Living on the Emerald Isle

So much has happened in the past 5 days that I've been in Ireland, where to begin? After a long eventful, delicious, sexy and incredibly fun weekend in NYC I said my goodbyes and boarded my plane at JFK. It hadn't really hit me that I was finally going to Ireland until the lovely flight attendant began speaking in Gaelic. My heart leaped out my chest.
Flew in to Dublin Monday, had a layover so I spent a few hours walking about the city. It was sporadically raining and much colder than I was expecting. My digital camera is still being fixed back in the states so I didn't get to take any photos, I could buy a disposable but haven't been able to bring myself to spend 18 euro on one. Just my luck it was a bank holiday so not much was open, but I did get to go to the Temple Bar district, saw the Guinness Brewery, walked through the gorgeous Merrion Square, passed Oscar Wilde's house, and ran across O'Connell Bridge to catch my bus back to the airport. Took a short flight to Cork then another bus to Drimoleague where I was to be picked up by Barbara my farm host. I was supposed to take a bus to Skibbereen but because of the holiday not many buses were running. The bus ride through the countryside was breathtaking, rolling rich green hills, sheep and cow pastures every bit of the way and sun showers all the while. I was fading in and out of conciseness due to the jetlag, constant travel, and lack of sleep in past 24hrs. Everytime I woke up I was pleasantly reminded I was in Ireland. Drimoleague is a very small village and the only thing open when I got off the bus was May Dean's Pub across the street from the stop. I stumbled in and threw my massive backpack from my shoulder, all eyes on me as I hear a voice mumble "jaesis lads, lookat we got ere". Besides the fact that everyone knows everyone here I definitely stand out. I had to pee sooo bad so I thought I could drop in use the toilets and phone Barbara. After about 30 seconds I decided not to leave my bag unattended and I'd rather just sit outside at the bus stop where Barbara could see me. Atleast half the town wouldn't be staring at me in the pub. I spoke too soon. On my way out the door my wide ass backpack gets stuck in the reeeeally bloody small doorway, as I try to shift and maneuver my way through it I panic and just take it off. I turn around to see the bartender coming to give me a hand, I jerk my pack through, say thanks then speed walk down the street hearing an uproar of laughter behind me. Pretty embarrassing but mostly hilarious. Moments later Barbara came to collect me.
Since I arrived on the farm I've been working long hard days and loving every minute of it. I'm living in a 150 year family farm house, we have chickens, potatoes, lettuce, onions, raspberries, gooseberries, rhubarb, and sunflowers. There is loads of work to be done remolding the house and landscaping and when I'm not busy with everything else I've got to mind after her 8 year old son Reuben. He's a real chancer and gives me an awful pain in the gulliver, but we get on just fine. Though he continually tries my patience we're actually becoming quite good friends.
I've borrowed Barbara's digital camera and taken a few photos around but haven't the time to upload them all now. Here's a peak.
To be continued..

the road to our house

Acclimating

In 12 days I'll be in Ireland. I think I'll have to go straight to work on the farm when I get there so I've been planning to acclimate to Irish time.. but I'm not doing so good. It's 5 hours ahead.
Right now its 6:41am in Ireland. I haven't even gone to bed yet.

It's final

I'm finally embarking on my voyage to the Motherland. I've got 3 weeks left here in South Carolina until I fly back to NYC for the weekend then I'm off to farm in Cork, Ireland. I'll be doing work-exchange on many farms throughout the UK and Europe that I've found on HelpX.net for the next year or so. Most of the farms don't pay but they provide room and board, so it's a great way to travel and stay places for an extended amount of time on the cheap. The first one I'm working at is in Castlehaven, beautiful rolling country side right on the sea.

There's about 6 other farms I've contacted and have in mind after Castlehaven, but I'll just see how it all plays out once I get there. This is the route I plan to take May-July: Google Map
If anyone is going to be in the UK around then, let me know!

And to everyone in or around South Carolina we've got 3 weeks to hang out before I leave FOREVERRR! I leave Wed April 29th.
And to everyone in NYC/Brooklyn, I'll be in town Thurs 30th - Sun 3rd. It's going to be the weekend to end all weekends. We'll need to share as much love and sweat as possible before I fly to Dublin Sunday night.

My time has come, for I must depart on yet another grand voyage. I may or may not return for quite sometime so I pray thee well until our paths may cross again.

"I will leave the dust of the City street and the noise of the busy town
For the windy moor and the high hill and the peat-stream flowing brown.
I will seek the place where gypsies roam and strange, wild songs are sung;
I will find once more the magic paths I knew when earth was young.
Stretch not your hands nor bid me stay, I hear the white road's call,
The sun hath kissed the buds from sleep, and I am one with them all."

From The Vagrant - Pauline Slender

Summertime

It's almost here and this is all I want in life. It's all I can think about.







Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacey Peralta. What would life be without you?

Sailing around the world

Everyday I work a little bit harder for this.


More magnificent photos of my favorite nautical race -
2008 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

*Thanks Jory

Zoo date

I've had a big crush on my yoga instructor for a while now. She's 27 and a babe, we've been playfully chitchatting before and after class for weeks so I finally asked her on a date to the Zoo. We met up this morning at the Zoo gate, she brought me a rooibos tea, delicious. We walked along adoring the baby Lemurs, getting spooked in the reptile house, making fun of Orangutan face, comparing ourselves to Leopards, and singing Jungle Book songs. We were having a lovely time until we got to the Ocelot and she tells me she's divorced. And she has a boyfriend. And he's in the hospital dying of Leukemia.
What the hell am I supposed to say to that?!

Funniest date ever! Too bad it wasn't a joke.

Corto Maltese

A French vagabond and friend of mine recently told me of my resemblance to French comic book character Corto Maltese. The 1970 creation of Italian artist Hugo Pratt, though popularized in France in the 80's. Matlese is a badass and I can't help but claim him as a comrade and kin.

Corto Maltese is a laconic sea captain adventuring during the early 20th century. A "rogue with a heart of gold," he is tolerant and sympathetic to the underdog. Born in Valletta, Malta (south of Sicily) in 1887, he is a son of a British sailor from Cornwall and a gypsy Andalusian prostitute known as "La Niña de Gibraltar". As a boy growing up in the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Maltese realized he had no fateline on his palm and therefore carved his own with a razor, determining that his fate was his to choose.

Mon frère d'armes

Squirrel Nut Zippers Photos

Finally got the photos from SNZ's photographer today from the show back in October 08'. Variety Playhouse, Little Five Points ATL Georgia.
Dancing with my friend Abby Allen. We crashed with them in their hotel and stayed up till the morning light playin and dancing with them in the basement swing bar of their hotel. It was a grand old time.

More photos HERE

Poor Penny Singer

I want nothing more than to be this boy



Thanks to Stella and her childhood picture book.

Woodland Family Portrait

After the first snow atop Sassafras Mountain

Portland Maine

p.s. For those of you that don't know, as you can see I cut my hair off.

Cold Boston

Here we are in Boston. Took the train from Portland Maine at 6am this morning. It was a frickin cold and snowy day. Many more pictures to come. We'll be in Maine for the next 4 days, snow shoeing, dog sledding, and eating delicious lobster. We love it here.

The Stables

This is what I do everyday now. I work in the stables every morning, cleaning stalls, grooming and feeding 17 horses. Then I ride for about an hour and get free lessons in exchange for my work. I love it.

I missed church today

Spent all day in the Animal Emergency Clinic because my dog Tank got hit by an SUV in front of our house. He was in bad shape when we brought him in and we were in the waitingroom for hours until they told us anything. We thought his back legs were broken, his pelvis and maybe even spine. He's huge so it took them a while to get him sedated enough to x-ray him. They finally brought us, my sister Barb and I, into a tiny room and showed us x-rays and told us that he couldn't stand or walk. But the good news is the x-ray didn't show any broken bones or spinal damage. They told us they would keep him on lots of drugs and do some more tests and call us in the morning. They finally brought us back to see him, he was in a room of kennels with crying howling dogs and as we approached his cage he looked up and started crying and whimpering so much. He kept trying to stand up as we opened the door and kneeled down to him but he couldn't get up. I lost it. Up to that point I had kept my composure and had remained calm and collected, as I always do under traumatic stress or crisis. Not this time. His leg was shaved with an i.v. in it and he had one of those big plastic collars around his head to keep him from biting it. I've never seen him so unbearably desperate, it broke my heart.
As are faces were still wet they showed us the bill. Needless to say it was massive. We're sacrificing Christmas and neglecting a few bills but we'd much rather have him home and well. Man I knew I liked Tank before, but I had no idea how much I loved him until I saw him in so much pain today.

We got a call around 6pm tonight telling us he started to walk and that we could pick him up tomorrow! It's been a long day and I have a headache, I'm glad today is over.

Me and Tank, heading to the mountains this past summer.

In his winter sweater I made for him.

Monday update: We picked him up from the hospital today and he's doing very well. Still hobbling a bit and keeps groaning because he hates the thing around his head. Here he is, totally drugged out.

In my pants

Andy, Jorma, Akiva, and Justin, my hats off to you as always. And I can't wait for their album release.

I started horseback riding lessons today. 20 years late. I've seriously wanted to be the Man From Snowy River since I was about 5 years old. It just makes sense. I have no idea how it's taken me this long to start riding. In about 3 months I'll look something like this.

Man trampled to death by holiday shoppers

Disgusting.



Doesn't it make you proud to be an American?


Continued..

Two men shot and KILLED in Toy's R' Us, Southern California.
Here's the story ABC News

I also found this. Wal-Mart shoppers fight over XBox 360.



God bless American consumerism. All of this makes me so sick.

Russell Brand

Brilliant.

Transcendental

In the past week I've been in Asheville NC, Greenville SC, Atlanta GA, Philadelphia PA, New York City NY, and Brooklyn NY.


Starting with Asheville, I saw the Squirrel Nut Zippers play for the first time ever. I've been mildly obsessed with them since I was about 12 and was expecting a pretty damn good time. My expectations were enormously surpassed. My droogs and I were dressed to the nines and burning the floor all night. My friend Abbey and I were swinging hard and dripping with sweat. At the end of the show the band came down off the side of the stage, through the crowd and to the back of the audience all the while singing and playing their instruments ragtime marching band style. They open up a circle in the crowd and pull Abbey and I in. We did the best Lindy circle we could as they played and danced with us. After the show the lead man Jimbo Mathus tells me we looked great and asks if we'd like to perform on stage with them? Needless to say we generously accepted and met them two days later in Atlanta. My partner Abbey is actually a contra dancer and NOT a swinger but a great follow. So we were a bit nervous, but hey we were obviously good enough if they asked us to come dance on stage with them. So we get to the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points and hang out backstage with thim for about an hour before they go on. We danced onstage three songs, the first two being fun flashy songs and finished with a slow sexy tango number Blue Angel. After the show we went down into the audience dancing, playin and havin a good ol' time, then out to the lobby and then into the street. It was a hell of a show and from what they said it was one of their best! There was a swing bar under their hotel so needless to say we had a late night. We crashed with them in their hotel room and I spooned with the tubist. Officially logged as one of my favorite memories.
Here's a video that I found of us dancing onstage Put A Lid On It
Not my finest hour of dancing, but fun nonetheless.

Catherine Whalen of Squirrel Nut Zippers, pretending she's not a foot taller than me.

As soon as I got back to Greenville I had to pack and get in the car to drive to Philadelphia with Barb and Adam. Adam and I drove through the middle of the night and arrived in Philly in the morning, just in time for the Phillies Parade, and it was obvious they had just won the World Series. I took the Chinatown bus to NYC and had a damn good Halloween that night!

I came to New York for two things. Halloween and to Vote! And with both I am well pleased. I voted in a gorgeous cathedral in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. It was great, granted it was filled with hipsters. I'm not judging, just saying that the overall juxtaposition of the setting was amusing.
Election night in New York was intense. Every bar, restaurant and club with a television was spilling with people. When it was finally announce the city erupted and OBAMA was shouted from the streets and rooftops. Seriously.

Row boating in Central Park was delightful.

I was so happy to see my gypsy lady Nino.
Election day was my last day there but I skipped Philly. Saturday I went to Philly to join Barb Adam and Liz to eat the best damn meal ever at Marrakesh! To find it you have to walk down this alleyway off South St. and knock on this huge wooden door and wait. They bring you in and you're lead from room to room and several floors of an old, dark and oddly proportioned rowhouse thats since been turned into a labyrinth of elaborate rugs, beads and tapestries. We lie in the pillows as Aladdin comes to wash our hands with rose water. We then enjoy the next 3 HOURS devouring our 7 COURSES which are all served on large brass platters and are eaten only with pita bread and your hands. All the while being mesmerized by an incredible bellydancer. This was my second and definitely not my last time to Marrakesh.
Many more things of the past week I could talk about but I think I'll sum it up there.
Although I will mention that I saw the Swedish child-romance/horror film Let the Right One In and absolutely loved it. It's playing at Angelika Theater in Soho and I highly suggest it.