Fine song from a fine son

I am still learning more on blogging and figuring out how to put in music and videos in addition to photos. The task seems daunting but I'm sure it will just be fine.

So I'd like to start the great task of putting videos by putting a music video from my greatest accomplishment in life; my son Paddy!




A fine line from a fine son?
I'd say a great line from a great son!
Keep it up Paddy!

WITH THANKS TO BETH

My friend Beth helped me put up my blog as I am technologically too stupid to do it on my own....and also, incredibly lazy;  But that is going to change... I think, as I now intend to post more in here.

So thank you beth, it helps to take my mind of the cigarettes as this is just my third day without the wicked little things. I need all my breath to keep up with my very fit son, Paddy, as we scamper across the wild Irish mountains....especially Slieve League.

A sunset and a poem

I like sunsets and sometimes I get a magnificent view of it from my balcony and just marvel on it!

Just thinking of it now and it reminded me of one of my very short poems:

THE OPTIMIST

When I feel sorrow now

I treasure it

As a reminder

of the joy to come.

~~Aidan Sharkey

and in Dutch

DE OPTIMIST

Als ik me nu ongelukkig voel

koester ik dat

omdat het me herinnert

aan de vreugde die komt

Fr. James Mc Dyer and Donegal

RTE ONE
Nationwide
A special on Co Donegal and Fr. James Mc Dyer
Broadcasted on 14 January 2011
Available until February 4 February 2011
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1089046


My son sent me that link from an Irish TV that centered around the area of Donegal where I used to live and where he still has the house.

Fr. Mc Dyer was the priest who baptised my son in 1977 and he was quite a forceful character who did his best to halt the people leaving what was a beautiful but very poor area. So it is nice to see that the legacy of his work is still to be seen today.

If you had a chance to see the video before it is deleted and seen the pictures, you’d see that my mountain looks good. Sometimes I think it a pity that more people are discovering it as it seems to make it a bit less wild...and I love WILD!

Netherlands though also a beautiful country is flat that I do miss my mountains.

I love the people here in Haarlem but an Irishman gets homesick too!

Anyway here are 2 links you could visit to see lovely pictures of my Ireland, enjoy it as I did.

Pictures for unique Irish Experience (clicking on the picture gives you more to view)

Glencolmcille

Molen de Adriaan

I was talking with a friend about a beautiful windmill that has a platform that goes around it where you can have a spectacular view of Haarlem and she immediately searched and asked if it was the Windmill de Adriaan. She was right! She wanted more pictures so I thought I'd ride to the area and take some shots...

The windmill is functional and could even grind grains. However, it has become more of a tourist destination and as I heard even a wedding venue! The trip to the Molen de Adriaan plus an earlier visit to another windmill, which I don't know the name at the moment but is also beautiful that I used it as a photo for this blog, has opened my interest on windmills. I heard that there are still around 11 functioning windmills in Haarlem, It will be nice to be visiting them also.

HAARLEMMERS

A people, proud,

and every right to be,

of this city that has lasted

down the centuries.

Time has not worn away Tradition,

But built upon it;

like brick upon brick.

The passing generations

have cemented the past to the present.

Loutje looks over

the ancient market place

with the printed word held high

And do I just imagine it,

Or do I see a look in his eye ─

He knows that Ronald Mc.Donald is coming

And he's asking the question ─ Why?

~~Aidan Sharkey

In Dutch:

Een trots volk,

─ en met recht  ─

op een stad die de eeuwen

heeft doorstaan.

Tijd heeft de Traditie niet aangetast,

maar daarop gebouwd;

Zoals steen op steen

hebben voorbije generaties

het verleden verbonden met het heden.

Loutje kijkt uit

over het oude marktplein

met het gedrukte woord hoog in zijn hand.

En is het slechts verbeelding,

of zie ik een blik in zijn oog? ─

Hij wéét dat Ronald Mc.Donald zal komen

En hij vraagt zich af ─ Waaróm?

BENEATH THE GROTE KERK

Beneath the Grote Kerk,

standing in the shadow of centuries,

I feel so small.

This man-made mountain in a flat land,

an edifice to adoration,

dwarfs me.

Brick upon brick upon brick about the base,

then stretching skywards,

diminishes me.

But then, a thought......

one small brick began it all,

and one grain of sand

began one brick.

The Grote Kerk

is a grain of sand that grew.

Suddenly, I don't feel so small,

In fact I feel quite tall.

~~Aidan Sharkey

In Dutch:

ONDER DE GROTE KERK

In de schaduw van eeuwen

sta ik onder de Grote Kerk

en voel me heel klein

Deze door mensenhanden gemaakte berg

in een vlak land -

een gebouw om te aanbidden -

belemmert me in mijn groei

Steen voor steen voor steen

opgebouwd vanaf de grond,

tot aan de hemelboog

maakt hij me steeds kleiner

Maar dan ineens een gedachte.....

Ooit begon het met een kleine baksteen

die ontsproot aan één enkele korrel zand.

De Grote Kerk is een zandkorrel die groeide.

En plotseling voel ik me niet meer nietig.

Nee, eigenlijk voel ik me heel groot.

An Irishman in Haarlem

I came as a stranger to Haarlem

But I wasn't a stranger for long

For the people of Haarlem opened their hearts

So now I will sing them this song. (Spoken)

It's true that I miss the mountains

And the waves that crash on the shore

And the plaintive cry in a cloud filled sky

Of a raven above rocky Gweedore.

It's true that I miss the river

That races it's way to the sea

As it tumbles and falls and rushes and calls

On it's journey to the broad estuary.

And the Spaarne it doesn't race

Like the rivers in far Donegal

But moves so slow with a genteel flow

That looks like no movement at all.

But here I am in Haarlem town

And don't feel my loss so strong

My tears have dried for the people tried

To make me happy amid their throng.

They like to sit in a bar

And drink and talk and sing

They raise good cheer with good Dutch beer

For they know living is the thing.

And when I walk these cobbled streets

It's like being back in time

For they built a past that was made to last

And these streets now feel like mine.

So thanks for being kind to a stranger

Who came here from over the sea

And not at all sure if I could endure

A place that seemed foreign to me.

But the people of Haarlem opened their hearts

So I feel a stranger no more

They gave to my soul an entirely new role

On their welcoming, friendly Dutch shore.

~~Aidan Sharkey

This poem was sung by Paul Marselje
Listen to the music: