Five encounters

Dublin is urban.

There are lots of people.

Here are five we’ve encountered, among many more.

This guy was playing for change with his buddy the harmonica/guitar player.  Have tried Penny Whistler(unsuccessfully) a variety of ways to put a minute and and half video of him playing on the web page for you.  Instead, these two stills will have to do.  Penny Whistler's handsImagine the clear sound of the Irish Penny Whistle in the night mixed with people walking all the while talking in languages a plenty.

He has amazing, storied hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading “Five encounters”

Three quotes to begin your day

Joseph Campbell:

“The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth.”

 

Christopher Robin to Pooh:

“You are braver than you believe, you are stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

 

T.S. Eliot

“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

It’s a good day to fly to Dublin, don’t you think?

A couple years ago when we were returning from the Annual Meeting of the Florida Conference UCC in Naples, we came across this bumper sticker.  That was before this time of sabbatical was imagined.

Happy Patricia

Thank you to all who have participated in the planning for this time.

Thank you Angela for tending the folk at St. Andrew and allowing them to tend you.  And, thanks for tending our house.

We’re off.

“Imagine”

Just tried to figure out how to get a youtube video here for you to listen.

Alas,

I am not that smart,

I guess.

Anyway,

It would have been John Lennon signing “Imagine” in (what year was this recorded?) with Ono along for the song . . .

Since I couldn’t do it,

you can google, John Lennon “Imagine”

and you can find it that way . . .

and listen. . .

all without my skill.

John Lennon

It is worth the listen

We really do

need to

IMAGINE!

I was deeply moved by the recording of Lennon singing tonight at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics . . . and by the images of his face . . .

john-lennon

“imagine . . . you may say that I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one.”

john-lennon-imagine

 

What would it be like if a bullet had not ended his life?

 

What would it have been like if he had been here to sing to us, in the flesh, tonight?

 

What would it be like if the Sikhs who were shot were not dead?

What would it be like if all those theater goers were still alive?

What would it be like if Gabby Giffords had not had to resign because of a bullet in her head?

 

What would it be like . . .

Kennedy, Ghandi, Lincoln . . .

so many murdered women . . .

children . . .

men . . .

 

What would it be like . . . ?

 

Surely it is time for us

to

IMAGINE

another way.

 

SURELY IT IS TIME

FOR US

TO IMAGINE

AND

CHOOSE

ANOTHER

WAY!

 

 

Aging with vibrancy, beauty, grace

is not possible

with bullets!

Meb’s run in London today

Meb Keflezighi placed fourth in the 2012 Olympic men’s marathon today.  He was three minutes behind the winner, Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda, whose winning time was 2:08:01.

That is fast.

Patricia and I got to see Meb win the Olympic Trials in Houston in January, so it was fun to see him again.  We were in Houston to watch Katie run in the Women’s Olympic Trials for the Marathon.  Continue reading “Meb’s run in London today”

1978

For those of you really good at math, 34 years ago today, was 1978.

Noah Timothy Garrison was born that day.

Happy birthday Noah.

You were born in our family home along the shore of Iron Lake just a few miles south of Iron River, Wisconsin.  Yep, you actually were born at home.  Your mother, Kandi, was amazing that day.  We had contracted with Leigh, our midwife, to attend your birth.  She was there.  Your sister, Jennifer, and brother, Mark, were there.  Lynn and Jeanne were there.

It was a beautiful, sunny, light-dancing-on-the-water, northern Wisconsin August kind of day.  Continue reading “1978”

Ahhhhhhh . . .Thursday

We are about to head off for a longish run in the Sarasota sun – over to Siesta and up Midnight Pass a bit and then on home again.  It is 82 and climbing.

Thursday of next week we have scheduled a walking history tour of Dublin with our guide, Grace O’Keefe, at 10:00 am.

Check out this six day weather forecast:

Dublin forecast - 8-11-2012

Ahhhhhhh . . . Thursday.

How cool is that!

Do you see what I see?

A few nights ago, it may have been the day the current shifted and began taking the seaweed away from Siesta’s Crescent Beach rather than bringing it in, anyway we saw these formations of shape and color in the western sky.

Siesta Sunset

I wonder what you see here.

I wonder how you would describe what you see.

Let us know.

Do you see what I see?

Sure . . . but not really because you see through the lens of your eyes as colored by your life story.

We’d love to read your words.

“I’m doing finely”

You have read about Tad and Vicky who sent us the delightful booklet about their home and the community around where we will be staying.  They recommended a book “Twenty Years A-Growing” by Maurice O’Sullivan.

I love books.

I was intrigued by what they said about it.

So, you guessed it, I ordered it from Amazon.

It came yesterday.

Have only just dabbled . . . but . . .

It was written by Maurice, an Irishman and first published in 1933.  There is an Introductory Note by E. M. Forster who describes it as “an account of neolithic civilization from the inside.”  The book was written in Irish (Gaelic) and is a coming-of-age story about Maurice who grew up on Great Blasket Island about three miles off the coast of Western Ireland.  The Island is but 12 miles, as the crow flies, from Dingle, which is across the bay from where we will be for three weeks.

Continue reading ““I’m doing finely””