Desmond is the second youngest child in his family of 5 sisters and 2 brothers. His father (Mick) was a dairy farmer and mother (Maureen) was a nurse and ran a tourist business for many years. In August 1985, Des' friendly nature led me to meet the love of my life, Mary. She was on a literature and landscape tour of Ireland and happened to be in Ellen’s pub for some traditional music.
Mary hailed from Arlington, Mass (USA), a suburb of Boston. After a little persuading, I finally convinced Mary that the west of Ireland was the place to be! It is rather ironic that Mary’s mother emigrated from Kinsale, Co. Cork to Boston in the early 1950’s.
Our Wonderful Children:
Elena and Tola are attending university now. Both love the outdoors, participating in some farm work, and fishing. They have a great love of the area and enjoy meeting guests.
From the horse drawn caravans, in the field in front of our house, to bed and breakfast we shared our Irish traditions with many visitors. And there are many stories to tell. My grandmother, who had to herd cattle and rear 8 children, could be stuck for a babysitter at any time. She would often tie a chicken to the pram, to entertain which ever child was in the pram at the time, while she did jobs on the farm (playschool Ballymulderry - style).
The experience of meeting new people that came to stay with us was better than going on holidays – it was so exciting. What I loved most was when my mother asked me to greet the visitors at the front door, bring them to the beach, or make some Irish coffees.