" A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That"

I am sitting in my apartment looking out over a lovely and dense wooded area and watching the fog move through the trees as the sun tries to warm a frosty ground. We have had a lovely few days of sunshine in Limerick. It seems whenever the sun appears and for however long, it makes up for days and days of dullness and rain. Actually it is never dull here. It is too green to be dull! The flowers are still blooming, but it is cold and feels colder than it would back in Ithaca because it is so damp.

I spent a week in Paris in October with my wonderful friend Nancy, who rented an apartment for a week. We explored as much as one can possible explore in a week's time. We did the tourist thing, which I would highly reccommend for a first trip to Paris.

We had a two day pass for the double decker red bus and saw many things we would not have seen on foot. Standing under the Eiffel Tower was enough; we weren't into lines, but one evening while we were walking along the opposite side of the Seine we watched the entire tower lit up in flashing lights. It was spectacular. The best part was that we began to fancy ourselves as blending in. And of course the Parisians can spot a non-French speaking American long before you even open your mouth. Read this article by Dave Barry. It says it all. http://www3.uakron.edu/modlang/french/dave-barry-france.pdf

Of course museums were a must during our trip. We saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, along with many wonderful Impressionist paintings, Napoleon's apartment and more. At the Guimet we saw an exhibition of Carl Jung's Red Book-spectacular. And the last day we went to cooking school. It was a great thing to do and a fun way to end the trip. Our chef instructor, Constance Deledalle, was wonderful, full of enthusiasm and knowledge.
http://cooknwithclass.com/

I have happily settled back into studies, learning new music, singing in scholas and larger groups, studying with my chant teacher, Catherine Sargent, who remains so patient with me. I think I am making some progess on the Gregorian chant front. And my voice lessons with Marie Walsh continue to be immensely productive. The highlight of the year are the three young women who are my classmates. They are from the US, Poland and Dublin. They are a joy and all wonderful people and wonderful singers. It is a true pleasure to be with them and sing with them. They call me Limerick Mom or Marshamom. I love it.

I am doing research for my thesis on the contemporary chant movement and have moved away from creating a pedagogical tool to writing on the origins of chant and the practice of chant, and the influences that have shaped the form of chant and chanting in secular and liturgical setting in time. It is fascinating, well at least for me it is! And as you may have read on my blog, I am starting to teach chant,having held my first workshop in Ireland a little over a week ago. I love it and hope to do a couple of workshops when I am home during the holidays.

I continue to meet wonderful people here in Ireland. Yesterday I was in the right place at the right time and had the opportunity to congratulate the newly elected president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. I had met him during the campaign period, hoping he would win. I marvel at the intimacy of this country, that it is the size of New York State and that almost like a small town, people seem to know one another. There are many synchronicities that are apparent. It is not so busy or so big, so one can tune into those little miracles that happen all the time in our lifes.

Now here is the best thing of all. It happened in the past week. My son, Max,found out that he has passed the New York State Bar Exam. I am immensely happy for him and truly proud. I look forward to my trip home in December to help him celebrate and to be with my beautiful family, Max, Nansa, and Zoloo, Myagaa and Van. Of course, I will catch up with my Ithaca and Watertown friends and I will visit other family as well, in Florida, my aunt and uncle, and friends Nancy and Joe,and hopefully Bob. I will visit my siblings, nieces, nephews and grand niece and nephews in Pittsburgh before I return to Ireland in early January.I am so so looking forward to all of that.

So I am wishing a you a lovely day. Back to the thesis research. Sending love from Glocca Morra.