The Irish way

In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting.

In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.

I liked the Irish way better.

             C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.

        David Gerrold, The War Against the Chtorr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's in the details

The true secret of happiness lies in taking
a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

            William Morris, The Beauty of Life

 

 

 

 

 

What's happening?

 In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.

        Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, Mahaffy: A Biography of an Anglo-Irishman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast in heaven

If you’ve never eaten toasted Ormeau Veda bread
with Dromona butter and homemade lemon curd,
do not despair, because this is the breakfast food
that you will be served in heaven.

        Adrian McKinty, Hang on St. Christopher

 

 

 

 

Let's face it

In a time of drastic change one can be too preoccupied
with what is ending or too obsessed with what seems to be beginning.
In either case one loses touch with the present
and with its obscure but dynamic possibilities.
What really matters is openness, readiness, attention, courage to face risk.
You do not need to know precisely what is happening,
or exactly where it is all going.
What you need is to recognize the possibilities
and challenges offered by the present moment,
and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.
In such an event, courage is the authentic form taken by love.

            Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

 

 

 

 

Poem: May

I cannot tell you how it was,
But this I know: it came to pass
Upon a bright and sunny day
When May was young; ah, pleasant May!
As yet the poppies were not born
Between the blades of tender corn;
The last egg had not hatched as yet,
Nor any bird foregone its mate.

I cannot tell you what it was,
But this I know: it did but pass.
It passed away with sunny May,
Like all sweet things it passed away,
And left me old, and cold, and gray.

                    Christina Rossetti