Dimitrius and the Gladiolas

Book excerpt: WE ARE FAMILY. br. This is about us. We are a family in all sorts and sizes. We are all in here in some way or another some of us are the writer's, my mother Anne McDonagh, her daughter Loretto (that's me) our daughters Bridgette and Debbie that's three generation of women writer's. The cover is by our grandson Zead who is an artist as is his Aunt Chrissy who is on the back cover with him above. They are the third generation artists in my family. My cousin George painted the Last Supper and the Station of the Cross at St. Mungo's Church in Glasgow Scotland. Some of us are the hero's and heroine's of the stories. I created Baby Billy and Liddle Tina for our son Joe and daughter Debbie when they were two and four years old. Now the same stories are adapted for Debbie's son Donovan and our daughter Angel's daughter Sarah. Bridgette wrote the poem in the Introduction. Our son Kevin is K. P. O'Toolahan. Our grandson Dimitri is Greek and Zead and Bassem are Egyptian I translated most titles to Irish Gaelic for Dimitri's stories. Our grandson Donovan last name is Mc Vicker and on his other grandmother's side he is descendent from Mary Wollstonecraft. But right now it's about the Irish side and I'm descended of a lot of old Irish story tellers. It's all called Blarney and all good Irish writer are full of it. There are tons of Fairy Stories and leprechauns and elves. There are magic wishing wells and fantasy lands. Join us on Cloud Nine or in Seventh Heaven. Take a trip to Egypt with Solomon de Sula. My mother's first story Gay's Adventure is in here. I've tried to translate most of the titles of the stories into Gaelic and in the case of some based on the Great Jules Vern into French. At the end there is a poem about Matilda the Mouse at Christmas Time and Father Christmas. These have been translated roughly into Gaelic, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Welsh and Swahili. Hope you enjoy the stories and it encourages you to search your own heritage.