Sunday, January 17, 2010

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last week's ikon - Binary - an online gathering crashed due to user demand. a successful act of failure. the content is now available to read, watch and listen to online. there's wonderful stuff on there. much of it i want to revisit. you can find it here. and jonny baker has a trick for those who want to bypass the registration that comes midway, here. enjoy.

and remember, 

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LB

translocal

what a difference 14 hours of sleep makes. a lovely brisk walk with my dad around the park in winter sunshine also helped. of course, adjusting back to GMT brings with it a clearer mental state and i now realise i am missing Joel in a way i couldn't yesterday such was my general state of blurriness.
hope this still new year is treating you well and if it's less than good, then i hope you are getting what you need. if you are one of the many people i haven't replied to, i am getting there.

::

this post started several days ago i've been seeing some of the horrific pictures coming out of Haiti and listening to coverage on NPR and it's been hard to stay in a place of not so much gratitude as... well, perspective i guess. my life feels very blessed right now and yet when faced with images of such incredible tragedy and suffering it is difficult not to feel like one is merely revelling in one's joy while others weep. reality so often sobers. and yet we must celebrate. we must.

two things come to mind. first, if i left behind many years back my nightly childhood prayer, 'As I lay me down to sleep...' I still return to this one on occasions at the table with friends:

Some hae meat and canna eat
And some wod eat that want it
But we hae meat
And we can eat
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

i'm also reminded of one of my favourite lines from the US version of QAF. As crowds pour out of the bars and into the streets to celebrate Pride, Emmet is consoled in grief for the death of a friend by a line from Debbie,

Mourn the losses for they are many. But celebrate the victories, because they are few. 
And then they dance.

So much of this living is holding together that tension of death and life... of mourning and celebrating... grieving and gratitude... regret and hope...and so i find myself both sobered and mindful and yet still so grateful that i am surrounded by many good people and circumstance in these days. 

May we pray. and give. and give again. And as Sullivan says so often and which gives me strength when i feel myself falter,
Know hope.

::

jude smithey rightly reminded me that i had forgotten to include gail and beth in our transatlantic couples list, and indeed i also forgot my dear brother and sister-in-law who represent GB/Irl and Canada.

::

which is a nice segue to some photos from Toronto in the first week of the year...




answers to questions in the next post...

LB

Saturday, January 16, 2010

official announcement

so. i'm back in dublin. arrived in this morning. feeling that slightly dizzy jet lagged feeling that comes with one's body and soul being six hours behind. trying to heat up the flat and also get things done that require water. the recent icy weather froze a load of water mains which then burst and so i've come back to learn we are only getting water a limited number of hours in the day. i understand we are the lucky ones in that we are getting at least some.
and as i said to my step mother, we could be in Haiti. and we're not. so we can't complain.

a big posting has been in the works for several days. it will follow sometime over the weekend, possibly in serveral parts. until then, this week's news from the nest is:

Joel Dark and i got ourselves engaged on Tuesday.

this will answer a question posted by Brook a couple of days back. all other questions will be answered later along with photos of Toronto and musings on this and that.

to all who have emailed in the last few days - i'm working my way back through them and will be responding. in the meantime, thanks for all the love being sent our way.




off to wash

LB

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

brief holiday recap

lots to catch up. don't know where to begin. sitting here with a cuppa, listening to the film talk 104, joel has gone to work and i'm not alone in trying to not think about the fact that i leave for dublin on friday. between me and my return here in what we hope will be no later than October lies the rest of my MA and a visa application and spring and summer breaks in Dublin for Joel. but that can all wait for later.

for now, short version: this has been the best holiday season e.v.e.r.

slightly longer version: this has been the best holiday season e.v.e.r. with Christmas Day with the darks, levitts, wileys and masons; a trip to the science museum with the dark and wiley kids; New Year's eve with friends and then sitting on the roof with Joel watching fireworks bursting over downtown Nashville at midnight; and new year's day saw us fly to Toronto for an awesome snowy 5 night stay with Ewan and family. 2010 back in nashville began with Joel getting an unexpected 2 days off work thanks to the big chill, a broken furnace and thus no heating on one the coldest nights of the year and that became one of the warmest thanks to the company of Geoff Little and Julie by the fire and surrounded by donated space heaters.

reports and photos from Toronto to follow later in the week (i stupidly forgot to pack a camera so ewan is sending some from his) but for now here's some faves. thanks to geoff and kari for sharing some of theirs, which follow after mine...






more of Christmas day from Geoff:






























and finally from kari. here's the 6 US-UK/IRL couples on the 31st. missing are Gareth & Erin, Steve & Lisa, Lee & Jude, and not forgetting Geoff and Gosia representing US/Poland. we're a well travelled lot.















right, i'm off to meet Ann for coffee at Bongo. better run.

this place feels like home. 

be well,
LB