Weekly Wrap-up (April 24, 2016)

Blog Posts

4/20/16:  L is for Liberty Hall

4/21/16:  M is for Countess Markievicz

4/24/16:  N is for National Anthem

4/24/16:  O is for On Banna Strand

4/24/16:  P is for Padraig Pearse

4/24/16:  Q is for the Quiet Man

Personal Stuff
Allergies are affecting my life recently.  My eyes hurt.  It makes it difficult to be on the computer, to draw or to read.  I have fallen behind in the A to Z challenge because of my allergies, but I am slowly catching back up.

What I read

I stopped reading The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark.  It was an interesting book, but I was getting nowhere.  

    images from amazon.com    

Then I read Doodle Art Handbook and I am currently reading Ready Player One.

Interesting Stuff I Found on the Internet
R is for Rewrite - I love this comic posted by ARHtistic License.

I've been researching my A to Z Challenge topic, The Easter Rising of 1916.  I will post all my sources at the end of the month.


ROW80 Goals

1.  Read 9 books (1/9)

I read Doodle Art Handbook and now I am reading Ready Player One.

2.  Complete the A to Z Challenge on my two blogs/Continue with my blogging schedule

I have fallen behind on the challenge but I am catching back up.

3.  Edit 5 chapters of ZF

I have not started yet.

4.  Write daily

My allergies made this difficult this week.  I did not write every day.

5.  Continue my Creative Every Day challenge

The A to Z challenge is keeping me creative every day.  Also I have started the #100DayProject on Instagram which is helping me to be creative.

How did your week go?

Q is for the Quiet Man

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory
K is for Kilmainham Gaol
L is for Liberty Hall
M is for Countess Markievicz
N is for National Anthem
O is for On Banna Strand
P is for Padraig Pearse

Q is for the Quiet Man

Arthur Shields, who played the Reverend Playfair in the John Wayne movie The Quiet Man, also participated in the Rising of 1916.

Arthur was an actor at the Abbey Theater in Dublin.  He had a rifle stashed under the stage, and when the Rising began, he grabbed the rifle and joined the men at the GPO.  He helped out with a radio broadcast about the Rising.  He was imprisoned after the surrender but was eventually released and continued with his acting career.

P is for Padraig Pearse

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory
K is for Kilmainham Gaol
L is for Liberty Hall
M is for Countess Markievicz
N is for National Anthem
O is for On Banna Strand

P is for Padraig Pearse

Padraig Pearse, or Patrick Pearse, was one of the leaders of the Rising of 1916.  He wrote the Proclamation of Independence and read it from the steps of the GPO; he was leader of the Irish forces and he was a poet.

Pearse was interested in Irish culture and language from an early age.  He started a bilingual school, St. Edna's, which he used as a place to store weapons before the rising.  He also wrote poetry in Irish, like Mise Eire:

Mise Éire: Sine mé ná an Chailleach Bhéarra Mór mo ghlóir: Mé a rug Cú Chulainn cróga. Mór mo náir: Mo chlann féin a dhíol a máthair. Mór mo phian: Bithnaimhde do mo shíorchiapadh. Mór mo bhrón: D'éag an dream inar chuireas dóchas. Mise Éire: Uaigní mé ná an Chailleach Bhéarra.

I am Ireland: I am older than the old woman of Beare. Great my glory: I who bore Cuchulainn, the brave. Great my shame: My own children who sold their mother. Great my pain: My irreconcilable enemy who harrasses me continually... Great my sorrow That crowd, in whom I placed my trust, died. I am Ireland: I am lonelier than the old woman of Beare.

Padraig Pearse was executed for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916.

O is for On Banna Strand

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory
K is for Kilmainham Gaol
L is for Liberty Hall
M is for Countess Markievicz
N is for National Anthem

O is for On Banna Strand

This song tells the story of Roger Casement, who was arrested before the 1916 Rising even started while trying to get weapons from the Germans on Banna Strand.  He was the only member of the rebels who was executed outside of Ireland, but was later returned to Ireland to be buried.

N is for National Anthem

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory
K is for Kilmainham Gaol
L is for Liberty Hall
M is for Countess Markievicz

N is for National Anthem

Peadar Kearney, who fought during the Rising of 1916, wrote this English version of the Soldier's Song.  It was sung in the GPO during the rising.

The song was later translated to Irish, Amhrán na bhFiann, and chosen as the National Anthem of Ireland.

M is for Countess Markievicz

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory
K is for Kilmainham Gaol
L is for Liberty Hall

M is for Countess Markievicz

Constance Gore-Booth was born in 1868 in London.  Her father was a philanthropist and a landlord in Ireland.  They lived in Sligo.  Constance became interested in Irish Nationalism and was inspired by William Butler Yeats, who later wrote a poem about her and her younger sister.  She married Count Casimir Dunin-Markievicz and became known as Countess Markievicz, although there is some debate as to whether she was an actual countess or not.

image source:  easter1916.ie

In 1903 she moved to Dublin and joined a number of nationalist groups.  She was appointed second-in-command at St. Stephen's Green during the 1916 Rising.  When the Countess surrendered, it is said that she kissed her revolver before handing it over to the British.  She was condemned to death after the rising, but the sentence was changed to life in prison because she was a woman.  She was later released from prison in 1917.

William Butler Yeats wrote this poem about the Countess and her younger sister:

In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz

Related Poem Content Details

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

The light of evening, Lissadell,

Great windows open to the south,

Two girls in silk kimonos, both

Beautiful, one a gazelle.

But a raving autumn shears

Blossom from the summer's wreath;

The older is condemned to death,

Pardoned, drags out lonely years

Conspiring among the ignorant.

I know not what the younger dreams –

Some vague Utopia – and she seems,

When withered old and skeleton-gaunt,

An image of such politics.

Many a time I think to seek

One or the other out and speak

Of that old Georgian mansion, mix

Pictures of the mind, recall

That table and the talk of youth,

Two girls in silk kimonos, both

Beautiful, one a gazelle.

Dear shadows, now you know it all,

All the folly of a fight

With a common wrong or right.

The innocent and the beautiful

Have no enemy but time;

Arise and bid me strike a match

And strike another till time catch;

Should the conflagration climb,

Run till all the sages know.

We the great gazebo built,

They convicted us of guilt;

Bid me strike a match and blow.

W. B. Yeats, "In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz" from The Winding Stair and Other Poems. Copyright © 1933 by W. B. Yeats.  Reprinted by permission of Scribner (Simon & Schuster, Inc.).

L is for Liberty Hall

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory
K is for Kilmainham Gaol

L is for Liberty Hall

Liberty Hall was a base for the IRB before the Rising.  They stored weapons and made plans in this building.

The building was destroyed during the rebellion and has now been replaced by a 16 story Liberty Hall.

K is for Kilmainham Gaol

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory

K is for Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham Gaol is where the leaders of the Easter Rising were imprisoned and executed.

Now it is a museum.  I remember going there for a field trip in elementary school once.

J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street
I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood

J is for Jacob's Biscuit Factory

A garrison of 130-150 men was stationed at the Jacob's Biscuit Factory during the Easter Rising.  One of the men stationed there was Peadar Kearney who wrote the lyrics to the Irish National Anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann.

image source:  easter1916.ie

Although the factory was only about a mile from the GPO, it was mostly ignored during the fighting, and the men inside did not hear about the surrender until Sunday.

I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)
H is for Henry Street

I is for the Irish Republican Brotherhood

The Irish Republican Brotherhood, also known as the Fenians, was formed in the 1850s with the intent to use violence, if necessary, to obtain Irish freedom from British rule.  Throughout the second half of the 1800s, they participated in a number of failed attempts, in both Ireland and Canada, to form an Irish Republic.

The IRB organized the Easter Rising of 1916.  The organization was very secretive, and many blame this fact for the failure of and the confusion surrounding the Rising.

Weekly Wrap-up (April 10, 2016) - Late!

Blog Posts

4/4/16:  Cumann na mBan

4/5/16:  ROW80 Round 2 Goals

4/5/16:  Dublin Castle

4/6/16:  Enniscorthy and What I'm Reading Wednesday

4/7/16:  Foggy Dew

4/11/16:  General Post Office

4/11/16:  Henry Street

Personal Stuff
So, a few of my A to Z posts were late this week (also this post).  I am dealing with the very real possibility of a serious surgery that I will have to get towards the end of this year, beginning of next.  I knew the surgery was somewhere in my future but had no idea it would happen so soon.  It threw me off.  I missed some posts, but I am back!  It's been a stressful week to say the least.

What I read

I've been reading The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark.

Interesting Stuff I Found on the Internet
I've been researching my A to Z Challenge topic, The Easter Rising of 1916.  I will post all my sources at the end of the month.


ROW80 Goals

1.  Read 9 books

I am reading The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark. 

2.  Complete the A to Z Challenge on my two blogs/Continue with my blogging schedule

I was a little late with some posts this week, but they all got posted!

3.  Edit 5 chapters of ZF

I have not started yet.

4.  Write daily

I wrote almost every day this week, either a journal entry or on my blogs.

5.  Continue my Creative Every Day challenge

The A to Z challenge is keeping me creative every day.

How did your week go?

H is for Henry Street

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew
G is for General Post Office (GPO)

H is for Henry Street

Henry Street was one of the first areas taken by the rebels.  The area was hit hard by artillery fire and the Irish were soon surrounded by fires.  The businesses on Henry Street were the victims of severe looting during the rising.  

“In Henry Street, after broaching whiskey barrels and scooping up and drinking the raw liquor, the drunken looters allowed the contents to run to waste. One individual actually took off his clothes in the street and fitted on a new suit from the window of a fashionable tailor’s shop. Dirty, unkempt women from the slums were seen wearing sealskin coats and costly jewellery which they had just stolen,”  from John F. Boyle's The Irish Rebellion of 1916.

G is for General Post Office

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy
F is for The Foggy Dew

G is for General Post Office (GPO)

On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, a group of Irish rebels took over the General Post Office and other key buildings around the city of Dublin announcing the establishment of the Irish Republic.  Padraig Pearse read a proclamation that declared Ireland a free nation and established a provisional government.  Most accounts claim that Pearse stood on the steps of the GPO when he made the announcement but pictures of the GPO show no steps.

image source:  irishcentral.com

Five members of the provisional government were stationed at the GPO during the rising with an army of 350 men and women.  Attacks on the GPO started on Monday.  By Wednesday the building was receiving fire from a British gunboat off the coast.  The GPO was on fire by Friday and had to be evacuated.

F is for Foggy Dew

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle
E is for Enniscorthy

F is for The Foggy Dew

Today I leave you with a beautiful song about the Easter Rising performed by Sinéad O' Connor and The Chieftains.

E is for Enniscorthy and 2016 What I'm Reading Wednesday #12

A to Z Challenge 2016:  Easter Rising of 1916

2016 is the 100 year anniversary of this important moment in Irish history.  Join me throughout the month of April for an A to Z of the Easter Rising of 1916.

A is About the Easter Rising
B is for Boland's Mill
C is for Cumann na mBan
D is for Dublin Castle

E is for Enniscorthy

Enniscorthy is located in Wexford, in the sunny South East of Ireland.

The Cuman na mBan were running messages between Dublin and the south, but the messages were conflicting, and Wexford was confused as to whether the Rising was still happening or not.

Captain Robert Brennan led the forces who took over Enniscorthy.  They had their headquarters in the Athenaeum town hall and theatre, blocked roads and the railroad.  Another group occupied nearby Ferns.

Many of the officers involved were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted.

I am still reading The Art of X-Ray Reading by Roy Peter Clark.

Once again my monthly goal is to read 3 books.  So far I have managed to stick to my goal.

2016 Goal: 32 books
Books Read = 11/32
Books from TBR list: 1
Series completed: 1
2016 Pinterest Board

January
1.  Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
2.  Foreign Gods, Inc by Okey Ndibe
3.  Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy by Dinty W. Moore
4.  Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg

February
1.  The Double Life of Fidel Castro
2.  Peeps by Scott Westerfeld (Started a new series)
3.  Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult (TBR)
4.  The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld (Completed a series!) 

March
1.  The Magician by Michael Scott (Book 2 of a series)
2.  The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
3.  Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

What are you reading this week?  How are your reading goals going?