Awaiting Tom

Tom Waits tickets secured! Seeing him on the 30th July!

Happier than a Hooker in Minneapolis no wait....happier than a Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun....no that's not it....happier than a.....than a:
Jitterbug boy Drunk on the Moon on a Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)...ya that's it.

Happy.

Children are playing
At the end of the day
Strangers are singing
On our lawn
There's got to be more
Than flesh and bone
All that you're loved
Is all you own....

Maybe when our story's over
We'll go where it's always spring
The band is playing our song again
And all the world is green.

Back in the Office Blues

Ok to be honest I'm not remotely blue: I just came back from a great trip, I've got a job I really like, I saw the Boss rock out the RDS yesterday, it's summer with long evenings and unfreezing weather.

I'm really rather sublimely happy.

Why yes there is a new man in my life--how did you tell?!

He's great, it's great, I'm happy. Let no more be said about it.

The only stress in my life right now to be honest is the continuing state of homelessness of the Magnificent 3: the M&M sisters and me. We've been looking for a nice wee 3 bedroom house or apartment in affordable range of charity workers for, oh, 2 months now. We've looked at a dozen or so places and have yet to find a place we like that won't make our bank managers weep.

Poor Mitzy is at the end of her tether having been the anchor of the search since March. Both Mo and myself have had breaks from the search with our states-ly visits but she has been the one seeing property after property while still living in a dark, filthy (although brilliantly situated) dump.

Enough of this fannying about. Time to find us a house.

And with that I go to check out a place near where I currently live--it's affordable and in a nice neighbourhood--pray it's nice....

The Big Easy

Agh--have been on the internet for ages and somehow only have 12 minutes left in which to write an entry--point format needed:

* Have been in N'Orleans since Saturday--stayed in the French Quarter for two nights and am now in a cheap backpackers hostel miles out of town.

* French Quarter is sublimely wonderful--architecture like Paris (with a hint of the set of a western), coffee and pastries like Paris, climate like South of France... and jazz everywhere! And when I say everywhere I mean everywhere! Every shop, cafe, bar--it even billows out of the cars as the crawl down the narrow streets. Those who know me will know how perfect a town it is for me.

* I got a big shock when I left the quarter to come out to the hostel however--still so much destruction from Katrina evident--every second house is boarded up or completely wrecked. Passing under a bridge I saw 10 tents and about 30 people milling around them--this was evidently home for them. Left me feeling a bit winded to be honest.

* Have a lot more exploring and relaxing to do--off to hit the pool at the hostel now....life ain't too hard in the Big Easy ;)

Done Already?

And so several hundred nails, shingles, 2X4s and gallons of paint later it's all over. The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project ended this afternoon amid lightning and thunderous downpours, photoshoots and hugs.

As I sit at the make-shift internet centre in the foyer of the hotel I'm watching the volunteers slowly drift into the dining room for their dinner. Hard hats, toolbelts, sunburn and limps abound. I met Americans from so many different states I've lost count....

There was Dallas, from Phoenix; Cleveland - he was from Detroit; and Tex... well, I don't remember where Tex come from.

They came from all over; some just for the week squeezing the time out of their ridiculously short holidays; some have been here for months/years already, so moved by the events of Katrina they had to come help. Most strongly in evidence are the Americorps volunteers comprising young people who take a year out between high school and university to serve society. We've also met quite a few retired couples that are living out of RVs in a constant state of volunteering - one couple are driving from state to state building Habitat homes where ever they go. They aim to hit every state with the possible exception of Hawaii - fair enough.

The local Habitat organisation on the Gulf Coast was formed by two separate affiliates joining together in the wake of Katrina and Rita. They estimate that almost 7,000 people have volunteered with them since 2005 and their constant message is 'Don't forget about us'. This area is nowhere near recovered from the hurricanes (almost 3 years on). While they've built over 1300 homes so far thousands more are needed. Over 200,000 people are still displaced from New Orleans alone and in towns like Biloxi and Pascagoula certain neighborhoods were entirely decimated.

One lady tried to describe the impact--not only do you lose everything you own, including your job in many cases, but so do all your family and friends. How do you recover from that?

Kenya Wilson and her two girls have been living in a damp, stinking 2 bedroom apartment that was flooded by the hurricane. Hers was the house I helped build this week- a three bedroom house built 5 feet off the ground with a perfectly shingled roof (well the bits I did :). It isn't finished but it will be soon and, while it would have been built whether or not I had come on this trip, I'm glad some of my sweat and tears went into the building of it.
Here's the build in stages:




I really didn't think I'd enjoy the building aspect of the build as much as I did - but boy is it satisfying to swing a hammer! Most of the skills I picked up will be utterly obsolete in Ireland as building is completely different at home - even the terminology is completey different--who in Ireland is going to know what sheetrock, siding or penny nails are?

Thus ends my first Habitat for Humanity build-- every single American I know in Ireland has done one-- do I get my passport now?!

Tomorrow I hit New Orleans for some well-earned R&R - beignets and Bourbon street call.

Laissez les bons temps roulez...

The Building Bug

Day Two of the build stumbles to a close here in the land of opportunity. Adorning my tired body are blisters, bruises and, despite the factor 50, an attractive builder's tan (like a farmer's tan only with boots and shorts' marks also). It's a good kind of tired though--sleeping like a dead baby at the mo (that's a good thing).

How are things in Eye-r-land?

You're from Eye-r-land? Eye-r-land?! My you've come a long way....

So it turns out we're basically the only non-Americans on this build. When they ask you where you're from they expect to hear state, not tiny European island far, far away. We have immense novelty value to random strangers...so far it's been a good thing but may become wearing as week goes on.

I'm volunteering on house no 19 along with the Northern Ireland team, a crowd of employees from Delta and a few other randomers. The Northern Ireland crew are great craic- a bizarre mix including a former minister, an Tyrone GAA fanatic and an English teacher (they're always cool) who's pulling a sickie for the entire week. They're permanently in good spirits and are trojan workers on the site ().

Delta have 60 employees in total participating in the Jimmy Carter Build. They're a major sponsor of Habitat for Humanity so lots of the staff have been on loads of other builds before. The fact that they're airline employees does come through from time to time though. Georgia sees that everyone has the correct type of nails: Would you like an 8d or 16d honey? Malcolm sees that everyone has enough to drink at all times....

It's been really hectic on the site since Monday morning. The foundations were all done before we arrived and so far we've put up all the walls, most of the roof, done the insulation and put up 5 million 'hurricane proof' bracket thingies. The brackets are bolted on between the foundation and the walls every 6 inches around the house and 14 nails go in to each one. I've become pretty nifty with a hammer quite quickly.

I'd forgotten how satisfying physical work can be--seeing a problem, coming up with a solution and physically putting it into place yourself. Along the front and back of the house the nails had to go through a metal plate for one half of the brackets. They had to be hammered about an inch from the ground so it was tricky to find an angle that worked. Eventually I figured out that the only way to get a good swing at it was to stand up and hammer it between your legs. it looked awkward but it worked and soon everyone was copying me.


Today we were up on the roof hammering down board type things. Fortunately it was overcast most of the time so we weren't cooked as much as we might have been. The only annoyance was the proliferation of insects attacking us from all sides. The most common one being the 'love bug'.

Early on we noticed this insect which travels exclusive in pairs....copulating pairs. Kenya, the future homeowner of the house we're building, giggling told us that they called them 'love bugs'. Well I had to look them up--check out the link to the wikipedia article here: Love bug. Let's just say the love bug lives a short but blissful life ;)

In the late-afternoon we had a surprise visit from another volunteer on the build....former President Jimmy Carter. He strolled up (followed by 5 black cars and lots of guys talking into ear pieces) to say hello and check on our progress. He jibed with the builders, hugged the homeowner and left us all with a warm glow inside... He's got the Bill Clinton charisma added to a grandad hugability.

Both Barack and Hillary need to work on their hugability--McCain has it in spades and these middle American types like it....everyone here hates Bush (Democrats and Republicans alike) but quite a few like McCain...be warned!

Anywho that's enough for me to have earned my dinner--casino hotel buffet here I come...

Foxy Biloxi

No time so point format post I'm afraid:

* I survived the 20 hour journey through the airports of middle America to get to Biloxi, Mississippi late last night (well it was 11pm USA time but 5am Irish time--big yawn).

* We're staying in a Casino Hotel that's ridiculously comfortable and air-conditioned and it all feels a bit odd so far. The people running the build are super nice and friendly though....there must be a catch....

*The catch is our builds start at 530am every morning this week. Apparently on tomorrow's agenda is putting up the walls and roof of our house (in Pascagoula, MS)....just the walls and roof so.

*It's pretty smokin hot outside but I haven't been out in it for more than 5 minutes yet--apparently it hit 90 F sometime last week....I don't know quite what that means but they seemed to imply that was hot.

* I'll be spending most of the week hanging out with the Northern Ireland team and thus am being exposed to both Northern and Southern accents at the same time...expect me to sound funny when I get home. "Aye, how y'all doin'?"

* Lemonade and cookie social in hotel function room happening shortly.....definitely not in Kansas anymore.

More later in the week.

Swing News

The swing community are 'a buzz' with the success of a short film featuring their talents that was on RTE last week.

Swing Talking

Swing Talking is directed by Anna Rodgers, and produced by Siobhan Ward, both amateur Swing dancers, and choreographed by Lucy E. Dunne. Aside from the Irish dancers on screen, much of the crew were made up of Swing dancers from Dublin. With just a week to prepare for the shoot, everyone teamed up, and helped create this short passionate jazz whirlwind, which also works as a metaphor for love and relationships.

If you swing dance in Dublin you will recognise most of the faces in this film. It features performances from Lucy Dunne (who flew in from Boston), Vincenzo Fesi (who flew in from Italy), and Avril Ní Chonaire (who bused it from Galway!), as well as Anita Walsh, Jonathon Gordon, Karl Kyck, Nicola Reville, Ciaran Houlihan, Johanna Foster, Siobhan Ward, Rose Cherry, Cahal Flynn, Daniel O'Neill, Libby Molony and Donal O'Kane. Maria Tecce, the Jazz singer and DJ does the voice over.

Swing dancing is a conversation between two people – not a choreography, and some might say, it’s a metaphor for interpersonal intimate relationships. The right balance of connection and tension is the key. You have to start off slow, and get to know each other. Then it can take off if you have the right connection. You have to communicate and listen to each other, or else the dance gets a little crazy, with both of you fighting to do your own thing. You might want to switch partners, or dance with two people at the same time. And in the end, you have a final dip, and then part. But sometimes, if it’s really good or you want to try again, you stick around for the next song.

This playful, familiar, and somewhat subversive form of dance is accessible to everyone – watching it makes you smile and want to get up and move to the music which we’ve all been listening to since we were born. The set in which our dancers perform is almost bare, yet in lit corners are symbolic props and indicators of the past – an old gramaphone, a saxaphone on a chair, a double bass. Projections of old swing movie archive flicker on the wall as they do in people’s unconscious memory. This is a dance with serious history. We’re all familiar with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but this dance really came from groups of black dancers in segregated ballrooms in Harlem.

With stunning dance scenes, dramatic lighting, and a dream like narrative on love and dance, this film captures the beauty of Swing in a breathtaking 5 minute Jazz whirlwind.

The link is here:
Swing Talking

Shine On Oh Ball of Flame

"Oh I'm so hot"
"It's boiling out there"
"I'm roasting..."
"I'm melting....I'm melting"(Wicked Witch tone of lamentation)

Yes ladies and gentlemen for the first time in (it feels like) years the sun is shining in Ireland. The ground is dry, the air is dry, one's skin feels a pleasant sensation when exposed and the sky is a curious blue colour.

Could it be?

Is this...?

Is this summer? (wonderous tone of awe and amazement)

After a wonderful May Bank Holiday weekend (Lainey Fest) spent in Courtmacsherry, West Cork, involving kayaking, forest exploration, games, drinks and 'Gay Icon' Night (TM), I'm more in love with my country than ever. A sea of bluebells and wild garlic in the woods, the waves crashing on the rocks at Dunworley beach and wonderful friends with which to share it.

To quote Kurt Vonnegut:

"If this ain't nice, I don't know what is".