For those not in the know, An Tostal is an Irish phrase meaning

“Parade , Pageant and Display.”

The event was dreamed up in the 60 or 70′s by the then goverment at the time to bring a bit of life into rural Ireland- anything to get the tourist dollar. The hills and valleys each had their own celebration for whatever passing trade there was.

There was very little passing trade. Eventually the whole country forgot about An Tostal

EXCEPT -DRUMSHANBO up here in County Leitrim.

Every year, we have a parade, sing a few songs, have a masquerade ball and a Culchie Olympics ( culchie is the rural equal of a red neck but much funnier and sweeter)

Well I can tell you that we’re working up a fine sweat so we are, getting our parade finished. This year our theme is

“The Magical Moving Zoo”

And we have hundreds of magical butterflies and hundreds of magical fish  (of all shapes and sizes) and we have big bats and little bats, and a dragon, and an elephant, a lion, a rhino , giraffe and a flying pig and Sea horses and other stuff  i can’t tell you about.

It’l be lovely. Say you’ll come.

Thanks for clicking in.

Always

eileen

Firstly I’d like to draw your attention to a woman who shares some profound insight to the stars and their meaning . I have borrow quotations from her website in the past and listed it as one of all-time round favorite site in 2009

http://priyakale.com/Priya’s site is called Cosmic Diaries .

Please visit it. 

What else?

I must tell you about a small project that was completed a few weeks ago. Since February my Friday night between 6:20 and 8pm have been spent with 18 girls ages 5 to 10 in Mohill at the Canon Donahue Hall practicing acting. We concluded our 10 week program with a version of ..

The Musicians of Brementown

by The Brothers Grimm

The weeks of work was a pleasure. I think all of those girls showed me a new twist to old exercises  and sometimes gave me deep down belly laughs.

They were all absolute darlings.

I wish them the best of holidays ever.

AS well there was some serious completion taking place in the

Brothers of Charity corner up in Roscommon where two young men have finished they’re FEATAC Level One Drama program and are waiting results. John O’ Hara and Conor Devine  experienced theatre and drama for the first time and did extraordinarily well.

bravo to you boys

Other events and goings on in and about auld Drumshanbo include the organization of the 2nd annual Written Word Weekend

Yup yup yup, we’re real pleased with this year’s line so far and we’re not finished with it yet!

 Some of the highlights in the Saturday night Cabaret with none other than The Poetry Chicks

Oh we are so pleased………………..http://www.myspace.com/poetrychicks

What else?? I got a nod from the local arts council . I was awarded a bursary to the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Monaghan

oh yeah

Here’s a taste of the piece I’ve been working on. The working title is…..

Lucy Massacre, is it hot enough for you?

“Hey, out of curiosity, Lucy what’s
your last name?”

  “Massacre.”
She started walking briskly, or as briskly one could in almost 100-degrees
Fahrenheit. She finally looked at him with a tilt of the dubious in her eyes.

“You really believe in love at first sight?”

 “Your
last name is Massacre?” He marveled, slightly stunned but keeping pace.

            “Yeah
it’s Irish. What’s your last name?

            “De Vries.”

            “Stephen De Vries, Dutch?” He
nodded. She snapped her fingers.

             “Got it in one.”

            “You’re
a champ.” He winked at her.

            “Thank
you.” She leaned into him, putting her hand on his shoulder. The touch, like
cold heat melting. They stopped walking and turned towards each other.

            They
stood a kiss away.

            Then
the light shimmered strangely. They heard the sound of a pop. It broke into
their gaze and they looked around. They had walked out a back road where the
flat, unused farmland was dry and barren; beside a water tank on the outskirts
of town, where lived a family of unremarkable beings. This family was this way
because they fit completely into the landscape of cylinder and metal. Theirs
was a grey house, blanched rooftop, colour-less windows and door. Faded curtain
nettings hung limply. The skeleton of a long dead tree stood to the side of the
front yard that was not cluttered with toys. No clothes line, no dog. No
doghouse. No garbage cans small plastic bags of food and paper scraps. No car.
No truck. There was a bicycle but it looked like it hadn’t moved in long, long
time. The ground was dry. The evening was thick in its heat, yet smoke rose
from the chimney. There was the smell of defeat. There was an ancient water
tank behind the house. It was three stories high. And a sound that was almost
frightening, the sound of dripping water. Drip. Drip. Drip.

            “I’ve
seen the people who live here,” Lucy said in low tones. He nodded his head.

            “Tall
thin man and a whisper of woman, there’s a son too. I’m not sure, wonder who they are? Do you know?”

            Stephen
inhaled loudly. “This is Queenie Barber’s homestead.”

            “Queenie
Barber,” she repeated, savoring the words. “Well there’s a name for   you.”

            “Yes
indeed. Use to be fine place too, a thriving farm. Use to be. She and her son Everett and his wife and kid live here
now. I think Queenie is still alive. She was  friend
of my wife’s mother and I’m sure Flo would have told me if she died.” Stephen
replied with flat certainty.

            She
immediately looked down his arm at his ring finger and saw that there was no
ring. Then a cramp twisted her gut and she clutched her stomach bending
slightly with a moan.

            “You
okay?”

Concern was in his voice. The pain in gut was familiar, though it wasn’t
a sick bodily pain; it was a tension in her solar plexuses, a twisting deep
inside, a psychic ache. Though this felt more like a stab.

            “Got
to get out of here. It’s very heavy. Thick atmosphere.” She winced.

            “Heavy?
What do you mean? Do you think its’ going to rain?”

            She
tried walking briskly back the way they came. Suddenly there was a gunshot.
That stopped her.

            “Oh
god.” She turned, started a slow jog back to the house.

            “Hey
wait, where are you going?” He called as she passed him.

            “To
the house. That was a gun shot.”

            “So?”

            She
stopped short and looked at him in amazement.

            “I
only mean, so what.” He walked towards her. “Someone shot a gun, could be hunting rabbit.”

            “Could
be shooting family members.”

            “You
don’t know that.”

            “Neither
do you.”

            He
stood close in front of her, as they stood before. A kiss away.

            “You’re
not from around these parts are you?”

            His
voice was unexciting, bordering on tedium.

The shimmering light bounced off the
grey steel water tank moving around him like a mirage. In an instant he was
nothing to her. She stared at him and slowly shook her head. She was definitely
not from these parts. She didn’t know these people. They could be shooting rabbit.
She sighed inside herself. ‘Tough guy, bookish redneck, dink.’
she thought, rubbing her hand back and forth across her midriff. Then there was
the sound of another shot. They were both startled and looked at the grey
house. The front door swung open. A young teenage boy with drooping long hair
holding the side of his body came out. He looked up and down the dusty road.

            “Hey” He called softly to the two and slumped against the dry door. Lucy and Stephen
watched the teenage fall slowly like a dancer. He crumpled beautifully.

She
heard the sound of dripping water, three distinct drops. 

Thanks Leitrim Arts Council

( you crazy guys)

Okay lastly but certainly not least….

the AnTostal Parade 2010

Yessirreeebob

 You must come out Sundjay June Bank Holioday weekend at 6pm to Drumshanbo and see

The Magical Moving Zoo

 The Fourth class, Mr Kane’s class, is hard at work creating the images the whole school will use …

we certainly hope that everyone will come out

to this year’s parade 

Its going to be a cool one.

Right so , thats it from me for the moment.

No I didn’t go to New York but I did have an hour long conversation with someone from there so it was just like being in the city. And yes………………….

things are great. And scary

and worthwhile

 And I hope that they are for you as well.

Thank you for clicking on .

And thank you to those who have been leaving comments… my goodness, thats kind of you 

 All the very best

 always , eileen

www.bebo.com/An-Tostal-Festival

and

www.antostaolfestival.ie

for all of the details regarding this terrific event.This Sunday May 31st, after we whip Roscommon in the local GAA match (!) we’ll have the annual An Tostal Parade. And this year there’s a difference- the theme for 2009 is Christmas! So be prepared to see all the Stevie Reynold’s and Joe McLoughlin’s trucks and diggers kitted out in boughs of holly- fa lalalala.

The National School will of course be taking part-  there will be walking stockings, leaping trees, Mother Christmas, the Holy Family and strolling prezzies!

This is above picture is of the An Tostal stand being set up on the High Street.

Keep ye fingers crossed for fair weather.

On  a sad note… the day won’t be the same without Mrs. Eva Mooney. She passed away this year and the old T-Junction is not the same without her.

Mrs. Mooney was a great one for telling me whats what and where to go. I lived across from her in 2002. Ita Prior’s house was finally bought after being empty for over 15 years and the new owners rented it out to yours truly.    Mrs Mooney told me all the stories about the traditions for MayDay and tales about town. I still put flowers at  my door on May ist to keep the you know what’s away and if no one’s around, I wash my face in the May morning dew. She didn’t pay much heed to that one, but you never know….

Eva was maverick  of woman and always a lady. And I miss her.

Light of Heaven  to you Mrs Mooney.

Back to the An Tostal……Unfortunately I did not get to any of the Talent Nites this past weekend …old… I’m getting old… and me liver’s kicking… but…. the 5 -A-Side Indoor Soccer Tournament at Moorlands starts tonight  at 7:30 and that would be a gas to see.

Plus the Masquerade Ball is at Berry’s Tavern this year and who knows… I might find a red nose for that .

At the moment, I can’t seem to upload any new photo’s from the children’s work but stayed tuned. I’ll fiquire out what I’m doing differently and suss it out.

Thanks for clicking on…. AND … I soon, I should have a direct link to CD Baby where my music can be heard and purchased. I just got to remember my password to the members site … too many passwords!!!  what can you do??

In the interm go to..

http://cdbaby.com/

eileen O’Toole

The Ukulele Lady

The Queen of the Lonesome Island

( I love a long title)

thanks for visiting

happy monday,

if there’s such a thing.

always eileen

It was great beginning.. now, don’t get me wrong… it’s still a great day. It was agreat beginning… at 9:30 35 kids from the Natioanl School came over to the new studio and we made christmas prezzies and trees and stockings and finger painter and laughed and got silly and then went away and I went to Sligo to visit a writer who is ailing and whom I am a big fan.

It was , I admitt a bit checky to walk into the Sligo hosiptal and seek out the bed of Leland Bardwell, but I had that she suffered a mini stroke at the top of May and I had just finished reading her lastest book, her biograghy ” A Restless Life”.

Sometimes you just have to do it.

Thats what I did. Ms Bardwell thought that I was nurse coming to her therapy. She leapt out  of the bed.I was amazed she was in such fine fettle. When she realised that wasn’t who she keenly wanted to see, she was, gracious, but disappointed. I could not blame her. The thing that the stroke seemed to effect was her reading. She cannot read. She can just about write.. but ten minutes later… she cannot read what she has written. It is a great injustice . A pain in the hole.

She needs therapy and I for one hope she gets it. She has a sharp mind and a huge legacy-(she’s 87) And in her own words she driven capacity for bouncing back.

Bravo Ms Bardwell. Keep bouncing!

Another one that keeps bouncing is Sean Dixon, Canadain writer and friend with a book called

The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal by Sean Dixon.

It’s about a bookclub that reads the oldest book in the world.  Sounds curious. Sounds like I should pick it up.

Glad to hear from you Sean… and best of luck with the next one.

Tuesdays…. got to go abook club calls my name… The Way of Merlin is on the table….Its up to the mountains for me.

thanks for clicking in

always eileen

Who’s heard that song? Who’s heard it lately? Why am I being underlined??

(oops okay, I’m not being underlined…my mistake)

We’re having great gangs of fun over here. The An Tostal parade is coming up fast- May 31st- thats a Sunday- and it will be after the Leitrim/Roscommon football where our side willl give Ros something to think about!!!  Parade kick off is at 6pm. I’m working with two classes , three grades and two Mrs McLaughlin’s. It’s easy once you think about it. The two classes are across the hall from each other at the National School and the three grades are the 3rd class-they’re 9yr olds and the 5th and 6th class,on the other side of the hall, ages…11, 12,,, might even have a 13yr old.. and both teachers are called Mrs. McLaughlin. Fun or what! Mind you I’ll take this moment to say hello Mr Kane’s class who worked so hard on the St Patrick’s Day Parade way back in March….Hi… you guys rock….

Please take a good look at the latest adventure cooking for the summer time- The Written Word Weekend- July31-Aug3rd- bank holiday weekend. Its the weekend after the Joe Mooney Summer School and we’re hoping that some of the town’s visitors would stick around and further grace us with their written words after spending the week fluting, piping,lashing out on the old banjo or fiddling. We’re up dating the blog on the event daily and we even have an extremly cool YTube showing picture of Drumshanbo in 1904 AND one of my songs is used for the sound track… no I didn’t twist Stephen Rennick’s arm to do that- he choice the song all by himself! Actully you wouldn’t do yourself any harm by keeping an eye on Stephen’s personal site which is called Homemade Leitrim. He’s collected some wonderful links around the county and he also does thoughful poetry himself.

Right so … its 7:45am… I must get my legs in gear… I have the 3rd class and Mrs. McLaughlin coming to the Boys’ Club to do parade work at 9:30 and I have to give the place a sweep.

Very quickly… other news… The Pig Executives meet this saturday…. though we will be howling and snorting for the missing pigs, we must herd oursleves along and see what epic pieces have been pulled from the pig’s heads this month. 1pm at the Glen’s Centre- Captain Dermot ( i’m no pig ) Healy mentoring.

all the very best to all

thanks for clicking in

always eileen

Written Word Weekend

http://www.joemooneysummerschool.com/

http://www.antostalfestival.ie/

http://www.freewebs.com/homemadeleitrim/leitrimlinks.htm