This has, thankfully, been a quiet week.  Not much going on.  I finished and sent off the survey that had me so tied up on Sunday and then wrote the report on my trip to Liverpool and followed-up with the people I met there. 

Over last weekend, Alan and I saw 4 movies.  A new one on Friday, Nostalgia for the Light, which I wrote about last Sunday and then 3 films that were the complete works of Irish filmmaker, Pat Murphy:  Meave, Anne Devlin and Nora.  The first two were 'feminist' films and while I enjoyed Meave, about a young woman trying to escape 'the troubles' and her family in Northern Ireland in the 1970's and the second about a woman who was involved in an Irish uprising in 1798, both were over long and not well edited.  The third, Nora, was Murphy's last film and by far the best, a much more theatrical (rather than 'film student') movie about Nora Barnacle Joyce, James Joyce's wife.  It starred Susan Lynch as Nora and Ewan McGregor as James Joyce.  The last was also long but much better edited.  The filmmaker, Pat Murphy was there for the screening of all three.  I thought I would enjoy that but she seemed to feel it necessary to talk before each film about 'what it is about' and I found that distracting, I would have much preferred hearing her comments afterward.  Anyway, it was interesting to see the entire filmography (to date) of one person.  I would definitely recommend Nora if you can get hold of a print.  I do believe it's still available, the other two can only be seen through access to the IFI archives. 

Last night, Thursday, we had guests in.  I met Mary on a walk in Sandymount and we have done several things together since meeting in May but this was the first time she met Alan and I met her husband, Tom.  We have a lot in common, having married the same year, no kids and a similar experience with the loss of our mother.  I hope this friendship endures passed our time here in Ireland.

This morning I did my first volunteer activity, a meeting with The Community Foundation for Ireland as a member of a steering committee trying to develop a survey instrument and method for assessing the 'vital signs' in Ireland.  It was quite interesting and I hope it turns into a long term study that will help decision makers better understand the social and political environment in the country.  It could be a big thing.  I hope so.

Finally, we are busy preparing for a visit by friends from the states.  They will be in Ireland from August 18th to the 30th with several days in Dublin and then we will go with them to Kerry to the tourist mecca  the 'Ring of Kerry', Killarney and the Dingle Peninsula.  Then they will go off on their own for a few days and then return to Dublin before they leave.  We are excited to have our first guests!  Following that, Alan's sister and brother-in-law will come for three days on September 24, then in October we will do a walking tour in Majorca in the first half and, later in the month,  have other guests for 10 days during which we are planning to go to the Cork Jazz festival.  So, all in all, it's good to have this quiet period, which I expect to extend into next week.