used to the new normal.