Are you in Dublin May 22? Read this....

..... Oh yeah, HRH QE II will be in town in the immediate days before this. That'll get the rebel music going in the pubs.

Whose encestral hometown of Moneygall? And the Queen will be in Moneygall too? for what occasion?

President Obama has ancestors from Moneygall. The Queen will be in Ireland, various locations, though I doubt Moneygall will be one. I meant Dublin as her being "in town."

he does? really? I thought his ancestors were from Ghana or Nigeria? So he is really Irish Anerican?

He is Irish American. And Anglo American. And German American. And African American. Probably more nationalities too.

Love it. Wish I had paid more attention as a kid when my mother was doing all her genealogy research and wanted to tell me about it so I'd know now which countries where I would have had ancestors. Same wish on learning a foreign language...

To Dellinda from Texas: You can always start now to do both. There are lots of places to start doing research working back through your family tree. See if you can get your hands on any info your mother had years ago. (Papers stored in an old trunk; verbal info she gave to an aunt or a cousin.) Also, learning a new language can start any time. It's not that hard, and lots of fun. Tapes are the best, especially if they come with a handbook to show you also how to read and write the language. A lot of high schools and community centers now have "Learn a Language" night classes for free, or for a small fee (like $12.) Most of them meet twice a week over a period of 6 weeks or more. Go for it! You can do it!

Rebecca, you're right. And I have boxes and boxes of her research...having time to go through it is the challenge. I did order CDs for Pimsleur's Italian before we went last April (we were in Rome this time last year ). I think I actually learned a little...went through all 16 of Italian I, all 16 of Italian II, and started on III before time ran out. My husband actually told someone recently that I had been able to give a cab driver some information in Italian, and I guess he was impressed. I was impressed he remembered! Since we're going to France this year I thought I might try to add to my two years of college French from a hundred years ago, but when I started through a little program on my ipod I decided I'd better stick with one language so went back and got out the Italian CDs again. It actually is coming back faster than I thought it would so am going to work on getting better at that in anticipation of going to Italy again, maybe next year! Use it or lose it!!

Complete side note, but I was touring Ireland during the 2008 primary - by May it was still a race between Obama and Clinton. One of our local guides told me how excited the Irish were about Obama because his grandmother was Irish. He also knew just about every detail about all the candidates (both parties) - putting the average American to shame. For him, it was almost like Kennedy was running again.

Way to go Dellinda!!! I am impressed that you learned Italian!!! You are an inspiration to me, to get out my old tapes and French book and brush up my French!