Mom Waters Her Irish Roots In Dublin

Above is a watercolor my mom painted of Lincoln's Pub in Dublin. One time, she took all my poetry and created an illustration for every poem and built a book out of it all. I will post that online one day soon. It was an astounding gift that just amazes me. As usual, I pick the image but the story below is all hers...

My son, Paul, may be right about my being a social samurai but he is a little confused about what I did in Irish pubs and my sketching of men in Ireland. Two separate things. Ireland is filled with famous, wonderful old pubs with old time architectural features. On several occasions I would take my sketchbook into a pub in mid afternoon when they were practically empty and sit in a corner and do my best to record them with my pen. The first time I sat in the booth waiting for service. No one spoke to me. I soon realized I had to walk up to the bartender to place my order. Since I didn’t drink it was usually coffee or a coke. It was always a solitary experience as I intended.

One night the American Women’s Club was invited to a party at the American Ambassador’s beautiful house in Phoenix Park.  I decided on the way there that I would sketch 200 men in Ireland. God knows where that idea came from. When men look in the mirror they see only their good points. When women look in the mirror they see only their bad points. So I would never sketch women. That night I asked several men if they would pose for me. I said it would take 20 minutes and I would meet them any place that was convenient for them. I was amazed that they all said yes.  It didn’t occur to me that they were all flattered and probably even thought I was offering something else. I just thought they were doing me a favor. They all learned when I said 20 minutes I meant it. I even asked Ambassador Moore. He said he would but he was too busy just then. I saw him several times after that and he always put me off. Two years later I went to another party which he attended and he said “Okay, if you come to my office I have time for you now“. I said “That’s just great!. I am moving home tomorrow.”

My intention to sketch 200 men was way too ambitious. First I had to ask the men. I was attending a lot of parties so meeting them was easy. But then I had to meet them someplace and do the sketch. I wrote a brief bio and had them write a note. The hard part was having to show them the sketch.  The President of University College Dublin invited me to his home to do it. He said if I actually completed 200 men he would be happy to add them to their archives. If I had stayed there long enough I might have been able to accomplish it. I regret not having got to the infamous politicians at the time.

I volunteered at The American Embassy registering American émigrés to vote in the coming election. The other volunteers and I worked in a small windowed room off of a large waiting room. That room was always filled with Irish people hoping to get permission to move to America. It always made me feel sad that I was born into something that others were so anxious to have.

When I was 12 I spent two weeks with my feisty little Irish grandmother. She said “You are 100% Irish and I don’t care if your mother is Scottish and don’t ever forget it. You are descended from Cormac, one of the 7 Irish kings and you come from the right part of Ireland, the Catholic part.” My Mother’s Father was born in Scotland and she was raised a Mormon. But from then on I was Irish through and through. To the core. As green as I could get.

In my thirties I read about Angela Lansbury moving her family to Ireland. I decided that that was what I wanted to do. It did not fit into my husband’s plans but the idea got on a train on the horizon. I had to wait 30 years for it to show up. A woman I hardly knew called me to tell me about a psychic she had been to who was quite good. We had discussed the subject when we first met. I had been working with China for 6 years and realized it was time to close the door on that experience. I went to the psychic’s apartment and she looked like a cute young college cheer leader.  But I told her I was thinking about closing my China business and moving to Ireland but I couldn’t afford it. I was 59 years old and my sons were all out in the world. She said my move was in the tarot cards but I had free will. If I chose to go the money would be there and it would work well for me. I would lead a very social life and be involved with horses. I went home and called my sons and told them I was moving to Ireland in six months. Whatever they thought they said “Go for it.” I told my mother and sister and they said it was the dumbest thing they had ever heard. But the universe started sending me encouragement. I sent for a newspaper that was written for Americans planning to move to Ireland listing all the things that had to be done. I started giving away everything I owned.  Six months later I made the move with three large suitcases filled with my only belongings. I could always move home again and wait for my next brainstorm.

Following the newsletter about what to do I first opened a bank account. Then went to the Department of Justice to register as an alien. Then to the police station to register with them. A small hotel in Ballsbridge had been recommended to me, The Mt. Herbert. It was perfect. I then went to a real estate office to look for a furnished apartment. I wanted to live in Ballsbridge even though it looked expensive. But I found the perfect flat there and the building was filled with some very well known people. And I could afford it. I went to the Commerce department of the Embassy to tell them of my China experience in case anyone cared. No one did but they told me about the American Women’s Club which met monthly just a few blocks from my flat. I did not need a car and soon learned to take the bus to Grafton Street to window shop and the Shelburne Hotel for tea, chicken sandwiches and biscuits. Or cookies.  It was all so easy.

Early on I also called on the Chinese Embassy.  It was manned by just a husband and wife team.  I knocked on the door and told the woman I had been working with China and just wanted to say hello. She invited me in, gave me tea and I think she was grateful to see a friendly face.  Three months later I was watching the news and saw all hell was happening in Tiananmen Square in China. There were demonstrators in front of the Chinese Embassy in Dublin. It was about 7:00PM but I got in a taxi and drove over. By that time everyone had gone home. I again knocked on the door and told the woman how sorry I was to hear the news and she must be very worried. She invited me in and said that they knew nothing and her husband was upstairs on the telex trying to get information. She was very worried. I soon left. I knew the Chinese and even though this couple worked for the government they still had family and friends there and would be very concerned. .It turned out later that the situation was much worse than was reported in the papers.

 

The Women’s Club had their annual luncheon at a private gold club and some Irish friends invited me to go with them. The club also included Irish women who had lived in the United States. When we sat down at our table I said I liked to sit with no one on either side of me because I believed that whoever came and sat down had something to teach me. They laughed and moved to the other side of the table. Soon an attractive blonde woman sat down. She and I were both wearing cream colored raw silk suits. Her’s was designer. We discovered we had a few things in common. We talked about having lunch sometime. I wasn’t sure she meant it but I called her anyway. We found out we had even more in common. One thing was we both knew Hollywood and loved theatre .After that, she would stay with me in my rather ugly flat in Dublin and we would go to the Abbey Theatre or any of the other great theatres in town and have tea at the Shelburne. Sometimes I would take the bus out to Leixlip to visit her at her Palladian manor house. I had read about manor houses and knew there was a certain protocol to being a guest but wasn’t sure about it. I first discovered that if I arrived during the afternoon, I was supposed to entertain myself until dinner. I learned that those old places are colder than anything and that even with a pile of quilts on the bed I was always cold. They were built before bathrooms so a bath was later attached to the house at any inconvenient place. It was not a great experience to have to get up in the middle of the night. Muriel lived with her daughter and son-in-law who raised horses. The family came down to breakfast every morning wearing dressing gowns. I came fully dressed. When I left the first time I asked Muriel if I should tip the housekeeper. She said no but if I went into town and bought her some flowers she would really appreciate it. Cold as it was I loved my visits there.

 I had intended to live there the rest of my life but after two years I realized my mother was getting old and my grandchildren needed me to come home and kick their butts and instill a bit of Irish in them. So I closed another door.  Muriel seemed devastated to see me go as I was the only person she knew who could relate to the various aspects of her life in America. Soon afterward her daughter was divorced; they sold the house and Muriel move to a deluxe retirement home in Detroit with the rich carmakers, and died soon after. She had been an actress and was once engaged to the actor Richard Carlson. She was an expert on George Bernard Shaw. I once saw her give a Shaw presentation and I couldn’t believe how skillfully she disappeared into the character.

-Jean Clarice Walsh