a vignette, etc.

Best moment ever:

S sits on an Irish restaurant patio, enjoying her lunch. Listening to the conversations of passers-by, she recognizes one voice that is not from Ireland, or England, or indeed anywhere in Europe. She looks up to find the North American, and sees her directing prof AB.

AB: (surprised) Hey! This is a surprise...
S: (smiles) Hey. I'm here to see your show!



Then we agreed I'd wait to talk to him after the show, and we parted ways. Then we went to the show, and it was amazing (you totally should see it if it's ever where you are -- Invisible Atom. Very good storytelling. :)
And I waited, and we chatted, and it was so lovely and weird to see him in this new context. Of course, now I'm homesick (or, I guess, school-sick)...but it was for sure worth it. Good show, good reminiscing, good haircut by a 9-year-old.

I love Cork.
And you. :)

LOVE.

Hey. Long time no see....and, apparently, having my own computer doesn't entice me to spend any more time on the Internet (yay!). That's right -- this post is coming to you from the brand new, tiny Acer sitting happily on my desk. Now I have no more excuses for not producing the play, and more chances to watch crap TV. :)

Ok. So, with A, the trial period is not going to end in a full-time stay here. It's going to be more like it was before, with her coming some of the week and staying elsewhere for the other days. Which is good, because I really don't think community living is for her and because then we'll still be interacting (because I feel like we're getting somewhere, sometimes -- I'm slowly getting past the massive shell she's built to see and get interested in the person underneath. Hm. Sounds Hallmark-y, but is true and lovely).

M is visiting another Camphill this week, and will be leaving us to go back to school at the end of July. Which is quite sad, actually, cause we've had some good times (and it's lovely to have a similar-age-group dynamic to balance it all out). The other night we had a grand time having a midnight picnic on the Holy Island dock. Crisps, skipping stones, music, a little wine. All good. :)

Also, it never truly gets dark here now. I mean, the sun moves far away, but still outlines some of the horizon in a lighter blue and then starts to rise around 4am, ish. We're wondering what it's like up in Northern Ireland. Aurora Borealis, anyone? Ha...but imagine?

Yesterday, the Clai gang went down to the harbour to have a small post-supper swim, because the day was really hot. Unfortunately, it had cooled down by then...but once you were in it was fine. :) And it was really lovely to see everyone splashing around, sending out happy holiday-time vibes (even though it's still school for K, and still worktime for us).

And next weekend (Sat) we (E, R, A and I) are headed off to Cork for the theatre festival. Partaking in which is my directing prof, with his one-man show. !!. I'm really excited....also because there's another Canadian group, Mamalian Diving Reflex, doing their show Haircuts by Children. It's...well...haircuts by children. 9-year-olds, assisted by the company and an Irish hairstylist. And I made an appointment, so I'm totally getting my hair cut by a 9-year-old. I'm so excited!

Ok. That's about all of the exciting news...so, to wrap this baby up, I'm going to give you some photos (mostly of our Sunday in Dingle, a couple weeks ago, to attend that Camphill's open day -- there was a lovely tractor ride by the sea, a lovely swim (with M) in the sea, and the purchase of tap shoes (for L) for 1 euro. Yeah, that's right. One. !)

So until next time, mes cheries, here's hoping you are all doing well and the summer is treating you swimmingly.

:)

LOVE.

PS: Sorry. Apparently, by some photos the Internet meant one. Still...you get the picture. Ha. I'll try to add more later.

Love.

an update -- not as frequent as promised, but here. :)

Aha. Clearly you shouldn't take my promise for more frequent postings too seriously.... Sorry. :S

So, A's still around. We had a review today, with her social worker, and agreed that A should try to cooperate a little more within the community. She's very good at participating when she wants, and shutting it all down when she doesn't. Which I'm not really judging her for -- coming from all the crazy places she's been in, I'm sure it's really hard to adjust to the life-sharing we do here. I mean, it's hard enough for me. Anyway, we'll see how it keeps going (there's another 2 months of the trial period to go). I think I'm at the point where I'm just going to leave it up to her, and not stress myself out over wondering why she's not listening to me/getting up/walking/etc. The bit I still find quite hard is that she doesn't understand my need for personal space. I guess I'll just have to keep explaining why I don't like it when she pats my arm or pets my hair or rubs the back of my neck. Urg. Look: This is my dance space, A, and this is yours.

M's also still here -- until the end of the month, as far as I know. She's still quite lovely -- we share chocolate, and clothes, and movie nights. She vents a lot to me, too....which I half-love and half-don't. I mean, I really like being there to listen for people when they need it, but at the same time Come On. It's hard when the people they're venting about are the ones I live with too. I guess I'll just have to find a balance between being there and taking time out so my views of people (specifically R) aren't too biased.
Yeah.
Still, I'm glad she's here. :)

Also, I've just found Mika (the artist, thanks to Una) and I'm really enjoying him. It's all really happy music that isn't depressive break-up songs or sappy love songs or anything. Just happy. :)

Also, the parents visited this last week -- Dad was teaching ("Celtic Spirituality") in Dingle, on the west coast. They came here for a weekend, then I went to him for most of the week (Mum in Brum visiting Al) and then she came here for this past weekend. It was lovely -- Dingle is beautiful, especially with the sunny weather we had, and the long walk along the beaches with the class (renewed my love for sun and wind and the sea, as a combo), and the aquarium (sharks and rays and a Nemo tank. Mwaha. Lovely. :)). And then I missed my bus back here cause I was looking at the wrong times, so I got to stay another day and went to a traditional music concert with Dad before coming back a day later. And R was fine with me being stuck there (as she'd have to be), and I really didn't feel bad at all. C'est la vie, and it made me really happy that Dad was all excited to have me around for another day. Yay! (And the feeling was mutual, of course) :D
And then I got to show Mum all the little places around Mountshannon that I was sure she'd love -- Woodpark, the harbour, the Aistear (park/maze/labyrinth). It was awesome -- and then we went to a concert here, of a community choir and then a Dublin guitar quartet. Both were lovely, and I love how into the choir Mum was (of course -- she stood up really quickly to see the pianist when the keyboard started. :) And we both listened to the children next to us cry "Mummy! I can see Mummy!" and remembered the good ol' days of Alfred in KW. :)
All in all, an awesome visit -- and lovely because I got quality Dad time and then quality Mum time. It worked out perfectly. :)

But, bien sure, now I'm homesick. I'm trusting it'll pass faster this time, though, because I'm already settled here.

And that's about it. As with life anywhere, the days here swing between really good (quiet communal times in the garden, or outside on the weekends) and not-so-good (conflicts that inevitably arise from people living in close quarters with the same other people 24/7). I think I'm hitting a good balance, though, overall.

So, yeah. 'Tis grand, so.
'Tis grand.

:D

LOVE.