Birthday in Stockholm was fun. It's a very, very expensive city, but we had a good time there from April 30th (my birthday) to May 4th.  The city is very clean, the people are nice, and the sights are very interesting. I was frequently mistaken for Swedish with most people starting their conversation with me in that language and continuing until I said "English only". I could definitely see why; most people have light blue eyes and either light blond or white hair, like mine. I really saw my Viking roots while there!  

We got a three-day Stokholm pass which gave us free entrance to most museums as well as public transportation. I think we saved by doing so because we did two museums a day and took public transit everywhere. 

The museums are just great. We arrived on the Kings birthday, which just so happens to coincide with mine, and a holiday weekend. On our first walk around town we noticed lots of young people wearing what we took to be naval caps and initialy thought the king must be a sailor. It turned out the caps were equivalent to our mortarboards and this was the time for celebrating graduation from high school. It was very cute to see how much of a rite of passage this is.  In most of the public spaces, there were scores of young people out celebrating. Unlike in Dublin, this didn't seem to involve the singular objective to get drunk, although there did seem to be a lot of drinking going on. 

The city is just filled with museums including one that covers an entire park (Skansen) which contains many old buildings moved from throughout the country. It reminded me a little of Colonial Williamsburg, except it was a celebration of most of the history of the built environment in Sweden not just one period. That was the one I liked the most. It is a very walkable city. We enjoyed ourselves there.  

On the down side, everything cost so much, it was hard to fathom. Although they are in the Euro Zone, Sweden is like England in keeping its own currency, the kroner. There are nine kroner to a Euro and seven to a dollar, so it was pretty easy for me to keep track of how much things cost, although at the beginning I was thinking something was 3 Euro and a "great value" and it would really be 30 Euro and a terrible value. This happened the first day with a salad, who would think a salad could cost 30 Euro in a place that was the local equivalent of Starbucks? 

The worst experience was on my birthday. We went to a restaurant that we'd seen touted in the Irish Times as "one of the best" in Europe. Alan made the reservation a month in advance. It was quite a disappointment. I wouldn't take any recommendation for a "gastro" anything in the future. I'm thinking that means small portions of wierd stuff offered by snooty staff. It started out badly. When we arrived, I discovered that not only was there only one menu, from which everyone at the table had to choose the four- or six-course option. The first course on both options were smoked lamb sweetbreads (the thymus and testicles). This, even though there was a third course pork option on the six-course. When I told them that I didn't eat sweetbreads, you would think I said I had an a-bomb in my purse. We should have just left at that point, but after getting the chef involved they agreed that we could switch the sweetbreads to the pork belly. Then we discovered that they had no oven or stove, everything was cooked over an open fire and either charred or smoked (including the desert). I don't mind smoky food but it was just too much, fortunately all the portions were small. The staff were quite unhappy about my giving most of my food to Alan and shot disapproving glances my way throughout the meal. Finally, the bill, over 2100 kroner or $300. Alan had one beer and I had one glass of champagne, both of which were about 180 kroner, so I'm glad we didn't order any more liquor because none of it was offered with the price. We left immediately following the presentation of an excessively sweet smoked pancake thing. It was truly awful. Fortunately it included a few tablespoons of coffee ice cream, so presumably they have a freezer. Unfortunately for Alan, he didnt bring lactaid so couldn't eat that and they switched for sherbert. 

I did get two great birthday gifts. My "free ride card" for transit in Ireland and eligibility for social security. The first came without a hitch, I had my official card in the mail this morning. I'd just posted my application before I left for Stockholm. The second involves more bureaucracy because although when I made the application they said they would direct deposit into our Irish bank, they really won't do that and now I have to go to the US Embassy to get it sorted. That would be OK since it's just up the block from us, but I can't get an appointment until May 29th, just two days before we leave for our month in Amsterdam, so that means more delay and it probably won't start till June. Ah, the problems of the retired! 

Anyone who has known Alan for a while will know about his solution to all economic problems is the "free ride card".  This is something that in his version of Utopia, would be issued to anyone that wants one. They wouldn't have to DO anything, but get out of the way of the people who want to work. So, while my free ride card only covers transit throughout Ireland, I was never going to get his free ride card anyway, so this one is close enough for me.  

The Claremorris Festival was really great.  Alan's play won for Best Actress and Best Director. Unfortunately he didn't win for best script, but the judging for that wasn't based on the perform-ability of the play, and the winner was someone from California with connections to the actress Tippi Hedren, so we didn't feel the script judging was particularly fair. Anyway, it was received really, really well and that's what counts. He's been encouraged to expand the one-act submission into a full-length play. Right now he's focused on finishing a book he's been writing so I don't know how it will all work out. I taped it using his mobile phone but the quality is very poor and you can barely hear a word so I won't post it here after all.

Also, in the face of the ever increasing exhange rate, which has only gone up since we arrived here and now stands at 1.40 Dollar per Euro, we have decided that it's time to plan our return to the USA. Things here cost about the same as in DC (food, rent, utilities, etc.) so we are essentially paying an additional 40 cents for every dollar we spend and that has really taken a toll. We can't continue to do it so we have to go back.

Alan is more OK with our leaving here than I am, although it has been extended from the one-year commitment he made when we came to two and a half years, so I really can't complain (too much). It will be very, very sad to leave.  Right now we are planning for that to be in late October or early November. Not the best time to relocate to Indiana, but it should mean that there will be better housing options available. As a college town, Bloomington real estate is at it's most stressed in the summer and fall and least in the winter and spring, so this should work out OK for us.

We have a busy summer planned, starting next week with a four-day visit to Copenhagen. We are also planning a short trip to Donegal mid-May, then a month in Amsterdam where we have arranged for an apartment in the city center. Immediately after we return to Dublin I'm going to do the Willie Clancy festival in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, again this year. That starts the first Saturday in July. My friend Mary and I will go this year for the weeklong set dancing workshop. Then in early September I will do another week walking on the Camino de Santiago, this time walking in Portugal. Following that, our friends Linda and Bob will come again this year and we will take a house for a week near Galway to do more exploring of antiquities.

So there are more adventures ahead, but all tinged with sadness. I'm going to work hard to NOT say "this the the last time I will do ..." but I'm already feeling very, very sad. Maybe we will win the lottery!

A red letter day! I just had to post today to commemorate the historic visit of Ireland's President Higgins to England, the first state visit between the two countries ever. It is so wonderful.

Tomorrow we leave for Claremorris in advance of the performance of Alan's play at the festival there on Thursday.  On a personal level this is pretty poignant because this play is based on a conversation with my sister Pat.  Also this week, her son, Joseph's murderer finally has come to justice.  On Monday, he was sentenced to 18 years, 22 years after he shot Joseph dead in a home invasion robbery.  I hope Alan wins the competition but regardless it will be great to see the play.  I hope we can tape it. If so, I'll post it here.

All in all, a good few days.

Well the month of March wasn't boring at all. We didn't travel outside Ireland but lots of activities here have been occupying our time.

First, Alan's play at the Claremorris Fringe Festival (In County Mayo). He has both a director and an actress. Now he's been told to "sit back and relax" by the producer. This really means "don't interfere with the director". So he's a little anxious about the creative interpretation but there's not much he can do but take that advice. We leave for Claremorris on April 9, the day before the performance. We will stay there until Sunday the 12th. The awards are announced on Saturday evening. He's also learned that the winners are already decided. Since it's a writing award the performance doesn't count, so really getting it performed is a win in itself. If we can tape it, I will post here. I'm so, so happy for him, and also for my late sister Pat whose voice will be heard in Ireland. It's a story based on a conversation Alan had with her years ago. She would be happy to be heard.

Second, I did another dance performance with Cois Ceim Dance Company. This was a curtain raiser in advance of a fully coreographed dance performance in a proper theater and everything. It was great fun and both performances were sell outs so there was a big audience. It really went well. I know that one was taped and once I have the link, will attach it to this blog. It was a group performance and my good friend Deirdre was a feature, so that was nice as well.

My volunteering at OneFamily proceeds well. I've just finished working on an assessment of their evaluation processes. That took a while but was quite interesting, since I will help them establish their evaluation procedures going forward. I really enjoy that type of work. My next activity will be to try and help them get monthly reports from the data they currently collect. I'm learning a lot.

Finally, I've made my final preparations for Willie Clancy week in Miltown Malby (County Clare) where I will do a weeklong set dance workshop. I am really getting better at set dancing and look forward to finding a group in the States when I return so that I will continue with that regardless of where we live.

All in all, a good month, with the happy anticipation of starting Social Security soon.

Once again, a long time since my last post.  My posting is getting less and less frequent and I'm finding it hard to sustain the blog.  Yet, we continue to do a lot of travel and have new adventures.  I don't know why I have such reluctance to post.

Anyway, since our trip to Lisbon, we spent a week in Aruba at our timeshare there with friends from the States. We enjoyed the week but it was a long way for such a short time. Still, coming off weeks of very heavy rain here and flooding throughout Ireland that I know made the news worldwide, it was nice to have some sun. Ironically it rained two mornings on that desert island. We're bringing rain with us!  Still, the rain is better than the snow which seemed to close the eastern US during that same time. In fact, our friends were worried that they would not get home without significant delays. Fortunately the airport closings stopped the day before our departure so I think they were OK getting home.

We travelled via Amsterdam on a scheduled airline that had previously been a charter service, ArkeFly.  Operating only in Holland. We picked that so that we would have direct service from Europe, but re-learned that "direct" and "nonstop" are different things in airline jargon. Ater a 10-hour flight, during which we were crammed against 4 other travelers in a cabin that was reconfigured from two-three-two across seating to two-four-two we stopped for two hours in Curacao before rebording for the 20 minute flight to Aruba. After that ordeal we paid the extra 95 Euros to get "premium" service, which gave us 2 more inches in the seat. What a difference! It was by no means luxury, but boy oh boy, those inches made a world of difference.

Because the service was through Amsterdam, we had a chance to do an overnight there and were able to check out the location of the apartment that we've rented there for the month of June. We weren't able to see the apartment and hope the pictures do it justice, but the location is just perfect. We couldn't have hoped for better on that score. For those of you that know the city, even a little bit, the place is at the Western Market, very close to the Anne Frank House.  We were very, very happy with that.  We also had a few hours on our return and had a nice lunch in Amsterdam before completing our journey to Ireland the same afternoon.

In other news, I've taken the momentus step of applying for Social Security, that will start in April. There is some question about working in a foreign country while on SSA so for the moment, I'm assuming that I will not work for pay anytime in 2014. I've started volunteering for an organization here called OneFamily which helps single parent families here in Ireland. I will work on their database and data collection processes. I really like the woman in charge of that and also the Exec there, so I'm hoping it will be a better experience than my last volunteer activity here during which I just felt I was taken advantage of, with little return. Given my experience working for associations, I really expect organizations that use volunteers to have some understanding of volunteer management and recognition. When they don't, it's a pretty hollow experience. Anyway, I feel my skills are being put to good use so far. It's a pleasure working with a good database.

We don't have any travel plans for the month of March and will use this month to see how cheaply we can live here. We are still in negotiations as to how long we will stay and this test will help to get better clarity on that score, I think.

I will try to do better with the posting this month, though I expect it will be pretty boring....

Our trip to Lisbon was eventful. It's a beautiful city and the people are very nice, but there's a real problem with pickpockets and both Alan and I agreed we wouldn't go back because of it.  The pickpockets themselves are annoying enough but the attitude of the general population toward them is worse.

Our first encounter with a pickpockt was on the third day.  The previous day we did a walking tour with a very well informed guide, who took to most of the neighborhoods in this beautiful, compact city. We really enjoyed it. During that tour, he'd mentioned the pickpockets several times, alerting us to their presence "virtually guaranteed" on the trollys.  We appreciated the warning because the next day we spent taking the older trolly to the various neighborhoods we wanted to revisit.  We noticed a large group of people getting on at the cathedral, one duo with a very large bag and the other three with a city map.  The map ones made a big thing of opening and consulting the map, while the bag duo stood next to me and held the bag practically in my lap.As they expected, I was distracted by the map ones, particularly the one with missing teeth.  I thought it was odd that a tourist would look like a Roma and have missing teeth.  That's when I heard a 'click' and looked down.  My backpack/purse, which I was holding on my lap has a clasp that you turn and that's what I heard.  When I looked down, there was a hand in my purse.  I yelled, he pulled his hand out and said "It wasn't me!"

The really, really disconcerting part of this was that most of the people on the trolly laughed, like this was funny.  No one, including the driver, who didn't even turn around when I yelled, seemed to think this would be unexpected or that I should be particularly upset. We both thought this was very strange. The pickpocket came away empty but I was pretty shaken up.

The following day, we got on the newer trolly to take a trip to the suburbs.  We were targeted there again, with two men who separated Alan and me as we got on.  The one in back felt up Alan's back pocket, where he holds his phone, and the one in front blocked me from touching my payment card off.  Alan pushed hard on the back one and yelled PICKPOCKET! They beat a retreat, but again, amusement.  Not even a little sympathetic eye contact.

Finally, when we checked out of the hotel, we told the people at the desk about the two incidents and both said "you sholdn't go on the trollys."  So there you have it.  A nice visit, and Lisbon is a nice place, completely overshadowed by two really bad incidents and a very casual attitude toward it. This is clearly bad for tourism.

When I returned to Dublin, I told several people and all of them related a similar problem in Dublin in years past that the police really cracked down on.  The problem is not gone from here, as it's not gone anywhere, but there's something being done.  It's really the only way to keep it in check, otherwise they will just multiply and there will be places, like the trollys, that are just prime pickings for the unwary.  What's the sense of having trollys if you can't use them.Anyway, a city that was in the running for a further month's stay at the end of our European journey, is now out.

On a happier note, we are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Aruba.

We are officially in 2014.

We passed the New Year, as we usually do, quietly.  Except for a walk in the City Center (Centre), during which we saw a pretty good street band and a parade, we didn't do much on New Years Eve.  In fact, we went to bed at 11:40 so really only rang in the turn of the year when we got up this morning.  That was fine with me because we had a pretty eventful holiday season overall.

On Christmas we went to our friends, Mary and Tom, for dinner.  This was our first Christmas in an Irish home so that was very nice.  It's very like an American Christmas, except the trees are very small and the decoration is minimal.  I really appreciate that about Ireland, they don't go over the top everywhere with Santa and sleighs and Jingle Bells everywhere you go.  On Christmas Eve we went to a mass at St. Frances Xavier church in Dublin 1.  This is a little bit of a rough area, as rough areas go in Dublin (which is not much, compared to DC) but the church was just beautiful and filled to the rafters.  There was a pretty good choir, but I was disappointed that they didn't encourage singing.  The people were pretty focused on hearing the choir alone.  The mass was very nice, including a nice celebration of Pope Frances, a fellow Jesuit in a Jesuit church.  This new Pope is just great, and I'm glad he made Time's Man of the Year for 2013.

On December 28th, we had our first party in Ireland.  We really like to have parties.  I think this one was OK, but there are a number of things I would have done differently in the post mortum.  One thing for sure, is that I wouldn't have provided so much seating.  I think it's pretty unusual in Ireland to invite a disparate group of people into one's home.  People from Alan's writer's group didn't socialize with our old family friends, who didn't socialize with our new friends from walking and dancing.  The guests arrived and stayed planted where they landed.  If we do another party, I'm only going to provide minimal seating so they have to move around.  The big success of the party was the food.  I made about 9 different canapes, all finger foods, and they were very well received.  On the invitation I called the refreshments "heavy hors d'oeuvres" which was hysterical to the Irish guests, another cultural difference.  "Heavy" in reference to food is a very bad thing.  Anyway, we had just over 20 guests and they all stayed to the end, so that was good.  We might consider another party in the summer....maybe.

I realized this morning that I haven't had a bout with depression a single time since we arrived in Ireland. This is a record for me in my adulthood to not have a bout with the black mood for almost two years.  A big 'knock on wood' and another of my reasons for humility and gratitude going into 2014.