Today's shout out is to mine papa, Rich Kaufman, who turns 75 today. I'm sorry to miss the occasion in person, but I checked into return flights, and at the moment they're running at about €1500, which is like $10,000 American. Still, I've found a friend to help me express my feelings with a Celtic flavor:
Happy pi day as well, to all of you math geeks out there.
And now, back to your regularly-scheduled blog entry.
Yesterday turned out to be a rather interesting day. A bit of a lazy Sunday...watched a bit of television (the Australian show, "Nothing to Declare," about customs at the airport, is actually quite fascinating)...baked a few chocolate chunk cookies (chocolate chips are expensive; chocolate bars are not)...did a bit of walking around and shopping (including another hat for another €1, to replace the one I'd left in the shopping basket the other day). And I made dinner of chicken, sweet & sour sauce, and a lovely basamati rice that you boil in a bag. Delish.
I was jonesing for some music, though, so at around 9:15 at night I bundled up, braved the cold wind, and wandered over to The Crane where...nothing was going on. I inquired of the barkeep if he knew of any singing sessions in the area, and he motioned over to the musicians' corner behind me and said, "in about 20 minutes." So I stuck around and was treated to a mix of American folk/bluegrass and trad Irish tunes. Tonight there's supposed to be an open session upstairs at that pub, where I plan to bring my bodhran. I might even take it out of the case.
Although I'm not picking up a daily paper here, I do check into Facebook a bit and washingtonpost.com and irishtimes.com, so I'm aware that the entire world is falling apart at the moment. Footage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is awesome and horrifying and heartbreaking all at once, and news of murders in Israel and the stunning defeat of the marriage equality bill in Maryland and continued conflict in Libya and elsewhere--it's all a bit much, knowing that I'm rather unable to actually do anything about these things, even if I were back home.
I am grateful for my ability to do what I'm doing, as I realise I'm residing in relative comfort, safety, abundance, and health compared to much of the world right now. Looking out my window at the quiet houses and streets, the gray clouds don't seem so menacing, and the cold doesn't seem quite so uninviting at the moment. There is peace and calm where I am, or at least that's my experience of it right now. I hope there is peace and calm where you are as well.
Happy pi day as well, to all of you math geeks out there.
And now, back to your regularly-scheduled blog entry.
Yesterday turned out to be a rather interesting day. A bit of a lazy Sunday...watched a bit of television (the Australian show, "Nothing to Declare," about customs at the airport, is actually quite fascinating)...baked a few chocolate chunk cookies (chocolate chips are expensive; chocolate bars are not)...did a bit of walking around and shopping (including another hat for another €1, to replace the one I'd left in the shopping basket the other day). And I made dinner of chicken, sweet & sour sauce, and a lovely basamati rice that you boil in a bag. Delish.
I was jonesing for some music, though, so at around 9:15 at night I bundled up, braved the cold wind, and wandered over to The Crane where...nothing was going on. I inquired of the barkeep if he knew of any singing sessions in the area, and he motioned over to the musicians' corner behind me and said, "in about 20 minutes." So I stuck around and was treated to a mix of American folk/bluegrass and trad Irish tunes. Tonight there's supposed to be an open session upstairs at that pub, where I plan to bring my bodhran. I might even take it out of the case.
Although I'm not picking up a daily paper here, I do check into Facebook a bit and washingtonpost.com and irishtimes.com, so I'm aware that the entire world is falling apart at the moment. Footage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is awesome and horrifying and heartbreaking all at once, and news of murders in Israel and the stunning defeat of the marriage equality bill in Maryland and continued conflict in Libya and elsewhere--it's all a bit much, knowing that I'm rather unable to actually do anything about these things, even if I were back home.
I am grateful for my ability to do what I'm doing, as I realise I'm residing in relative comfort, safety, abundance, and health compared to much of the world right now. Looking out my window at the quiet houses and streets, the gray clouds don't seem so menacing, and the cold doesn't seem quite so uninviting at the moment. There is peace and calm where I am, or at least that's my experience of it right now. I hope there is peace and calm where you are as well.
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