We had a wonderful, socially distanced time of reacquaintance and merry-making last Wednesday. It seemed like life as we knew it was really back, and we could finally exhale (into our masks, of course).
Then it was announced over the weekend that our numbers were creeping back up, mainly due to the large parties and celebrations of those audacious young people. So now we’re back in partial lockdown for three weeks. Pubs closed again and even our house gathering is now taboo.
The Kim and Dixie Pub
So what have I been doing? A couple of the musicians in our group had made a list of their most frequently played jigs and reels. The list has just over 400 tunes (and those are just the ones they play most often!) I’m hopeless with the reels (because they are played “reel” fast), but I can hold my own on the fiddle with a jig. I know many of them already, but I decided I’d learn a jig a day beginning in September. And so I should have the entire jig list mastered by Christmas.
So far so good. I have a friend who will play a tune slowly for me and send it through WhatsApp. Then I’ve been recording the group playing on Wednesdays and writing the recording number beside the jig set (they’re played in sets of three) on my list.
I may have to slow my pace (a jig a day) because, going through the list this quickly, I’m tending to get my A and B parts mixed up. If you aren’t a musician, this would be comparable to learning to sing too many songs over too short a time and ending up with something like, “Oh Susanna, don’t you cry for me, cause I come from home on the range where the deer and the antelope play.” You get the idea.
Toll House cookies
This keeps me busy a portion of each day and I’m happy to have a project, a goal and something
to show when all this is over.
When I’m not fiddling, I’ve been reading. I am somewhat hooked on the exposé/revenge in politics genre. (Why do I torture myself?) I’ve read several books and tried to keep an open mind, knowing the motive of the writers was not just to enlighten me but was often something more self-serving and even sinister.
I know there’s a danger of being brainwashed, and brainwashing is dirty business. You could make a mess of yourself and your friends will have to mop it up when the storm is over. I think sometimes when we try to “keep on the sunny side” by avoiding controversy, we’re just hunkering down into our comfort zones. You can easily lose sight of the bigger picture, which you can sometimes only make out in the shade of opposing opinions.
So, along with books, I’ve tried to read commentaries from both sides of the fence online every day, which may be why I have an appt with a dentist next week to examine my teeth that have suddenly gone sensitive and sore. I’m sure I’m grinding and clenching in the night. I hope trying to stay unbrainwashed doesn’t land me a root canal. I can’t win.
Thomas gave me Alexa for my birthday and I discovered she will read aloud to me from my Kindle. Now I’m hooked on the audio book experience. I walk around the house with my AirPods, and Dixie understands that, although I may look like I’m sweeping the floor or chopping up spuds, I’m really rambling through the White House, sizing things up.
I may look like I’m glued to that European championship football match on the telly but, with carefully concealed AirPods beneath my hair, I’m actually chillaxing in the oval office resting my feet on the Resolute desk. Good thing you can’t catch the Covid through droplets of imagination.
I’m just finishing Rage by Bob Woodward. It’s very different from the other books I’ve read, because it’s all recorded dialogue between Bob and the Donald. Woodward seems to have been Trump’s personal confidant for at least several months. Go figure. There’s not much commentary at all, just the conversations written in a non-sensational narrative style.
It’s a great summary of the main events (and some you may not know about) of the last couple of years in American politics. If you’ve forgotten some of the names of the original cast or details of the story, you’ll love this walk down memory lane. Woodward doesn’t belabor any points or get too involved. He just relates what was actually said to him as the drama of Trump’s presidency has unfolded. I couldn’t put it down (or rather Alexa couldn’t put it down).
I highly recommend it to anyone who feels they may have leaned too far over one edge or the other and dipped their brain into the suds. It’s a true portrayal of President Trump in his own words and there’s no distorted context it could have been taken out of. You haven’t heard him deny any of it. It’s just real conversations, like flagstones we can walk across to connect one event to another without getting our feet all muddy. Too bad all journalism can’t be done that way.
Take me back to Donegal
Otherwise, we are watching lots of movies and we marathoned on a couple of series. Try Bloodline and Succession. We took the wonderful trip to Donegal in August and I'm so glad we did. I'm still feeling the tranquilizing effects of the scenery. When Alexa isn't talking she's showing off the photos.
I’ve done some baking but I’m not a natural. We take walks. I video chat with the grands most days and try to be content to be the Grammy App. It goes without saying, I can’t wait to see them again. They are both about to start walking… right into trouble I’m sure. They are lively, funny, happy and very spoiled, as they should be.
Fan Slán... Y’all stay safe.
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