GAA GAMES - This Saturday, May 31, the Seattle Gaels play Vancouver in Burlington in a series of men's and women's Gaelic Football and Hurling games that start at 10:30 AM in Skagit River Park, 1100 S Skagit St, Burlington. The day concludes, following a 4 PM Coed Football game, with a BBQ at 5 PM. For more information, visit www.seattlegaels.com.

 
GAA TELECASTS - Live telecasts of Gaelic Football and Hurling games from Ireland are held weekly at FADÓ Irish Pub at 1st and Columbia, downtown Seattle. This Sunday, June 1, watch Donegal vs. Derry in football at 8 AM and Waterford vs. Clare in Hurling at 10 AM (delayed). Admission is $125 for the season (40+ games) or $20 per telecast. Call 206-264-2700.
 
SOCCER - The kick-off game for the All Nations Soccer Cup has Ireland playing Argentina at 8 PM on Friday, June 6, at Fort Dent Park, Tukwila. For the full schedule of games, visit www.allnationscup.org.   
 
GAELS GOLF - The 8th Annual Seattle Gaels Golf Tournament is Sunday, June 8th, at West Seattle Golf Club with tee-times starting at 10 AM. Fee of $75 ($280 per foursome) includes a round of golf, a lunch ticket and prizes for best foursome, closest to the pin, longest drive and four chances to win hole-in-one prizes (including $10,000 cash). Contact Aidan O'Callaghan at 206-940-1113 or aidanocall@yahoo.com.

 

BLOOMSDAY - A staged performance of Oxen of the Sun, Chapter 14 of James Joyce's Ulysses, will be presented by the Wild Geese Players at 4 PM on Saturday, June 14, at Elliott Bay Books, 101 S. Main St., Seattle. In this chapter, the wandering Leopold Bloom visits a maternity hospital, where poor Mina Purefoy is entering her 3rd day of labor. Bloom encounters a group of drunken medical students, who carry on wildly while discussing poor Purefoy's fate. See Photos from 2007 or visit www.wildgeeseseattle.org.  
 
MONTHLY FEICEÁIL - Sunday June 15th is Father's Day. So, this Feiceáil is up to you. Spend it with your Dad? The rest of your family? With friends? Loved ones? Strangers who may be friends? Perhaps you should just take some time to relax. Contact Melissa at 206-229-8512.

RACE TICKETS - Irish Day at the Races is Sunday, June 24, at the Emerald Downs Racetrack in Auburn. Free kids activities include inflatable slide, pony rides, face painters, and wax hand booth. Enjoy Irish music, Irish stepdancers, food and drink specials. Watch and Wager on the $50,000 Irish Day Handicap. Free admission tickets can be printed as needed off the Irish Heritage Club website at www.irishclub.org.
 
IHC AGM - The Irish Heritage Club's Annual General Meeting and Election of Officers will be on Sunday evening, June 29, at 6 PM at the Wilde Rover Irish Restaurant, 111 Central Way, 1 mile west of I-405 on 85th St, Kirkland. All members and prospective members are invited to attend. For more information on the Irish Heritage Club, contact Melissa Estelle at MelissaE@irishclub.org or visit www.irishclub.org. 

 

IRISH NIGHT - For reduced price tickets to Irish Heritage Night at the Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland on Thursday, August 21, visit www.Mariners.com. Admission includes a FREE T-Shirt and entertainment by bagpipers and Irish dancers. One 2008 Irish Heritage Club member will be drawn at random to help throw out the first pitch! Email membership@irishclub.org or call 206-526-5993.
 
KIDS DAY-CAMP - Emerald Ballet Theatre (EBT) in Bellevue hosts a three-day "Irish Traditional Arts" day-camp for children ages 5-12 from 1-5 PM Monday-Wednesday, June 30-July 2. There will be lessons in Irish dancing, penny whistle, Irish language, song, and stories of Ireland. Instructors include Maggie Corrigan TCRG, Peggy O'Toole Weber TMRF, Northwest Irish Pipers Club members, and Emerald Ballet directors. EBT studios are at 12368 Northup Way. For more information, visit www.emeraldballet.org or contact baileglas@netscape.net.

NEW SCHOOL - Montessori teacher Eámaer McGuigan opens 'Glentaisie Montessori & Preschool' in the Shoreline area in September. For information, contact Eámaer at 206-335-5013 or glentaisiemontessori@hotmail.com.
 
RAMBLERS CONCERT - The Dublin City Ramblers appear at The Triple Door, 2nd and Union, downtown Seattle, on Saturday, August 9. The Ramblers have thrilled audiences worldwide with their unique blend of ballads, folk, humor, wit and foot-tapping music for more than 35 years, with over 30 albums, top ten hits, several awards for best Ballad/Folk Group and 8 Gold Albums. All ages are welcome - visit www.dublincityramblers.com or The Triple Door. 
 
BUTTE IRISH WEEK - Butte, Montana, holds an Irish language and culture immersion week from July 19-26 that focuses on imparting a conversational knowledge of Irish along with traditional music and the basic steps of the most popular Irish Céilí and set dances. Classes run 9 AM - 5 PM with an evening program that includes dances, music and video presentations, talks and tours of old-town Butte. For detailed information, visit www.irishmontana.com or contact Terry O'Riordan at 406-544-0311.
 
DOHERTY REUNION - The Dohertys, O'Dohertys, Daughertys, Dochertys and Ó Dochartaighs of this world are converging on northwest Ireland for a ten-day Clan Gathering in Derry city and throughout Inishowen from July 1-10. This year's event commemorates "the last Irish chieftain", Cahir Rua O'Doherty, killed July 5, 1608. For details, contact Eva Doherty Gremmert at egremmert@comcast.net.  
 
SEATTLE CENTER - Seattle City Council holds a Public Hearing on the Seattle Center Master Plan on Wednesday, June 4th, at 5 PM in City Hall. This Master Plan will greatly influence arrangements for future Irish Festivals and all IHC members are invited to attend.

OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

EXCHANGE REFUNDS - Anyone who charged anything in a foreign currency (e.g., in Irish Punts or Euros, etc.) to their Visa, MasterCard, or Diners Club credit card between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006 is entitled to a 1%-3% refund based on court rulings that exchange rates were artificially inflated. The deadline for applying for refunds is tomorrow, Friday, May 30. Visit www.ccfsettlement.com for the details.
 
GAA HISTORY - Vancouverite John O'Flynn has published The History of The Gaelic Athletic Association in Canada and the Seattle Gaels are mentioned more than a few times because of their games over the years against Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. John is well known to anyone involved in Gaelic Games in Seattle and we wish him well and look forward to reading his book. It was officially launched this past weekend at a function in Toronto attended by GAA President Nicky Brennan. The book costs $20 and can be purchased online at www.trafford.com/07-2929. 

 

The Seattle International Film Festival screens an Irish film called 32A at Pacific Place on May 31 at 4 PM and at the Uptown Theater in Queen Anne on June 3 at 7 PM. Billed as being appropriate and educational for youth of all ages, it's a coming-of-age story taking place in Dublin in the 1970s. 32A won the Best First Film Award at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2007.

 

Irish playwright Marie Jones comes to Seattle for a special presentation of her play A Night in November at the Seattle Repertory Theater on Tuesday June 10th at 7:30 PM. This two-act monologue charts one man's personal journey from an unexamined life as a bigoted Protestant in Belfast to an all-out embrace of Irish heritage and brotherhood. For information, visit Seattle Repertory Theater. 

 

Until June 8th, the Bathhouse Theatre at Green Lake presents Spokesong, a play about an idealistic bike shop owner in Belfast during the Troubles. See the  Seattle Times Review, contact 206-524-1300, or the Bathhouse Theatre at www.seattlepublictheater.org.

*  For the latest information on Irish / Celtic events in the Seattle area, visit www.hoilands.com.

*  'AS GAEILGE', Seattle's Irish language conversational group, meets every second Tuesday! Contact WendyZ@irishclub.org.

*  The annual IRISH COMMUNITY PICNIC is on Sunday July 20 at St. Edward State Park in Kenmore. All members of the Seattle-area's Irish community are invited to attend. No charge!

*  The next Irish-born Seniors' Luncheon at the Wilde Rover Restaurant in Kirkland is tentatively arranged for Saturday, September 20. For details, email siisg@irishclub.org or call 425-290-7839.

*  LÁ GAEILGE, an Irish Language Day is this Saturday, May 31 at Marylhurst University, 10 minutes south of Portland. For information, contact AnRoibeard@Comcast.net.

*  An Irish language and singing class, Monday and Thursday evenings, June 23 - July 24, at Evergreen State College in Olympia. Contact Seán Williams at WilliamS@evergreen.edu for details.

*  The Irish Heritage Club will have a booth at the 2008 Skagit Valley Highland Games, July 12-13, in Mount Vernon.

CLUSTER BOMBS - Representatives of more than 100 countries meeting in Dublin have agreed a treaty that bans the use of cluster bombs by their armed forces. However, the world's top producers, users and stockpilers of cluster bombs - the US, Israel, China, Russia, India and Pakistan - did not attend and are not party to the treaty which will be formally adopted on Saturday.
 
CANNES AWARD - The Irish film, Hunger, dealing with the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, received the Camera d'Or award at last week's Cannes Film Festival. Hunger employs minimal dialogue as it observes the physical deterioration of Sands who died after 66 days on hunger strike in 1981. The film was not eligible for the Palme d'Or award.

1766 BELFAST - The earliest known paintings of Belfast, dating from 1766 before the industrial revolution, are back in Belfast after being in private hands in Britain out of public view for more than 200 years. The four paintings by Dublin artist Jonathan Fisher were recently purchased at auction in London and are now on display at Belfast's Ulster Museum.
 
ST. JAMES'S GATE - The Guinness brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin has existed since Arthur Guinness in 1759 secured a 9,000-year lease on four acres of ground for an annual rent of £45, including water rights. Now Guinness has announced half the site will be sold off and a new brewery will be built on the outskirts of Dublin. The Guinness Storehouse is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ireland and four million pints of stout are produced there each day.
 
OLD PAPERS - 56 issues of the Limerick Chronicle dating from 1783-1827 were recently purchased from a Co. Limerick fisherman by Ireland's National Library. The Chronicle is the Republic of Ireland's oldest newspaper, and these pre-famine issues carry local news along with reports from the emerging United States. The first Limerick Chronicle was published in 1768.
 
BOXING FAME - Irish bare-knuckle boxer Dan Donnelly has been posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Born in Dublin in 1788, Donnelly became world heavyweight champion when he beat Englishman George Cooper in 1815 in front of over 20,000 Irish supporters. When he died in 1820 aged 32, over 70,000 people attended his funeral in Dublin.
 
BARACK O'BAMA - A Washington Post blog that highlighted the number of international groups supporting Barack Obama, featured a YouTube video of an Irish band singing their song "There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama". The band has also been featured on MSNBC's Hardball and was written about in the Los Angeles Times as well as in their home-town newspaper, the Nenagh Guardian.

GRAFTON STREET - After a recent rate increase, the annual rent for McDonald's on Dublin's Grafton Street is almost $1.75 million. Average rents on Grafton Street are $955 per sq ft, making it the sixth most expensive street in the world. New York's Fifth Avenue is the world's most expensive.
 

*  38 pubs were prosecuted in Ireland in 2007 for breaching the smoking ban

*  Peat Bogs cover 1/6 of the island of Ireland, both Blanket bogs and Raised Bogs, but because of turf cutting and other activities, most Raised Bogs will be exhausted by the middle of this century
*  78% of Irish web users visited Google at some point in the last month
*  About half of Ireland's estimated 60 mammal species are thought to have been brought to the island by humans
*  At the Battle of the Boyne, July 1690, King William was nearly shot by one of his own men as the only distinction between the armies was that the Williamites wore a sprig of green in their hats and the Jacobites a piece of white paper
*  Brian Keenan, a former member of the IRA's Army Council who later became a key figure promoting the peace process, has died in Belfast after a battle with cancer.
*  FBI agents are in Galway this week giving evidence in the trial of an Irishman accused of making phone and bomb threats against President Bush
*  Graphic color photos showing the potentially fatal consequences of smoking will soon be part of the health warning on cigarette packs in Ireland.
*  Hoax calls to Dublin Zoo caused its telephone switchboard to overload when cell phone users responded to text messages to call the Zoo's number for an urgent message from C. Lion, Anna Conda, G. Raffe, etc.
*  Ireland's Central Statistics Office says that in 2007, Irish people spent more than $9.64 billion on 7,713,000 trips abroad while 8,012,000 visitors spent $7.7 billion in Ireland
*  Ireland's Department of the Environment claims that the earthworm is worth over $1 billion per annum for the "services" it provides by removing dead matter and releasing nutrients back to the soil.
*  Ireland's salmon population has declined by 75% in recent decades and, although salmon still occur in 148 Irish rivers, less than 10% of the wild smolts that go to sea from Irish rivers are surviving
*  There are about 2,000 Jews in Ireland today compared to about 5,500 in the late 1940s
*  It is estimated that more than 1,000 marriages of convenience have taken place in Ireland by illegal immigrants applying for residency
*  More than 40,000 people, comprising 8% of Ireland's new communities, were born in Africa with the majority coming from Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the Congo.
*  President Bush visits Belfast Monday, June 16th, his final stop on a week-long tour of Europe.
*  Priceless archaeological treasures are being "left exposed in open-air sites" because Ireland's National Museum has 1.5 million objects awaiting classification with no place to store them.
*  Last month, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced a $2million Irish Government gift to the JFK Library at Harvard
*  The 2008 Global Peace Index ranks Ireland 6th on a list of 140 countries worldwide. The UK is 49th, the US 97th and Iraq 140th
*  The great majority of Muslims in Ireland are Sunni, and in the Republic of Ireland Muslims now outnumber Presbyterians and Methodists combined.
*  The New York Times answers the question,  Does the 'Real' Ireland Still Exist?, while the Washington Post writes about Rural Pubs in Ireland.

*  The World Archaeological Congress holds an international Congress every four years and the Sixth WAC Congress is being held at University College Dublin June 29-July 4

*  The approximately 200,000 Polish people in Ireland are served by 30 Polish priests.

*  There are now over 217,000 legally-held and registered firearms in the Republic of Ireland