October 21, 2025, Dublin- The two ladies, ecstatic at seeing one another after an apparently long time, began excitedly chatting as the bus left Rosslare, for central Wexford. They were mirrors of my mother, and two of her three sisters.

I know that my grandfather’s family left this part of Ireland for Germany, sometime in the late 15th or early 16th century. That information was passed to me as a child, by my eldest maternal aunt, who looked exactly like the silver-blonde haired woman holding court on the bus. The other two ladies could have been Mom and her closest sister, when they were in their forties. I have long felt a bond with the Irish, and with Celts in general, without really knowing why-until today.

Once in Wexford, I had about an hour to while away, until the train to Dublin was ready to leave. So, with bag and baggage, I walked about Redmond Square and the West Side Cultural District. Here are some scenes from this town that, in an ancient surprise, was likely the ancestral home of the Cooks, who became the Kusch family, once in Germany.

The Redmond family brought the train to Wexford and drained marshland, to make the area fit for human habitation.

It was time to board the train, so I left things like the John F. Kennedy Arboretum for another time. I did get a few glimpses of Muir Eirann (Irish Sea) from the train, between Wexford and Dublin.

At long last, we arrived at Connolly Station.

To my Cook relatives, your song resonates through the centuries. To my Connolly relatives (on my Dad’s side), this station is named for your distant cousin, an Irish national hero-but you knew that.