Late nights this weekend (as is the way when crossing the border.) Welcome to Northern Ireland where I get no sleep :) Went to Armagh city on Friday night for a surprise 50th birthday party... There was a huge crowd including Gaelic footballers (mmmmmm), aged politicians, hot grannys, college students -everyone whose ever partaken of the hospitality of our (very generous and very drunk) host. I also saw the largest beerbellys of my life at said shindig. Bellys that you could carry on a tray. Long term effects of drinking the black stuff?! Attempted to set dance (well was coaxed onto the dance floor kicking and screaming ;) ) which was good fun but anyone watching would have thought that I actually have two left feet... I am quite the image of grace and coordination at these things... Think I was meant to dance only in large crowds where no choreography need apply...haha.
Saturday, we headed to Belfast and went to a wedding After-Do. Think this is a peculiarly Irish phenomenon. You have the typical reception, dinner, toasts, cake etc... and then you open the event up to (from what I can tell) everyone you've ever known ;) to keep the party going... Good stuff. Off go the children and the grannies (except for our friend's ninety-five year old granny who had more energy than me!) We were there to see Kerry and John - another half-Irish, half-American duo living in the states which was really great. Sometimes forget how much I miss the company of women.
After the after-do, we crossed town to a, "fancy dress," party. Now, when I hear fancy dress, I think, cocktail dress and tuxedo so was somewhat surprised when Gee (the host) answered the door wearing a full-on Elvis costume... Party was typical Belfast with the ever-present set o' decks. No northy party is complete without the scratch...wikky, wikky, wikky. Martina (who we recently visited in London) was playing hip-hop and soul records in a spandex red devil suit and there was food and beer in every corner. The theme was gods and goddesses and other costume highlights included: Gavin (a male) dressed as a domestic goddess, medusa herself, Ozzie Osborne (rock god?) Eve (naked suit with fig leaf - funnier after the woman wearing it took it off and a skinny guy put it on and started dancing) a spied (translation = white trash) with four arms (not sure why the four arms but they looked cool) and Monkey Magic (some sort of European cartoon character.) I took a ton of pics which will appear soon on the blog. I know you will all be waiting with baited breath...
Today, it's back to the grind although Ilana and Rich arrive tomorrow so it should be a good week. Take care.
9.26.2005
The Life of a Party
9.22.2005
Eat Your Heart Out...
Or rip it out of your chest and modern dance with it...which is just what I witnessed last night at a performance that was part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. After that introduction, you are probably thinking, good god, what a horrible thing to witness but it was actually pretty cool. The performance was called, "Knots," and consisted of 6 dancers - three brides and three grooms exploring marriage and ltr's and gender interactions and the like. The dancers were amazing, dialogue was good and it actually had a great, ironic sense of humor about it...It would have to to be able to pull off the histrionics of literally ripping your heart out. And I'm not usually a huge fan of modern dance. Good stuff. I'm going to try and see a few more bits of theatre or visual art before the fringe is over. If anyone's interested in seeing what's on, check out: http://www.fringefest.com Will keep ya posted.
9.17.2005
Moooooooooo
No Rest for the Guilty
Was out last night with Tommy, a couple of the Belfast Boyos, Leon and a couple of his Dub friends bouncing around from pub to club. It was our second night out in a row so I was on the water (one hangover a week is more than enough for me) but it still ended up being a pretty late night. Sometime round closing, Leon's Dub friend copped on to my American accent and decided to bring up American politics...and I thought to myself, Here we go again... An hour later, having been talked at about Americans and oil and Iraq and 9/11 and all the rest of it by an extremely drunk lad with a serious Dublin accent and a penchant for close talking, I have to say that I started to lose my patience. Yes, I do have multiple problems with American foreign policy, with American domestic policy, with the arrogant way in which we go about bullying the UN and indeed the rest of the world with our ass-backward neo-con ideology but ultimately when having these conversations (as I do frequently) I have to ask, "What the feck do you want me to do about it??" I didn't vote for that clown George W. I don't drive an SUV. I write to my senators regularly. I take public transport. I'm not a born-again and I certainly don't think I have all the answers or should tell other people how to run their countries fer fuks sake. I am as outraged as the next person over the dangerous incompetence of the Bush administration and No, I don't drink oil for breakfast and wash it down with a few Iraqi children for lunch... So the next European who goes on a diatribe about evil America is not getting an apology from me (especially when they happen to be a Drunk Dub trying to tell me what Americans are all about when they've been to New York city once for 5 days.) I don't think so, mate.
9.04.2005
Where the Faeries live...
Glendalough - Waterfall!
Originally uploaded by di_juice.
Took a drive in our new motor down south into Co. Wicklow which is probably one of the most beautiful counties in Ireland - a mixture of sandy beaches and lush mountainscapes. It is also home to Glendalough (where most of these photos were taken) which is a National Park and Historical site. We walked through a sixth century Monastic city full of mossy stone walls and headstones in the shape of celtic crosses (and quite a Phallic looking tower whose purpose I'm not sure of.) Very cool. There are also a bunch of different trails to hike through the mountains (which is where this waterfall shot was taken.) The best part is this giant misty gorge with lone "Six Feet Under" type trees silhouetted at the top. The water is super shiny and clean like mountain water can be (before it becomes polluted...) The whole place has a very Pacific Northwest vibe. I find that when I leave the city, the landscapes are often reminding me of Northern New England and Oregon all rolled into one. I absolutely love it.
After a somewhat crap week, I was so, so, psyched to be treking around the woods and rolling up my jeans to wade around in the mountain water. For a city girl, I really do feel most relaxed and happy when I'm surrounded by trees and/or water (lakes, ponds, ocean...I'm not picky.)
The last few weeks have actually been really beautiful weather wise but strangely the days are the spitting image of late September, early October days in Boston: The sky is vivdly blue and there's a bit of a chill in the air but it's still fairly warm. There's a particular smell in the air, slightly damp but crisp and the sun is starting to lower so that the light and shadow on everything is magnified giving color a brilliance that it doesn't normally have. I saw an enormous rainbow over the ocean last week during one of these Fall type days (as it always rains a little bit here even if the rain is falling through seemingly sunny skies.) It was really something. Put me in a good mood just to see it. Fall in New England is actually my favorite time of the year and days like this make me so nostalgic for apple picking and pumpkin carving and walks through the woods kicking leaves around while wearing the sweaters that have been in the closet all summer.
I have to say that it is really strange to have had weather like this in August, as in New England it is essentially the last hurrah of a dying season - the beauty of trees and plants and sun that are about to hibernate or die as the winter arrives. I have to wonder if that means that winter is going to be a very dark time here as the sun must be very, very, low in the sky come December... Well, time will tell...
On other notes, have started working from home one day a week which is fabulous. Cutting the three hours of commuting time from my day is really something and while I've only done it once, I felt like it was actually easier to stay focused and be productive at home than at work as I'm in my own comfortable and quiet little environment and can take little breaks to water my plants or make toast or pop in a CD or what have you. Very nice. After working from home last Tuesday, I actually had the energy to go up to the Clontarf Promenade and go (drum roll please...) jogging. Usually, I can only muster the energy to lie in front of the TV (or read the New Yorker or some scary Bridal magazine) by the time I get home and make/clean dinner which is really kind of depressing even if the TV here is pretty good compared to home. Have never before found my self watching any amount of TV every day. Have really been trying to limit it - watching too much makes me feel like I am a spectator in my own life, watching other people instead of being out there having my own experiences. Creepy. And I want to throw things when I see the same annoying adverts over and over again.
Thank god for the weekends and my trips to various lovelinesses. Last night had a great dinner with Michelle and Bryce. Good pizza and wine and homemade brownies with icecream and good conversation and the like. Friday went out to the Pub with Dominick and Helen but both nights, we were home before midnight - think I must be getting old. Didn't we used to go out around midnight?! Well, I'm off to go put on my grandma pants...where did I leave my teeth?!
Love to you all.
