Copperhead Creek

White Oak Road & Creek

The Late "Hissing Sid"

Just down the road from where I live..well about 8 miles away..is White Oak Creek. Tucked away in the center of Brown County, just north of the Capitol Georgetown is this little bend of the (White Oak) river which is also known among some of the older locals as Copperhead Creek...the actual Copperhead creek is a little stream that runs under a bridge just before the bridges new and old that span the White Oak Creek proper. This fellah (on the right), I found dead on the road last year..obviously clipped by a car as he was crossing the road. It wasn't the first meeting I have had with a copperhead and probably won't be the last..I came on another one last May in Butler County when I was on a spin..again the victim of a passing car.  A Black Racer just around from my House made it an "Unholy Trinity" of dead serpents last year
        

Anyway..went down to the Creek today to see how the new Bridge is coming along....not ready yet but almost there...the old bridge is now out of commission so my favored route to "the South" (Ripley, Higginsport & Moscow) is closed for the time being. 

Waiting for the New Bridge

Just after the Bridge, there is a sadistic little hill which if not tackled correctly will defeat even a Mountain Goat let alone the workaday club cyclist but that is what Hills are for...to be climbed and conquered.

Southern Brown County has some great climbs as the County suddenly slides towards the Ohio just south of Georgetown. No doubt the Ice Age and it's glaciers as they retreated tore out the ravines and canyons that we have today, nothing on the scale of the Alps or Pyrenees but none too shabby all the same for some half decent training or challenging spins.

Cyclobabble.....

Great to get out on the Bike at any time but when you have new routes, wonderful scenery and great company, One is in cycling heaven!

This weekend I had not one but two such spins with all the above, my first Cincinnati Cycling Club tour was on Saturday. We enjoyed the famous Breakfast Ride from Goshen to Pleasant Plain and beyond....Yesterday (Easter Sunday) was special though...working our way from the suburbs (Loveland) into the City proper was just wonderful. Fantastic weather helped a bit too!!

Sawyer Point

Some Interesting hills as we traversed the City heading through the rolling Estates of Indian Hills down into Mariemount and Fairfax, along Erie Avenue over the hump and down into Columbia Tusculum and a straight shot via Riverside Drive passing the over-flowing faithful who were at Easter Mass in St. Rose's Church, spinning along into Sawyer Point to the Purple People Bridge where we gathered to look at the Queen City at her finest.

"Black Betty"

Sunday's Group
you couldn't ask for a better bunch of
Cycling Colleagues.

I've put in a decent base so far this year and have to say "Black Betty" is a joy to operate particularly on the hills and inclines of SW Ohio..hopefully it will stand me in good stead for the Redbud Ride in London, Kentucky which I have been aiming at since Christmas.



The Clement weather we have enjoyed these past few months have been a boon no doubt but it is a must to have something to aim for...a life lesson there! Link to the redbud is here...Redbud ride

Many Thanks to Jim & Irvine and Molly and friends for their hospitality....next week the CCC has their Spring opener so that will be fun and hopefully as fun as this weekend.

Cutting the Holly

Cold and Frigid
like the graves
we trod upon
Indecent in our haste
to leave their mortality behind us
We clamber over the bough and sometimes fence
that divide the living and the dead in Carrig

"Be Still!"
In the quietness
"Can you hear it?"
"Like the running of a bath!"
Our young ears questioning
the sound domestic so familiar
"out here?"
"In the wild?"

Strange looking bushes
with leaves so sharp
as sharp as daggers
and berries so red
just begging to be eaten

"Don't!" warns Dad
as he tips the back of my
small and reaching hand
with a nicotine stained finger..
"poison to us but food for the fairies"

"We're here now.."
all the gang
Cathal & Len & Esther and Barry and Tommy
Reuby too and our Dads
out to cut the holly
for our street doors
....a Wexford tradition

..then I see it
as big as Niagara
and wider still
to my young eyes

Roaring forever into my consciousness
Carrig River
tumbles and falls
upon moss draped rocks
rushes past us on it's way to the sea

desperate like all of us to get away
though we don't know it yet
aching to return....

a Wexford tradition

A pilgrimage from the Republic of Davitt Road South....
I was barely three when I was first brought out to Carrig River by my Dad and Charlie Golden. Jimmy Whelan and Thomas, Jackie Kirwan and Barry as well while our next door neighbours Andy Nolan and Reuby came out too If I recall...it was an honour for us "out of towners"..the Kiernans (Dublin) and the Nolans(Kilkenny/Laois)to be included in this Christmas pageant that generations of Wexfordians had done....particularly in the hallowed confines of the Carrig River demense where Mother Nature is at her finest at any time of the year but particularly so in Advent.

The Graveyard is a shrine to our fallen of 1798 and the turbulent and sad history of those times before and since where rebel and yoeman deep in slumber lay, side by side, comrades in death if not in life.

This little brook rushes out to Wexford Harbour just above Ferrycarraig (pictured)....so many memories I have of this place, all of them happy but now tinged with sadness as the mortality we never dreamt of reaches out to take us home.

Studs Terkel....."Curiosity didn't kill this Cat!"

So farewell then Studs....

When I first came to this country, I was in Borders & there in the discounted books, I discovered a gem...."Will the circle be unbroken...".

In summary, it was a reflective work. Studs doing what he did so best & so effortlessly- putting ordinary Americans at ease & acquiring their lifetime of insight on the topic in hand...this particular topic was on life, death & faith...as we get older we tend to focus on our destiny & ultimate journey.

It was a comment on American Society of that snapshot in time then that such a book be discarded & ignored so easily , to be put in the “marked down” section so soon after publication.

The humanity of Terkel's prose & his ability to let the true America speak....softly, quietly in these pages....away from all the chattering classes & masses, the talk-radio clan - the diatribes, the wingnuts of either side - made me realize and thankful for this country that I am honored to be a resident.

As I began to voraciously read this & his other "tomes"...the Pulitzer prize winner "The Good War", "Hope dies last", "American Dreams", "Working" , "Hard Times"...among others, I found one, "Coming of Age" to be his unbidden masterwork...it was reflections on the 20th century by those who had lived it...It's still a work that I read from time to time...simply for grounding myself & realizing how fortunate we are for the previous generations' toil, effort and sacrifice before us.

We were out (the better half & I) last night - It was our anniversary. On the radio, it was announced that Studs had passed to that "big rally in the sky". As we got out of the car, I said to my wife...how ironic that he should go just before the election on Tuesday to see a son of an immigrant, a community activist from his own town of Chicago be on the ballot of President of the United States. As I said this, I felt a chill , not a chill of cold or some eerie Halloween phenomenon but a shiver no a tremor of emotion on the whole import of the moment of his passing in such a time in our history.

The fact that the candidate is of African heritage would be a celebration of all that Studs believed & espoused about this wonderful, wonderful country. Studs was a light to me & countless others in some dark times...now that he is gone, it's time to pick up his torch & lead on. Studs Terkel was a true American superhero.

Leading is not some ego filled pastime but simply to do good in your life & the lives of others. It's time for our generation to do the same as previous ones and work for our kids & grandkids. Ensure that they have worthwhile lives too!

To those of you reading this, read Stud's work, read it & be filled with hope..the hope that good always wins out in the end.

http://dlv1.matrix.msu.edu:8080/ramgen/terkel/a0/a1/terkel-a0a1i9-b.rm
This is a clip from interviews he did on a train ride to Washington DC for a civil rights march. 54 weeks before I came into the world...a fitting finale before next Tuesday.

Super Sunday 08 reminds one of the Schalke O4 debacle in 2001 (click here after reading the post)

So the endgame to all endgames happens this Sunday, Chelsea & Man United go into the last day equal on points. Man United having a better goal difference must at least draw if not lose against Wigan (yeah, right!) while Chelsea have to win v Bolton....anyway the following happened in 2001 in Germany, read the following & then click on the link which is the above title.......

Hope nothing like this happens on Sunday...

Last day of Bundesliga season 2000/01.

Bayern 3 points ahead of Schalke.

Schalke leads their game.

Bayern plays in Hamburg.

Hamburg scores in minute 89 for their 1:0.

Schalke is champion on goal difference.

Radio gives wrong information, that the game in Hamburg is over.

Tens of thousands of Schalke fans storm onto the pitch to celebrate.

Pay TV coverage is switched on on the big screen in the Schalke stadium.

Pay TV field reporter interviews Schalke co-manager. Gives his congratulation to the manager. Manager asks "is it over in Hamburg?". Reporter: "Yes, you are Champion". Manager "Thank you, Hamburg."

Another reporters voice from the off: "The game is not over in Hamburg".

The bigscreen switches to the Hamburg game in front of the thousands celebrating on the pitch.

Hamburg goalie takes a backpass to his hand. Indirect free-kick from 10 meters for Bayern.

Bayern scores.

Fans, players, managers in Schalke fall to the ground crying. Rudi Assauer, the legendary Schalke Direktor in tears like a little child.

Bayern go ballistic in Hamburg.

Keeping it in the family.....

 

Taken before the game versus Derby County....makes me all sentimental like....the torch is passed to the next generation, another part of the world is forever blue etc, etc!

Turn a different corner....

No, not the George Michael song...a very interesting interview in Newsweek today.
A message of hope on Easter weeekend!

Shifa Al Qudsi was arrested on her way to detonate a bomb strapped to her in Israel. She spent 6 years in an Israeli prison and came to another & braver realisation. The former hairdresser turned "a different corner" so to speak....this is her story as related to Joanna Chen;

Words Over Weapons
A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber explains why she has changed her mind about violence against Israelis

Joanna Chen
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 6:11 PM ET Mar 21, 2008
In an audiotape released this week, Osama bin Laden urges Palestinians to shun negotiations with Israel in favor of armed resistance. In spite of such calls, however, pleas for talks are coming from unexpected players on both sides of the divide. One of them, Shifa al-Qudsi, recently finished serving a six-year sentence in an Israeli prison for planning to carry out a suicide bombing. Back in 2002 the Palestinian had been fitted with an explosive belt by Fatah's Al Aqsa military brigade but was arrested shortly before carrying out her deadly mission. Since then al-Qudsi, now 30, has undergone a radical change of heart and today insists that a solution can be achieved only through dialogue. NEWSWEEK's Joanna Chen met with al-Qudsi at her family home in the West Bank town of Tulkarem and heard why violence isn't an option and life is worth living after all. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What made you want to blow yourself and other people up six years ago?
I was motivated by all the suffering that was going on around me, and at the time it seemed the right thing to do. Palestinians were getting killed inside their own homes, farmers were unable to work on their own lands, innocent children were being oppressed. All of this created an atmosphere of violence.

What did those years in prison do to you?
It was very difficult for me. I sat there for a long time and came to the conclusion there must be an alternative to this path of death and violence. We have to find a better way to reach our objective.

Was there a certain moment when you realized that blowing people up might not be the right way?
I had the chance to read a lot while I was in jail. I read about Mahatma Gandhi and how he obtained his objective of peace without raising a weapon or throwing a stone. I tried to think of a way to do the same in my own country. I think words can express better the suffering of Palestinian prisoners and the wish for peace between two peoples. I don't need to blast my body to bits and kill other people. Today I believe that words are more powerful than weapons.

Even between enemies?
The reality has already been imposed on us. We can't start talking about getting back historical Palestine, and I'm resigned to the fact that there are two nations who can live on this land. There should be peace and quiet not just for the Israelis but for the Palestinians.

What would you say to people who still think that attacks are the way to go?
Many people before me carried out suicide attacks and others will continue to do so if the situation doesn't improve. However, I tell them now: enough. We have created a lot of problems and a lot of destruction on both sides, and the time has come for us to engage in dialogue.

Would you say that to your brother, who's serving 18 years in an Israeli jail for an attempted suicide bombing?
My youngest brother is in jail because he was caught inside Israel wearing a suicide belt. He was only 15 and a half. I consider this blackmail and exploitation of my brother. He was too young to have been able to make this decision on his own, and so I consider what happened to him a crime from our own side. He should never have been exploited this way. When I decided to blow myself up I was convinced this was right and I was old enough to make my own decision, but not my brother.

Your daughter was just seven when you were sent to prison. How did you explain your willingness for her to grow up without a mother?
We've talked about it a lot. She blamed me for leaving her, although I tried to explain to her that I had bigger issues to deal with. I don't want to say that I regret my former mission, but at the same time I know I should have thought of my daughter more and should have made her [my] priority. What will make an impact is not a suicide belt that I strap to myself but education. A bomb only creates casualties and more violence. If I can equip my daughter with education, that will make a change.

What do you tell your daughter today about Israelis?
The most important message for my daughter is that Israelis are not all carriers of weapons and not all of them want to kill Palestinians. There is a big sector that wants peace.

What are your plans for the future?
The day after I came out of prison I went to register [at] university. I feel like there's no time to waste, and my objective is to study and to be able to give my daughter and other children a better future through education.

Do you think that's going to be possible?
I say it in three languages: yes, ken and aywa. I want to talk, to tell people that I did time in an Israeli jail and learned Hebrew and communicated with a lot of Israelis. I want to continue this communication and also to carry the voice of 11,000 Palestinian prisoners to the world.

Do you think your change of heart reflects a change in the Palestinian people?
I think my position reflects the desire of the Palestinian people for peace. People are tired. They want to live. And they really want peace but are struggling in order to make the world understand.

If you could speak to the Palestinian and Israeli leadership, what would you say?
My message to both is peace. We need to engage in real dialogue. Everybody needs to come down from the tree and to enter into a solid, realistic negotiation. This is the only way.


_____________________________________________________________________________________

I fear for this woman's safety...I just hope more & more stand shoulder to shoulder with her...as Peter Gabriel wrote/sang in "Biko";

You can blow out a candle, you can't blow out a fire.

Salaam/Shalom/Peace!
Pat

IKEA comes to town....(Click here for some fun!).

Well it came, It saw, It bloody well conquered....

Well worth the hype, IKEA is now located in Westchester, just North of Cinci & about 40 miles from home so off we popped in after a safari in Jungle Jims (junglejims.com)

WE came out with thousands of ideas for our hovel plus a few sticks of furniture...her indoors was very pleased with a kitchen cart I espied as we were leaving, The young fella got a black-board & a train set plus a lot of other "odds n sods" for the home...the rugs are sensational...we bought one for the living room...the family room will have to wait for now!

Click the title above for some more fun from a disciple of the new store.

Chelsea Crossbar Challenge

Some of these efforts were a bit worrying to say the least...still good fun in aid of charity. Click on the title for a viewing!

Bollywood

I always wanted to be a director....

A rather interesting website, create your own Bollywood movie. On the day that Chelsea got dumped out of the FA cup by the tykes of Barnsley...I had made this one earlier to send to a scouse supporting pal....

Cinci gets a makeover....

Sometime ago I wrote on Cincinnati and the lack of creativity vis a vis the Banks & new development. I hoped the then new mayor, Mark Mallory was going to make a difference but Cinci being Cinci – I held my breath.

Well it looks like the Mayor is delivering….

Last Friday Southern & Western announced their new Corporate HQ would be built downtown. Queen City II will be at 660 ft, 86 ft taller than the Carew tower. I think the aesthetic is stunning and will be a welcome and much needed addition to the local skyline.


Meanwhile the Banks development looks like it will happen. Anything built in the eyesore that lies between the two stadiums has to be a boon. The projected renderings though are disappointing to my eye anyway…

It feels like a tremendous opportunity has been lost to make a substantive statement for future generations. Compare it to shopping for a pair of jeans… do you go for the Levi’s or the “Steve & Barry’s”…I feel the city grabbed the “bargain buy”…it looks decent enough but soon loses it’s appeal, ages rapidly and becomes an embarrassment.


Anyway, here’s hoping the reality proves a lot different…well, one can hope!

Euro 2004 - Top ten goals

The Group stages for Euro 2008 are all but over, here's a reminder of what we're in store for next year...the top 10 from Portugal 2004 where Greece caused the upset of the century winning the tournament!

Telling the time in Italy......

Ah, those long hot days of an Italian summer - thanks to Global warming we have them here in Ohio & in Ireland too!

Cruyff

Another journey down memory lane.

This is the move that Johan Cruyff is famous for. Not only was he one of the World's greats...in a team of World greats, he did this on 4 packs of cigs a day!

He was a fairly handy manager too when he retired from playing the game.

Anyway enjoy the "Cruyff turn".

The Confessor

The Shoah revisited.

The methodical extermination of Europe's Jews by the Nazis is well documented. Such documentation is crucial to show the depraved depths to which humankind can sink to.What is not so well known is the methodical killing of 1.5 million men, women & children in the Ukraine during WW2. The Ukraine has an unsavoury role in this part of World history supplying whole regiments of soldiers and prison guards, both men & women to the "Final Solution".

A remarkable French priest, Fr. Patrick Desbois (pictured left*) records the details from those Ukrainians who as children & teens witnessed horrors that should never have been seen by such young eyes let alone have been allowed to have happen in the first place by supposed "Human Beings". Fr. Desbois is profiled in this weekend's New York Times, It is an amazing work of journalism. The link is here,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/world/europe/06priest.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Ukraine is predominantly Orthodox but has a substantial Uniate Catholic population. This faith submits to Rome though sharing some traditions with the Byzantine Rite. The role therefore of Fr. Debois is understandable and remarkable.

Desbois' role of confessor (& critically) not of that as an accuser allows souls to confess some 60 years after their participation, willing or unwilling in crimes so heinous - they defy description. These confessions, I am sure may aid the penitent in the process of seeking some type of absolution if not peace before they leave this world and face the next. This in turn allows Desbois to chronicle past, forgotten crimes against humanity in an up to now hidden part of history.

Desbois states in the article of his role, "I have to use simple words and listen to these horrors — without any judgment. I cannot react to the horrors that pour out. If I react, the stories will stop."

The cry from all regarding the Shoah or the Holocaust is "Never Forget!".

The images in years past from Bosnia, Rwanda and nowadays Darfur however seem to suggest regrettably that we have.

* pic courtesy of Antoine Antoniol for The New York Times

Famous Sons

Jim Fitzpatrick is one of Ireland’s foremost graphic artists. Forty years ago this week, he presented to the world his portrayal of Che Guevara, the revolutionary Argentinean who was one of the Leaders of The Cuban guerillas along with Fidel Castro.

I recall many years ago, Fitzpatrick being interviewed by Gay Byrne on “The Late, Late Show”. He told the audience of how as a young bartender in a Limerick bar, he met Guevara with some of his minders who were on a stopover in Shannon. Apparently the purpose of his visit to Ireland for Guevara was visiting his ancestral (Lynch) homestead in Cork. Guevara gave him some Cuban currency as a memento.

Guevara was killed in Bolivia in 1967 by Government troops, I understand Fitzpatrick then produced his masterwork…he never received a penny then or since for his work, he never intended to.

He tells the BBC of that time & that work…

Birth of an icon

Jim Fitzpatrick, who produced the ubiquitous high-contrast drawing in the late 1960s as a young graphic artist, told the BBC News website he actively wanted his art to be disseminated.

"I deliberately designed it to breed like rabbits," he says of his image, which removes the original photograph's shadows and volume to create a stark and emblematic graphic portrait.

"The way they killed him, there was to be no memorial, no place of pilgrimage, nothing. I was determined that the image should receive the broadest possible circulation," he adds.

"His image will never die, his name will never die."

Links to Jim's websites are on the right! (no pun intended).

Fitzpatrick's art is simply incredible....teaching the ancient legends of Ireland through the medium of his highly visual art, one could argue he was the latest incarnation of Yeats & the Golden Circle such is the impact he has made.

The Last Battle (1977)

Fitpatrick was also commissioned by various Rock Groups to create Artwork for various projects among them Phil Lynott & Thin Lizzy.....

Do yourself a favour and look at his work, you'll be richer for it!

Jose Mourinho 2004-2007

Well, he's gone and it seems like one long wake ever since! Roman brought him to the Bridge and hopefully things will be back on an even keel soon enough however I think that is a forlorn hope, ...I think of Yeats and his words in the poem - "The Second Coming";

"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold"

Carefree Chris made this video of the greatest manager that ever strode upon the turf of Stamford Bridge. Many thanks Chris from the Blue family!

We're eternally gratefully Jose!

Long life & Great success to you & yours!

Guinness Wexford Festival Pub Quiz.

I read that the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps is holding it's annual Pub Quiz, beginning Tueday night.

Sponsored by Guinness, It's is held over 5 weeks amidst the various hostelries of Wexford district. As I was involved in setting up the initial competitions and setting the questions, I'll be keeping a weather eye on developments.

My old pal Francis Mahon is among those involved and I am sure copious amounts of the Black stuff will be imbibed over the next few weeks. A link will be provided for any that care to check out on the right hand side of the blog.

As I write this, I think of my quiz comrades Philip Cleere, Tim Galvin & Dan Flaherty. There are quite a few stories concerning our escapades but as long as the lads keep sending the brown envelopes, I won't divulge anything.

In memories of days past

For the football purists looking in......

FIELD OF DREAMS

The Lansdowne Roar.......yes I've been part of that many a day.....

Going, Going, almost gone.....

All that remained a few weeks ago was the West Stand, the railway tracks underneath causing the delay....

How many millions of memories are caught in this place above?

....I know I have hundreds stored in my memory banks if not thousands and not all football either!

Like the day a wag told the late arriving Larry Mullen of U2 and his gorilla like minders, "we know who the F**K you are but what do yeh call your monkeys?".

I remember Oleg Blokhin charging up the field for the USSR (or in those days, Dynamo Kiev & 1) with Chris Hughton in tow and a Cork voice telling Chrissy boy to use a rather sharp pointed stick to catch him -that was my first encounter with racism. I remember it just heightened my dislike of things Corkonian even more.

The images that are most vivid though are the players that graced the park.....

Maradona, Guillit, Van Basten, Rikjaard,Michel, Butragueno, Blokhin, Belanov, Cuellemans, Gerets, Pfaff, Rummeninigge, Voeller, Klinsmaan, Platt, Whiteside, Armstrong, the Laudrup Brothers, Poulsen, Figo, Brady, McGrath, Giles, Platini, Tigana, Rocheatau, Zimako, Fernandez, Rats, Kutznetzov, Boniek, Stoichkov, Zuker, Boban...the list is endless

I remember Niall Quinn taking time for every kid with autographs...simply a class act of a person.

Paul McGrath's master-class of reading a game, and now knowing of the demons he had to struggle with makes it all the more incredulous of the games he gave in that green shirt....if ever you have a chance, get his biography as told to Vincent Hogan.

Roy Keane's tigerish displays in midfield....people never give him credit for what he was...the engine - the boss ! ... Perhaps the greatest Irish player ever. Saipan was a sad episode and will forever taint his memory in the green shirt with many but his display versus the Netherlands put us there in the first place...McAteers wonderstrike in that game regardless. I empathised with him as I saw first hand the mickey mouse organisation that the FAI can be many years ago...I wished he could have gone onto Japan, I believe honestly that we would have been at least in the final four in 2002 and who knows......still what ever good came out of Cork, eh? .. :-)

Anyway, back to the future....

Lansdowne is being demolished and then "Phoenix like" will rise in it's new incarnation...

It looks absolutely stunning and a worthy home to our wonderful rugby team, here's hoping our Footballers can do it proud also.