Back to Belfast
TransAtlantic, Hotel Helpings, Ger O'Donnell, Jordan Walker, Squat Scats
Welcome to my 194th newsletter. This issue includes highlights of our one-day tour of Northern Ireland, an Irish novel that includes the story of the end of the Troubles, lunch and dinner in hotels on the day of the tour, an incredible Irish singer, the Home Run Derby hero, and scat sweets. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Roger was in town over the weekend and treated us to the Tigers-Phillies game on Saturday. The Tigers had been on a hot streak that unfortunately cooled down when we showed up. Former Detroit draft pick Derek Hill did them in with his speed. In the third inning he forced a late throw and reached first, stole second and third, and scored on a sacrifice fly. In the fourth, Derek singled, drove in a run, and stole another base. His best play came on defense, when he robbed Zach McKinstry of extra bases in the third.
If you enjoy Fave Five, please share it with your friends who also like books, food, music, sports, or humor. To do so, just click the button below.
Fave Five 194: Back to Belfast
McCann’s Masterpiece (TransAtlantic), Hotel Helpings (Fullerton Arms, Fleet Hotel), Ger from Clare (Ger O’Donnell), Homer Hitter (Jordan Walker), and Squat Scats.
Fave Five List: Notable Northern Ireland
We had already stopped in Belfast to visit the Titanic Experience, but we wanted to see more of Northern Ireland. So, on June 27, we booked a one-day bus tour that took us from Dublin to Northern Ireland and back. Three of the stops were popular with fans of Game of Thrones, due to filming that took place there. Here are the five places we visited on the tour.
Dunluce Castle: Exterior shots were used in Game of Thrones for Pyke of House Greyjoy on Pyke Island.
Giant’s Causeway is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption.
Ballintoy was used as a filming location in Game of Thrones. This stunning harbour location has been used for exterior Pyke shots and as the Iron Islands. When the trees along Northern Ireland’s famous Dark Hedges (better known to Game of Thrones fans as the Kingsroad) blew over in Storm Gertrude, Tourism NI set about saving that piece of history for fans. They carved the felled wood into a set of 10 intricate doors, hung across a variety of locations in Northern Ireland, each telling the story of a Season 6 episode. The Fullerton Arms has Game of Thrones Door 6, depicting Season 6 Episode 6.
The Dark Hedges: This beautiful avenue of beech trees was planted by the Stuart family in the eighteenth century. It was intended as a compelling landscape feature to impress visitors as they approached the entrance to their Georgian mansion, Gracehill House. Two centuries later, the trees remain a magnificent sight and have become one of the most photographed natural phenomena in Northern Ireland. The iconic beech trees have been used as a filming location in Game of Thrones, representing the Kingsroad. Featured Scene: Season 2, Episode 1, The North Remembers. On the King’s Road, Arya Stark has escaped from King’s Landing, disguised as a boy. She is with Yoren, Gendry, Hot Pie, and others who are to join the Night’s Watch, in a cart, traveling north on the Kingsroad.
Belfast City Hall: Located on Donegall Square, the striking City Hall — with its copper-domed roof, stained glass windows and elegant Portland stone — is the civic headquarters of Belfast City Council. Designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas and completed in 1906, the magnificent structure showcases an exquisite blend of Baroque architectural style, beautifully complemented by the surrounding grounds, filled with manicured lawns and memorials, including the Titanic Memorial Garden, the Cenotaph, and the Garden of Remembrance.
Book Best Bet
I previously featured Let the Great World Spin by the same author. I thought of this book on our tour from Dublin to Belfast, as one of the storylines takes place in Dublin and another in Belfast. The Irish people are very grateful to the U.S. for helping to settle the Troubles, and George Mitchell’s role is prominent in the book.
From Amazon: In the National Book Award–winning Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann thrilled readers with a marvelous high-wire act of fiction that The New York Times Book Review called “an emotional tour de force.” McCann demonstrates once again why he is one of the most acclaimed and essential authors of his generation with a soaring novel that spans continents, leaps centuries, and unites a cast of deftly rendered characters, both real and imagined.
Newfoundland, 1919. Two aviators—Jack Alcock and Arthur Brown—set course for Ireland as they attempt the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, placing their trust in a modified bomber to heal the wounds of the Great War.
Dublin, 1845 and ’46. On an international lecture tour in support of his subversive autobiography, Frederick Douglass finds the Irish people sympathetic to the abolitionist cause—despite the fact that, as famine ravages the countryside, the poor suffer from hardships that are astonishing even to an American slave.
New York, 1998. Leaving behind a young wife and newborn child, Senator George Mitchell departs for Belfast, where it has fallen to him, the son of an Irish-American father and a Lebanese mother, to shepherd Northern Ireland’s notoriously bitter and volatile peace talks to an uncertain conclusion.
These three iconic crossings are connected by a series of remarkable women whose personal stories are caught up in the swells of history. Beginning with Irish housemaid Lily Duggan, who crosses paths with Frederick Douglass, the novel follows her daughter and granddaughter, Emily and Lottie, and culminates in the present-day story of Hannah Carson, in whom all the hopes and failures of previous generations live on. From the loughs of Ireland to the flatlands of Missouri and the windswept coast of Newfoundland, their journeys mirror the progress and shape of history. They each learn that even the most unassuming moments of grace have a way of rippling through time, space, and memory.
The most mature work yet from an incomparable storyteller, TransAtlantic is a profound meditation on identity and history in a wide world that grows somehow smaller and more wondrous with each passing year.
Named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews
“A dazzlingly talented author’s latest high-wire act . . . Reminiscent of the finest work of Michael Ondaatje and Michael Cunningham, TransAtlantic is Colum McCann’s most penetrating novel yet.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“One of the greatest pleasures of TransAtlantic is how provisional it makes history feel, how intimate, and intensely real. . . . Here is the uncanny thing McCann finds again and again about the miraculous: that it is inseparable from the everyday.”—The Boston Globe
“Ingenious . . . The intricate connections [McCann] has crafted between the stories of his women and our men [seem] written in air, in water, and—given that his subject is the confluence of Irish and American history—in blood.”—Esquire
“Another sweeping, beautifully constructed tapestry of life . . . Reading McCann is a rare joy.”—The Seattle Times
“Entrancing . . . McCann folds his epic meticulously into this relatively slim volume like an accordion; each pleat holds music—elation and sorrow.”—The Denver Post
Restaurant Recommendations
Hotel Helpings
During our tour, we lunched at a hotel in Ballintoy. After we returned, we had dinner at a hotel in Dublin.
Fullerton Arms Ballintoy
Roast Pork Loin
The Fleet Hotel Café 1920 Dublin
Virgin Pornstar Martini: passion fruit purée, pineapple juice, lime juice, soda water. This was the best mocktail I ever had.
Stone Baked Jambalaya Pizza: spicy tomato, mozzarella, Ndjua sausage, prawns, pancetta, jalapeño
Rocket & Parmesan Salad
Marvelous Musician
Barb and I braved the heat wave yesterday to drive to Lansing to see this Irish singer/songwriter/guitarist perform at UrbanBeat. This was the initial concert in the Old Town Cultural Center series hosted by Ben Hassenger.
Ger’s singing and guitar playing are wondrous. He is funny and engaging, telling many stories from his long career. He played my request of Bright Blue Rose. despite not normally being the lead singer on this song by Jimmy MacCarthy.
I talked to him about performing in our home in the future. If we succeed in booking him, you should make plans to attend.
Ger O’Donnell is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist renowned for his heartfelt acoustic folk music, often infused with traditional Irish and country influences. Hailing from Clare, Ireland, he has garnered multiple #1 hits in his home country and tours internationally, captivating audiences with his storytelling and melodic compositions.
He has exploded onto the folk scene in the past three years with a wealth of solo and collaborative performances. Ger was the musical director for the late Dolores Keane and recording engineer and guitarist/bassist/singer for many well known artists such as Sharon Shannon.
He has recorded an incredible collection of videos. I recommend checking them out.
Stardust
Wichita Lineman
City of New Orleans
No Frontiers
Vincent
Mary and the Soldier
My Playlist
Sports Star
Jordan Walker, 24, made more money from winning the Home Run Derby on Monday night than he will earn this season from the Cardinals. He homered on his final six swings of the night, and with his electrifying comeback that took down hometown hero and Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber at Citizens Bank Park, he earned $1 million. The prize money more than doubled his income for the season, as he is earning $799,400 from the Cardinals.
From Wikipedia: Jordan Alexander Walker (born May 22, 2002 in Stone Mountain, Georgia) is an American professional baseball right fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Cardinals selected him in the first round of the 2020 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2023 and was named an All-Star in 2026.
Jordan Walker may have won Home Run Derby, but his parents stole the show
As the 24-year-old Walker slugged his way to a victory over hometown favorite Kyle Schwarber in the final round, his parents’ emotional reaction to each and every homer provided a refreshingly human aspect to the slickly produced and sponsor-heavy event. They became such a big part of the story that Walker’s father, Derek, was interviewed alongside his son after the win.
Jordan Walker once looked like a bust. Now he’s one of MLB’s breakout stars
Once the face of promise for one of baseball’s winningest organizations, Walker’s struggles over the first three years of his career instead turned him into the poster child for the Cardinals’ severely outdated player development system.
It was Chenoweth — with considerable help, communication and input from Cardinals assistant general manager Rob Cerfolio, manager Oli Marmol and hitting coach Brant Brown — who found a way to break through to Walker when the Cardinals elected to stretch out a rehab assignment with Double-A Springfield last year.
Jordan Walker Homers 6 Straight Times To Win The 2026 Home Run Derby!
Picture Pun
Cheapskates won’t buy these sheep scats.
