Several years ago, MJ and I made a pilgrimage to the land of (some of) his forbears, Ireland. We traveled on our own to Dublin, took a bus up to Termonfecken to peer at the lichen-covered headstones – searching for said forbears – rented a car in Galway, and adventured our way down the west coast and back up to Dublin, searching for music. We had a blast.

The following year, we heard about Celtica Tours to Ireland, headed up by Robbie O’Connell, a nephew of our favorite Irish Trad group, The Clancy Brothers. We couldn’t resist and booked ourselves in. Again, we had a blast. Despite the swan dive and face-plant I did off the top step of the bus at some castle or another. Not their fault, though. That was all me.

It was so much more relaxing to let someone else do the driving (except maybe on some of those narrow, twisting back roads, when it became tour bus vs. compact car, or worse, tour bus vs. tour bus), and we really got to enjoy the scenery. And there were “sessions” every evening. And the camaraderie of our fellow travelers – characters themselves. Like Anna the Puppet Lady from Boston.

That’s where we met the Zoo Lady and her hubs, who hail from Arkansas. The Zoo Lady and I hit it off and had many wonderful conversations over a Bulmer’s or Guinness and cigarettes in the hotel parking lots. We kept in touch via e-mail when we got back, mostly during hurricane season (she has family on the Florida west coast), especially when storms approached or passed (“Are you guys okay?” “Did your folks have any damage?”).

This past Fall, we discovered – through forwarded and personal e-mails – that we even share the same political views. Which was a relief. You know how you just don’t want to offend someone whose views you’re unsure of, because you like them and don’t want them to cut you off? It was like that.

The Zoo Lady was in Florida last week to visit her family and help out with stuff, but we couldn’t manage to coordinate a visit. Still, we had the first voice-to-voice contact since Ireland, and it was just like being back there. ->Sigh<- A bright spot in an otherwise dismal week of more dusting and straightening and digging out at my FIL’s. Yes, that mess continues. Although the living room pretty much resembles a living room now, and we discovered an actual couch and coffee table in the FIL’s “office”! Seriously, I thought it was all a mountain of junk, but when you cleared off the junk, there was furniture under there! Un-freaking-believable.

Anyway, the Zoo Lady reads this blog, too. I know you’re out there – I can hear you breathing… so if you don’t like your nickname, come up with something better. And leave a comment. Yo.

Sorry I haven’t written in a couple of days. We were preparing for the “big blow” that wasn’t. Mostly.

I woke up ridiculously early on Saturday morning with that panicked feeling you get when you wake up thinking you overslept having forgotten to set the alarm, and you’re going to be late to work, and then you remember it’s Saturday, and oh, what the hell, the adrenaline got you going so you may as well stay up and do something useful. So, I hit Home Depot and the grocery store before most people woke up and discovered that there was “something” out there that might be heading our way.

Sunday was spent examining the stand-by generator and deciding that changing the oil could probably wait till another, less pressured, day. Then we moved stuff in the yard to sheltered areas where they’d be less likely to become airborne missiles. You have no idea how much crap you have lying around your yard until you have to pick up every single bit of it and figure out where the hell you’re going to go with it. And of course, MJ is all like “I’ll follow your lead, babe.” Thanks.

I had to go to work on Monday, but they let us out early. MJ assembled a variety of absorbent materials (mops, rags, paper towels) in anticipation of the roof tarp blowing off. I think he was expecting a flood of biblical proportions. And no, we still haven’t gotten the damn roof fixed. I haven’t done the taxes yet, either. I’m hoping our accountant filed the second extension for us.

Anyway, Tropical Storm Fay did not appear to precipitate the Apocalypse, but she did take down a limb of our East Indian mango tree in the middle of the night. Wasn’t really a big deal except for the fact that it landed on the phone line that runs into the house. We kind of stared at it for awhile, trying to figure out how to get it off without making things worse, seeing how part of the limb was still attached to the tree.

So here it is Tuesday. I didn’t have to go to work, the wind is still blowing around pretty good, and although the Sun made an attempt to assert itself, it didn’t last long, and it’s back to being dreary. This is the third time in 20 minutes that the power has blinked and the cable went out.

The bright side? Well, 3 days’ worth of clouds and wind has cooled things down to tolerable (if you can stand the wind-driven rain). And the birds and squirrels, while a bit confused about the change in landscape (did I tell you about the power outage last week that prompted the power company to come out in the dark with chainsaws and hack apart my backyard neighbor’s trees that were growing through the power lines back where I have the bird feeders? No? It’s stunning – and not in a good way.), having disappeared yesterday, came in this morning, looking for a meal. I was happy to see some of the parrots returning, too.

The whole thing’s been kind of a drag. Speaking of “drags”, would you please click on my baby dragons so they’ll grow big and strong?
Back tomorrow night with another Project Runway: Stream of Consciousness Recap — provided the cable holds up. Damn! I’m going to have to record the Olympics again.