Angela's Ashes

Reminiscing with my Australian sister after the wedding, we speak of our early memories of Granny washing dishes in the little scullery while she sang to amuse us, her children, a particular favourite being:-



Granny pictured, years later, with one of her daughters' dolls



"I once had a doll that was all dressed in white
I called her my baby and I'd hold her tight .......

.........

Mama, Mama,

One little word she knew
Mama, Mama,

To me it meant I love you."

She also had a fondness for Irish ballads and would sing  "A Mother's Love's a Blessing" by Bridie Gallagher.  Now fast forward several years, and I foolishly share this verse with my (then) teenage children who are amused by the emotion evoked by this memory!  

But in her late teenage years, Morna and I watch the film Angela's Ashes (a memoir of Frank McCourt's impoverished early years in New York and Limerick, Ireland) at Aros cinema in Portree which ended with a grand rendering of that verse.......

              "A mother's love's a blessing
            No matter where you roam
            Keep her while she's living
            You'll miss her when she's gone
            Love her as in childhood
           Though feeble, old and grey

           For you'll never miss a mother's love
           Till she's buried beneath the clay".

.......... and we look at one another and know that this film has got to be shared with Granny. 

When it became available on Skymovies, Granny was duly brought to Sleat for an overnight stay, other friends invited and the men in the household dispensed drinks to the many ladies resplendent in front of the main TV, where they were normally accustomed to be sitting watching Saturday Night sportscene!   Granny enjoyed the film and no doubt shed a tear or two, along with the other emotional ladies attending the viewing.


Mother of the bride kept her emotions under control on 3rd June,
seeing Morna looking so lovely and wearing Granny's pearls.