by Maureen | Aug 29, 2009 | Canals, Journal, Quips
I rode along the canal this evening. It’s shifted. The seasons are changing. The temperature may be a couple degrees cooler. It may all look a little different. But the biggest difference is in the scent of the ride. The silage is very rank and strong. There’s fruit somewhere that’s past ripe and oversweet. The rice paddies have been drained and smell freshly cut. The poplars at canalside have reached their season’s end and smell of riversides in Eastern Washington. I even caught a whiff of Nicaragua, and identified the wood smoke in that whiff.
This is a time of my senses. Of being keenly tuned in. Of paying attention. I’m in another world, and yet it brings me to other worlds known.
I could hardly be more attentive. More observant. More inquisitive. There is nothing like this moment. I am alive to the fullness of it. I am very aware of all this time holds for me.
by Maureen | Aug 20, 2009 | Ireland, Journal
2:00 a.m. Just back from the pub, “The Persian Bar” in Carndonagh, Ireland, in Inishowen, the northernmost region of County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland . THIS is why people come to Ireland and THIS is what they hope to find! Wednesday night at The Persian is “Trad Night”, the night of traditional music. Six or seven random musicians showed up and filled the room with music from their harp, tin whistle, guitar, accordion, fiddle, and banjo. They sang ballads, folk songs, American classics …and accompanied some “recitations”, (readings of traditional, ballad-style poems).
The Guinness flowed freely and the place was packed with patrons, 17 – 70. This was not a tourist show, as would be found in the big city hubs. This was just the locals getting together to have some fun and pass a rainy, Wednesday evening.
I shot many photos, handheld, adjusted for the dark pub lighting, but my camera card reader is at “the house” where I’m staying, and I will likely just stay here tonight. …And so, post more later. But I will fall asleep pleased. Tonight’s gathering embodied what I’ve always heard of Ireland (following a full day of neighborly comings and goings).
Tomorrow, we have more exploration to do. (“Giant’s Causeway”. Google THAT!) Hmm. Who knows when I’ll have a chance to sit inside the house, download photos and post to this blog… Hmm. Who cares?
