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Two Peas in a Pod

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Ed & I in Powerscourt Gardens

I woke up this morning feeling a little tired.  As I made my way downstairs to assemble the morning lunch sak sandwiches, I glanced over at my husband.  He was feeling the same way; I could tell without having to ask a word.  We gave each other the space we needed to wake up slowly.  That’s how we are…we are two peas in a pod.  Two sailors navigating the same boat.  Two lovers lost in a haze of joy and rapture.  Two friends talking about the same joys and hurts and hopes.  I know….enough with the cliches already!  There is never a good and perfect way to talk about love.  You just know when it’s right and true, and you know that it’s the thing that you want to protect and cherish at all cost.  So honey, if you’re reading this, know that I cherish you.  I hope you are waking up out there in the big bad working world, and making a difference for all those people in the Nuba mountains.  I’m proud of you, and I’m glad to share this pod with you. “Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away. But never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.” – N. McCarthy, Irish blessing Slainte, Lisa

A Picture of A Picture

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This is a picture of my pictures, which reside in the becoming-obsolete object called a picture album.  This album dates back to our first trip to Ireland from 2001.  These images show Joshua, then 7, ready to enjoy our day on the boat watching Fungi the dolphin jump and do tricks in Dingle’s waters.  These days, all of my pictures reside on tiny memory cards, or hidden deep in the recesses of my laptop’s storage banks.  And there are no new pictures in my photo albums.

At first I lamented this, and tried valiantly to print all the digital pictures we shot.  But there is no keeping up with this…the wonders of digital photography let you shoot so many wonderful pictures, too many to print all the time.  So I settle for printing the really special ones, and view my pictures in a new way.  And it’s a good thing.  But I still feel a warm, nostalgic feeling as I open a special volume filled with memories, with pictures in time captured and carefully placed in a book.

Tell me…do any of you still keep photo albums?  Or have you converted to digital viewing?

Make some beautiful photo-worthy memories today.  Slainte, Lisa

 

Rule of the Blog: Don’t Let the Blog Rule You

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I love my blog.  I love thinking about what I’m going to write; I love writing in the morning after I eat my omelet; I love looking through my pictures to pick just the right one to insert.  But lately, I have been noticing a strange occurrence that hasn’t happened to me since around 9th grade:  the incessant desire to have someone “like” my post.  Seeing that little orange square light up in the right hand corner, with a number, just waiting for me to click it and see the update.  Pitiful, really.  This really just comes back to a letter my dad wrote me when I was around 14…just be happy with yourself and make good choices, and don’t worry so much about what others are thinking.  Aaagghh!  Have I now reverted to middle school angst?!

Another interesting occurrence is happening also:  I am turning into Lisa Lyons, Roving Reporter.  Like the other day in the restaurant with the cracker basket episode.  I looked at the crackers, looked at my husband, and stated, “This would be a great blog!”  Then I ran out to the car, grabbed the camera, and began to take pictures like I worked for LIFE magazine or something.  🙂

People always say that writers need to live their lives in order to write about life; writers need to “write what they know.”  So it’s important to really live life and be fully awake to what’s going on around you.  But here’s the interesting thing…writing this blog has helped me to do this.  In writing about life and Ireland and music and God, it has made me infinitely more aware of what is going on around me.

All in all, I’m thankful for this blog.  I’m thankful that it’s helping me to wake up.  I hope that it might inspire someone else to do the same.  And yes, I’m still looking in the right hand corner for the lit-up orange “like” button!  🙂    Slainte, Lisa

And In the Town, There Was a Cottage

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Sometimes I love to think about all the millions of towns, scattered in every country of the world.  And every town is full of people, living somewhere, and going through their everyday lives.  Then I think about how I don’t know most of these people, and I probably never will.  But they all matter; they are all created in the image of God.

Then my mind starts to think of the towns that I have traveled to before…ones that I loved and lived in for a short while, like Portmagee, Ireland.  For a while, we stayed there, shopped in their grocery stores, ate at their restaurants, listened to their music, and then we came home.  Yet life in Portmagee continues, and we are continuing here back at home.  The musings of a Saturday….:)

And In the Town…

…there was a cottage. A wonderful cottage.
Reencaheragh Cottage, Portmagee

May your little corner of the world be blessed today; you are important and loved by your Creator!  Slainte, Lisa

Truth Vs. Beauty, or are they the same?

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The truth can sometimes be hard to face, and some would say, ugly.  Yet the truth sets you free.  There is nothing to hide behind, no deception, no unreality.  Truth is truth, and it’s real, and it never changes.  Our world is obsessed with beauty, with beautiful people, with trying to stay beautiful.  Yet the truth of who and what we are, of living life,  is beautiful too.  Because we’re all flawed people who are trying to love the best we can.  Here are some “truthful” pictures of old, broken down homes in Ireland, that some would call ugly and an eyesore.  Yet, to me they are beautiful, they have stories to tell, and they live as a testimony to the lives of those who passed before us.

Worn-out tower staircase

Abandoned Home or Inn, Gap of Dunloe

An old room with a view

I am challenging myself to look for beauty in the unexpected and the truthful places.  I want to be the kind of person who can see some good, even in the worst of situations.  Because I definitely would like people to do that for me.

Slainte, Lisa