My ancestors on both sides are Irish, protestants from the south. My father’s people are from Westport, County Mayo, where Kenny is still a common surname (and brand name!). My mother’s family, the Cooke’s, are from Hacketstown in County Wicklow. Both families emigrated to Canada in the 1820’s, before the famine. They were part of the “Robertson Immigrant” group, brought in to settle the sparsely populated areas in Upper Canada with Protestants who would be loyal to the Crown if the Americans attacked, as they had done during the War of 1812.
This was my first visit to Ireland as an adult, and Liz’s first ever. We both loved the history, the land and the people. Liz, who is not a beer drinker, even developed a taste for Guinness. 
It’s one thing to read the history, and watch the news, but to actually see the wall separating Catholics and Protestants in Belfast, to wander the ruins of a Norman abbey, or listen to be carried away by the laughter and music in a village pub is quite another thing.
Ireland is a land of contradictions – every square inch soaked in blood, and forever green; full of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet, who will hold a grudge for centuries; rooted in faith, irreverent and forever hopeful.
Arthur Guinness has a new devotee. 
Mellifont Abbey 
St. George’s Market, Belfast 
Unionist memorial 
IRA memorial 
Peace memorial 
Crumlin Road Prison 
The Giant’s Causeway. 
Lough Rynn Castle 
Our room in Lough Rynn 
Percy likes Lough Rynn 
Sligo Abbey 
Pub and B&B outside of Sligo 
The coast outside of Sligo. 
Westport, County Mayo, home of the Kenny’s 
Old Aughavale cemetery, where the Kenny’s are buried 
Statue of Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen, a distant ancestor. 
Westport house, where my 4x greatgrandfather was gatekeeper. 
Famine memorial 
On the Aran Islands 
Aran Islands 
The Cliffs of Mohr 
The Galway Girls 
Atop the Cliffs of Mohr. 
The Wild Atlantic Way 
They don’t call it the Wild Atlantic Way for nothing. 
Jameson Distillery 
Cooperage in the Jameson Distillery. 
Cobh emmigration monument. 
Charles Fort, Kinsale, a former Brittish garrison. 
Kilkenny Castle 
Inside Kilkenny Castle 
Main Street, Hacketstown 
Cooke’s Lane, Hacketstown. 
Church yard in Hacketstown where the Cooke’s are buried. 
Glendalough 
