An Irish Girl 

for Ethan and for the town of Doolin


Once there was a small girl with long hair that shone like corn silk, and her name was Nola.  She lived in a small village, which had just a few farms, cottages and castles, cliffs and the wide dark sea. 
 The town was called Doolin, in County Clare, nestled snugly









on the Western shores of Ireland.  Nola's mother Dierdre was a laundress, and her father Niall (Neal) a dairy farmer.  

But there was not enough money for them from selling milk from the cows and washing neighbors' clothing, so Dierdre also sheared their sheep and knitted beautiful Aran sweaters to sell to neighbors and to visitors from faraway places like America and Europe and Mexico. 

So many people came walking down Doolin's narrow stone lane to the sea, people from everywhere in the world, to see the shaggy pastures rolling up into the hills, the mountains jutting into the rocky sea, the boats going to the Aran Islands, and the colorful  tiny homes dotting the landscape like jewels studded into green silk.  

Nola spoke Irish (some call it Irish Gaelic) with her family and in school, but she also spoke English, which all Irish people do now, in order to communicate with one another and with people in other countries.  People who speak Irish say words like FAILTE, which means welcome, and comes out "felta." SLAINTE means "cheers!" and sounds like "sh-laun-ta."  These soft-spoken words roll from their tongues as songs.

Dierdre taught Nola to knit sweaters too, though the girl was only seven.  Nola spent many afternoons knitting patterned sweaters from the creamy silky yarn her mother spun from an old wooden wheel. The wool was fluffy and made thick garments, warm enough to keep away the cold wind and sea spray.  

People loved their sweaters, so as soon as they finished knitting each one, a customer would pay them 200 Euros, snuggle into the sweater, stretch out their arms, pat their sleeves and walk away proudly.

Every day Nola got up early from her little wooden bed in the loft, climbed down the ladder, and helped her mother to bring in dried pieces of grassy peat to burn in their kitchen fireplace, so they could have tea and cocoa for their breakfast.  

Nola got to put the water into the kettle, while her mother made scones as big as Niall's fist to go with  scrambled eggs and sausages.  Niall came in from the barn to gave them fresh milk to put into their tea and cocoa, and he sat down with them.  They held hands around the table and said together:  

"Lord, for what we're about to receive, make us truly thankful."  Quietly in their beloved cottage, they ate their breakfast, making noises of contentment like "mmmm...".  They were happy in their home by the sea.

Sundays were different, though.  They slept later, had breakfast later, and Niall only had to milk the cows, but he didn't do any more work that day. Dierdre and Nola took a day off from their chores and knitting.  They went to church and sang a song:

All creatures great and small,
The good Lord made them all.

After church they followed the stone fences winding down toward the main road.  They stopped at Aunt Eire's wooden home, which was a magical place.  The square house actually appeared to be round if Nola looked at it in the early morning haze.  It was white, but on cloudy days it looked sort of blue, and in the evening it looked purple!  The roof was made of thatch, but it was also full of bird's nests, so that you had to watch your head, or an egg might fall into your hair.   

Nola loved Aunt Eire's home and when they arrived there one Sunday after church, they smelled her stew of beef, potatoes and parsnips cooking on the fire, and her bread baking in the big black kettle hanging by the fireplace.  They smelled something else!  Oh, what was that?  

It was Nola's favorite, Banoffee Pie!  It had sugar cookies for a crust, bananas cut into rounds like coins on the bottom, golden butter-toffee sauce and clouds of whipped cream on the top. Nola liked to lick the cream from the pie and devour the sticky filling with her spoon.

They heard Aunt Eire's horse Shuffle making his snuffling noises out in the hillside pasture; Nellie the cow mooing in the paddock, the pigs making their whining noises as they played in the barnyard, the chickens fussing and the geese bawling as they played duck-duck-goose with the ducks.  After dinner, Niall took out his fiddle and sat on Aunt Eire's front porch.  Watching the passers-by going down to the sea, he played a song slowly as they all sang:

Oh Ireland, our dear old home,
Keep us all aware,
Help us to care,
For one another, for our friends,
But also for earth, skies, and seas.
Oh Ireland, our dear old home,
Keep us all aware.

By the end of many songs, Nola had drifted into sleep on Aunt Eire's knee, a lovely dream of pies and ponies.  When she woke up, it was already time for school on Monday!  She hurried off down the schoolhouse lane, pulling on her mittens, carrying her backpack and lunch box.  The air smelled of sea winds far away. Nola was happy.  It was the start of a brand new Doolin day.

by Gran, written especially for Ethan