Christmas is coming

This is my first Christmas back in Ireland in a long time. I stopped coming after one or two trips with a toddler and a baby. It was traumatic crossing the Atlantic when the kids were so young. The last time I can remember a man on the plane advising me on the benefits of Ritalin and how it had changed their family life from a living hell to what did appear to be normal from where I was sitting. Did we consider it? I suppose we must have but I cannot remember. I remember very little from those ealy years when our boys came 19 months apart and Autism stuck it's head round our door.
I have postponed my jobhunting until after Christmas. Hows that for good old fashioned Irish procrastination. There is plenty of Christmas atmosphere about but no crowds in the shops. I think they all went to the States to shop and who could blame them. With the Euro being so strong and Irish prices so off the charts it wouldn't take a lot of disposable income to go to New York for a weekend and come out ahead. I think Irish people also shop early and like to get it out of the way if they can. I've taken my usual piecemeal approach and enjoyed it. Not being a big shopper Christmas is low stress for me plus I get to enjoy St Stephen's Day. Okay it's no big deal but lets acknowledge it's existence.
We went to Lissadell House a while back to see Santa. Lissadell House is the former house of the Gore Boothe family and was a visiting place for Yeats in his day. It was bought by a man with a large family and turned into a family home cum teashop\sightseeing place etc. Very nicely done but it must be a hole for money to be thrown into. The tearoom was lovely but the chimney was giving a little trouble and as we were eating our lunch the room started to fill with smoke. Cesar of course walked out in disgust while we all sat politely and wondered when does smoke become too much exactly. Finally I asked if it would be okay to move out to the other room and was informed that of course we could move to the salon. At this stage Cesar refused to eat anything and said that the sight of the poor stuffed bear cub and alligator was more than he could take. The lady told me that the chimney gives lots of trouble but only on certain days depending onthe weather. Anyway drama apart it was a nice outing and Santa and everybody was very nice indeed.
This is my first Christmas without my big bag of loneliness. I hope I don't miss it. Ho! Ho!

Wild Wet and Windy

I remember Billy Mulvaney telling me last Christmas how the weather was so wild that one could barely find the strength to get out of bed. He said slates were blown off roofs and the mornings were unbelievably dark. Billy is one of the most optimistic easygoing characters I know. I was amazed at the time because I was finding it hard to get out of bed in Maryland a place where the sun was always shining even if it was below freezing outside. We had our heat running non stop in the Winter and yet it was always cold when I got up in the morning. In the last year before we left America I could barely walk every morning so depressed did I feel. Only the determination to keep going because the bills had to be paid kept me rolling along. So when I thought about what Billy said I couldn't comprehend it. Now when I get up in the morning and it's pitch black and the wind is howling and the rain is lashing on the roof and the house is freezing because the heat was turned off from 10.30 the night before I know what he was talking about .But you know what, I don't give a fuck. I could almost skip down the stairs but lets not get too carried away here. This place is beautiful and there is no goddam traffic and my life is not so hard to live. Besides I can turn on the heat for a couple of hours though it has to be conserved as it is oil. I am happy. I am living. Poor Cesar does not feel so enchanted and the weather is really really wild.

Windy Days

While the wind has been blowing consistently since we got here, it excelled itself this last weekend. Wind does not bother me at all in fact I really missed it when I lived in the States but this was beyond amazing. We went out to Rosses Point on Saturday and did'nt dare get out of the car to walk on the beach. The tide was high and there was very little beach anyway. However wind aside, when electricity goes life changes. Our electricity went for th first time on Sunday morning and for the seventh and last time on Wednesday. Hindsight is so nice. This was tough. Lack of electricity always puts me over the edge. When it used to go in Kensington it used to drive me insane and my sister Fidelma in Leitrim said it rarely if ever went out there. I was extremely put out after the third or fourth time especially after listening to bullshit from the E S B. Blah Blah the storm, a bird etc. Our area was blacked out but we could see lights on the Bundoran Rd and Grange the local village was never hit at all. No matter, after Wednesday all was well or so it seems. The only thing is, it has been raining ever since along with hail and sleet and the rain is beating off the windows like you would never believe. Okay I had forgotten how bad it gets. I would still gladly f0rget but I have my husband's disbelieving face staring at me. Still Christmas is coming, the shopping has started and the lights are up in the town. The sun is not shining it is true but it is Winter and it is as graceful as it can get. The electricity is back apparently, the house is warm and cosy and we are blessed.

Job hunting

My work experience finished on Friday last. I was sorry to say goodbye to the staff at the fire station but am ready for a little catch up time. Life has been very busy with the 9-5 haul and the kids and their routines. We have been travelling uo to Mohill every weekend for a good while now. Mum has been in bad health for about 2 months and needs help with the house and with groceries. She is glad of the company and God knows after been away for 21 years I am very glad of the time we have together.
I learnt a lot at the fire station. I set up a database for some of the files and renumbered them, humble but not boring. It's a lively place with firemen in and out all the time. Bernadette procured an interview for Phil and I with the Co Council. If successful we would be on a panel of temporary people who fill in when staff go on leave. The Co Council is our local government and employs about 2,000 people. Lots to do so hopefully I'll pick up some work. I had no internet access however and no broadband at home so my blog hit the dust there for a while.
The weather has been very wild with plenty of rain and gale force winds. Our electricity went out two days in a row but only for a couple of hours thankfully. No matter, I am still very happy. If this is just a high from having moved home as has been suggested it's certainly lasting a while.
It doesn't feel like a high to me. It feels like a lost soul that found it's way and I feel thankful every single day.

Thanksgiving Eve

It’s Wednesday Nov 21 and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Just a pleasant memory really though a very pleasant one. Thanksgiving really is one of the nicest things about America. Too bad it’s just a day and the day before the biggest shopping day of the year.
I was standing in the kitchen of the fire Station today at about 4 00.p.m as the shadows of a winter’s evening were beginning to descend. I happened to look out the window at the terrace houses of Riverside and there it was. Smoke puffing out of a chimney as jolly as you please. The fire was already lit and it felt so right to me and so rooted in my psyche. I felt truly thankful one more time.

The Fire Station

As I write this it’s Friday night and I have just finished my first week of work experience at the Fire Station. It’s only for four weeks. Working nine to five has been a little bit of an adjustment for me. While the work is anything but taxing sitting in the one place for chunks of time is a change and not leaving before or after but at five is downright strange. I have always worked harder but when I was done I was done and I went home and vice versa. Sitting at a desk reorganizing a bunch of files is a walk in the park for me though. Also boredom is not an issue. Cleaning the same places week after week sets a high threshold for boredom. The people I work with are just great. I am blessed with a very enlightened supervisor called Bernadette. She is informed, broadminded, intelligent and seems to have a very balanced disposition. How lucky am I? She is very enraging and helpful as I try to find my path in this New Ireland. If she is typical Ireland has come a long way indeed. She believes it to be the case and feels that everyone has the right to gainful employment within their community and a fruitful and fulfilling taxpaying life which in turn contributes to the social and economic health of the said community. Now how cool does she sound as bosses go. Of course she has been promoted out of the fire service and will be leaving in a few weeks but my stint will be up by then anyway. Did I mention the firemen? Doesn’t everyone love firemen and now I know why.
One of the women from my computer course is also on this work experience with me. In fact it was she who got the placement and got the second place for me. Her name is Phil and again I could not ask for a nicer work companion.
Rian has to go bed. Good Night.

windswept island

It's been a while since I blogged because I have been blocked at my computer course. Some auditers came in a few weeks ago and now at marshal appears on the computer any time I try to blog. No nick games no blogs and no ebay. My course is coming to an end in another week and then I have work experience until early December after which it's back to jobhunting .I feel a lot more prepared now thanks to my European Computer Driver's Licence (ECDL). This course has been great ad I feel very fortunate to have been on it. I've made friends, found out a lot of useful info and had lots of fun. It has really eased my transition back into Irish life.
Last Sunday night was the first really stormy night since we got back. The wind was really howling down from the mountain and we woke up to a classic wet Monday. I have a very heightened awareness of where I am in this climate. It's not extreme but I feel very alive. Of course in the country we are close to nature and it's rhythms. It's amazing how in touch with the planet one feels when there's a mountain in front of you and you are surrounded by fields. Apart from Monday the weather has been dry and is gradually getting colder. The mornings are beautiful, the kids are happy and I am thrilled with the move back to this windswept island.

adjusting

We are now in our fourth month here and the Autumn is as dry as the Summer was wet. It might be a mite colder( nice that),but it's very comfortable weather. We still go out for our walks after dinner accompanied by our neighbour's dog Pippa but we need to go to Connacht Gold and buy those reflective jackets. We have to get back at 7.15 now as the days are really getting short. The hedges have all been trimmed and there are no wildflowers left. I had a field day with my vase filled all Summer. The blackberries were teeming off the hedges too and Mum made a beautiful blackberry tart with a bit of apple through it. However, John Gilmartin (another neighbour)said no blackberries in October as the maggots are in. He makes wine from them. I'm looking forward to seeing the Christmas berries and what other surprises my vase will get in the Winter. It's amazing that I have no memories of enjoying these things in my young days in Ireland but I supposse I was busy with other things., or maybe my 50 year old memory fails me. However the seeds were planted by my nature loving father who grew beautiful flowers and loved to bring us to Culleenamore Strand to pick cockles and wild mushrooms in the fields. This past week has been a hard week on the computer course and yesterday evening when I was driving home I took a quick run to Streedagh Strand and walked beside the sea and cleared my brain. I thought of all the stressed out days in the States when I dreamed of taking a walk on a beach and I might as well have wished to go to Mars. I used to wish I could sit in my mother's kitchen and have a cup of tea but it was equally out of the question. All I needed was 10 minutes of either just now and again and now I have it. So, I am adjusting very well.

Monday Morning

Monday morning, up at 6.45 get Rian ready for his school taxi and head out to my computer class at 8.05. As I drive on the Bundoran Rd to Sligo at a nice clip I check out Benbulben on my left. The sun is peeping over the top, orange and stark the mist is lifting and I thank God for just being here. When I lived in Maryland I always thought it was the sea I was missing but I find that it's Benbulben that gives me my comfort now. I am enjoying all it's moods and colours from brown to green to blue and looking forward to it being snowcapped in Winter Even on misty days it's good to know it's there all the same. I suppose it makes one more tuned into nature and it's variations.

Unpacking

The container truck finally rolled down the lane on a Saturday morning at 10 0' clock. It came a week later than the four weeks as promised but we didn't sweat it. Rian kept asking for his toys and Ultan for his dirtbike but we knew it would come. I had got used to living in a clutter free environment and was enjoying it thoroughly As I have mentioned before Cesar does not travel lightly. The trailer was 40feet in all and held 250 boxes, a 22 ft motorbike trailer and two dirtbikes. Of course Queen Harley didn't even come in the container. She had to be flown separately by Lufthansa() for fear she might be manhandled by the shipping company and in a specially built box that took 4 days to be built by Cesar. Cesar felt ripped off by the freight company but the old Italian in Maryland that set up the container gave him a good price.
The Saturday morning was sunny and dry and our neighbour Cormac had lined up another neighbour Gerard to help . We all went like the clappers and the truck was emptied in less than two hours with no help from the burnt out exhausted driver. The trailer was a problem but the resourceful Cormac arranged for it to be wheeled out onto the loading at Martin Gilroy's Tiling Centre. One more time I am blessed with my neighbours.
We burst our chops for the rest of the day and by dinner time every box was in the house and my uncluttered environment was gone.

Trash

I really would like to digress here to talk about the extraordinary trash situation here. Our trash is collected every second week and recyclables on the alternate one. This is definitely an area where I am used to American spoiling. To put out a trash can we must walk to the small intersection nearest our house but we must also buy a label in the local L:ondis shop for €9.50, write our name and address on it and stick it on the can handle. We must also keep one copy of the label for tax purposes at the end of the year. We have to buy separate plastic bags for the different categories of recyclables (plastic,cans etc and and paper products) for €3.50 each and glass has to be bought to a local bottle bank outside the same Londis shop. Our Londis got an award for the best run recycling bank and is in fact owned by a returned emigrant from New York. The bottle bank in Sligo town outside the German grocery chain Lidle has. a problem with illegal dumping however and seems to have a hard time coping with people who pull up in cars, dump their trash and drive off. Now that's what I call cut and run.

Shipping our Belongings

This was big. We have a fair amount of stuff. Nothing fancy in the line of household goods in fact maybe a little bit shabby if anything. I had decided based on our camping days that I was not going out buying small irritating things ever again so I literally put all the kitchen things in supermarket bags tied them and piled them in boxes. This has served me well as I do not have to run out to the shop for a potato masher or some other fiddly item as I'm about to put dinner on the table. The real trouble was when Cesar applied this theory to his shed full of tools. Cesar is a one tool for one job man and there are a lot of them and he could not part with any of them. Now having said that he did clean the attic out of all the miscellaneous cables, broken strollers beta tapes etc. He also emptied the shed and packed everything himself.

Early Days

Rian,s behaviour was way off those first few weeks. The most challenging part was the echoing of everything we said. This was at it,s worst in the car and we were in the car a lot that first month taking care of all the bureaucracy that moving continent entails. We had to get PPS numbers and produce original birth certs for everything. To claim Children's Allowance we had to fill out Habitual Residency Forms and on and on and on. Poor Rian was finding the transition hard and was enhancing everybody's stress level. He just couldn't figure out what was going on and everything was enhanced by jetlag. The car trips were also hard on Ultan whose stutter was set off by Rian's staccato echoings. Of course don't forget the relentless rain.

The First Weeks contd

While I was in my enchanted haze at finally being back in Ireland, there were some negatives. Firstly our beautiful house does not have Broadband. This has been very hard for Cesar. Cesar is a techno junkie and therefore has no patience with older technology such as dial-up. He had wanted to hook us up with Vonage to be able to make Internet phonecalls and as a result our first phone bill was over €200. We were in sticker shock in general for our first month even after we stopped mentally converting to dollars. However, money apart, Internet would have helped him transition from one place to another. Eircom (the phone company) have told him that they will be bringing broadband to our area in September but I am not holding my breath. We did not find them to be reliable on setting up our landline. I think it took about a month to get it but of course in comparison to the days of yore when it took up to two years this is not great grounds for complaint. He had another company come to the house but do or die they could not get a signal. The price of our beautiful mountain!
We also made the unpleasant discovery that our US drivers licences aren' worth squid here. There is no reciprocity on that one and so at the age of 50 and driving for 30 years Cesar and I have been relegated to learner status which put our Insurance through the roof. Cesar was turned down completely for insurance on his Harley Davidson and would not be able to drive it at all (when it's not raining, of course)were it not for the fact that we have family members in the insurance business. At one stage his frustration level was so high that he went out and screamed at the mountain. He was rewarded the next day by it's complete disappearance into the misty rain.

The first weeks

We arrived in Sligo from the States June 22.The house we had rented unseen based on the judgement of our good friend Mary Mulvaney turned out to be beautiful.A cut stone exterior with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with lots of light and painted yellow throughout I could not ask for more. Down a quiet lane about 12 miles from Sligo outside the village of Grange here was all the peace and quiet I was craving all those last few years in America. Surrounded by fields with wildflowers and munching cows and Benbulben and the Dartry mountains in the background I started to breathe again. As I put Rian (our autistic son) to bed those first few nights he was mesmerised by these cows and the mountain and I remembered that he had no window in his basement bedroom in Maryland.
The length of the days was a big surprise. I spent 21 years living in America but got home on vacation most years and thought that I remembered a lot about Irish life .God,I was exhilarated by these 11 o'clock twilights. I had also forgotten how wet a wet Summer in Ireland could be. Cesar (my Brazilian husband of 16 years) is claiming that there have been 112 continuous days of rain. As we have only been here for about 75 days I cannot say but the only let up in the rain seems to be since the kids went back to school this week. Some things are the same between here and Maryland even if there it was the heat that wouldn't let up.

I didn't mention the sea air. One of the biggest reasons for my craving to come home was that I missed being near the sea. Having grown up in Sligo in Finisklin with Deepwater dock across the street I felt very suffocated living in a Maryland suburb. Where was the point of the sun splitting the stones if there wasn't a bit of ocean in sight. While there were plenty of nice pools I needed seagulls and salty breezes. Well now I have them. Streedagh Strand is about 3 miles from our house and lots more beaches are in the vicinity and we are sleeping like logs.Oh happy me!