Perspective

Well, you’re alive and can be thankful for that. Then you can worry about finding any job.

~ Overheard while walking through a park in Ireland

The Irish seem to have remarkable perspective. For instance, while walking around in a park, I overheard a grandfatherly gentleman tell his young female companion the statement above. I can only guess about the backstory. Was she ill? Was he ill? Was this just the sharing of a lesson learned through many decades of living? Does the backstory even matter or is the lesson enough?

While traveling around Ireland, I was amazed by how everyone we met was friendly, engaging, and happy, and not in a superficial way. When I talked with someone, I felt as if the person listened to what I was saying instead of thinking of what he or she was going to say next. People seemed truly interested in the conversation and the shared story we were creating together. A thread of genuine curiosity underpinned every conversation, and each person seemed to embrace the advice of the grandfatherly gentleman who extolled the importance of appreciating life. It was exhilarating!

I also marveled at the public art we saw and the stories we heard. Walking around Dublin, you will see statues and architecture devoted to writing, music, and wit. I don’t recall seeing a single object honoring or glorifying war or military might or victors who forcably conquered others. Instead, the culture appears to place other things on a higher pedestal, and I love this the most about Ireland. Heck, their national symbol is a harp! Again, the Irish seem to know what to value and have the right perspective about life.

I miss Ireland, and the re-entry into the United States didn’t supply a soothing balm. Instead, I was jarred by the crass abrasiveness of the very loud, very obnoxious American in the airport lounge. He had not kissed the Blarney Stone in his life and was not given the gift of gab. Instead, his story telling was self focused and more of an assault on one’s ears than a tender lithe tale of ones adventures. Nope, it was a litany of “accomplishments” and what I can only assume to be “sharing of wisdom through his awesomeness.” Maybe I’m being too harsh on the poor guy, or maybe we could all use a bit more of the Irish perspective in ours. If an Irish cabbie can curse you from a place of love and make you laugh at the same time, then maybe we can be more welcoming and opening in our general interactions.

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Things I learned at Disney World

1. The Animal Kingdom Lodge has an incredible view.

From Disney March 2010

2. Zebras, elands, ostriches, and giraffes love to hang out by the hotel rooms, and you will end up naming the ones you see every day.

From Disney March 2010

3. Sometimes, ostriches follow a car for no other reason than to see where you are going.

4. Ten year old boys walk with a swagger when dressed in full pirate regalia.

From Disney March 2010

5. A ten year old boy will still walk holding his mother’s hand when not dressed in full pirate regalia.

6. If you tell your server at the restaurant in France (at Epcot) that your horse just had a foal, not only will he ask if you own a ranch and dress as a cowboy, but he will now be fully confirmed in his belief that all Americans own horses and dress as cowboys.

7. While speaking in Korean to a Disney employee, it is perfectly fine to tell her that you meant to say “Thank you” (in Korean) instead of just blurting out “I love you” (in Korean). She will nod and say “Ah, ok” (in English).

8. Korean employees at Disney World are shocked and amused when a ten year old Irish complexioned boy with an Irish name and Irish freckles say “hello” in Korean. Then they look with surprised happiness at the Asian looking mom of said Irish boy.

9. When you speak German in Germany (at Epcot), you will totally make their day.

10. You beam with pride when you are told in France (at Epcot) that your son has a wonderful French accent, and you are equally amazed that he can hold a conversation in French. You wonder what he just said.

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Spring Break

The snow has finally melted and spring is definitely nearing. While we were holed up in the house with a lovely fire glowing in out living room, I’ve been knitting up a storm to match the icy weather outside.

There’s the February Lady Sweater that will hopefully be wearable at Maryland Sheep and Wool:

From WIPs

The Bohus Sweater, Wild Apple, is coming along nicely, and it is lovely, quite lovely. I’m taking my time so it can last longer.

From WIPs

Let’s look at it again, just because:

From WIPs

Spring also isn’t spring without babies. Two little babies will have their first pair of hand knit socks. If they are lucky, these little socks will be the first of many:

From 2010 Finished Objects

I’ve also had a nice alpaca lace stole resting on my lap.

From WIPs

Since this is my second Print o’ the Wave stole, I have a bit more confidence and it’s knitting up quickly.

Speaking of alpaca, I visited a local alpaca farm, just to start getting an idea of what it is like raising alpaca. I learned they are friendly, relatively low maintenance, and darn cute.

From Irish Clover

Our horse had it’s baby and our local zoo welcomed a new giraffe.

From Irish Clover

Finally, Little Clover had his Spring Break, and we decided to have one more trip to Disney World, while he was still a little guy in many ways. To be honest, I am very glad we went. In many ways, he was still a little boy inside and Disney still was magical. We rode the big kid roller coasters, but we also rode the less intense rides. No trip to Disney is complete without riding “It’s a Small World.” We saw spectacular fireworks, including watching fireworks while riding Big Thunder Mountain, danced on Main Street to music from “High School Musical” and we wore our mouse ears with pride and gusto. The best part of the trip though was seeing my little boy on the cusp of big kiddom transformed into a swaggering pirate.

From Disney March 2010

He even had the piraty glower down.

From Disney March 2010

The grown ups on the trip got into the fun as well by posing with Tigger.

From Disney March 2010

The sock enjoyed the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular:

From Disney March 2010

All in all, it was a magical trip.

From Disney March 2010

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On the range

This weekend, I discovered the truisms of some of the songs I learned in grade school. Italian and I ventured out to Colorado to celebrate our 10 wedding anniversary and during the trip, we found home. The West remains uniquely American and the Rockies were the most beautiful background to a remarkable trip.

For starters, we checked into the Highland Haven Inn, where a cute little cowboy duckie greeted us.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

Bear Creek, one of the many trout streams around Denver, not only ran directly through the town of Evergreen, but also ran through Highland Haven, making the place even more serene.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

On our first night in Evergreen, CO, right outside of Denver on the western side, we gazed in amazement at the purple mountains. When the sun sets, the fading beams hit the pinkish granite of the Rockies and the mountains are washed in purple which fades from a light lavendar to a deep rich purple. It was awesome in the purest sense of the word.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

After sleeping that night with the cool mountain air filling the room from the open window, we woke up to head to Cheesman Canyon, our first fly fishing destination. To get to the river, one must hike half a mile into the Canyon. At the top of the hike, we stopped to take in the view.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

The South Platte winds its way through the canyon and is punctuated with large bolders in many places.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

Those boulders you see are as tall as a person, and provided perfect places for hiding fish. Italian, landed the biggest of the day.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

All of the trout we caught were wild trout, so they fought with a gusto and zeal hatchery trout just don’t possess. Occasionally, they would take us on long walks along the river as we worked hard to land them. The majority of the streams in this area are also catch and release, which means that each of the fish are returned to grow bigger.

While at Cheesman, I did put my pole down a couple of times to capture a few sights.

Denver was experiencing a swarm of ladybugs.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

The wildflowers were beautiful.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

From Fly Fishing Colorado

I also managed to catch a few trout.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

The second day, we decided to do something completely different, and our guide, Pat Dorsey, gave us the experience of fishing a meadow stream. Wow. Really, wow. The drive to Spinney was one of the most incredible drives. From Evergreen, we wend our way through the mountains, going higher and higher until we reached an elevation of 8600 ft. Towards the end of the mountain pass, we took a slight turn until the mountain on our left cleared to reveal an expansive prairie beneath us. Italian and I, who weren’t saying much to beginning with as we took in the sights, both stopped breathing, gazed, and then exclaimed, “Wow!” There are no words to describe what we saw. We did immediately start singing “Home on the Range,” though.

Fishing Spinney was quite different than fishing Cheesman. For starters, the scene is an expansive meadow of wildflowers and wild sage.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

Cutting through the meadow is another winding stream, punctuated every now and then by old farm buildings.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

The sky was cloudless when we first arrived, but as the day progressed, clouds began to build up and roll along the expansive blue above. Pat, our fishing guide, had an incredible knack for seeing the trout in the water and taught us how to fish in lots of different conditions. If you ever go fly fishing in the Denver area, call the Blue Quill Angler. Their guide service is top notch, stacked with friendly knowledgeable guides.

Finally, on the last day of fishing, we had the luxury of fishing the North Fork of the South Platte. Again, the view was picture perfect.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

The stream is nestled against the side of the mountain, with a bit of pairie on the other side.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

Pat again helped us land beautiful fish and his strike indicator really is the best one we’ve used.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

From Fly Fishing Colorado

At the end of the day, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stop by the Coney Island hot dog stand, complete with boardwalk.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

The view we had while we ate our elk sausage dog only added to the wonderful flavor.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

Yep, we’ll be going back soon.

From Fly Fishing Colorado

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