Back in the U…U…USA

flag

…after five months in Ireland it is good to be back in the greatest country in the world.

So now I’ll start bitchin about it.

I can only wish that more business people get involved in politics because the crew we have now make the Minister of Silly Walks look good.  Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President, has been credited with saying “the business of America is business.”

silly walksI believe in the KISS principal…keep it simple stupid…If you take in one gazillion dollars a year…you can only spend one gazillion dollars per year…and isn’t it convenient for the government to drop those “long term” unemployed in their “numbers” game.  Once these people exhaust their benefits the government doesn’t recognize they exist any more.

I’m pretty sure they want to be counted and more importantly … get back to work…

You ask “What’s the solution then?”  Moi “term limits”…and getting people that can “count” in government so that a balanced budget is the norm… I’ll leave it at that.

Waa sup with David O.  … please tell me how to contact his Doctor in the Dominican Republic so I can “drink” from the fountain of youth.

david o

Speaking of the “drink”  is it time to switch from Jamison to Absolute?

I watched the Bruins lose the 5th game to Toronto the other night…looks like they wanted it more.  I never liked hockey before but I’m on the wagon since the Bs won the Cup a few years back..and you ask how many games have I watched this year.  One.

bruins

I did not get to see any of the Celtics games and their sad exit from the playoffs…this picture (Mark Southworth, far left) says it all.

celis

This comment is for those that deem the care, at the hospitals in New Bedford and Fall River, adequate.  I went with my niece and brother to the Brigham and Women’s hospital the other day so that my brother could get a second opinion.  After the doctor had reviewed the MRIs taken by a south coast hospital, he said to us (he tried to be diplomatic about it) “I can’t read them…they are not very clear”  … says a lot about his past care.

Hey folks … Boston is just an hour away.

I picked up some of my “stuff” from the Milton Arts Center the other day…good deals are to be had if anyone is interested.  Forgive me, I  occasionally “pimp”  my work in this blog.

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2013-11-07 14.27.01

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Somewhere in the world someone will Google “pimp” and guess what … here I am.  Key words, it is all about key words … try it out … just Google “driftwood art” and see what’s on the first page.  Even better, Google “Long cock competition” and see what comes up.  No pun intended…but I do suggest that you only read what has my name attached to it.   Thank you HubSpot  http://www.hubspot.com/.

Ya almost think I know what I’m doing.

…and hey people the following really deserve your attention and support.

matt h

community

 

 

 

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My daughter …

She is a Dublin woman now.

She has always been an Irish girl/woman.  Her junior year (Providence College) was spent at University College Dublin,  she worked in a pub in the City and now is helping set up the European headquarters for a company called Hubspot www.hubspot.com.

She has taught school in Korea, sold door-to-door in Australia, lived and worked in Majorca, Spain.  She holds a Masters degree from Harvard University.  She has seen and done things that most people will never experience in a much longer life time.

She left the beach house she was staying at in Phuket the day before the tsunami hit.  Luck and someone was looking after her that day.

  She hates the picture below…but the story behind it is a good one.  You might recognize the guy, he is the lead singer for a band.

She has tales to tell about her “experiences” (that is plural) with the FBI …

She brings a certain spirit and joy to the “beach” and to life…

She keeps me young at heart…she encourages me to do more and to live life with passion.

The beach will not be the same without her and I welcome her friends to visit and perhaps more stories of her exploits will surface.

She will be pissed that I posted this (probably because of the pictures I picked) and she will let me know in no uncertain terms.

The next time I see her will be at a wedding late this summer.

She is a Dublin woman now and I will miss her more than ever.

My dear Colleen, may a gentle Irish wind be always at your back … and the rain … deliver rainbows that direct and guide you in life and love.

Love d

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Going home…

 

 

 

 

It is with mixed emotions that I will soon return to “my” country.  I have been in Ireland since early December and it is time to go home.

The weather in Ireland seems to be getting better as each day passes but because of the constant rain this last month, I didn’t get to places that I wanted to visit.

Colleen will remain in Ireland, I will miss her greatly and that is difficult to write about … she means more to me than words could ever explain.

Dublin is her home now…for, as yet to be determined time.  I am sure that Clonegal will not be the same after the hoards of Hubspotters,  Hubspot  http://www.hubspot.com,  descend on the village and Osborne’s Pub.

There is a certain beauty to this country this time of the year.  It is green all year around but the spring is special and the smell of the land is powerful and sweet.

I will miss my new Irish fiddle teacher Michael Bolton and I thank him for preparing me for my upcoming tour with the Dave Mathews Band.

I will not miss Irish television or European Sports…but I will miss the ponies and Mr. Kearney at the Leopardstown Race Track.

I look forward to going to this race course and the following might explain why the “crack” is so good.  (click on titles)

The 11.20 Express from Clonegal to Leopardstown

Mr. Kearney holds court at Leopardstown

I am going home to see my brother who is not well, I am going home to prepare for my return to the “beach”… and I will anxiously await his return to same.

I do like where I live in Milton, it is a small house close to the city but “a good local” does not exist. It is a “dry” town.  I miss “Already” the cat that visited with me everyday … well at least when I was there.

I miss sun sets and the early morning sun rises at the “beach”

I miss my sister and brother in law’s take on the world’s “state of affairs”, sports and “his” President .  I look forward to catching some fish, Mary even bought me some expensive lures for Christmas … digging quohogs and clams and just sitting on the deck looking at Cuttyhunk Island.

To understand why my face is distorted you might want to read

When salmon graze and pigs fly … all along the Derry

It is time to go home…to cars that I’m sure won’t start, a yard and house that has been hammered by the hard winter, the “where the f**k have you been” cat, returning to Aidan Maher, my fiddle teacher in Quincy and, most of all, friends,  family … and …

It is time to go home to the greatest country on the planet.

Please consider supporting a  charity that has been set up for the Boston Marathon victims and their families and …

Posted in America, Family, Horse racing, Ireland, Sports, the beach, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

… a light rain in Ireland and a dark cloud covers Boston

“Rain is also very difficult to film, particularly in Ireland because it’s quite fine, so fine that the Irish don’t even acknowledge that it exists.”
- Alan Parker, director of “The Commitments”

colored umbrellas and rainbows and a song to sing

windows dotted with rain drops  distorting images …

… images touched with a certain beauty

…  as a light rain continues to fall …  sounding a sweet melody

while hope is eternal and Irish sun showers

deliver

rainbows pointing the way

 

to childhood dreams

only to be greeted by

a mass of black umbrellas … picture perfect

lacking color while adding a mystery of beauty

…  color always brightens the mood

… adding children

and the sun will soon follow

embrace their innocence and joy in life … and capture a bit in your heart….

…for today a dark cloud covers Boston … do what ever you can to help the families of the victims of the Boston bombing…the Salvation Army is always a good choice

http://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/

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“A terrible beauty” and the tax man

 

The Irish economy is still on the fence and The Irish Times is reporting that the Dáil Éireann (equivalent to US Congress) will incorporate a scenery tax into the upcoming budget to generate additional revenue.

Tourists will automatically pay a fee upon arriving in Ireland and it will be based on their itinerary.  I would imagine a lot of people will begin listing Limerick “Stab City” on their travel plans.

Home owners will be assessed a tax on the general scenery in their particular part of the country.  Water views and mountains … more like hills … and sloping farm fields separated by stone walls will be assessed at a higher rate.

You may recall the television advertisement that ran for a while in the States … the theme was “Ireland…the birthplace of good times”.  Next year a “good time” tax will be attached to the scenery tax.  How “good times” will be calculated has not been explained as of yet.  Rumor has it the the Dail will set up a new government department to “investigate” “good times” and establish a data base of sceneries.

We are about to pay a local property tax (first time in Ireland) and the average tax is estimated to be around 300-400 Euros per year ($500.00) … and the uproar is deafening.  I know what we pay in Milton and it is a “bit” more than that.

The article added that France’s 75% tax on the “rich” will now include additional tax revenue for champagne (Dom Perignon will be taxed at a rate of 67%)…of course the Irish has added more taxes on all alcoholic beverages.

I have bought my last bottle of Dom P. and will continue to suffer through Irish whiskey and Guinness.

The Times sports section has an article about the Liverpool soccer team which is owned by John Henry and friends (Boston Red Sox) and reports on the money generated by the advertising on the player’s jerseys.  Mr. Henry is quoted in the article saying that he has entered into negotiations with Trojan Condoms for Red Sox uniforms.

I can hear the fans now “Hey use prick…ya farta shouda used one.”

The real baseball season is about to start…go you Sox … and today is April 1, 2013.

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When salmon graze and pigs fly … all along the Derry

I recently posted a picture of a farm tractor in a flooded field across from our house in Abbeydown.  He was using his tractor to scoop up spring salmon that had washed up onto the field during the heavy rains.

Clonegal farmer scooping up washed up salmon

Fishermen, with the proper licenses, are catching trout and salmon all along the Derry and the Slaney Rivers.

… Moi…I have taken to wading in the fields, with my wellington boots, as the salmon graze on the grass and catching them with a net. How bout this little beauty I’m holding (my face has been altered so the game “fish huggers” won’t know who I am…how clever am I)  Right now I have 5 in the freezer and will dine on one this evening.

The pheasant season is over…and they know it and are prancing all over the place.  I don’t have a gun so I have set up traps in the field above our house, using spam as bait.  In the last week I have captured 4 and I think I’m going to keep one as a pet.  I have named him “not so smart” … we call him Mura bhfuil tú go maith beidh tú chugainn for short.

“Not so smart”

 

I like spam …. Did your mother feed you a variety of spam dishes when you were a kid?  Mine did…I loved my mother dearly but she was probably the worse cook in Dartmouth. … Save Sheppard’s pie, chicken with dumplings and meat loaf and how could I leave out quahog chowders…the best in the world.  I guess I’ll take all that back she was OK  … but did she hate to cook.

Tiberius, remember him, the cat next door that I take care of once in a while, well he does not appreciate me protecting and caring for Mura bhfuil tú go maith beidh tú chugainn and has taken to staking and bullying him.  You might recall Tib in:

 

T.P.

Tiberius and Brownie …or Brownie’s Day Off

… a battle for territory is causing havoc and I’m thinking of getting a pig to mediate the situation.

I met Herman the pig at the bone-setters … he was smart enough to pull a ticket and got to see the bone-setter before me.  For those that don’t know what I’m writing about read

The Bone Setter, back pain remedies & Irish weather forecasting

I do realize that many of my face-book friends are from the US (God Bless the United States) and will be unable to attend my reading of my latest work followed by a brief set of fiddle favorites on the 1st of April.

…the reading is about my clever techniques catching grazing salmon with nets and pheasant with spam, while the fiddle session will include Herman the pig on the bodhran,  Mura bhfuil tú go maith beidh tú chugainn Irish “prancing” and will feature an old time fiddle favorite “The bridge across the Derry … or better known as “I’ve got this bridge to sell ya.”

Time and pigs fly, while the salmon graze when you’re having fun…April is about to sneak in the back door … thank you …and …I hope you have a f**king brilliant and mischievous…

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Bunclody’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade

I did not attend last year’s parade…but my niece took her two little ones to the big event and reminded me that it was coming up and that one of the highlights of last year’s parade was a man driving a tractor in the procession with so much “muck” on it that the crowd could smell it as it passed.

Her little ones and mine

 

Now that’s my kind of parade.  All you have to add is a few politicians and you got yourself a catwalk of “shit”.

Speaking of s**t who will be our next junior Massachusetts senator?  I kind of lost track when the Harvard professor was elected and I left for Ireland.  Good luck with her sports fans.  I understand that she is blaming everything on the banks … well so do I … the Germans said to the Irish how much do you want and they said enough to build a five bed room house (one kid and a dog), go on vacation every three months, second home in Portugal, drive a  BMW, second car a Mercedes … mid size, dine at the finest while my wife has her hair done every other day.,,cuz this ride is going to last forever.

Irish ghost town

You all remember the days when loan companies were calling and emailing everyday.  Well I got this call and decided to listen to the pitch.   He must have gone on for about 10 minutes about how great a deal he had for me.  I listened and at the end he asked if I have any questions and I said yes … just one … do you have to pay it back?  He must have been so put back by the question he didn’t say anything for about 15 seconds … and then he said “why of course you have to pay it back”  I said I wasn’t interested and hung up.

That’s what Ireland should have done and then tell the Germans to f**k off.

… but I think this is about a parade not Angela Merkel….who, if there was such a position … should be President of Europe.

I have mentioned on several occasions that Bunclody’s 2nd annual “long cock” competition is the most read (I suspect that certain key words were googled and as a result finding it)  blog I have written.  People from over 39 countries (Fuji yesterday) have checked in on this gem.  Bunclody has a certain charm and “long cocks” and parades with “muck” covered tractors make it a “must” on TripAdvisor”.

No doubt that you’ll notice that the theme of the parade is “f**king” rain.

Did I say rain … we just got an antique rain meter, oh sorry, a barometer and since we got it, it hasn’t moved off “rain”… what a f**king surprise.

Rain meter

You may have noticed my use of the “f” word has been cut out … someone told me I was using it too much, so now by adding ** and eliminating letters,  you don’t  know what the word is… and when you get to the end of this blog (and say thank you) and read that the parade was f**king brilliant you’ll have to figure out what the adjective is.  Remember there are two levels of brilliance in Ireland …. brilliant and f**king brilliant.

Happy St. Patrick’s day…I hope you have a f**king brilliant day!

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Pete Souza and Wes Welker

Friends indeed…Facebook that is.  Between them they have over 3300 Facebook friends and I’m sure they highly value my relationship more than most.

I have written 111 blogs in the last few years, at least one per month and I now have a few days left to keep my streak going.

Some have been funny, others sad and then there have been a “few” that just suck.  People from over 45 countries have read them and some of their comments were better than the blog itself.  The blogs most read are

The Bone Setter, back pain remedies & Irish weather forecasting

and

Bunclody’s 2nd annual “long cock” competition

… go figure.

Most sports fans are quite familiar with the accomplishments of Wes Welker of the New England Patriots.  I am his Facebook friend along with 1,200 plus other people.  How I got to be his Facebook friend I have no idea, I have never met him or talked to him and after he reads this he probably will delete me from his list.

Just reading about him and listening to his interviews gets him in the top 5 people I would like to have a “beverage” with.

I have never met Pete Souza.  My brother-in-law Joe Veiga is his cousin and I have met his mother on several occasions.  What they say about him automatically puts him in my top 5 list.

I would say most Americans could not identify who he is by looking at his picture but the world has looked at the pictures he has taken.  There are two terrifying pictures taken of Presidents when a historic moment was happening or had happened.  One was Andy Card whispering in President Bush’s ear after the planes hit the twin towers and the other was Pete Souza’s picture of the “staff” watching the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Pete is from New Bedford, Massachusetts and is the Chief Official White House photographer for President Obama.  He was also the Official White House Photographer during President Ronald Reagan’s second term.

I have a signed copy of his book on Reagan and I am one of his 2,100 plus Facebook friends.

Wouldn’t you love to have a “beverage” or two and listened to him tell a few stories…but what I’ve been told about him is he doesn’t talk “out of school” … so the best we can look forward to is his next book of photographs.

I’m not sure where I heard this but he was once asked what his favorite picture was and he responded “the next one”.

Wes and Pete, I return from Ireland later next month and will be available for “beverages” anytime after that.  I do realize how busy your schedules must be so I’m quite flexible…and like I said … will be returning from Ireland…and with a “bit of a thirst”.

With A Little Help From My Friends – Beatles – YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmOtWyjs8iU

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Brother…if you hear the song I sing

Love is but a song we sing
Fears’ the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Though the dove is on the wing
And you may not know why

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
And try to love one another right now

If you hear the song I sing
You will understand, listen
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It’s there at your command

…. from Jesse Colin Young’s “Get Together”

I have told the story of my mother’s letter on many occasions…or I should say two letters… that she wrote to me while I was at Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island.  She wrote them in 1968 when the Vietnam War was killing Marines by the thousands and, of course, she thought I would be going there when my training was over.  I didn’t, thank God.  I spent my time at Headquarters Marine Corps in Arlington, Virgina.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to keep the letters.

The first letter, briefly summarized, went like this …. “….Bobby, Carol and you … and I love you the most”.  The second letter came soon after.  Again briefly summarized “What I meant to say in my last letter was … “Bobby came first and I loved him dearly, Carol next and she was my only girl and I loved her with all my heart and then you…the last and of course the youngest, my love was unbounded”

I like to remind my brother and sister it took her a week or so to change her thinking.

The word “love” is a noun and it is also a verb and while growing up it was used sparingly and when said it had true meaning.  I say it when I truly mean it…I should do it more often but when I hear people abuse using it … the power of the word is diminished.

I love my wife, my daughter, sister/husband, brother/ wife and their kids and grand kids but I don’t say it often enough.

Do you?

I am in Ireland and my brother is in the hospital and I love him and wish him well.  We seldom talk on the phone, rarely visit each others home, but share as much time and thought at the “beach” as we can.  The place defines our love for each other … not in words but just being there…

..for that privilege we thank our mother and father.

Bob…if you hear the song I sing ….

… then the “beach” it is my brother ….

Your prayers and best wishes for my brother’s full recovery are most appreciated.

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Tuiscint a fháil ar Ireland


This is not Aidan O’Leary

Apparently you can not copy Aidan O’Leary’s picture from facebook … I’ve been told there are “people” out “there” hunting him down.  All I can tell you is that he is the International Channel Manager at Hubspot in Dublin, Ireland www.hubspot.com/partners and he volunteered to “clarify” Ireland for anyone that is “confused” about the weather conditions and the clothing one should wear when visiting this very, very wet island.

Rainy day in Irleand

This following is aaaalllll Aidan’s ….

So this is for the benefit of all my American colleagues who are confused or alarmed by the recent images being broadcast around the world, given that we are now 15 years into the peace process..

The capital of Ireland is Dublin . It has a population of a million people, all of whom will be shopping in Newry this afternoon. They travel to Newry because it is in the North, which is not part of Ireland, but still pay in Euros.

Dublin

Under the Irish constitution, the North used to be in Ireland , but a successful 30-year campaign of violence for Irish unity ensured that it is now definitely in the UK. Had the campaign lasted any longer the North might now be in France.

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland . It has a population of half a million, half of whom own houses in Donegal. Donegal is in the north but not in the North. It is in the South. No, not the south, the South.

Belfast

There are two parliaments in Ireland . The Dublin parliament is called the Dáil, (pronounced “Doyle”), an Irish word meaning a place where banks receive taxpayers’ money. The one in Belfast is called Stormont, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘placebo’, or deliberately ineffective drug.

Time out … Aidan … If I might add a suggestion to the Dail and the Stormont … both should add a Minister of Silly Walks and a Minister of  Weather.  The later would do absolutely nothing (like the US Congress) except look out the window once in a while just to monitor the FUCKING RAIN.  The Minister of Silly Walks … now what more could be said …

The Minister of Silly Walks

Aidan continues….

Their respective jurisdictions are defined by the border, an imaginary line on the map to show fuel launderers where to dump their chemical waste and bi-products. Protestants are in favour of the border, which generates millions of pounds in smuggling for Catholics, who are totally opposed to it. Travel between the two states is complicated because Ireland is the only country in the world with two M1 motorways. The one in the North goes west to avoid the south and the one in the South goes north to avoid the price of drink!

We have two types of democracy in Ireland . Dublin democracy works by holding a referendum and then allowing the government to judge the result. If the government thinks the result is wrong, the referendum is held again. Twice in recent years the government decided the people’s choice was wrong and ordered a new referendum. Belfast democracy works differently. It has a parliament with no opposition, so the government is always right. This system generates envy in many world capitals, especially Dublin .

Ireland has three economies – northern, southern and black. Only the black economy is in the black. The other two are in the red.

All versions of the IRA claim to be the real IRA but only one of them is the Real IRA. The North’s biggest industry is the production of IRAs. Consequently, we now have the Provisional, Continuity and Real IRA. The Real IRA is by far the most popular among young graffiti writers simply because it is the easiest to spell.

Disguised IRA gunman

I trust this clarifies things and has answered many previously unanswered questions for you

Thank you Aidan … as clear as an Irish rain shower … and David K.  I await your title translation.

 

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