Tag Archives: Ireland

The Return Home

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“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”

-George Moore, Irish poet

Life is ironic sometimes…you feel dissatisfied, restless, yearning to roam somewhere new and just see something different.  You save, you plan, you go to this new place.  You walk around looking at the new buildings, sceneries, faces; moved but sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer amount of newness.  You look for glimpses of familiarity in the faces and language swirling around you, and sometimes you see & hear it and it brings a modicum of comfort.  Could it be?  Do you actually miss home after all this wanting to escape it?  You face the last day of the journey, feeling nostalgic already for the place you are leaving.  But then, you make it home…the familiar bumps in the driveway feel more endearing, the rise of the house in front of you makes you happier than it has in a long time, and the love that you feel for home, for those dear to you that you left behind, becomes very clear and poignant.  You are home, and you are happy.

Slainte, Lisa

My Tribute to a Great Writer

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Maeve Binchy, born 1940 and passed from this world two days ago in 2012, was my favorite Irish writer.  She wrote fiction set in rural Irish villages, and filled that fiction to the brim with characters of all types, realistic daily happenings that somehow never seemed boring, and some of the best dialogue writing I have ever read.  When you read her books, you felt as if you were transported to that Irish town, and had suddenly become close personal friends with the characters by the intimate writing voice she used.

I didn’t always like her characters or the choices they made…sometimes they made bad decisions that I didn’t agree with.  But they were always real.  Binchy’s characters weren’t flimsy, stereotypical fabrications; they seemed like people you run into everyday.  People making good and bad decisions, people making decisions that affect the rest of their lives one way or the other.

So thank you, Maeve Binchy, for giving me so many wonderful reading hours beside your stories.  I enjoyed every one of them, and will enjoy many more when I re-read them.  Slainte, Lisa

Not Random Occurrences

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“You do a great injustice to dismiss these blessings from God as random occurrences…don’t discard God’s boundless love as mere coincidence.  His Presence is everywhere for eyes that see and ears that hear.  Keep your journey on the way of the pilgrim.”  – Brother Malachy, a character from the book The Last of the Donkey Pilgrims by Kevin O’Hara

I’m going to try to keep my ears and eyes open today.  God is whispering and sometimes shouting to me how much He loves me and wants to be closer to me.  I want to hear and see Him when He does.  Slainte, Lisa

A New Day

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The sun breaking through the rain clouds off of Doolin’s coast.

O God who created the sun, You are the sun of my soul & I adore Your brightness.

I love You, O Everlasting Light.  May I see You in the bright light of Your glory.

-Irish blessing

Some mornings you wake up, and you’re not really awake.  But other mornings, you wake up and begin to realize how amazing the gift of life is.  To be alive, to have a purpose, to breathe deeply of God’s good air, to see the sunshine or the clouds and be glad that you’re seeing them.  Take a moment…breathe deeply….thank God for whatever blessings are around you right now.  Be blessed.  Slainte, Lisa

Copacetic

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The older I get, the more I realize how much I don’t know.  Yesterday, my husband casually stated in conversation, “Don’t worry; it’s copacetic.”  Copacetic?  I was convinced that he had made this word up, or that I had misheard him.  “What did you say?” I asked him.  “You know, ‘copacetic;’ everything’s good,” he continued.

In all my years of living and reading, I had never heard this word.  I mean, Ed & I have known each other since we were 14 and have run in basically the same circles, yet he was extremely comfortable in casually using this word in his daily conversation.  Yet copacetic and I were strangers to each other.  I was floored and wierdly excited about this turn of events.  Yes, I am a word geek, truth be told.

Here is the meaning and pronunciation from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:

Definition of COPACETIC
: very satisfactory

Examples of COPACETIC

  1. <don’t worry, because I assure you that everything’s copacetic>

Origin of COPACETIC

origin unknown

First Known Use: 1919
I will now attempt to use it in my caption sentence; here goes…drumroll, please.

When Ed & Joshua are chilling out on the rocks, everything’s “copacetic.”

If you already knew this word, I am amazed yet again.  If this is a new wonderful experience for you, let me know that I am not alone!   Slainte, Lisa