simplest pleasures

it's bank holiday monday.
the weather this weekend has been glorious. i've planted up all my boxes and pots. all going well, in a few weeks the deck will be a riot of pink, red and orange.
i'm painting a wrought iron table and chairs that were in need of tlc. i've dismantled a horrid picture and frame combo (think faux thomas kinkade, left by a previous tenant *shudders*) and am now recycling and transforming the frame into something new, inspired by threadbangers video on youtube. i've been hanging art and photos. i've been mopping the floors. i got to hang out with the ewan, Quī-ā, Lochlann, and Mír on skype. i've been gathering together gifts i've crafted and collected for my parentals to take to Ontario next week. said parentals and i had a barbecue.
all in all, just the kind of holiday weekend i needed. full of creativity and pottering about with tunes on the radio and for the most part only my own thoughts for company. and it's still going.

bliss.

LB

my brother

for my bruvver,
with love and congratulations. i think this was on the infamous "All Aboard" kids' compilation album.
regardless, ewan and i used to love singing along to this.

c,xo

big sister, little brother

*sniff*

i hope Lochlann will be as much of a blessing to Sequoia as Ewan has been, and continues to be, to me.

LB

Lochlann... :)

welcome nephew

finally, he has arrived!! Miriam went to the hospital in Toronto at around 11pm last night and delivered baby Lochlann at 2.15am . 8lb9oz with light brown hair.
Miriam and baby are doing well so far and Ewan says his son is, "so beautiful" and, "very cute". he spent his first few hours in the world feeding and sleeping on his parents' chests. if they get the all clear they'll go home Friday morning and Lochlann will get to meet his big sister.

photos to follow when Ewan's had a nap. i can't wait.

hurray. what a blessing.

LB

" "

there's a nice story to go with this but i've been scrubbing the kitchen most of the day and now with some pints in me i'm ready to drop. so, in the meantime, if you want some good (really good) music out of nashville, check out Quote. also here for their latest multimedia project.

i met half of the duo tonight and he, justin, was good people. more on it all and other good music sent my way over the weekend once i've slept.

thanks to julie lee for sorting my first night out in dublin. good loving work from over 3,000 miles away, sister.

zzzzzzzzzz,

LB

au revoir, beloveds

with tomorrow night as my last night sleeping north of the border, tonight marked my last night, for a while at least, at the tuesday table.

i am so grateful, and always will be, for the deep connection i have forged with the folks around that table. those who challenge me in a way i have never been challenged anywhere else. because, as i said to them tonight, these distinct voices around the room, i carry in my mind like a prism. each one has a unique take on the world and together their voices make for harmony.
it has been a real gift to have their individual and collective presence in my life. and i realise now just how much i will miss them, their constancy. miss the reflecting i get to do each week as i replay our conversations and look at the scribbles in my notebook and feel them adding shape and texture and colour to the themes that unfold.

i don't think any of them know just how much influence they have had on me over the years. i realised too tonight that the sharing of a journey together has been so valuable, so important to me, in a way i don't yet fully see. we have shared memory and that strikes deep for me. i value it more highly than i can find adequate words for. and i'm not even sure why that is so important. perhaps... perhaps because they have stayed true as much as they have stayed constant. they have my trust.

as i move back to the town that was home for many years to connect with my biological and blended family and do the work of allowing myself to be a part of that just as i am, i know i have my family of choice back here. a table to come back to. and wherever team fury or i am in the world, they will always be family to me.

so, with deep deep love and immense gratitude for getting me to here, for making tuesday the new sunday and for always holding on,
it is with a smile and with some tears, i finally hear myself saying, this really is it. i'm moving.

thanks family.
i'll be back soon.

c,xo

from a tea break

it's all about interesting conversations at the moment. well, that's one of the bigger themes.
the day-to-day this week is all about emptying shelves and packing my life up into boxes but that's dull as dishwater in my book. the unpacking and subsequent turning of a blank magnolia slate of an apartment into a suitably me-zone is the only carrot to tempt me to keep up the pace. still, at least i'm not having to do this relocation while my heart is in free fall, like the move to here last May. if i needed proof that there's some strength in me, that i survived that fucking horrible month is a contender. but thankfully that is the past and today is today and if i find myself bored rather than weeping while i pack, then i know i'm doing better.

so. anyways. interesting conversations... oh. yes:

my dear brother highly recommended this interview from ffm 09. his praise was not unwarranted. not that it ever is. so i knew whatever this turned out to be it'd be good.
cornel west talks with lupe fiasco. i'd never heard of mr fiasco but this conversation contains some great stuff from both of them. it's been running in the backround as i pack to stave off the boredom and on each listen i hear something new.

i get to go to tuesday group tonight. which is cause for joy and gratitude.

LB

ever get the feeling...

the universe is trying to tell you something...?

i feel like i've been tossed a little cosmic bone of encouragement.

thanks universe. i'm rather chuffed at the gesture.

LB