This happens to be the second time I wrote this particular entry as I was in a fantastic mood and typed quite a bit yesterday, but carelessly closed one too many tabs and lost my work last night. Here I go again!
We often times are caught off guard by little things in life, a song, a smell, a memory that is brought to the forefront because of the tiniest trigger in our daily life. Yesterday was full of these moments for me. It started early in the morning while I was in church. I should have known then that yesterday would be a really simple, but good day.
In the church I'm visiting here in Dublin, we begin the service with a prayer from the Pastor and then the congregation joins in on the Lord's Prayer. Once we've all recited this we move on to a hymn of worship. The first hymn made me grin, as it's one I know from home and really enjoy singing (although others probably don't enjoy my singing quite as much). Something I find rather amusing in this particular church is that the hymn books list the words, but there are no notes, no guides at all for the music and because there is no music director, everyone sings what they think is the tune. I caught myself giggling quite a lot yesterday (probably because my two new American friends and I had just discussed this the night before and they were sitting with me in church Sunday morning. We surely seemed like a bunch of school children who couldn't contain themselves). The second hymn we sang we all knew the tune to, Amazing Grace, and it went much more smoothly. I find that singing these old hymns usually reminds me of my grandmother, who I probably take after with my lack of singing ability. It was nice to remember her though.
After church I had planned to make a Southern Sunday dinner and had bought all the ingredients the day before. I had told my new friends I was cooking but I didn't want to invite them over as it was my first time for this meal here in Dublin and I wanted to make sure it was edible, not use them as Guinea pigs for my experiment. That's what my neighbor is for (but I'll explain later). They laughed and said they'd wait for round two, but to let them know how it went. Luckily for me, I got exactly what I had hoped for: a juicy ham and a not too eggy macaroni and cheese (I don't eat eggs but I do have to cook with them occasionally, so I was happy with my end result). I had no recipe to follow for the mac and cheese, but I had called T'Lene and asked what she thought I should do proportion wise for my tiny kitchen. I have no measuring utensils here but it all turned out. I also made a pitcher of sweat iced tea and then later remembered I had green beans to cook so I made those for Josh (the neighbor). After I ate my lunch and then attempted to run it off, I had Josh, who just returned from Africa, take a plate. He was thrilled, and so was I. I was glad to get rid of some of the leftovers! The day before I had also made chocolate chip cookies for my neighbors so Josh said, no matter what, he'd be on my side since I cook for him. It makes me feel good though. I enjoy cooking and here I don't have the space to invite everyone over, but I can certainly fix things and give away. It's nice to share a bit of that Southern Hospitality with Dublin.
As I mentioned, I had gone out for a run yesterday afternoon and this is the time I probably felt most nostalgic. I decided to take a different route yesterday (my mother always says people watch and you should change it up to be safe). I ran up Leeson Street to St. Stephen's Green and was pleasantly surprised when I got there. I had forgotten that on the weekends the park walls are lined with paintings from artists in the area. I went to the corner and was going to walk back along the perimeter but got caught, even with my Ipod blaring, by the sounds of music in the park. I heard Bob Marley's Three Little Birds and stopped in my tracks. There was some band on stage in the gazebo and what looked like a highschool marching band in the crowd. They jammed for 15 minutes or so and I sat in the grass enjoying it. Mostly I enjoyed watching the people attempt to dance to the music. I don't claim to have a lot of rhythm, but it was entertaining and made me smile to watch them. It was one of those moments that you appreciate being in a place.
After the performance had ended, I did walk around the park to admire the artwork, but once I'd seen it all, I was "called" back into the park. This time it was the sun that was calling. I've been rather deprived of it living over here and although I made fun of the locals when I visited in April, I understand their appreciation for it now. I have always enjoyed lying in the sun, so that's what I did. I lie right down in the grass and rolled my sleeves up in hopes of "catching some rays." I put my Ipod back on and listened to my man Dave for a while. I stayed there about 30 minutes before it got chilly and then I headed back to my studio, or "box" as a friend is calling it.
On my walk back from the park I had my Ipod in and just enjoyed watching people as they passed me, but one person in particular caught my attention. I wasn't drawn to the person's appearance, but as she passed, I got a whiff of her perfume, and it was the same as what T'Lene wears. It was a great moment because I don't know anyone else that wears it, so it reminded me of my sister, who is coming to visit in 18 days (she posted on facebook this morning), and I'm so excited to see her.
Dublin is great and I'm learning an awful lot being here, but any little reminder of home is welcomed, and yesterday was full of them. Sweet nostalgia.
No comments:
Post a Comment