The Lord Chronicle

I had such good intentions of writing every day. How many people get the chance to travel around the world and write about it without being millionaires or working for National Geographic? Since I belong in neither of those categories, I am feeling pretty lucky. So why haven't I been more adamant about keeping track of my fortuitous adventures so far? I think I can narrow it down to one thing. Laziness. It has been so nice not to think about anything except where I'm going to eat my next scone (more about the goodness of scones in blogs to come). But a good writer (or just a writer, period) can't say she got to being a good writer without actually writing. But it's just been so much fun not to have any responsibilities, including keeping up a blog! Or even forget for a while about the responsibilities I should be dealing with. However, I do, in fact, love writing and being able to look back and remember my experiences, so I'm going to try to shake the laziness.

So once again I will stretch my fingers and begin blogging. I am currently sitting in a cozy B&B in Ireland in the little village of Doolin on the West coast. It's raining outside and my traveling partners are out playing a round of golf in cold, wet elements. As that sounded about as much fun to me as ice fishing naked, I chose to stay in the comfort of indoors. Doolin is famous for being the center of traditional Irish music. From the moment I landed on the Emerald Isle, the one thing I was most looking forward to was the music that has been immortalized for me by that scene in "Titanic" when Kate and Leo go slumming on the lower deck. I wanted those fast, energetic, wild sounds that seem to burst forth from the musicians and make you want jig on the table until you fall over from satisfied exhaustion.

Last night I finally got my first taste of the sprightly, exuberant sounds of the Irish flute, drums, guitar and fiddle. After being out all day, I made it into McGann's Pub just in time to order parsnip soup, homemade bread and a salad. The pubs usually serve food until about 9:30, after which the vittles bow out to make room for the music. I got my order just as the band was starting to play. The star of the show was definitely the flute player. Her name is Rosin Crowe. She looked about 18...but had the talent and heart of someone who had been playing for at least 50 years. I have never seen fingers fly like that! I was blown away. She would play a little bit of a song for the rest of the band to hear in order to know what key it was in and the rhythm, and then they would just take off. After listening to them for about 30 minutes, I wanted to see what the music was like in the pub across the street, so I popped over there with a couple from New Jersey I had just met (we, of course, had bonded right away). While the flute was amazing, I knew I wouldn't be completely satiated until I heard an the mellifluous strains of an Irish fiddle (how's that for cheesey?). As soon as I walked in, all my Irish musical dreams were fulfilled, as I was met the by the sounds of a fiddle being played by another young girl. Incredible. Now all I want to do is learn to play like that.