Michael and David Walsh from Durrow who caught the specimen pike on 13th March 2005 returned this weekend with two companions seeking other Specimen (over 20Lb) pike and fished all day Saturday without any luck. Yesterday Mick Walsh had a 12Lb pike on the River Suck fishing with a dead eel as bait. His son David Walsh had an 18 Lb. pike while legering a herring. Pat Dunphy missed five pike but caught one small Jack pike. Ray Fogarty did the business by landing a 21 Lb. pike using a herring on the bottom. All fish were caught on the River Suck and a boat was used to get to the preferred stretches.
It was a beginning to see five cruisers moored on the old jetty on Saturday evening. Noticed that no refuse skip available for general rubbish but there is a fine arrangement for recyclable bottles.
There is an amount of rubbish from the old jetty down to the Cut after the winter floods.
On Saturday two Dutchmen walked into Shannonbridge.Hans Lodders and Anjon Rosier from Narden, Holland are visiting Ireland on foot.They set out from Dublin on last Monday to walk to Galway. They reached Celbridge on Tuesday, Tullamore on Thursday and had a rest day. They were in Shannonbridge at 13.00 on Saturday and were planning to walk to Ballinasloe along the old canal that once linked Shannonharbour to Ballinasloe.So they crossed the bridge over the River Suck near Ragherabeg and they had very good maps, so no doubt they found the old canal. From Galway they plan to return to Dublin by bus on Wednesday so as to catch their plane to Holland.
Our golfers almost had a great weekend with Paul Mc Ginley beaten in a play off in China and Graham Mc Dowell sharing in the prizes in Florida.
Missed Tom and Margaret Carty at the weekend. They usually arrive down from Dublin on a Sunday evening but our Garrymore correspondent told us that they had gone to visit Gene Carty in Boston for a few days. Good for them.
Noticed a good few blooms of Daffodils in bloom on Lamb Island with the Millenium Cross not fully shown. Many Daffodils in bloom in Reddy's garden and primroses are in bloom in Ragherabeg.
Steve and Liz Nell have arrived for a few weeks break and Dave and Paulien Kemp are coming over from Bradford next weekend. Ken and Betty Smith from California will be here this week.
Had a phone-call from an old friend in San Diego - Will Goldsmith who tells us that all the neighbours and June and himself are in good form. Will still paints every day and his subjects are usually animals in funny layouts. And he sells them at open markets about.
Weather was glorious on Friday and Saturday but the rain arrived yesterday just as forecast. Showery weather is forecast for the next few days . Good Friday will be good.
The death occurred recently of Sis Boland, nee Finneran, Taughmaconnell, relic of Kevin Boland T.D. and sister of Paddy Finneran. May she rest in peace.
Remember the late Pat Corbett of The Aughrim Slopes singing The Old Bog Road a week ago while the cousins ate their breakfast in Rachra House ?. By coincidence I opened an old copy of Irelands Own and there were the words. -

The Old Bog Road

My feet are here on Broadway this
blessed harvest morn,
But, oh, the ache that's in them for
the spot where I was born.
My weary hands are blistered from
Toil in cold and heat,
And oh, to swing a scythe to-day
Through a field of Irish wheat.
Had I the chance to wander back or
Own a king's abode,
It's soon I'd see the hawthorn tree
By the old bog road.
My mother died last springtime
When Ireland's fields were green,
The neighbours said her waking as
The finest ever seen,
There were snowdrops and
Primroses piled up beside her bed,
And Ferns Church was crowded
When the funeral Mass was said,
And there was I on Broadway, and
Bitter was my load
When they carried out her coffin
Down the old bog road.
Ah, life's a weary puzzle past findind
Out by man,
I take the day for what it's worth
And do the best I can,
Since no one cares a rush for me,
What need to make a moan,
I go my way and draw my pay, and
Smoke my pipe alone.
Each human heart must beat its
Grief, though little be its load,
So God be with old Ireland and the
Old bog road.