hello friends! i'm back home and my mind has stopped twirling and whirling from jet lag. however, yesterday i wrote some real doozies in emails (dangerous to put things in writing when one's mind is not entirely present), so if i write something that makes absolutely no sense or directly contradicts something that i just said (or if i write the same thing twice in a row; that one, i'm a particular fan of) please disregard it.... let's float along in that grammatically suspended ocean known as ali's thoughts in the morning.
i'm sad (but relieved) to say that i've returned to drinking coffee, eating meat and doing yoga. those three things haven't been happening the past couple of months, and life just wasn't the same. at this very moment, i have a cup of coffee the size of my head sitting pretty beside my right hand. when i take a sip, my face is obliterated by cuppage and i have to force myself not to smile (because smiling would disrupt the drinking and lead to coffee running down the chin, very unpleasant!).
oh, can you tell i'm happy to be home? my trip has given me this wonderful joie de vivre. i wake up in the morning and think, "hello world! goooood moooornniiingg!!"
isn't that nice? i think so.
the trip the trip! what a holiday! it would be impossible to write everything that i saw, heard, smelled, thought and experience, but i'll give a few highlights and add pictures for effect.
let's see....

dublin is a beautiful city. it is a bustling, energetic place, with lots of old buildings and a lovely big river running through it. in the center, there's an enormous expanse of nature and wildlife, Phoenix Park, which was absolutely wonderful. it's very wild, not groomed and planted like most parks, but overgrown and containing sweeping fields, dense forests, dark ponds and all sorts of woodland creatures. it's basically a patch of fairly undisturbed countryside smack dab in the middle of the city. there are a few buildings in there, governmental ones, mainly, and a couple of monuments, but they blend in nicely and it's easy to leave them behind. it was in that park that i got to stand in front of a herd of deer as they rested. they're used to people there, and i got so close that i could see their spots and the muscles twitching in their legs. pretty flipping magical. oh, and there's a place called the fairy dale in there. fluttery things may well dance and prance in there at night and by dawn that no one sees. it would be the place for it, certainly.
i saw quite a few places in ireland outside of dublin. drove through the cities of dalkey and killiney, which are seaside towns and so beautiful i could hardly speak. the sun came out over the ocean and all the old houses and stone walls sparkled and shone like jewels. went to powerscourt in wicklow, by the stunning wicklow mountains (which aren't really mountains to my eye, but i think it's so endearing that they're named as such). we had sunday lunch at the ritz carlton there, and i ate a vegetarian burger (which was aaammmaazzing) while staring at the dramatic scenery out the enormous windows. thickly forested in places, emerald green in others, it's hard to properly describe place, but let's just say that as i bit into my veggie burger with the sounds of a harpist gently tinkling away across the room, i felt deeply at peace.
took an early morning train across the countryside to killarney. the train cut through pastures with grazing sheep and through the rolling hills. the hills in ireland are really something unto themselves. they look like quilts, bright patches of yellow, green and brown separated by dark hedges or mossy stone walls, gently spread over the round knolls. from killarney i took one of those silly tour buses (no WAY was i going to try to drive in ireland) and went along the ring of kerry, which was ridiculously spectacular. i saw a 17th century bog village and a bog pony (a pony the size of a german shepherd, so cute!!), many lakes, ruins, etc. the best thing about the entire trip, however, was not scenery related at all. we stopped at a lookout point. all i saw was one thing. a man was sitting on the side of the parking lot. sniffing around next to him was a baby ram, in a bucket filled with hay, a kitten, and in his arms, a fawn! a little baby deer!!! i came straight over and started petting the ram and the kitten while talking to him about the fawn. he then asked if i wanted to hold it. what a question??!?!? YES!!!! so i held the little thing, and stroked its neck while it sniffed my eyes and nose and arched its head to fit in the crook of my neck. its baby body was so warm, and i could feel the strength in it's little legs, even though it was just two weeks old. its fur was fuzzy and slightly rough, and its face was calm and intelligent. i can't describe how it felt to have it in my arms. my heart was too full for words.... i will never forget it.
.....

i spent a few days in a castle (yes indeed!! oh, it was so wonderful!!), and the hills of wheat there looked like the backs of sleeping lions. oh my, the castle... i was there with family friends (who were my hosts in dublin, they were so very kind and fun to be around, i really lucked out). it was built in the 18th century, and was simply stunning. the rooms were painted different colors, in creamy yellows, powdery blues, deep chocolates and bright peaches. the windows overlooked the gorgeous grounds, which included the said wheat fields, a forest, a walled garden and a green pasture. i ate fresh currants as red as rubies straight from the garden, as well as plums that were so perfectly perched between sweet and tart that i nearly passed out while eating them, apples from the tree and berries called wineberries, which i thought tasted strangely like tomatoes. i tromped around the paths in borrowed wellington boots, and let my lungs drink in the fresh air. unfortunately, i was horribly allergic to something and felt sort of terrible... so much for being a country girl! bah! my body likes pollution and dry weather, i guess.
oh, by the way, in between all this i went to italy! florence! the night before i left, i had a mini panic attack. what was i thinking? going alone to italy??? i don't speak italian!! i don't know anyone in florence! well, i spent basically 2 days there, walking till my feet would walk no more. it was so flipping gorgeous! and hot!!! my body was quite confused, as it was colder than the LA winter in ireland. i had my little italian phrasebook and my map and, with the help of a lot of hand gestures, made my way around without a hitch! i woke up at dawn the day after i arrived, too excited to sleep, and the city by first light was simply spectacular. there were no noisy tourists around, so the city was quiet and very peaceful. i saw the boboli gardens before anyone was up and at 'em and made a friend by the pitti palace. her name was sarah and she was english, very sweet and super funny. she and i wandered around for a few hours, going up and down hills and seeing the sights, and after a snack at the piazza michelangelo we parted as friends.
oh my, there is so much more to tell. but this is already a novel. i saw a man read a poem about a lobster. a very serious poem. i got the giggles and had to pretend to cough into my scarf... over and over again. i also saw sigur ros at the electric picnic, a huge music festival. they were splendiferously unbelievable.
oh, and i didn't eat too much cheese.
so there you go!











for more pictures, check out my flickr site : http://www.flickr.com/photos/afinefrenzy/











going to go get on with some music making now!!
i hope you are all well!
love, light, bunnies and happies,
ali x