Skip to main content

MY ASS.



Henry óg with new arrival

‘It’s impossible to get a donkey to pull a cart these days’

‘Aye. Come to think of it…. when’s the last time you saw a donkey pulling
a cart?’

‘When I was a wee lad that’s all you saw around these parts. Donkeys pulling carts. Carts with creamery cans. Carts with turf. Carts with sea weed. And donkeys pulling them’.

‘The last time I tried to back a donkey into a cart it turned into a
bucking bronco. Remember that wee dark she donkey, Susie? As quiet as a mouse until you tried to back her into a cart….. then … There is nothing worse than a donkey with attitude. But you wud know all about that anyway, wudn’t you? With the work you do.’

‘Don’t talk about work. The holidays is nearly over’.

‘So is the rain. Just in time for the kids going back to school. When’s the last time you saw a donkey cart?’

‘Ah Wee Boots probably knows where to get one. Wee Boots is a great donkey
man. He brought two wee foals up from Galway. One in the back of the car.
That was in the days before seat belts were compulsory. He used to have a donkey cart. He had it out at the Féile parade last year. His family are big donkey people.’

‘Had he a donkey pulling the cart at the Féile Parade?’

‘He had. It was a great success.’

‘I wonder how he got the donkey into the shafts?’

‘It was an old donkey. It must have carted before. I was there when he harnessed it up. When he finished it just backed into the cart itself’.

‘Janey! An old donkey. You wudn’t get a young donkey to do that nowadays. You cudnt teach a new donkey old tricks. Not for a million pounds!’

‘What wud a donkey want with a million pounds?’

‘That’s just a figure of speech’.

‘Maybe it’s the donkeys getting their own back? Remember when there were
heaps of donkeys all over Ireland , more or less abandoned when they fell
out of fashion. Remember their wee hooves wud be all curled up at the front?’

‘I do. They were like those shoes that Aladdin wears in the pantomimes’.

‘Little wonder the donkeys took the needle.’

‘Do you know that a Jennet is a cross between a donkey and a horse? And a
Mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey?’

‘It’s the other way around.’

‘Nawh, it’s not’.

‘Donkeys are originally from North Africa. They were brought to Ireland
after the Napoleonic wars. And the cross appeared on their backs after
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. There are still lots of
donkeys in Eastern Europe. It’s like Ireland in the fifties and sixties.
The donkeys there probably pull carts without any bother’.

‘I blame the Celtic Tiger. Why all this interest in donkeys all of a sudden?’

‘I was always interested in donkeys’.

‘But you’re actually blogging about donkeys!’

‘Well, I got this photo this morning on my phone from Minnie Mo. Her donkey foaled last week’.

‘Janey. It’s in the kitchen. And its white.’

‘Well it’s only born. Where else wud it be. That’s Henry óg with it?’

‘Minnie Mo is lukin a name for it. That’s why I’m doing this blog. It’s a baby boy’.

‘Call it something biblical? Jacob?’

‘She has a Jacob.’

‘Oh and she says that Naomh Eoghans won the Under 16 Camogie championship
last night.’

‘Great! A big one that! Fair play.’

‘Call it Johnny?’

‘Camogs are girls.’

‘But they’re the Johnnies’

‘Then call it Champion!’

‘That doesn’t sound right. It’s probably indicative of the low esteem in
which we hold donkeys. Champion the wonder donkey doesn’t have the same ring to it as Champion the wonder horse!’

‘Its no wonder they won’t pull carts. Anyway maybe someone out there in the real world will have a name for Minnie Mo’s ass’.

‘Maybe?’

'What about Cheeky?'



Naomh Eoin Camogs are U16 Championship Winners 2010

Naomh Eoin 4gls 11pts Loughgiel 1gl 2pts

First time ever for the Johnnies...


Also, congratulations to Gort na Móna camógs on winning the Antrim Junior Champonship final, and best of luck in Ulster!

Comments

James and Linda said…
Awwwww! What a cute baby donkey! (I vote for Johnnie as a name, a play on "Jenny" as the usual name for female donkeys, and a tribute to the winning team). Congrats to the Johnnies!
Nice view into the life Gerry. Was doing some research on Donkey life,The Donkey Sanctuary in part. The sanctuary is a place where a donkey can bray to their heart's content,somewhat like the House of Commons. We often think as important the Human Rights issues are,but for sure.The donkey charter grants to every donkey that enters the Sanctuary the right of life,care. Much like the workers of Ireland, the simple Donkey having labored for Ireland and for the people of Ireland, arrives in very poor condition,much labored, dragging carts and carrying peat. The Sanctuary grants them a full retirement of peace and freedom. As like the needs of all Irish people ,the donkey Sanctuary dedicated is to ensuring an end to their suffering and a beginning to a life of loving care. If only nations of the would could treat it's people such care with Human Rights like even the Donkey can gain. The donkey's bray is heard , and his needs meet. The Donkey Sanctuary Web: www.thedonkeysanctuary.ie Co. Cork.
Note, Hurling yes , the best of all sports, open to all.
thanks again Gerry
Micheal said…
The fella with the big ears is what mayo folk call donkey's.

At the Irish dance halls we'd say, "Come on horsey an' I'll give ye a gallop", when asking the women out for a dance.

And the older men would say; "I was......there, or doing that.... when you were making a horse outta the dog.
James and Linda said…
In the States, the donkey is the symbol for the Democratic Party.

When the votes are going our way, we "far left" Democrats will post animated kicking donkeys on our blogs and boast about "kicking ass."

But when the Dems cave to right-wing demands (which is like every week), someone (usually me) will comment, "Will someone please make this fat, lazy, stupid donkey pull to the left?" lol!

Popular posts from this blog

Turf Lodge – A Proud Community

This blog attended a very special celebration earlier this week. It was Turf Lodge: 2010 Anois is Arís 50th Anniversary. For those of you who don’t know Turf Lodge is a proud Belfast working class community. Through many difficult years the people of Turf Lodge demonstrated time and time again a commitment to their families and to each other. Like Ballymurphy and Andersonstown, Turf Lodge was one of many estates that were built on the then outskirts of Belfast in the years after the end of World War 2. They were part of a programme of work by Belfast City Corporation known as the ‘Slum clearance and houses redevelopment programme.’ The land on which Turf Lodge was built was eventually bought by the Corporation in June 1956. The name of the estate, it is said, came from a farm on which the estate was built. But it was four years later, in October 1960, and after many disputes and delays between builders and the Corporation, that the first completed houses were handed over for allocation...

Slán Peter John

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy, Fergal Caraher’s parents, Mary and Peter John, and Sinn Féin Councillors Brendan Curran and Colman Burns at the memorial in South Armagh dedicated to Fergal Caraher It was a fine autumn morning. The South Armagh hilltops, free of British Army forts, were beautiful in the bright morning light as we drove north from Dublin to Cullyhanna to attend the funeral of Peter John Caraher. This blog has known Peter John and the Caraher family for many years. A few weeks ago his son Miceál contacted me to let me know that Peter John was terminally ill. I told him I would call. It was just before the Ard Fheis. Miceál explained to me that Peter John had been told he only had a few weeks left but had forgotten this and I needed to be mindful of that in my conversation. I was therefore a wee bit apprehensive about the visit but I called and I came away uplifted and very happy. Peter John was in great form. We spent a couple of hours craicing away, telling yarns and in his c...

The Myth Of “Shadowy Figures”

Mise agus Martin and Ted in Stormont Castle 2018 The demonising of republicans has long been an integral part of politics on this island, and especially in the lead into and during electoral campaigns. Through the decades of conflict Unionist leaders and British governments regularly posed as democrats while supporting anti-democratic laws, censorship and the denial of the rights of citizens who voted for Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin Councillors, party activists and family members were killed by unionist death squads, o ften in collusion with British state forces. Successive Irish governments embraced this demonization strategy through Section 31 and state censorship. Sinn Féin was portrayed as undemocratic and dangerous. We were denied municipal or other public buildings to hold events including Ard Fheiseanna. In the years since the Good Friday Agreement these same elements have sought to sustain this narrative. The leaderships of Fianna Fáil, the Irish Labour Party, the SDLP and...