Tags
Early Irish History, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish in Connecticut, Janet Maher, John Wiehn, Waterbury Irish
Woolen Mill# 10: Love Letter ©2014 Janet Maher
It’s hard to believe that I have not written here since June of this year, and for that I apologize. I do still intend to complete the series of essays about my magical pilgrimage to Ireland, however, the rest of my life intervened and I had to shift gears. For now, those who wish to continue to read my posts, please check out a new blog that I have just begun. It’s called “Trusting the Process: Getting There From Here,” and I hope it will be a means through which I can address more topics. Ireland is still at the top of my list and, especially so as I try to complete a new book by the end of the year. This one, to be titled, Waterbury Irish: From the Emerald Isle to the Brass City,” is in collaboration with a friend I made years back while researching “From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley.” John Wiehn is the current president of Connecticut’s Ancient Order of Hibernians and is the director of the Prospect Library. With Mark Heiss, he produced the postcard series book, Waterbury, 1890-1930. He has been very helpful in finding some great old photographs and in gathering info on some of the topics that will be contained in Waterbury Irish, which should be published next May by the History Press. This book will not only condense and complete the work of “From the Old Sod,” but it will resurrect a history of Waterbury, Connecticut that has long been eclipsed and relatively few people recall or perhaps even know about. In my recent art exhibition I included the above image which is the last of a series from my earlier Naugatuck focus. This one evolved into what I felt to be a love letter to the ending of a project and an emotional nod to my hometown and my past.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and thank you for all the attention you have paid this blog since it began in 2011!
©2014 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair
All Rights Reserved
Maher Matters 
Janet,
Nice to hear from you via blog again. I certainly want to get your new blog. Is there something I need to do – sign up? I forgot how I got the current one.
Good to see that Waterbury’s Irish will get properly featured. Its nice to have a collaborator (as I did with the NH Irish cemetery book).
Paul
Happy Thanksgiving to you! Glad to see you’re back blogging!
Hello Margaret and Paul, great to hear from you both! Margaret, I bet you and Alfie are having quite a feast today from your own home-grown bounty! Paul, it’s a bit hard to see at first, but if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this URL – http://2mah38jan.wordpress.com – (linked in this post by clicking the title “Trusting the Process”) you’ll find a button to click at the lower left corner. Yes, it’s GREAT to work with others! The best collaborations result in something better than any of the participants could do alone, I think. It seems that this book is shaping up to be so, and certainly hope everyone likes the result! Happiness to you and yours!
Janet and Paul, greetings from Ann and Jim Maher’s home. I miss seeing you this Thanksgiving but loved reading your blog.
As you say — “Our souls may get to keep all we have learned along the way and build that work further within another persona, getting done what we couldn’t in a single lifetime, given the circumstances that were put in play for us at our births.” Janet has left a bit of her in me. And with that, a wee bit of Ireland, and a family named Maher, and a kindred spirit I feel when I return each year to Ann and Jim’s. I miss you but am thankful to learn about your blog. I’ll reread it after I return to California. Love, Jane
Jane, what a lovely surprise! Thank you! I, likewise, missed seeing all of you this year and always so much enjoy our catching up – kindred spirits, indeed! Enjoy your stay with all the family and have a wonderful next cycle – hoping to see you at this time, next time!