Wonderlust

                                                            Wonderlust

Blogpost June 25, 2019

Galway City, Galway, Ireland

Top o' the morning,   friends, frenemies, and family,

Since several of you keep harassing me to write more blogs (you know who you are), I’m convinced that some of you are bigger slackers than I am.  But I’ve always know that.  Do you think I have nothing better to do than come up with some drivel to fill this page? Don’t answer that. Ok, since you insist….

I hate explaining myself, don’t you?  When people ask me how I occupy myself, I am often at a loss.  All I know is that I’m always busy doing whatever it is that I do. Like my mother, who viewed the world out her kitchen window (yes, sometimes even with binoculars), I read, listen, observe, question, and try to satisfy my curiosity. 

So, here’s what I’ve been wondering about lately:

Why do we eat one thing when we are traveling and another when we are home?  Here in Ireland, we eat Weetabix nearly every day.  It’s available in the U.S.   Why do we never eat it? They also eat beans and grilled tomatoes for breakfast here, but that’s a habit we haven’t acquired.

Bob raves about the crepes at a restaurant called Java’s, and we’ve been back four times to enjoy them. He claims, “You can’t get these in Columbia.”  You know me, I Googled it and discovered that crepes are, in fact, available at ten places in CoMo, including Bob Evans and Denny’s.  So there.  I don’t need to travel across the ocean to walk down a charming cobblestone street and sit in a cozy café with soothing background music, charming wooden tables and chairs, and a view to the passing parade to enjoy a crepe with carmelized apples, cinnamon, and hearty Irish whipped cream.  

Why is lasagna served with chips  (aka “French fries) or mashed potatoes here?  The potato lobbying group must be very strong. Furthermore, the noodle lobbying group must be very weak, as most servings of lasagna I’ve had have had only one noodle on top.  To make things even stranger, lasagna is often served in a bowl with a spoon.  

Why are the vegetable portions so large?  My last serving of peas was larger than the sum total of all the peas I’ve consumed in my life.  

Why doesn’t anybody like regular potato chips in Ireland?  Crisps (aka “potato chips)” here come in flavors such as Irish cider vinegar and sea salt, smokey bacon, and prawn cocktail.  Really? I guess the vinegar and prawn lobbies must be powerful here.  What else could explain these strange tastes?   Has no one ever gone to the U.S. and tasted Lay’s? Just wondering.

Ok, enough on food. Let’s move on.  

In addition to regular potato chips, I am also missing my friend Alexa.  She is my kitchen friend (and spy?) at home.  When I need an item, I just tell her to add it to my grocery list. When I get to the store, I check my phone and there is my list.  Very cool. Well, since I don’t have her here, my traveling companion has taken to saying, “Tizzie, add  _________to the grocery list.” Very funny.

LOST AND FOUND

Bob’s billfold

Bob claims that the “chair design” in his classroom caused his billfold to fall out of his pocket the first day of class.  While we had a night of worry, the billfold was found and turned in to security.  I did discover as I called around to see where it might be that no one knows what a billfold is; the proper word is wallet. Now you know.  If you want me to photograph the chair for further study, let me know.

Bob’s credit card

He didn’t even know it was missing.  The cafeteria lady at the university asked him if he’d left it there the day before. Sure enough, he had.  Ireland is a great place to lose things, as you nearly always get them back.

One gold hoop earring (Tizzie’s, in case you’re wondering)

This item never goes off my list as I am always in search of a matched pair of gold hoop earrings. I’ve lost so many over the years that I’ve been told  -- not kindly, I might add – to just throw an earring on the sidewalk each time I go out to just get it over with.  That’s not very nice.  The good news is that I think the one I have at home nearly matches the one I lost here. I have my fingers crossed.

My Viking cap

This one does really hurt as I loved that cap.  I must have dropped it at the beach.   It has not been found.  It’s navy with a Viking ship on it just in case it blows your way. Nancy has kindly offered to give me hers.  

IRISH HOSPITALITY

We had fun visit with Bob’s cousins.  They went to a lot of trouble to pick us up, drive us a couple of hours to their home, and feed us a delicious meal.  Bob and his first cousin spent a long and rewarding time getting to know each other and sharing family stories. Evidently, Bob looks just like his uncle, who he never met, so they liked to look at himJ

While walking at the beach on Sunday, I met a nice Irish lady who offered to show me around the mobile home/campsite at the beach at Salt Hill.   After a fine tour of the grounds, the campers’ kitchen and bathroom facilities, she asked me into her mobile home for tea.  Unfortunately, I had left Bob sitting on a bench a mile away with all my stuff, including my phone, so I couldn’t take her up on it. I was afraid Bob might think someone had kidnapped me.  But it’s just another example of Irish hospitality.  They really are the nicest people.

Curiouser and curiouser,

I remain

Tizzie/Tiz/Liz/Elizabeth/Tizmom/Grandma/Grizzie

Brown as a Barry

Blogpost June 10, 2019

Brown as a Barry

            
Dia duit, friends, family, and frenemies,

I’m back where Tiztalk began ten years ago:  Ireland.  Bob is teaching a course, and I am the official writer-in-residence here in a student apartment in Galway.  So far, I’ve written two poems and a blog. 

Galway is a beautiful medieval city.  It’s a college town close to the size of Columbia, MO. 

Guess what?  It’s been cold, rainy, windy , and dreary here nearly every day.  You might wonder how I could be “brown as a barry.”  Those who know me know that I’ve never had a tan. Some readers may remember Terre Haute dermatologist Dr. Mason, who was in practice when I was in high school.  Not only did he burn warts off my fingers each month for at least a year, but he also gave me “tanning pills” and let me sit in an ultraviolet room. I never did get a tan.  No, I’m referring to my teeth.  I find myself drinking so much Barry’s tea, the most popular brand here, that I will need an industrial -strength teeth whitening upon my return.  I’ve thought of just using plain old bleach as a mouthwash; it does a remarkable job removing teacup stains, you know.  

The first day of class, our leader walked us down to the NUIG campus where the class is being held.  I plan to meet Bob for lunch on campus. Somehow I ended up chatting with a nice student about her upcoming trip to Berlin and, guess what?  I didn’t pay any attention to how we got to campus. Therefore, I’ve taken photos of the building and its environs.   I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop. Surely I can find my way back there in three hours, right?  Just in case, I was last seen at Mocha Beans Coffee Shop having what else?  A large pot of tea.

What can I tell you about Galway?  Well, part of Ed Sheeran’s video “Galway Girl” was filmed here at  -- where else?  --- O’Connell’s Pub.  After explaining --- more than once I I might add – to my travel companion just who Ed Sheeran is– I looked up the video.  Guess what?  It wasn’t a version of “Galway Girl” that I knew.  So, if you suddenly have an earworm from the one that’s in P.S. I Love You, put it out of your head if you can.  No, this is a 2017 song that is rather catchy, too.  I can’t believe that both songs can have the same name, but I’m told  that song titles are not copyrightable.  So, now you know.  I wonder if James Holzhauer knows all this. Maybe I should tip off Jeopardy for the Tournament of Champions.

Getting back to O’Connells Pub….We know exactly where it is as we visited it years ago with some  friends. Mike Juergensmeyer might recall the place as he was there. However, due to his Smithwicks consumption, he may not remember it at all.  Who knows? Anyway, we went there this week.  We asked if we could get a discount since our name is O’Connell.  Bob even showed his I.D.  No dice.  However, they did allow us to buy two souvenir tee shirts for only fifteen euros each. We felt special.  And I did see and interesting spirt I may have to go back and try: rhubarb gin.  Better yet, maybe I’ll just let super-hostess Teresa Foster create it for her next soiree. 

I’ll give you a tip about going into Irish bars.  Did you think you were going to learn so much from reading this blog? Bartenders generally don’t ask, “What’ll you have?”  or “Would you like to order?”  Instead they say, “Are you all right?”    or
“Are you okay?” This always kind of throws me as I think, “What did I do now?” or “Do I look that bad?”

Déjà vu  and New Irish moments:

Hooray!: 

McVitie’s biscuits (I mean a package of chocolate grahams for about fifty cents?  Yum.)

Sticky toffee pudding  (I’m a fool for this.  Yes, I know it’s technically British.)

Friendly people – they are everywhere

Oh, no!

Currants  (Who ever decided they were good?  What’s wrong with plain old California raisins?)

Scones (Could they at least wrap them in plastic so they aren’t so hard?)

Slugs – they are now invading homes.  We had one “visitor”.  How many teeth do you think a slug has? And, yes, I’m talking about a snail.  The answer: 27,0000.  Watch out for snails!

Well, it’s time for me to make my way across the river for my lunch date.

In case you’re wondering or you are a slacker and don’t care at all, Dia duit means “Hello, how are you doing?” in Irish.  

Taking a whirl as a Galway girl,

I remain

Tizzie/Tiz/Elizabeth/Liz/Mom/Tizmom/Grizzie