Carrowholly in the Gloaming

Shot with the iPhone Hipstomatic app, which simulates lenses and films from the 50s and 60s (in the this case, the John S lens and Blanko film).

We arrived in Shannon this morning in good shape after a lengthy layover in Newark International (which, compared with JFK, is the Trump Towers). These highlights of the trip over (also courtesy various Hipstomatic lenses and films) make Carrowholly all the more transcendent:

And now we're about to have a late dinner while listening to the great Kevin Burke:

Kevin Burke / Cal Scott

Back when I was 17, I got an Arlo Guthrie album called The Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys. The record -- yes, that's how long ago it was -- opened with a fiddle prologue called "Farrell O'Gara," which a single fiddle player performed by layering several takes on top of each other. It was strikingly lovely even to 17-year old ears more accustomed to Black Sabbath, so I took note of the fiddle player's name. The album notes identified him as "Kevin Burke of County Sligo." There being a dearth of opportunity in South Texas to explore Irish fiddle music, I filed the name away and continued to enjoy "Farrell O'Gara." I even learned to play a pretty mean air fiddle, if I do say so myself!

When I started coming to Ireland back in the early '90's, I discovered that Kevin Burke was a giant among men as far as fiddle players go. Besides his own recordings, he was a member of the formidable trad groups Patrick Street and Celtic Fiddle Festival. Recently, Burke teamed with the American guitarist Cal Scott to record a fine CD called "Across The Black River". T. and I liked the music so much that we chose "Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz" for the bride's entrance at our wedding last December.

So we were excited to learn that Burke and Scott were performing last night in Linenhall, a combination tourist office, community center, and performance hall in nearby Castlebar. While Linenhall is an old Georgian building, it's been remodeled on the inside. The performance hall is the second very nice space we've been to in County Mayo; like the one in Belmullet, it's amphitheater in style but seats about 100-120. They paid attention to the acoustics, so the sound is excellent. We're not in sync with the Irish habit of buying tickets the night of the show, so we picked ours up a few weeks ago, putting us front and center with our feet on the stage. A couple of weeks ago, I emailed a request for "Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz."

The performance was outstanding. Burke's tone and dexterity are astonishing; for richness, fullness, and agility, it reminded me of nothing so much as Willie Nelson's voice. Scott -- who also composes film and TV soundtracks -- made for a fine accompanist. He even sang two of his own songs, narratives about a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition and a charming imagined history of his antique mandolin. Burke and Scott are adventurous, so while they performed plenty of trad jigs, reels, waltzes, and polkas, they added their own compositions and showed no fear of other genres. In fact, two of the night's highlights were renditions of Bill Monroe's "Evening Prayer" and a Yiddish lullabye called "Itzikel" ("short for 'Isaac,' only it's longer," Burke explained). Oh yes: They played "Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz." And dedicated it to us.

Here they are:

We're off to Donegal for a couple of days! I have some posts scheduled and we'll have pictures when we get back. In the meantime, T. has more great pix of Carrowholly jellyfish here.

Blow Winds! Rage, Blow!

Ferocious winds last night, ripping and howling off the bay, colliding brutally with the house. They forced their way through the tiny gaps between window and frame, blowing the curtains in our bedroom even though the windows were closed. T. slept fitfully while the continuous bellowing had an oddly soporific effect on me: I slept like a baby. They had let up some this morning, but have started in again, this time driving a hard rain sideways through the cove. I love it. Of course, a hurricane or flood considerably diminishes the romance of a storm...

We spent yesterday afternoon running errands in the nearby market town of Castlebar, where we filled up the car to the tune of $7.85 a gallon. (1.33 euro per litre only sounds better.) T. needed art supplies for her post cards and I needed special-sized light bulbs that I couldn't find in Westport. To our delight, we discovered that the fiddler Kevin Burke performs there in July. His "Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz" was the bride's processional (as it were) at our wedding in December; we've already emailed a request for him to play it...

Thx to Amy Denio for the photo. Amy stayed at Carrowholly last February...

Charles Black, a key advisor to Johnny Wattles, sez that an attack by terrorists on the United States, would benefit McCain to the detriment of Barack Obama. Naturally, the MSM misses the real point: It falls all over itself trying to figure out whether Black is right or wrong while ignoring the colossal cynicism of the remark. The Republicans know they can't win talking about Iraq, the economy, health care, alternative energy, infrastructure -- in other words, any of the huge issues facing this country that they did nothing about when they had the chance -- so they play fear card. Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

The Washington Post's Richard Cohen brings McCain milk and cookies before tucking him into bed, here. The thrust of Cohen's argument is that no matter how many times McCain flip-flops or how egregiously he panders, his five years as a POW in North Vietnam trump all and prove that his character is superior to Obama's. He doesn't consider the possibility that McCain has sold out his legacy and will say anything to become president, gambling that the punditocracy will never call him on it. If Cohen is a representative sample, it might be a good bet...

For a nuanced, thoughtful, and perspicacious analysis of the public view of Iraq, you can't beat Frank Rich's column here. Rich argues that it no longer matters what incremental "good" news may come come out of Iraq -- that the public has already made up its mind that the war was a mistake and that nothing can change that. The issue now is to get out so that we can focus on the economy, health care, alternative energy, and infrastructure. Rich believes that McCain's platform of holding on in Iraq amounts to the flogging of a dead horse...

New Orleans: Screwed again. But the music, oh, the sweet music...New Orleans blues guitarist Spencer Bohren: "Music is a quintessential part of the fabric in the life and culture of New Orleans, and vice versa. Musicians were among the first to return to the bewildering mess that was New Orleans following the storm, and though there were very few places for them to play, and very few people to hear them, they provided an early signal that the precious spirit of New Orleans was not dead." Be sure to listen to "The Long Black Line"...

It's no picnic in the Midwest, either...

The pot calls the kettle very, very, very, very, very black. We're talking pitch-black, ebony, midnight, center-of-Carlsbad-Caverns-without-a-match-here: The Rev. James Dobson of Focus on the Family accuses former Constitutional law professor Barack Obama of a "fruitcake" interpretation of the Constitution and, worse, of "...distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology..." Focus on the Family supports the teaching of so-called "Intelligent" Design, opposes same-sex couples benefits, opposes meaningful stem cell research, opposes a woman's right to choose, opposes...you get the picture. They do support abstinence before marriage.

I just stepped out into the wind. Wow! It must be 35-40 mph. Best have some tea.

Wedding Day

Sublime. People kept asking us to get married regularly if it meant an event like last night's. The ceremony was brief but moving:

• Entrance to "The Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz," performed by Kevin Burke and Cal Scott
• Remarks by Rev. Herb Payton
• Reading of "I Would Live In Your Love" (Sara Teasdale) by PK
• "In My Life," performed by The Beatles
• Vows
• Recessional to "Heavenly Day," performed by Patty Griffin

We chose "In My Life" to commemorate Mark and Laura as well as to express our feelings for each other. 

More tomorrow, when I can publish the dinner menu. I can't say enough about the dinner and celebration after, though. For now, I am blessed with health, two great sons, two great stepsons, and someone to spend the rest of my life with whom I love as a wife, dear friend, and trusted confidant. 

Last night, I asked the hotel receptionist for an extra room pass for "my wife." I haven't been able to say that in over seven years. It sure felt good. And right.