Christmas Fun

Well, for Christmas Eve we headed down with Patrick and Sarah (two friends from here) to Cork for the night to hang out with Norah (another good UL friend) and friends of hers. So here we are having a fabulous dinner on Christmas Eve. The first picture is our toast. This is Patrick, Blayne, Jeanne, Norah, Brian, and Sarah. I really was actually there, I'm just the one taking all the pictures. I can't tell you how much fun we had. The next shot is Jeanne and Django laughing hysterically, which sums up the whole evening.Our plan was just to head down for the night and head back up to Limerick around 1ish. It became apparent that this plan was going to put a damper on the night and Brian and Jeanne (our hosts) invited us to crash there. So, we settled in for the night and just enjoyed the ride. It was a lively party at the house, then we headed out to a pub to hear a folk musician that Jeanne is friend's with. No pics of that, I'm afraid, but let me just say that all the Irish folks packed into that pub was festive, but strange. I was thinking, is this their Christmas Eve tradition? But, the music was fun and we danced (not Blayne, of course) and laughed and had Guinness. We left the pub and went back to the house for an incredible session, pictured here.
The music was so lively and fun! The folk musician from the pub and a few of his friends stopped over for a few hours and while they mostly kept to the sitting room and we were in the dining room, they came over to our room to exchange a few tunes with us. Musically it was such an incredible night and the wine, music and laughter kept flowing. The music kept on til 4 am when Blayne and I finally decided we were done for the night. Then Patrick and Django kept on playing for another hour or so, just the two of them. So, as we drifted off to sleep we could hear the distant sounds of the flute and fiddle playing trad tunes.
We woke the next day to find that Santa Norah had visited Brian & Jeanne. Santa hadn't expected us to be there, so we had to wait to get home to see what he'd brought us. This pic in front of the fire is of our hosts discovering their stockings by the fire. Sarah and Jeanne are pictured here next in the "early" (almost noon) Christmas morning shot. We were all a bit out of it at this point, sleepy but happy. Norah is displaying here the delicious breakfast she made for us... eggs ole! And we stuffed our faces, and headed home.


Once home, we opened our gifts, took a nap, then got up and took a walk by the river. Patrick came over for Chrismas Dinner and bit later Sarah came over and made a delicious apple pie (pictured here with the tree and the menorah). Sarah's Jewish and since Hanukah started at sundown on Christmas Night she brought her menorah and lit the first candles. Then she sang us Hanukah songs. It was lots of fun. Then we played more tunes... this time Sarah and I swapped some folk songs, so it wasn't all Irish trad tunes. It was a strange Christmas, but it was festive and fun and we were so thankful to have friends to share it with. Hope that you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. Love and miss you!

Christmas Time is Here

Well, Blayne’s performance is over and now he is hard at work on his ethnography. This is him at his workstation which is occasionally our dining table. He is transcribing 2 hours of conversation and then he’ll be transcribing the music that was played (not just the notes, but every breath and ornament). Then, he’ll write 5,000 words or so to describe all of that and his impressions of Eamon’s playing. As far as his performance, he felt good about it. “Good... not great, but good.” Were his words. I know he’s glad to have it done and sees it as a learning experience. He’s going to get some sound clips ready for me so you can listen to some of it here on the blog. So, this week he’s working hard on his paper in hopes that we can take next week and travel around this lovely country.

Christmastime is here. I’m sitting in the coffee/cheese/rug shop as I write this. There’s not much traffic this time of day in here, but hopefully I’ll be interrupted some (it makes the time go so much more quickly). I’m listening to Christmas carols right now on my laptop and last night went out and rented “It’s a Wonderful Life” (they didn’t have “Holiday Inn” or “White Christmas” or “Christmas in Connecticut”). In other words I’m desperately seeking the Christmas spirit. You can see the photo here of our fabulous decorations :0) We went to a carol service this past Sunday at the main Church of Ireland here in town and it was really nice. I think we may start going there regularly. People in the congregation actually sing-it was a pleasant change :0)

I realize how much Christmas means family and friends to me when I’m so far removed from them. But the time to ponder the advent of Christ is something that I don’t have much of at home where things are so hectic during this season. And now I have the time to do that, so here are my thoughts right now. The world is a mess-poverty, death, war, hate, selfishness, deceit. And that’s the world He chose to come into-to bring us hope, healing and to save us, not only from those things in the world, but from those things in ourselves. There’s a tv special that will be on here about all the natural disasters last year and where that fits with people’s faith. It’s called “Where was God?”. I think it’s a great question and there’s not an easy answer. I’m not sure that I can give an answer except to say that He isn’t removed from it and this is the season that we remember that He actually entered into it. He loved, lost, wept, saw sickness, injustice, and death. He didn’t just observe-He became the object of that injustice and hate and the bitterness that comes from unfulfilled expectations.

So, I will celebrate Christmas far from “home” and many of the earthly blessings that He’s been so kind to give. And hopefully that distance will make me better appreciate not only the people and places that I miss so dearly, but also to grasp even more what the angels proclaimed: “peace on earth and goodwill toward men” and how Christ brings that. Love you and miss you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Caroling Party

Well, since I'm missing the Christmas traditions at home so much we hosted a wine/ cheese/ caroling party tonight and it was a lovely time! We sang lots of carols (for a brief time Michael switched with Blayne so Blayne was playing the concertina and Mike was on the guitar). So for "O Holy Night" Blayne attempted to play concertina while we all sang it way too high, or was it too low?


This first shot is Michael and Blayne playing.. the last carol we decided to sing turned into an Irish tune and from there we had a sort of session, flutes and bodhrans came out and there was even some step dancing by Becky & Elli. In the second shot that's Norah and Brian on the couch fluting away with Lars and Pernille (our Danish friends) sitting on either side. Norah and Brian will be around for Christmas so we'll probably be celebrating with them. The third shot is Ailie, Becky and Elli. This was after a bit of imromptu dancing by Becky and Elli. Becky is the one who has been teaching us step dancing on Fridays. I learned a new reel this past Friday, but I really need to practice it more :0) The last shot is just another of the festivities tonight.

I'm feeling pretty homesick right now to tell the truth. The people here are very dear, and I'm enjoying being here, but this time of year I'm missing advent traditions, neighborhood caroling, and the people who make home home. It's also going to be tough to not be with family at the holidays. But we'll just make the most of our adventure. Maybe we'll take some beautiful drives over the break. It's been a bit since we've been out together. Blayne sends his apologies for being so bad about writing to you all. He's been very busy and so stressed out about his performance this Friday. He (and I) will be so glad when it's done. If you think of it, pray for his performance- for his nerves- that he'll just be able to enjoy the tunes. Love you all lots and miss you.

Cheese, Coffee & Rugs, Oh My

It's a very dreary day in Ireland. Getting a slow start this morning (as usual) and getting ready to go to work. That's right, I have a "job". We have been going into town every Saturday for the market and befriended the owner of a lovely cheese shop that happens to serve the best coffee in Ireland (according to Blayne, and we know he's a coffee snob). Blayne has played music with her regular musician on Saturdays and we dropped by last Friday to see if she needed a hand, and she did. So Saturday I worked 8am to 2pm selling cheese in the stall just outside her shop in the market. Do I know anything about cheese? Well, I do now ;0) It is very fun to work the market; so many people meandering from stall to stall getting homade pastries, breads, farm fresh veggies, and of course yummy cheese. The shop owner, Mary, is selling rugs for the holidays so I've agreed to open her shop 3 hours a day during the week (she's usually just open Fri. and Sat.) in the hope of selling more of the rugs. So, there you have it. Blayne and I will also be doing some Christmas music in the shop on this Saturday. We'll take some pics and get them up for you to see what it's like.

Hope that you're all having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas. Saw pics from the downtown Christmas Party in Greeley. Looked so very fun - wish we could have been there! We're still not exactly sure how we'll be celebrating, but we've got a few things planned. Gotta get going. Just wanted to share the news. Lots of love to you all!

Thanksgiving

Well, we had a lovely Thanks- giving feast with one other American, 2 Candians, 2 Germans, 1 Scottish and 2 Irish folks-aren't we the diverse group? We ate WAY too much food, and the hashbrown casserole was a hit. I have put the recipe at the end of this post, for those of you who can't handle Christmas without it :0) There was this yummy cranberry salad, with fresh cranberries, apples, orange juice, etc. Only the turkey and casserole were standards for us, but it was still delicious. Oh, and this picture doesn't show the desserts, there were quite a few of those as well. We took a very slow walk after 3rd helpings to make room for dessert.

Blayne was voted to take the carver duties, and here he is doing the honors. The Irish & Germans were very interested in this holiday where we stuff our faces and talk about what we're thankful for. For all of us (the Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving too, but in October, so this was a very belated celebration for them) we agreed that we were thankful to have new friends to celebrate with.

Here is Blayne doing what he does every year. Joanna mentioned that Paul missed this, so I just had to put this picture in. His plate was full of meat and potatoes. We are in the right country for that, at least.

So these are some of our new friends. A couple of these folks are friends of theirs who I don't know as well. In the first shot behind the counter that's Steve (German) & Norah (Canadian) and on the couch with Blayne is Ailie (Scottish). The other shot is Fabian (German) the two Irish friends of Becky's, Becky (USA) and Charlene (Candada). We had several of these folks over last night and introduced them to Dutch Blitz (which they loved) and I made chocolate chip cookies...mmmmmmm. Then we watched anchorman. Ailie said she now has new insight into Blayne. If she only knew. Well, that's the news from this part of the world. So much excitement back in Greeley right now and with the holidays coming up we're missing home a bit. But we are glad to be here and feel very blessed to be where we are right now. Love you all lots!

Hashbrown Casserole
1 large bag of frozen hashbrowns; 1/2 melted butter; 1 Tbsp. salt; 1/2 tsp. of pepper; 1 can cream of chicken soup; 1/2 cup diced onion (I use a food processor because Blayne doesn't like the texture of onions); 1 pt. sour cream; 12 oz. grated extra sharp cheddar cheese-mix all these together in a grease casserole dish (at least 9x13-bigger if you have it)
Top with the following: 1 sleeve ritz crackers crushed mixed with 1/4 c melted butter.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 300. Enjoy!