Put that in your pipe

Paparazzi got you down?
Tired of seeing your face all over the headlines every time you drive drunk or get a haircut?
Wish there was some place to which you could wisk away and escape the spotlight?

Why don't you try buying an island in Tracadie!

Where???

Exactly.

This is apparently what Ethan Hawke thought was a good idea. When he and Uma were together, Chris saw her here at our 'corner' store (there is no actual corner - I'm lucky the road is paved) and she got directions somewhere.
At one of my ceilidhs, who did I spy leaning against the back wall but Richard Gere. Chris served him tea, as he was helping in the kitchen that night.
Another night I was almost made late having to wait for J-Lo and Ben Afflek's large boat to pass.

This area is known for not giving a rats patoots who you are - in terms of fame. Your family name is a whole other issue, that we are not broaching today: that matters immensely. But just because Hollywood thinks you are somebody, around here, we could care less. You're really not in Hollywood anymore, Zha zha. Just another Shmoe. For that reason, I suppose, celebs are drawn to the area. No one is taking their picture or even staring. Same treatment as anybody.

SO the story goes, that a friend of Chris' from work was having a house party to which Ethan Hawke was invited and actually came.

So he lands in with incredibly muddy boots. He comes tromping in to the lady's house tracking mud everywhere.
"Yo, Buddy!" she says," Leave the boots at the door! Jaysus look at the mess, what!?"
Well, Ethan was less than gracious. He told her to clean it!
"I'm not cleaning that *&~@!"
So, Mr. Savvy reaches into his pocket, throws out some cash onto her side table and says, "There - I'll pay somebody to clean it."
"You absolutely will not- you WILL get your #^* out of my house!"
And she kicked him out.

So there. Smoke that.

Bowman girls

Tanny up!

O Blogger, Where Are Thou?

I am back.
One thing that kept me away lately was having my phone line yanked from my house by a passing tractor trailer. Crazy eh? Now we are back on the grid, connected to the interweb. Yeehaw!

Does anyone else find patterns in their life to be self perpetuating?
For example: When I am doing well, I seem to just get better. I am on the ball: the house is sparkling, I bake and cook up a flurry of culinary varieties, I speak Irish like I'm smart or something, read to my girls so they will be smart or something, exercise, juice, take time outdoors - and all with a big smile. I feel confident because I'm accomplishing all this stuff, and things are going great. With this confidence and good energy, I can just keep accomplishing more!

Then these times happen when I'm not doing well. My brain seems to be on slow motion, I can't manage to think of Irish, and start to feel stupid. I am exhausted, so I don't clean or cook, so the house gets messy and we don't get nutritious food prepared. The mess then gets overwhelming, so I eat 'comfort food' [read: chocolate], I don't spend any time in the sun, can't find the strength/gumption to juice or clean, and my response to the under-achieving ends up perpetuating the exhaustion, stress and discouragement.

What happens to break these cycles I'm not sure, but they seem to spontaneously turn around. One day you are Mrs. Over-Achiever-Cleaver, the next, you feel you are barely hanging on.

Weird.
Just life, I guess. Life, and hormonal fluctuations, likely.

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I have been really preoccupied by world issues lately: hunger, poverty, disease, injustice. One evening in particular, Niamh had been playing on the floor happily, but then the fun ran out, as it does, and she started crying. It took me a minute to get to her, but as soon as I was there to talk to her, she was smiling again. Just wanted someone to talk to her and engage her.

Then it just struck me, the countless orphans in the world, and all they are doing without. They aren't any person's #1 priority, there isn't anyone that they know will always come for them, or for whom there is that feeling of security and familiarity. Most are probably in the care of some nurse, state employee or volunteer, many of whom are great I'm sure, but it is just not the same as the one Mommy or Daddy all the time, who loves you like nobody else. I just thought how very fortunate my girls are to have both parents, in the same home, who adore them. It is just so sad to think of the baby out there just like Niamh, who doesn't have a mommy to come smile at her when that might be all she needs, to know you are there.

There now, aren't you glad I came back so I could depress you? Better luck next time maybe.

What a cheap-scot!

So three lads walked into a pub and ordered a pint: an American, an Irishman, and a Scotsman. Now, this pub was not renowned for its cleanliness, and there were a number of flies buzzing around.

Well, it just so happened (now wasn't this convenient for the joke?) that a fly landed in each of our fellows' drinks.

Appalled, the American dumps out his pint and orders another one.

The Irishman, taking it in stride, picks out the fly, flings it away and continues drinking.

The Scotsman carefully picks the fly out of his drink, holds him up, and giving him a hateful glare says, "Spit it out, ye little bugger."