EuroVision

It is that time of year again…. Eurovision time! Every year Europe holds a song contest where each country sends a representative (up to around 5 people) to perform & compete against all the other nations. Ireland starts preparing for the contest months before by holding an “American Idol” type contest. Entrees from all over the Republic audition on a nationally televised program where the public gets to call in and vote for their favorite contestant. The winner is then sent on to the Eurovision contest to represent Ireland. I really like the way the selection process takes place because we really get to see what the rest of Europe thinks of the Irish winner.

The contest itself is really funny to watch. Not every country has the same idea of what good music really is…. For example: you are likely to see yodeling, punk rockers, or some crazy German rock ’n roll. It is also funny to watch the voting. Each country has a series of points that they must award to other countries…. The catch is that the voting isn’t always based on musical talent or performance. It is so obviously biased that it really is laugh out loud funny. Ireland never votes for England (waaaaayy too much history there), Austria, Switzerland, and Germany all vote for each other, and most of the former USSR countries vote for each other.

I don’t know when the Eurovision contest began, but you would be surprised who has had their career kicked off by the contest. Ever heard of ABBA? Yep….. they were the United Kingdom’s representatives in 1974…. What about Celine Dion ? That is right…. She represented Switzerland in 1988. Well… the bad news is that Ireland did so poorly last year that their representative didn’t automatically qualify this year… and in the auditions for this year’s contest Ireland was disqualified… They just didn’t perform well enough…….. but….. we are still going to watch tonight!

A Wee Anniversary…

Yep… it is hard to believe it, but we have celebrated a milestone this week. Two years in Ireland. I seem to say it a lot – but I really don’t know where all the time has gone. To be honest with you I really feel as if we are just now settled in here. I think that it just takes a lot of time and just going through experiences like the long winters & all the wet weather for a couple of years to learn how not to let it bother you. There is no way to even begin listing all of the things that we are grateful for, but I must say that we have really been lucky. We live in an amazing place and have met some amazing people these past two years.

In The Cellar...

I appreciate all of you that send us notes from time to time with comments about the pictures on our site. We have really enjoyed taking our cameras with us everywhere we go... And we never know when we will pass something and see it in a new light for the first time. Most of the pictures are taken and turn out just out of sheer luck... and you should see all the pictures that don't turn out! I could not tell you how many of the pictures posted here have been taken out of the window of our house or from the side of a road. Take this picture for an example. We have passed by this little thatched shed/cellar a number of times... and I have always wanted to stop and take a picture/examine what all was in it. It sits directly on the road, and you usually only get a glimpse inside at all it's old treasures as you quickly pass by. Well... This one particular rainy day we drove by it, and I told Dee to lean out of the car window and to take a picture. I slowed the car down to a crawl so that she could take a clear picture... and as the car crept up for us to peek inside - there was a man standing right inside the door (hiding from the rain, I think). We all jumped... and we were soon quickly on our way without a picture. We returned later for the picture below, but I wish now that we did have a picture of the very surprised man in the cellar.

The Garden

(CONTEXT: I grew up in a wonderful home in a very hilly/mountainous area of Alabama. Our yard was made up mostly of trees, monkey grass, and giant boulders - that I spent most of my childhood jumping & climbing on.)

There was a family tradition in my house when I was a kid. Every year my father would go through the springtime ritual of preparing the soil of our extremely shady (Shady may be an understatement - I don't think that the trees in the yard allowed any direct sunlight to reach the soil) yard for this year's grass crop. He would distribute the seed evenly across the yard, and even put out a smattering of hay so that the seed would not wash away. As I think back on it now... I have to laugh about the way that my father would chime out, "Don't cut across the grass" just as we were in the middle of the grass crop.... or the way we all would secretly jump our way through this forbidden zone (when my father was not looking)as if it was laden with landmines. We would all anxiously wait until eventually small green grass would come up and then we would have a beautifully green yard with a thick blanket of the best grass on the block..... My father would water the grass with great care and protect it's borders as if one was crossing the border into a new country. This always lasted until about August - when the heat of summer and our secret trips through the yard finally took its toll... and alas - the grass would die. Now my father is a very patient man... and to be honest with you i don't know how he was able to get any grass to grow in such adverse conditions... but I admire him for trying every year...

I think that I am going to be walking in his footsteps this summer. Our new front garden (Irish for yard) is going to be quite a challenge when it comes to growing my own grass crop. I have been out to survey it a dozen times this week, and I am a little doubtful that I am going to achieve the same results as my father. You see - the problem is that this is Ireland..... the land of rocks. Not really the fun jump on - climb on kind of rocks (although we do have a big one in the garden) but they are the billion little rocks that make the soil almost impossible to cultivate. So... inspired by my father's example I am going to start working on the yard.... I have learned by watching my neighbors (who are Irish) that the best way to prepare the soil is to pick up the bigish rocks, and start tilling the soil before you throw out seed... so.... it is going to take me forever - but I'm going to give it a go.

Before

Elections

I try and catch the NBC Nightly News each night... (yes... One of the stations shows it each weekday night at 11:30pm.) I have really been surprised to hear that there has barely been a mention of the British elections. Now, I realize that there is a lot going on in the world, Michael Jackson trial and all (I still can't believe that there are actors recreating each day's events)... But I am a little surprised that the re-election of Tony Blair (one of America's biggest allies) to a third term as prime minister and the polizaration of the parties in Northern Ireland are not talked about more. Now... I might be off on this - and if it is getting a lot of news coverage - sorry... but I thought that it was important to say a couple of things about the elections and how it affects Northern Ireland.

As you know, most of the Emerald Isle is made up of the Republic of Ireland - a free state that has been out from under English rule for eighty years now. There is, however, a remnant of six Northern counties that make up "Northern Ireland" which is politically aligned with the United Kingdom (UK). These six counties have experienced their share of struggles between those Republicans who desire a united Ireland free from the UK, and the Unionists who wish to mantain the ties with the UK. It is a long story of how these lines were drawn - write me an email if you want me to explain it & I'll post something - but these political lines are also drawn along religious lines. The Unionists are mainly Protestant, and the Republicans are mainly Catholic. The ongoing war between these two parties have at times been manifested in the courts, in the political arena, and sometimes in terrorism (The IRA & Ulster Unionists)... There has been peace since 1996 when (brokered by Bill Clinton) the Good Friday agreement was signed. Since that time the struggle has mainly been a political one.

That is where the latest election brings us. This last election changed the face of Northern Ireland, and no one really knows what will happen next. There are eighteen Northern Irish seats in the British Parliament that were up for grabs. In an un precedented move, the public voted for both of the extremist parties and the moderate parties lost most of their seats. (Even one of the Unionist (David Tremble) leaders that signed the Good Friday agreement was voted out of office.) It would appear once again that there could be a new chapter in Irish history being written with this election... And new questions are being raised - will these parties be willing to sit down and work together? Will this move us farther away from real-lasting peace in the North? What will happen to the moderate parties that many times moderate between the others? Like I said - this is a very important time in Irish & British (Northern Irish) history... If you are interested in knowing more, let us know... And I'll keep you updated from time to time.

Proverb

An actual Irish proverb told to us today:
"The cows in the next field always have bigger horns."

Dublin

Today has been a day full of new adventures for me. As I write this I am bouncing along in a passenger car of a train. I am speeding my way across green fields and small towns on my way home from Dublin. Dee wasn’t able to come with me today (She had local obligations), and the trip was definitely not a pleasure trip. I had to go to the capital for several meetings that took up most of my day…. Little did I know that the different offices I needed to go to were all over the city. To make a long story short – my feet and legs are killing me. I do like Dublin, but it is a bit of a culture shock to go there. I’m still not accustomed to double-decker buses flying inches past me (one right after another), and I’m still not used to all of that traffic. All of the other cities in Ireland seem to be very manageable, but it was a little intimidating going into the capital (where a quarter of Ireland’s population live & work – That is a lot!) not really knowing my way around – any of the street names – or how all the bus & tram services worked. It was really quite an adventure figuring it all out…….. and even though I didn’t really have much spare time - I enjoyed the challenge of a new place.

A Sighting...

I saw the History Channel truck again today. This makes two times that I have seen it in the last week.... I love that channel! Maybe they are doing a show on our area????

Today's Random Pic

"Thatched"