Maubeuge Welcomes World Champion Sky Divers

The Summer Olympics are far from France, but worldclass athletes have been in our "backyard" for the past week. This year, Maubeuge hosted the world champion sky diving competition. I drove over Monday afternoon to watch, and I returned Thursday afternoon for the award ceremony and special aeronautical events. It was great having a FREE activity to attend just a few minutes from home. There were 30 countries who participated in this event. Several of the countries had two teams entered into each event.

Sky divers receive points for their manuevers/acrobatics in the air. Depending on the event, they are dropped off at a specific altitude and have from 30 seconds to 50 seconds to perform. The parachuting to earth is just the way they get down. There's no judging of the landings.

Sky Diver Headed for Landing

It was fun getting to cheer for the United States. France has the best sky divers in the world, but the Americans weren't too shabby. The following is a pictorial journal of the medal ceremony.

Free Fly Champions

France -- Gold

Norway -- Silver

Great Britain --Bronze

Women's Freestyle

Finland -- Gold

France -- Silver

Switzerland -- Bronze

Men's Freestyle

France 1 -- Gold
France 2 -- Silver

USA -- Bronze

Sky Surf Champions

Russia -- Gold

France 1 -- Silver

France 2 -- Bronze

4-person teams

Great Britain -- Gold

USA -- Silver

France -- Bronze

8-person teams

France -- Gold

USA -- Silver

Italy -- Bronze

Got to meet the American Gold Medal 4-person team.
France -- Silver

Belgium --Bronze

La Patrouille de France ended the program

Digging Up Irish Roots

One of my lifelong dreams has been to find the house where my grandmother grew up. Because of the three week holiday time and because my ninety days of visiting status were up, I chose to make this the time to visit Ireland. Armed with pictures and maps, I headed west of Dublin to the area where the Pender family resided more than 100 years ago.

It was exciting to see the sign on the carriageway with the name of Castlepollard.

The hotel where I stayed was on the town square so it was easy to see which direction I needed to go to find the house.

I drove east toward the far end of the lake and discovered a sign showing the roads going around the lake, including the name of my grandmother's house on the map. It was a bit more difficult finding the right road and entrance. There are no signs indicating which road you are on. So by process of elimination and with the help of the locals, I was directed to the right place.

Here is the front gate leading to the driveway, which seemed like a quarter of a mile long. I was told the current owners were approachable, so I tried not to be nervous as I made my way down the long drive.

The front of the house. I recognized it from the pictures my grandmother had. At the time my grandmother lived here, her father also owned 72 acres surrounding the house. Since then, the land was sold and subdivided. The current owners, Liam and Maureen O'Flanagan, have 13 acres.

The back of the house faces Lough Lene. The house was considered "1st class" because of the number of occupied rooms (17), windows at the front of the house (13), and outbuildings (11), among other things. This rating was given from information collected in the 1901 census.

The entry way is rather large, but then I guess it would need to be to accomdate such a huge front door.

The living room has a lovely view of Lough Lene. There is no exit, however, into the yard except through a side door off the kitchen or through the front door.

The dining room is perpendicular to the living room. You can see on the left where there used to be doors that would block off one room from the other. To the right is a fireplace. And behind that wall, there is another room that has been used as a bedroom, but now it is an office/library.

Today, the kitchen is on the ground floor of the house. Mrs. O'Flanagan has used some of the original slate for her countertops.

Looking down the stairwell from the attic. There are more flights of stairs than I expected. I tried to imagine my grandmother and her six siblings running up and down the stairs. It's a long way down to the dryhouse!

Two of the attic bedrooms. The O'Flanagans have added some additional skylights, making the attic much more cheerful.

Mr. O'Flanagan explained the various rooms of the basement. Unfortunately, the pictures I tried to take did not turn out well. The basement runs the full length of the house. There are two kitchens, a scullery, a wine cellar, a laundry room, a root cellar, and a couple other rooms I don't remember what they're for.

The servants' tunnel leads from the basement to just outside the barn. It was not proper for servants to be seen entering the house through the front door. There are several "cut aways" where the light from outside could shine in to light the way. Now, of course, electric lights assist in chasing away the darkness.

The old barn and carriage house. The O'Flanagans have had to replace most of the windows.

Old iron gate. I think it is the same one I've seen in a picture my grandma had, but it is between a different wall.

After a tour of the house and grounds, Mr. O'Flanagan took me out on the lake. It was a lovely afternoon.

Mr. & Mrs. O'Flanagan were gracious hosts.