After we had shaken off the worst part of our jet lag, we stopped in to see the Thomas Casey family...Thomas, Maura and Irene. They were like our cousins, even though we didn't know yet if they were any relation to my great-great grandfather, Michael Casey. We always had a great time visiting with them and told them how often we thought of them when we were back in the States. They would tell us about everything that had happened since we last saw them. Then it would be our turn to do the same.


One of the most asked questions of us by our Irish friends, including the Caseys, was who we thought would run for president in 2008. Everyone who talked about it told us how much they loved President Bill Clinton and would like to see Senator Hillary Clinton run and win in 2008.

They asked about our health, which had been good except for my knee replacement surgery. Last visit, in 2005, Thomas hadn't been feeling well but was feeling better now and looking great. They told us about their son, Tom, who was now running Casey's Bar. He had done the place all over inside and out. We never seemed to catch him at the house so we went to the bar to visit and take a picture of him.


The Caseys asked all about LittleShamrocks.com and what exactly it is. They don't have a computer so none of them had seen it. A few days later, on our next visit, Irene had used the computer at the library and looked it up. They were thrilled with it, loving all of the stories, especially the ones where they were mentioned. Maura particularly liked the photo of Thomas from our first Ireland visit in 1998.

I asked Maura and Irene if they would give me some of their recipes to make and include in our recipes section. The first thing they asked about was if I had a recipe for Boxtie. I told them I did, so they said that they would pick some out to send to me. While we were there, we had some cheese and tomato sandwiches with tea. Yummy!


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