May 24, 2024
Spending time with Mayo Co. Cousins!
I am having a fabulous time visiting all my Irish cousins in County Mayo, this week. Last time I was here was 2016, about seven years ago and since then there have been a lot of special additions, spouses and children! My oh so lovely and welcoming hosts are John and Anne Keane (Anne's mother and my mom's mother were sisters), making her my first cousin, once removed. They live in Balla, Mayo and have both mostly retired from running the Keane Farm Machinery & Repair
Business. Their 2 sons Gerard and Sean now run the business, which is located right next to their parents' home. Aine, their daughter is married to Barry Moran and their 3 children are pictured above and they are expecting one more, in October.
Cuties above are Cuan, Seoidin & Barra,
all Gaelic names and they are 1.5, 4 and 3 years old, respectively. They live in a stunningly converted, energy efficient home just outside Castlebar and are very active in sport as are both parents. Aine
is a Physical Education teacher in middle school and Barry
was a Gaelic football player and now coaches and works in Finance for American Life Science Firms. Below is John Keane
performing one of his favorite retirement duties - heating up feed for the cats; Anne
visiting her brother Martin
out on his farmstead: John & Anne
together and Anne
in Cong.
Sean Keane & his wife Helen McGarrigle, a pharmacist, have 2 enchanting boys Oisin and Fionn and little sister Niamh. The boys are 6 and 5 and in school together and I got to spend a fun afternoon with them playing with Legos and learning all about farm machinery.
Another of my grandmother's sister was Josie McEveney who is survived by her 5 Children in Mayo. I got to spend time with 3 of them.
Patricia & Thomas Fitzpatrick on their farm in Hollymount. Tommy McEveny & son Conor in Snugboro, Castlebar.
I got to do 14 dives and 5 snorkel trips over our two weeks at Eco Cove Resort. I feel much more confident and comfortable diving, practice does truly help! Eco has these t-shirts that list all their Resort excursions - we made a nice dent in all of them and it's hard to pick a favorite!
Friday nights at Eco Cove Resort are sunset excursion time. All the guest are taken over to tiny Yeben Rock Island. This time the tde ws coming in quickly and alot of the island was already covered by water but that didn't dampen our party! We had a cooler of beer this time too! We also have become feriendly with the 2 families that were there sharing with us.
Eco Cove Resort in Raja Ampat - Oh what a wonderful place! I have truly loved my time here! Sharing it all with wonderful friends, made it even better. Here's some highlights above and below the water.