a n c h a I l l e a c h
(Ah-n KAL-yuhk) The veiled one. Old woman, crone, witch, hag - powerful nature spirit and creator.
Friday, July 17, 2026
"Neart agus Tuiscint"
Issue #7
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From Whence We Came:
Irish National Heritage Park 2026
On a recent trip to Ireland to visit my friend Patti, we took an excursion to the Irish National Heritage Park located
near her abode in Wexford County.
The park is “an outdoor museum depicting 9,000 years of re-created Irish History situated within natural forestry
& wet woodlands.”
The main theme of the park is a tribute to Ireland’s archeological past. While wandering through the forested paths
of the 35 acre outdoor museum, one encounters replicas of homesteads, places of ritual, and burial modes.
The replicas are built with materials and skills of that period.
As you crouch through
the door of one of the
circular dwellings, you
are struck by the
darkness, the quiet,
and the smell of
earthenmatter.
Hard to imagine my
delicately evolved constitution withstanding a harsh winter’s eve here, but maybe that was what poteen was for.
A stand out is the replica of a dolmen (portal tomb made of larger stones). There are also real dolmens
dotted across Ireland you can
explore, notably one we later
visited called the
Gaulstown Dolmen.
Continuing around the bend of the footpath in the heritage park we heard
a thwacking sound ahead. Two lovely couples were practicing their axe-throwing skills under the watchful eye
of a costumed guide. It didn’t bode well for them as throw after throw was a miss. No dinner for them.
Throughout the park you see architecture influenced by each of the subsequent invaders to reach Irelands’s shores: the Vikings, English/Normans, Scottish, and good ol’ Cromwell and his campaign of Catholicism suppression.
Overall, the park visit was a lovely experience complete with an apple tart from the cafe 😁
p.s. there is a falconry at the park with adorable owls, but if seeing caged animals dampens your faith in humanity, skip it.
Patty Devlin, World Traveller
Mystical Creature
Co. Wexford - 2026
“Wherever you go becomes
a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai
Fun in the Irish Sun
Patty D with High Cross
Irish National Heritage Park, Co. Wexford - 2026
A Different Kind of Heritage
Patty D at the Barn Dance
Bannow Rathagan, Duncormick- 2026
“There is nothing like puking with somebody to
make you into old friends.”
― Sylvia Plath
Mary Not Drinking Sarsaparilla
New Orleans, 2025
Thomas Dolby - 1992
"Under a Cajun moon I lay me open.
There is a spirit here that won't be broken."
Me & Shari Alameda, CA - 2021
Editor's note: There's very loose (pub) talk about a lady time trip to NOLA in May 2027.
Yes, the pints were flowing but if you're intrigued, pencil it in just in case.
Who You Gonna Call?
A year ago about this time, I was in New Orleans with my dear friend, Mary. We were there commemorating a 2005 experience of a lifetime (hopefully) – the 20th anniversary of our hurricane Katrina time. But that's a whole other story…
On this particular July 2025 afternoon in our hotel room in the French Quarter, Mary and I were sorting ourselves out for an exciting afternoon of warm, wonderful swimming in the rain; dramatic thunder; a cast of wild NOLA characters; lots of strolling; and some fine wining (more like gin-ing) and dining, when my cell phone rang. It was my (our) friend, Shari, calling.
Shari had been in the hospital for a few days back in Oakland and I visited her there the day before I left for New Orleans. She was in good spirits, if not weak and tired, but she assured me she was being released later in the week. I figured she was now calling me in New Orleans to let me know she was indeed feeling better and going home soon.
Not exactly, but yes.
Shari was calling to tell me she’d decided to die. Shari was calling to say goodbye.
California EOLOA = End of Life Option Act allows terminally ill adults with a life
expectancy of six months or less to end their life with an aid-in-dying drug, legally, with medical assistance and without the complicated label of suicide. However you may feel about this available option, please take a moment to feel the weight of such a decision and the fortitude it would take to
1) actually make the decision; 2) explain it to everyone you hold dear; 3) say goodbye to those you love ; and 4) actually do it.
To say Shari was a no-nonsense gal is obviously an understatement. This was an LA woman who, in the 1970s, used to drive her sports car down Hollywood Blvd. with her blond Cher-hair - in go-go boots and a bikini. She always claimed she had no desire to live past 78. On the phone she laughed, “I guess I'm getting my wish a little early.” Shari had a great wit and honed ability to cut right through the bullshit and her decision to end her life was a perfect example. I was pretty much in shock throughout the phone call. Not wanting to interrupt Shari talking, I'd been trying to relay to Mary what was happening on the other end of the phone with a series of silent, frantic gestures, faces and tears coming from me. Mary soon understood the situation. More tears all around.
Shari being Shari, she signed off by
requesting Mary and I to go toast her life with a…Sarsaparilla!! Not a French 75!
Not a Sazerac!! Not even champagne!!!
Not even liquor!!!! In New Orleans!??!
An f-ing Sarsaparilla!!#?*# Brava, Shari.
That haunting assignment will someday make for an entirely different "only in New Orleans" short story. Epic.
Shari and I only talked for about ten minutes, probably less. It is a phone call that I will carry in my heart until it’s my turn to go.
The fact I was even on her call list gives me a great sense of…joy. Yes, joy. Her final, eternal gift of friendship.
In the end, Shari chose to go in solitude without any fuss or fanfare. Right on, Shari.
I sure miss you, Patti XXX
