IrishEyes @ Emerald Guitar
The most common way to say hello in Irish is Dia duit (pronounced dee-ah gwit), which literally translates to “God be with you”. It is used to greet one person, while Dia daoibh (dee-ah yeev) is used to greet more than one person…Dia daoibh !
My Irish Hello will serve to put in context any and all imagery I came away from a trip with 4 unlikely young people I graduated high school with way back in 1970 ! Without a summary of how my trip to Ireland came about, many of my future Stories Behind Every Photograph would lack proper context. The following Story Behind will paint a picture of the ever evolving emotions I brought to my two weeks in September 2025 on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Small town Rocky Hill, CT yielded one of its’ largest graduating classes in 1970 of about 135. Never best friends in high school. Each born in 1952 on 5 different days of the week, the boys only days apart. Terry, Betty and Darlene grew-up across the street from one another while Kathy and Steve grew-up closer to the center of town and attended a different elementary school. 6th grade is where they all would meet for the first time in Jr. High School.
Each went their separate way on the June 17, 1970 after graduation. By their early 20’s Darlene and Kathy would move West, Terry joined the Marines Corps and headed off to Southeast Asia, while Betty and Steve stayed local to begin raising young families of their own. Kathy moved back to CT in 1988 and would reconnect with Betty, part of Kathy’s core group of closest friends back in high school. The general class of ’70 reconnection stalled until 2016 or 2017 when small gatherings of graduates would occasionally meetup at a local bar. These gatherings would plant a seed and continually be watered as gatherings became larger and more frequent over time. As 2020 approached a 50th class reunion began to take shape. COVID took over everyone’s lives and the 50th reunion was canceled, as it turned out for two successive reunions were rescheduled. Finally in 2023 the reunion took place, and for many not a one-time reconnection, rather there’s a core of 20 or more who regularly meet over the year and always for the Christmas season.
Darlene would come East for the first time in years at the behest of her son who encouraged her to go back and reconnect after losing her husband just the year before. The reconnection seed was firmly taking shape, however, there were no signs there’d be a small reunion in Ireland. Darlene would return home to the coast of California while the others stayed in Connecticut. Terry would winter in Florida and summer on Cape Cod. In each location Terry had a significant following him playing Irish music and belting out lyrics with his booming baritone voice at local Irish Pubs. The five would loosely stay in contact with one another, still, never imagining what lie ahead.
Later in 2023 a gathering was in full swing with more alcohol than appetizers when Terry proclaimed, “we should all go to Ireland” ! About 7 or 8 raised their hands, the 5 in the opening photograph never wavered from that first commitment to Terry’s charge. Planning would soon take shape for 2 weeks in September 2025. These 5 would represent a full cross section of the Class of 1970, each was crowned a Class Superlative and labeled “Most”…Dramatic, Respected, Flirtatious and 2 were crowned male & female Most Mischievous, yours truly holding the latter moniker !!
Class Superlatives
Overnight into Shannon airport the five grads rented a 9-passenger van with barely enough room for luggage. Our first full day in Ireland we made the 75 minute drive over to pick-up Terry’s custom made guitar and to take in a tour of the Emerald Guitar. While still an unknown, it soon became evident the five, each with distinctively different “A” personalities blended together as harmoniously as Terry’s custom Green Carbon Fiber guitar. Not only is the carbon fiber innovative, rather than projecting the sound from the traditional central “soundhole”, the Emerald guitar has an upward facing soundhole allowing the musician to more clearly hear his or her strumming effects. A short video at the end of this month’s Story Behind highlights Terry’s talents along with his Emerald Guitar.
The adventure was always about the greater good for all, a charge Terry clearly laid out during the planning stages. Terry championed that mantra everyday taking us to some “unknown” spots, many more interesting than well-known locations, a product of his 23rd trip to Ireland. Save for Betty’s one Ireland trip the rest were all newbies to Ireland. Each have adult children out on their own raising their own children. While never spoken, not having young people in our everyday lives fueled a bawdy return to our own youth. The adult banter never stopped in the van, as if we were disrupting a class back in high school, only this time with the benefit of 70’s wisdom. Even Steve’s 400+ photographs couldn’t tell all the stories that happened during those 14 magical days in Ireland. Clearly a bond took hold as though the same blood ran thru our veins.
Long before we were in Ireland, Terry warned and coached us all that we would sing as a group @ Farren’s Bar…as seen in the photo below. True to his word, the locals soon began singing along to their beloved Home to My Donegal. Farren’s Bar is in Malin Head, the most northern part of Ireland where we rented an AirBnb on the ocean for 5 nights. The 3 minute recorded version of our live performance is on my private YouTube channel and is linked in the Blue title link here: Home to My Donegal.
IrishEyes @ Farrens Bar
IrishEyes doin’ their thing !
Each one found their niche…Betty poured a Pint @ Flanagan’s (her maiden name) in Lahinch. Darlene got the scoop on every man at any local Pub. Kathy on the first night bought carrots for any and all Donkeys we would encounter. Steve got to his # 1 landscape, the Cliffs of Pracha. And when the sun went down Terry treated us to yet another side of his gentle giant persona. In all 6 locations we stayed he would grab a guitar and belt out some Irish music to the locals earning huge applause ! Terry was so well received, after his performance in Ireland’s 5th largest city, Terry was asked by the owner to play again the next night @ Monroe’s Pub. Sadly, we were moving on the next morning, but not before the owner of Monroe’s, one of the largest and liveliest pubs in Galway asked if he could be hired on for some nights in 2026 ! Terry just returned earlier this week from Ireland after another 2 week trip with his bride for her 70th birthday.
Plans for a longer stay in different areas of Ireland in ’27.
Checkout the video, Love being called a Child again !!