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  • Le Cinq a Sept

    I have always had this thing about movies; perhaps or rather I am sure there are others like me who become like ash in the midst of the emotions so deeply conveyed by others. This terrible thing happens where I begin to feel as they feel and love as they love. Last night I saw The Giver, I was weary of it as the book had been so lovely and the world as it exists now seems not too far from the Communities created by Lois. I feared the screen would make an impossible place a distant reality. It had done worse than I had feared, it had reminded me that those emotions which linger are at their essence volatile and usually uncontrollable. They set into motion the lingering melancholy my old self was always so fond of.

    I retreated to my bed hoping and fearing that my dreams would as they always have reveal my desires both in their fantasy state and their unfettered honesty. The cool sheets against my skin only reminded me of the warmth I desired and set me on its path. I slept untethered to this earth and bound for the unnervingly elicit future that awaited me in the very darkest hour of the night. I could not recount what dreams awaited me there. Partly because that world is currently only safe and full of love in my eyes and partly because to share it would be to stand naked before those who might look askance upon my bared flesh. No these dreams and desires are locked safely in a box that is only retrieved when the truth is more unruly than what might come from behind its lock.

    I awoke only to torture myself with another film. A film of an affair, these always end in heartache and yet there is such a comfort in knowing that those things remain. In the end I saw more than an end it was the glimpse of hope that only they could see. What had happened in those two hours each day that they had with each other had driven them to desire more than what they had but also to appreciate when life is not your own to do with as you wish. So there are times when our decisions seem not of our own making and yet we are obligated to carry on as if they are. Leaving a trace of what only two people know of. When the last score began to play  the tears fell as if the sluice gate had been intentionally propped open and what came was uncontrollable. The tears that pushed each other out as if some game was to be won. The tears however were not of loss but a reminder that the love that was shared was not forgotten, it had not dissipated it had simply adapted “like a well trained plant”

    There is this constant sinking belief that this life is not my own, these people who stand near me are strangers to me. This notion is not driven by a lust for more, for money, for love but rather from the fear that I am pouring into a broken cistern that will never hold all the things I do have and hope to have. I try desperately to fight against it with dinners, meaningless conversations and accented facades, and yet I find those characters I inhabit are more free than I am and so I linger within them finding comfort in their walls of my own making. My mother would surely push me to go to my knees to find comfort and relief in whispered words; I would certainly felt obliged to try. Yet each times those words escaped the white porcelain I tried to trap them in it seemed they would flitter about in the air and fall to the ground never being captured. Unspoken words hurt far less than those spoken and untended too.

    My most precious mother prays for me each day of that I am sure and somehow though the years pass she continues to believe that hope is not gone and the joy is coming shortly. I am envious of that faith and yet I fear that my envy and desire for that faith will come with more years of waiting. That same faith filled woman has told me more times than I can count that the man whom I dream of is out there being prepared for me as I am being prepared for him. That idea most of the times makes me angry and frustrated and yet on the rare occasion when the red in the glass has not passed that dangerous mark I think what a lucky woman I am; that the man I am to spend the rest of my life with would be preparing for me, preparing for our life together and all that we will create and achieve together. Those moments make me feel like the most special woman in the world. But alas with one more tilt of the glass that feeling fades and left in its place is that all to familiar feeling of desperation.

    I had that brief moment in existence where that desperation created a rather tainted view of those who might seek the warmth of my hand. So many monsters made there way from out of the closets and from under the beds. I feared they would never leave or worse that I would never want them too. But once I bridled my affection I would find how quickly they would all fall from view. These moments of my life are so vivid to me and how I remember them without failure and with unrestricted emotion. I write these words and wonder when he lies beside me will he remember the moments when we were simply waiting…will I ? Will the music that plays in my heart and from the heavens now remind me then of what I once felt.

    They say that giving birth is one of the most painful experiences a woman can have but that upon seeing the child of their own creation that the pain does not simply subside but it vanishes altogether leaving no trace. The pain of this patience seems more than I can bear and yet will it vanish once I see him, once my spirit recognizes its counterpart in another? Are we not each incomplete until we are in each other’s arms; two halves of one whole?

    There are so many rules to this world that when we find them it seems that those rules no longer have any application to our life and we must press forward with that reckless abandon that is silently feared by so many. If it were possible to will love into existence I would have given birth many times over, but my luck is not as such.

    Sometimes I wonder if these words make sense to anyone besides myself. How hard or even impossible it must be for others to see my blood upon this page when it remains white, but the blood runs even when the tears do not. Whether they be strangers or those who think themselves known to me, these words are for me to see. I am releasing them instead of hiding them and hiding more of myself.

    I am not who I said I was, I am no who you think I am, I am not who I yet want to be, for now I simply exist. I do not pretend to believe that because the year has changed that I am now anew, I am still chained to the same hopes and dreams that were with me the night before last. I can not speak as to whether I am better equipped to attain them. I can however say that hiding is incredibly tedious and no one truly looks close enough anyway. Truthfully I can carry on in whoever’s skin this is and no one would know the better, perhaps not even I.

    I can only hope to drift further from the fears that keep me disguised and closer to the faith of what will one day free me. This bandage will have to hold the bleeding till tomorrow when the twilight hours of 5 to 7 welcome me with their haze.

  • Parentals..part one 

    I don’t pretend to believe that I am the only girl, woman or person that has trouble with the word parents. Whether it be death, divorce or distraction, there was something that has  kept your parents from you. It is an interesting predicament. As a child you long for that missing parent wondering where they are and why they are not there when you rise and when you lay down, yet as you age and understand the concept of free will and decisions the ones that have choices lose their excuse.

    My father was not a part of my life during the impressionable and surprisingly memorized time of my childhood. It was not however my mothers doing. A source of constant tension I assure you. My mother made my father a present part of our lives. I can’t imagine it was easy for her to speak of “Papi” when memories or thoughts of him would remind her of the very reason she left that place he had made their home. But she pushed past her discomfort because being a parent means your discomfort is irrelevant…as in not a factor. So there are videos upon videos of me singing the Cinderella song and dancing on the balcony of a very costly dream come true. Who were these videos for you ask..for the man who probably never saw them, he who did not see my childhood as a necessity but more as the impediment to the new future he now had.

    I think it’s obvious where my loyalties lie. I never made any secret of it. Yet I don’t see it as a loyalty but rather a respect and reverence commanded by years of submission to the position of parenthood filled by the woman I call mama.

    I differ greatly from the two siblings who grew up in the same home as me, and heard the same cries from a broken woman. I can’t explain the difference in perspective. I wish I could explain, it would probably  make it easier to look at my brother and sister and see love and not betrayal. I realized recently that I am pretty big on loyalty. My sister is very big on loyalty- she is her own episode of mob wives and yet I can’t see past her loyalty to him.

    My brother’s position seems untenable, being a boy turned to man I can only imagine the feelings that well up in him as a fatherless boy and a man now responsible for the life of a blonde haired boy. Can he see himself live life without his son? Can he not see the lengths he would go too to be with him…if he can’t does he feel shame ?

    So much of my life I have kept hidden under the sheets of my king size bed. My problem has always been that I don’t know how to share just a little bit of me, so I always waited for someone to ask for me to share. Someone I love(you know who you are) recently asked me for “my story”. I gave her the long and the short of it but it made me think of those things I have lived thru…things I don’t share…things no one knows about. Maybe by keeping these things hidden I have hidden more than my truth I have hidden the truth of the woman I am now.

    I hope this white page and this blinking blue line will push me towards the truth.

    My enemy arrives soon…he brings in tow the heart and body of someone I love so greatly. My actions don’t always demonstrate my love, mostly because when he is with him he is behind enemy lines and we are on radio silence. I hope to have some time alone with him..for our “debrief”. I want so much to share why my distrust and lack of love is directed at the man we both fall father but I fear two things, both things I have experienced. 1. That the years of love and trust between us would shatter when the news of mistreatment is stated. 2. That their love or trust would be withheld from him.  The latter carries too much responsibility.

    I heard recently that people who do not believe in God’s justice or vengeance feel the need to pick up their weapon and wage war but those of us who do believe or at least are trying defer their anger and seek refuge in the altar of our Heavenly Father  believe that one day their true “Papi” will bring forth justice and will avenge the mistreatment of his princess.

    I pray to be a princes a worthy of vengeance. In the meantime I pray for patience till the time comes and for the grace to treat my enemies with something other than anger and true sadness.

  • Small and Obscure

    distance is a wretched thing..it is more than miles it is time, it is heart, it is the long road with only the unknown at the end…a burnt building or a blind man. Where in the world is Meli…she has gone inside. Inside is the haunted red room we dare not open and yet she enters it with the tilt of her head and the emptying of the glass. She desires sleep and the security of a warm blanket and the breathing of the tricolored figure beside her and yet her tears have built a moat around her and she is unable to cross it and find that rest she desires.

    I don't know that I ever believed in fairy tales, perhaps as a small helpless child I believed that mice could turn into horses and that princes would marry maids. As I aged the length of my cape grew…it never grew warmer, simply heavier. I don't believe in princes; I believe in the Mr. Rochester's of the world. Those burdened with the sins of the past trying desperately to find fresh air to breath and supple skin to caress. I could not fault him for his cowardliness; the distance between the love of his Jane and reality seemed to much to bear with his truth dragging him down. His desperation had driven him to a lie and it would be desperation that would unveil it.

     

    There is something to be said of consuming love, even greater to be said of the desperate desire to feel it. I fall into the latter. Its been almost three months since my return from the Emerald Isle and yet it feels only yesterday I drove those cliffs and found my way across the burren. In all that time alone I never felt alone, I felt full of life and excited for what I would truly see beyond the curve. My heart misses it and yet my hope is that I wont have to return to find it. I feel a kinship to Ireland that I can’t explain and yet I fear it will be many more months before she holds me in her rainy and muddy arms.

     

    I never finished telling you about the journey, perhaps because those last few days the GPS was gone and somehow my aimless wondering brought me where I needed to go. I am prying the door open to show you the rest of the journey but just like the wonderful tea that warmed me in the morning, I must steep in this warm water and soon the words will stain the pages and I will once again be made whole.

     

    A few weeks ago I was driving to a very dear friends home I drove past the overpass that saw the death of a loved one quite a few years ago. My hand went to the charred rosary and I tried to remember his face…why does it seem to fade from us? I kept driving, unlike the many times I stopped and allowed the tears to fall never forcing them and never stopping them. They would just fall like leaves on fall from a tree when they can no longer be held there. As I look around me there are so many pieces of him and yet he is never close and always far. The first night I left his grave I could hear his voice whispering in my ear and yet the only sound was the involuntary sobs that left my soul.

     

    “When you feel the waves of sadness rushing over you do not fear they will not overtake you, I will be beside you breathing life into your lungs and love into your heart”

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    grief is a wretched thing, it offers no distance and no respite. Only the assurance that it will remain, it will not overtake but it will remain.

     

     

     

    -SilentC

  • Technicalities…dont exist in Ireland..Part one

    So technically I’m not in Ireland anymore, however I consulted some of my new Irish friends and they assure me that technicalities aren’t worth “shite” and that I should press on. I find myself obliged to follow irish customs as it is their country we are discussing.

    So on with the show…Day..does it really matter.

    I’ve arrived at the Armada on the Spanish Point. I had been so active these last few days that the weariness had finally arrived and I willingly succumbed to it as I hung on the door my breakfast order I plunged into the bed and snuggled up to the rose scented pillow and allowed myself to blissfully slip away. I had chosen the 830am delivery of breakfast as I didn’t want to allow my slumber to get in the way of my adventures. The knock on the door was sudden and demanding attention, I leapt out of bed, thank goodness I realized the state of undress I was in prior to answering the door or a very interesting conversation would have ensued with the gentleman on the other side of that hotel door. I wrapped myself in that white robe they had carefully laid out for me and turn the handle. The gentleman who now had no reason to avert his eyes tumbled into the room with a large tray carrying the supplements I required. He placed them on the table and quickly made his exit. I have to make a note about hotel staff. As a single woman traveling the countryside I quickly realized how vulnerable one is when checking into a hotel. For the most part the time that you spend there you’ll be sleeping (one of the most vulnerable postures) and yet during this trip I felt no fear (very cautious and fearful person here) I surprisingly felt not only in control but safe and protected. I feel so grateful that God saw fit to give me that “peace that surpasses understanding”. I think it could have ruined my trip if I was my regular hesitant and second guessing self. What is with my constant digressions on this blog…its your fault you know; you make me want to share. Probably because your face isn’t looking back at me, perhaps this white screen that stands between us is our version of the curtain in a confessional. Crap I keep digressing..Ok here is breakfast.

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    Why in the world would I eat my Irish breakfast at the table when I could lay it out at the window and look at the Irish landscape set out before me. I didn’t concern myself with the passersby that were probably inwardly reprimanding themselves for not doing the same thing. I also didn’t seem to care what they thought of my robe or the amount of leg that I showed (its pretty good).

    At each B&B or Hotel that I had stayed in I had picked up their brochures on what to do and where to go and the Armada would be no different. As I made my way pass the library (more about that later..no digressing right now)I came upon their walled brochure case; I had learned very early on ok the first day that maps would guide me better than the “NeverLost” that had gotten me lost. I plucked the map of the county with the attractions pinpointed and numbered and set to the car.

    Wait…should we do a full frontal, I mean there was a full length mirror…ohh my Meli is getting so risqué in Ireland.

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    Unbelieveable…I’m ashamed of a few of you. Don’t worry I won’t name names, you know who you are.

    So off I went, it took everything I had to keep the car from going left to the Cliffs, but I had read in my research (we’ve discussed this..please keep up, this digressions are your fault) that the late afternoon were the best times to view the cliffs. So as I reached the road from the parking lot the car “bearded” right (into the left lane).

    I reached the Walled Garden @ the Vandeleur estate fairly quickly. However it seems my stomach did not agree with  the speed of the car- queasy is not even an adequate word. But I’m a freaking lady ( you know what I wanted to say but I no bring shame to my family) so I got thru the queasy.

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    I noticed thru much of the time I spent in the car how Ireland is really just one big garden so in order to distinguish they simply put a wall around the landscape and call it a garden. The garden wasn’t too big so I finished fairly quickly, I entered their cafe looking for something to easy my tummy and found a sprite waiting for me in the very very small cooler. I offered my euros and slipped away to drink and burp in peace. Umm yeah ladies burp too, its actually kinda sexy when we do it…wait you believed that. Wow gullible crowd.

    I must leave you now- the whole live to write another day, but I’ll be back.

  • Apologies…

    Let me apologize- this was meant to be a travel blog that covered the expanse of my travels in Ireland, yet I feel as though I have failed you. Days have passed without details of the days adventure and now my travels have reached there end and there are so many pieces missing.

    I have a proposal which I hope you’ll accept. If you do, you will find the missing details of my travels on this blog over the next few days as I acclimate to life away from Ireland. If you do not accept….well then I bid you farewell. I thank you for the time you have taken from your lives to see mine. Its about 11pm here in Ireland and I need to be up in about 4 hours for my journey home- so I bid you good night.

    Oíche Mhaite….Slán Éire

  • Lone Rambler

    So apologies that I delayed a day in posting Saturday’s shenanigans. I got stuck in a pub with a red headed gentleman that said I was the finest girl in all the county. So because of his compliments your up to date information has had quite the delay. I intend to rectify that today so as not to cut the trip and its posts short. So even though it’s today I’m going to tell you about yesterday.
    Sunday Sept 6,2015. County Kerry.
    I unwillingly departed Gallan Mor on Sunday knowing that the ring of Kerry was summoning me to round it’s curves and smell it’s lake airs. Leaving seemed so hard- almost as if I was leaving behind a home. My hostess told me the town would remember and when I returned it would be as if a family member had not come back to visit but rather returned home. It is not untrue that west cork is a land unto itself. Now being in my fourth county I feel equipped to say it might just be my favorite. As I drove away and saw its limelights in my rear view I knew I would return. That certainty propelled me forward to Kerry and more specifically to the jaunting cars of Killarney.

    My first stop in Kerry was in a very very small town- so small that there was only one home and one farm. Might be one of the things I love most about Ireland, you settle where you please where the land calls.
    Side note on the road I saw a sign that said “God has no country” at first I thought to be offended but then as the words settled

    and the roads continued to wind I realized it might be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard said about him. See here’s the thing one of the things I noticed here is there are no boundaries. That’s not to say the country is not split up into its towns and counties and cities but when your driving the land you’d never know it. It’s not that God doesn’t have a place he belongs or calls home it’s that it is all his and resides everywhere. There is a pride in that sentiment here, they share land and they share God and both are fully theirs.
    My Godfather is a songwriter and singer, I wish I saw him more and yet I know him thru the words he has written, feeling at times that they are more the words that have been written by the salt in my tears. One of his songs (all are in Spanish so I’ll be translating) says “from the sky my land looks like a quilt” those words followed me when I took the journey thru that land he spoke of, I never thought it would cross the ocean and follow me to this land that isn’t my home but feels like perhaps it should be. As I drive thru the hills of Kerry and all the counties to be sure there are no fences there are only trees lining the paths telling the sheep where to roam and the cows where to graze. And as you looks from a distance you find the quilted pattern. They know the land is not theirs they have simply been charged with caring for its inhabitants and from them finding sustenance and life.
    The world is not Miami. I knew that but I had never seen it. I’ve been privileged to have seen other countries and states in my life and yet they all seem to fall short of the true life I have found in the mountains and valleys that make up the Irish landscape.
    I wonder if this affinity with Ireland was cleverly placed there by my God. Perhaps the man whose name has escaped me and whose presence has yet to befall me is in or from this land. Perhaps the way I find him is by loving his home as much as i already do. Unwillingly I will concur that it is possible he is not from here at all but if he isn’t he will certainly know it.

    So back to Kerry. I managed a few stops along the way. Obligatory tourists spots but literally worth every moment I spent there. Each view increased in spectacularlity (just made a new word). I finally arrived to my hotel which was right on the water. The room which was exquisite featured a jacuzzi so I ….took a really long bath (no pictures….that I can post). So the sun set and the lake darkened so laid down and awaited a new dawn.

  • Travels leithinis

    I had left the heavy curtains open the night before and as the sun rose it trickled thru the transparent tulle curtains. I jumped out of bed eager to see the sun on the water and the skies as blue as can be. Sadly but so truthfully the sky told a different story. It offered me the cloudy and fog filled sky I knew Ireland was hiding from me. Yet what others might have called a solemn day i called a truth that proved my love had flaws and it was ok with me.
    I hurried to the mahogany desk that filled the entrance and asked for my leave. It was granted quickly and I left as quickly as it had come.
    I made my way backwards to the waterfall I had been unable to see the previous day. I’ve always loved the ocean, I was born in the water and they used to tell me I came out swimming. But waterfalls move my soul. The rushing water making its way over rocks and under tree branches. Smoothing the stones beneath them, offering life to the creatures of the sea and sustenance for the flowers that grow at its sides.
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    Next up was Muckross House and Gardens. I had heard some mixed reviews and found it disappointing, most of the gardens were less than extraordinary and the house left much to be desired. I left quickly, I noticed when I got in the car I didn’t take any pictures (that’s how unimpressive it was). The car turned over easily; apparently as eager as I was to vacate this disappointing attraction.
    Ok another side note- it’s absolutely possible that these gardens are beautiful in other seasons so if for your are going to Ireland-please stop and see. I definitely don’t want to be held responsible.
    Back to my hatchback Hyundai- I went on to Ross Castle which would be the last stop in Killarney. I never expected to go up the castle tower but for a few euro I was welcomed onto the tour that had started just minutes before my arrival. There is no photography allowed in the castle so there aren’t pics inside.
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    Speaking of- ok this is not technically a side note but whatever, why would there be no photography? It’s not like there are paintings that will suffer from my flash and it’s not like I’m going to steal the technology of building a castle. I mean let’s be real everyone used to sleep in the same room and there was no light, TV or Internet. I’m yeah I’m going to pass on replicating your castle. Ok sorry back to the “often replicated castle” can you guess how you get up the castle- other than the obvious need to go up, it’s a freaking spiral staircase. Wait that’s not all apparently as castles go they built it for defense I’m guessing instead of offense,  so the staircase is built with steps of different measurements and widths so one step will accommodate your whole foot, the next half and the next just your tip toes. They called them stumble and fall steps…sure lets make that a tourist attraction, guessing liability doesn’t really matter. The truth is that it’s genius and pretty incredible that there was a time in the world we live in that people lived in constant fear of being attacked. Long story short…lmao the castle was incredible. There is plenty more to say but I’m getting tired and I haven’t even gotten to the Ferry.
    I could have just headed towards Spanish Point and the next county on my journey, but I had learned that first day that Ireland was a country you were meant to get lost in. So I turned left instead of right and found myself on the way to Slea Head. I can not offer you words for the vistas that filled my eye line. I had decided not to follow the route exactly- mainly because I seem to love getting lost in this countryside and seeing all the animals roaming freely against that lush green landscape.
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    In town I was told that I would find a scene of the crucifixion set against the mountain at the curve before Slea Head. Here’s the thing you have to keep in mind about driving in Ireland- the road is just one big curve. It was so rare and welcome when I experienced a straight road even though they were very shortly lived. So as the corners seemed to continue to come it felt as though I would never reach the Slea that had been luring me with signs every which way. Finally coming into view was just the top of that white cross set against the brown and green hillside. I avoided the stop that so many others had fallen prey too- my despair to reach the cliff was met with an open road and one space left to park. As I pulled my satchel over my head and allowed it to rest on my plentiful backside I began to climb the green and rocky cliff. I reached the top and could feel the clouds caressing my head and hiding me from the ant sized people scrambling below me. I stayed as long as I could standing in the silence my eyes desperate to stay open but the increasing peace leading them to betray their desires and instead bring in the dark. Soon the voices came closer and the peace left with the clouds. I turned to see the band of people come up the hill leaving their RV’s parked down below. I was no longer alone so I could no longer stay.
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    As I looked pass the car park I saw the most beautiful beach, nestled in a corner created only by the pounding of the water. it disappeared from view as I neared my car and just as I reached the door I pressed on. No I hadn’t come to see a beach, I could see that at home. This however was no beach, it was a chance to be between the ocean and its master. I managed to contain my surprise as my bare feet took their first steps into the sand, while the day had been sunny with pillowy clouds the air was cold and winds took on a real meaning. Before I could get to the water a passage has been made by a very small waterfall in the rock. Although the picture doesn’t show the water itself, it does show the trail if left behind as it desperately sought to be reunited with the great big blue.
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    Finally I reached the water, its color was one that was definitely not included in my Crayola coloring box, not even the big one had it.
    IMG_1205It seemed as if someone had thrown all the diamonds in the world into the ocean and they had all found there way to this beach  . I knew the water would be cold as the sand had indicated, but nothing would keep me from signing the guest book so I stood at the edge of the outline from the last wave and waited. You know how waves “crash” its possible these had etiquette lessons because they would show their strength out in the distance and then slowly show their tenderness at my feet.
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    I lasted only a few more minutes at the water’s edge, the winds were picking up and the pants that I had so lovingly rolled up had begun to seek out the water. I retreated from the edge and rested against one of the boulders that guarded the water’s edge. I looked out into the water expecting to have some deep thoughts and realizations as most of this trip had offered me but she offered no illuminations. I thanked her for welcoming me and bid her farewell. As had become custom in Ireland I “climbed” the stoney path back up the hatchback that was patiently waiting for my return.
    IMG_1229I said goodbye and looked ahead.
    I finished the drive without any other stops, nothing would demand me more than Slea had. When I reached the end of the route I congratulated myself for accomplishing the trek and treated myself to an ice cream. I had noticed every town and every gas station or quick stop sold fresh ice cream, turns out because of the cows and fresh milk its a source of pride and every town’s ice cream taste different.
    After finishing my ice cream I entered the geographic coordinates of my next hotel and allowed the car to travel where it was directed. About an hour and half into the drive I found myself driving towards the water, not the way I have in the past where I can see the curve of the road as it lead me away but along the water edge this one was driving exactly towards the water. Suddenly the voice with the British accent informed me ” in 500 meters board the ferry” to which I replied ” bitch say what”. Sure enough there was the Shannon Ferry carrying people, cars, RV’s and fucking semi trucks. So I drove my car really freaking slowly into this floating parking lot.
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    We crossed the water in just 20 minutes and I was on my way to the next hotel.
    This will be the last item for this day and honestly it’s pretty freaking special.
    After 20 minutes I arrived at the ocean side “Armada hotel” while the name has special meaning because it’s located in a place called Spanish Point but to me it’s even more special cause some really special, smart and sexy woman I know bears the same namesake
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    The hotel and my room exceeded expectations as I opened the door and was treated with vast windows that showed the beach and ocean within my reach-another tub for my soaking pleasure and a bed perfect for a weary sojourner. Tomorrow is and was a beautiful day so get some rest and tune in.
    As my Papa Bear would say
    Erin Go Brah
  • To wine or not…

    Ok pre-script time- I feel like my rambling about my “girl emotions” didn’t really give you a full glimpse of my arrival to my hotel in Killarney so I’d like to rectify. If you feel satisfied with that day’s dramatization of activities, please feel free to skip on over this post. I won’t be upset I promise…proceed at your own risk.

    Still Sunday Sept 6- Evening
     I got to the hotel on the lake too late in the day to continue with activities. I had spent the day leisurely driving the roads of Kerry stopping at every breathtaking view so naturally it took me hours and hours. I decided to have fish and chips at the lakeside bistro. I couldn’t not order my new favorite pint of murphys’s, it made me miss the Tin and Max (the dog, not the boy). The food was good…ok everyone knows I’m a good snob. It was decent, I suppose the Irish don’t like salt so it was lacking a bit. I saboteur the Murphys’s and the blue sky and the breeze coming from the lake sifted thru the surrounding trees.
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    I retreated to my room, weary from my journey and desperate for the quiet which has now become a standard and not a luxury. I laid my head in that pillow that smells of rose water but makes me feel as though my head is laid gently on my mothers lap. I miss her..she raised me strong but with a gentle love that makes me think of only her when I am at the happiest.
    The Murphys’s had opened an empty place inside the liquor cabinet of my stomach which called to be filled. I dialed 0 and waited for reception silently wondering what they would think if I ordered a whole bottle of wine. It’s a good thing I let that feeling pass. I turned on the tv in the hotel room and was surprised to find a Netflix app waiting to have my name. As I sorted thru the selection I stopped because of his face. My mother told me if I was to return with a man he should remind me of Colin Farell. As I pressed for more I found it was set in Ireland and quickly requested it to begin hoping the wine would come soon and the descent into rapture would begin.
    The movie carried on much as I thought it would a lovely romance sandwiched between reality and lore. However I was only sandwiched by my pillow and moosey. Realizing it had been an hour since my request I rang the front only to find they had forgotten what room number and were waiting for me to call back. He arrived fairly quickly with wine in hand…too bad it was the wrong one. Another few minutes passed and the door rang once more. His deep apologies came with the wine and I my focus on the bottle advised him all was forgiven as soon as he opened that cork.
    I poured the first glass listening to the sounds of the liquid hit the crystal and the aroma of blackberries and plums to swirl from its stem. I sat on the bed gently careful not to demand the wine from the glass.
    The movie finished and the lights went out.
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  • Pausa Comercial

    hi everyone I am still alive and very well. The beautiful hotel I am in and the county have been having trouble. I feel like I should have known this would happen at least once during my stay. I have two posts ready to go but they won’t upload- first cause they are long (oh yeah baby) and they have pics (come to mama). I’ll be in another hotel tomorrow so hopefully Internet will be better.
    Special love to my wonderful father- the one and only papa bear. I am on my way to Connemarra where they filmed some of the quiet man. My dad is in his own way a quiet man..quiet but very much man. He has shown me more about life than any trip to any continent could. I love you Dad- always feels weird to say Dad but it feels amazing to see it on this white page. You are my Dad, Father and papa bear. Although my wonderful mother far birth to me I’ll never be able to stop thanking God for showing me a man who loves his children every the ones that don’t share his blood. Turns out water can get thicker than blood.

    Is Breá liom tú daidí

  • The Bridge to Somewhere

    I keep seeing doors. I’m not sure if it’s because my wonderful mother has now created a folder in my mind for doors but the interesting thing is they are always open and they are hidden. They are calling me and the desire to answer is so strong that I wonder what I am missing when I miss walking thru.

    I went to a place called Bantry House and Gardens today. It’s an old estate that has been passed on thru generations. I noticed that people would walk up the path and when it it would fork they always went to the left, towards the house. Yet again the call for me came from the right, the rustling trees lured me and the fragrant flowers called my senses to come hither

    I began to walk on this gravelly path when from the corner of my eye I saw Red. That I know is my mother’s training. I happened upon a small bridge that didn’t lead anywhere but for some strange reason I hid among the trees gazing at the bridge wishing  it to be a magical bridge that actually did lead somewhere- maybe somewhere I couldn’t see with my eyes.

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    If I believed in fairy tales I’d say it was the kind of bridge that would leave me to the enchanted forest. Alas as I do not believe in fairy tales I was forced out of my hiding place and back to the path, I continued my hike upwards. I never wondered where it lead, my eyes were immersed in the green and my eyes forced to acclimate to the little light that escaped the density of the treetops. I pressed on knowing that walking in Ireland had proved fruitful before and would again. Now I must say the corners of my eyes have the most amazing sight because wouldn’t you know it they saw something again. This time it couldn’t have been helped….the open door  would have come sooner or later. But like Roger “I wonder… and yet I wonder” the door could only be seen by those willing to go thru the forest.

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    So perhaps the vision of the door was not as I had originally thought meant for all, perhaps it is more the reward for the brave souls who see the forest for the trees. Well today it was just me, I wandered those trees for a few hours resting upon their trunks and yet no other foot steps did I hear. As I descended the 100 shale steps to the garden below the trees shook once more bidding me farewell and silently praying for my heart. What heights those trees reach and what depths they showed me lies within.
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    The second half of my day was filled with boats,seals, dolphins and towers. I boarded the Harbour Queen at half past 1, I would expect nothing less than a ferry called the queen for me. Anyways it took me across a very cold and windy Bantry Bay (where yummy mussels come from ) along the way we saw some seals that were sunbathing on what seemed to be a floating rock covered in moss.IMG_0867

    As I began snapping pictures the old Irish man driving the boat turned down to me and called me to their other side, I jumped over quickly realizing he trekked these waters each day and would know better than I were my eyes should be. To my surprise and utter delight beautiful Dolphins were swimming alongside the boat. They were so close to the boat that if the window opened I probably could have touched one of them.

    We arrived a few minutes later at Ilnacullin. She’s a small island that is an entire garden. Another amazing recommendation from my B&B host. I wish I was a better poet, and I now find that even the words of great poets who lived and breathed the air I am now breathing fall short of what it truly is. The island taught me so much but mostly it showed me that I am capable of more than I believe I am. The trail goes thru 90% of the island the other 10% being apparently excavated land that was never completed by the original owner who used to call it home.

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    I have learned that those mountains I love to look at are mounds of land calling for climbers and ramblers. Heights seem to be in my itinerary as everywhere I turned another hill demanded my balance and my feet. At the top of the highest hill lied the “Martello Tower” it was originally built by the British War Office as a lookout type structure and therefore required it to be high enough  to see the island and all the waterways leading to it. In other words it’s high as….damn I couldn’t come up with a good pun. Anyway it’s high…so I start climbing and climbing and climbing….nope still climbing, ok truth time I stopped like twice on the way up to catch my breath and make sure I really needed and wanted to go all the way up. Unfortunately persistence seems to be my word for the year so guess what I did…I climbed, I climbed till I reached what I thought was the top (I learned during my first hike the best way to climb a hill is to not look up- it’s way too daunting and it reminds you how far you still have to go) so as I got to the ‘top’ I found that what lies before me is a couple of hundred stone steps.

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    I’m not even going to say what I did when we all know…so when I got to the top I walked towards this round stone tower with tiny heads poking out the top. I climbed up the stairs and found someone’s living room, there was a fire place and very very very old cookware and alcoves to sleep in and then I panned around to find a very very very small spiral staircase which would lead me to the top.

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    The hesitation that I had once had, disappeared. I could not have arrived here to simply say no I’m too tired or it’s too hard. I pulled my satchel (yeah I said satchel)to my front as we would not fit with it on my side and I grabbed the ice cold stones and began to ascend very slowly…in the dark. After what seemed an eternity..one I could never go back down, all at once there was light. It did not trickle in but it shine heavy and bright. The top revealed a 360 panaromic view that congratulated me wholeheartedly.

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    I stayed up there for awhile, long enough for the patrons that came after me to leave and then I descended back into the darkness yet this time seeing only the light.
    The tower was the final stop on the tour and as I walked back to the Quay to catch the queen back the light shine and I realized that the road which I had traveled upon did not feel my footsteps twice. My circle was complete and the water was summoning me for departure. Yet as I rode that red and white boat back safely to Harbour I realized that I double back on the same path in my life too many times. The ground is paved with my footsteps and now reverse seems acceptable and even…comfortable. I need to pave new roads with my feet and that’s what this trip is. I didn’t realize it at first but this dirt has been calling my tread for sometime, it was only when I allowed myself to see the light like in the spiral staircase that I could see there was no other way but up, for what lies behind and below me was already known and would still be there upon my return.

    Ok now that I’ve gotten all the deep stuff out off the way- it’s time for the superficial stuff everyone actually cares about. So on my plane ride over I read a letter that listed several tasks…I am determined to complete them all, however I must disclose one of the the items is to kiss a boy. I assume the boy must be Irish although it was not specified. So how do I complete this task… I have been on a secluded peninsula in Ireland and have been frequenting a local pub. This pub you see has a handsome red headed Irish man- have I told you about Irish men…oh really well allow me the pleasure.
    Irish men are built like actual men. Coming from Miami I see a lot of boys who build their bodies to look like men, while men here just work and live and look like men who can raise cattle and a family. I’ve been looking for a man like that – I doubt this bartender is the mountain meant to be climbed but surely he is a valley to be enjoyed. As I stand in the shadow of his stature I feel his strength even thought it is hidden. You know what else these men have…the ability to drink like men and they told me my stomach holds their Irish ways very well. I hope he meant I drink my pint well but I won’t be embarrassed if he meant something else.

    Here is the pub, its beer garden and its wonderful patrons. Now its a tin pub meaning its made of tin yet somehow what lies within those walls is not a good pint and a fair glass of whiskey but rather a community that gather round to share as a family would around a dinner table.

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