To lose one’s self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes. ~Antoine Rivarol

It’s been a long time- more than just a few weeks, certainly- since I spent any noticeable amount of time daydreaming. There was always something else to do, something to think or worry about, something that needed immediate attention… Well, today that changed. Suddenly I was daydreaming all day- while cooking brunch (despite constant attention to make sure the bacon didn’t burn), while knitting on the train, while wandering around my favorite yarn shop downtown… Daydreaming about all sorts of things, too – what I might do for work, projects I might make with new yarns, trips I might take over the next few years. I had forgotten even how much I enjoy daydreaming – and once the daydreams started this morning, I decided to go with it whenever my mind started to wander today. I think daydreaming is very important- it allows the mind to chew over things in a less structured way than the endless to-do lists, and I reckon from daydreams over time goals may develop. It’s a good time for daydreaming, too- the beginning of a new year, in a new place. Funnily enough, the “all the world’s a stage” monologue from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” has been running through my head recently, too: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time may play many parts…”. It’s time for me to figure out what my next part might be. Daydreaming is an important part of that, envisioning how I might see my life in the future.

And yes, one must be very happy to lose oneself in reverie…

Thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure. ~Victor Hugo

If a city had been built to my exact specifications, it probably wouldn’t have suited as well as this, I have to say at this point. A mere 25 minutes from my apartment is the delightful Windsor Button, which has an astounding array of knit and needlework supplies at reasonable prices (and when I wandered in the staff were helpful and friendly to boot). A couple of blocks from there is my
instant-favorite bookshop in Boston, Commonwealth Books, which is a treasure trove
of used and antique books, maps and prints. Nearer to home, the photocopy/design/print shop down the road has a very well-stocked artists’ supply section, as well as some delightful stationery. And I seem to have landed in the middle of a baking community, as even my corner convenience store carries muffin mixes, vanilla extract and evaporated milk- all very helpful in my dream of becoming a foodie (though possibly not so good for my waistline…). There are also of course the usual concerts and trips to plan, and some fantastic organizations to get involved with, too, like the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands (fbhi.org) and the Mystic Valley Railway Society (mvrs.org), among many others.

It’ll stay busy, but 2012 looks pretty good already…

I confess, I was mercilessly pestering one of my favorite people on the planet recently for his mailing address so that I could send him holiday presents for himself and his small son (buying presents for small children and imagining how they’ll enjoy them is possibly one of the most fun things one can legally do with one’s money, is it not? I already had great ideas for presents and all, of course…). He avoided the question for ages, and finally replied (after a fair bit of hounding on my part, it must be admitted- I mean, who doesn’t want PRESENTS?) that he couldn’t and sure he’s not even Christian anyway. Some time later when talking about other things he commented that love doesn’t require a given schedule, it just doesn’t work like that.

I bit my tongue (I’m learning…) but I badly wanted to tell him that of course it would be best if we all always remembered to tell the people we love that we love them, but life too often gets in the way, so isn’t it great that we have these holidays to remind ourselves to spend time with the people we love, even if it’s just a quick card or a gift to say we care? I’ve never been big on religion, but I adore Christmas and the December holidays- most of which are actually just celebrations of the solstice and the lengthening of days anyway, bringing a bit of light into the winter darkness- because it is an excuse for joy and celebration for everyone, a time to reach out and get in touch with the ones we love, especially those who may be far away and hard to keep in touch with. It’s a great time to reach out in charity to lend a hand to those less fortunate. And of course a fantastic excuse to get in touch with those people you rarely get to talk to and just say ‘I’m glad I know you, and send you best wishes’. There’s no other time of the year when you can do that without seeming a little odd. I love this time of year, and I don’t care what religion you are or if you have no religion at all- joy and celebration should be expansive (note: that’s not expEnsive)and not something to be avoided.

So happy holidays, you all…

Some of you will already know that since late February, on seeing the awesome @BlondieNY‘s project, I’ve been doing a photo365 project myself, taking a photo a day for the year (though I don’t get too hung up on it if I miss a day. Life happens. I think I’ve only missed a couple, though).

I’ll admit I was feeling fatigued with the project recently. I’ve been spending more time and energy on the transatlantic move, and didn’t have much left to go wandering with my camera. It’s dark when I get out of work now, and in the mornings it’s hard to find a decent photograph that you haven’t already taken when you walk the same route to work most days.

Then as I was getting myself organised to leave work the other evening, inspiration hit (and thank goodness for that). I love long-exposure night shots that show the movement of traffic, and have tried it myself once or twice. Since it’s practically pitch-dark when I get out of work around 5-5.30pm in the evenings now, it’s a perfect opportunity to take photographs of recognizable places around Dublin with a longer exposure to show the movement of the traffic. Needless to say I’ve created a new set on my flickr page for the Dublin night series.

Suddenly I’m excited about taking daily photographs again. Funny how that works…

Since no one at all has written about “Snowtober” (this is my favorite http://backroadjournal.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/a-smile-costs-nothing/), the Noreaster snowstorm that hit New York and parts of New England the weekend of the 29th of October, I thought I’d weigh in with my tale of my flight in to New York in a snowstorm. Oh yes.

It was pretty clear we were on a good flight to start with before we even boarded the plane at Dublin airport. Having gotten through U.S. Customs preclearance at Terminal 2 with no problem, we followed the signs toward our gate (423) when we were stopped en route by a glass sliding door that was locked between us and the escalator to our gate area – and so were the flight crew & captain of our flight. After a while they spotted a Dublin airport employee pacing at the top of the escalator and talking on her mobile, and when they gestured to indicate that they were crew and needed to get to their gate, she gave them a “five” hand signal. The captain turned around to the crew messin that it could be 5 hours… go back to your hotel, it’ll be five days… she could have been saying hello… It was pretty clear he knew the level of disorganization he was dealing with, and had a cool head and a good sense of humor about it, I was glad to see. (that said: *really*, Dublin airport? You can’t manage to have a gate open for a scheduled flight?? And you expect foreign companies to invest here? *sigh*)

We hadn’t heard anything about the storm prediction when we left Dublin, of course, and so were blithely heading for JFK in New York for a connection from there to Logan airport in Boston later that afternoon. There was thick cloud cover over New York when we approached, and the captain made an announcement that an early snowstorm had come in over the city. After circling JFK for about half an hour to 40 minutes, he made another announcement that we would be diverting to Boston’s Logan airport, and would make further plans from there. Naturally d’mammy and I were delighted at this news, having been headed for Boston anyway, and our glee may not have impressed some of our fellow passengers. Whoops.

We landed at Logan without incident and taxied to park near the shipping hangars until they could figure out what to do with us. Here I have to really hand it to the captain of our Delta flight, who updated us every few minutes on the latest situation. At one point he went on the P.A. to tell us that the official plan from Delta HQ in Atlanta was to try to refuel the plane and give JFK another go, but he said that he wasn’t sure how realistic that was within the three-hour time limit imposed by the Air Passengers Charter and his plan was to get us off that plane and into the terminal. Next thing we knew, the captain was back on the P.A. to say that we had gotten a gate at the international terminal and they were just getting things ready for us before we’d be able to get off the plane.

At this point I have to give huge credit to the staff at Logan airport. Our flight had been pre-cleared through U.S. Customs at Dublin Airport, so officially as far as customs was concerned we were a domestic flight (possibly the best thing they did in Terminal Two at Dublin airport. I’ve had U.S. Customs officials in *Dublin* tell me “welcome home”, which is awesome) and didn’t need to go through Customs in Boston. In order to let us in to the airport without making us go through Customs a second time, Logan staff made up a route for us to follow using back hallways so that we could go around U.S. Customs (they could just as easily have said too bad, you’ll have to go through again. I thought it was amazing that they went to all that trouble). Sure, it meant we had to wait on the plane for an extra few minutes – but it was well worth it, and was a great thing for them to do. We were able to go straight to the transfer desk, where Delta had collected all the luggage off the plane, and collect our bags quickly and easily.

All told, we were sitting in Dunkin Donuts with coffees and our luggage before our connecting flight was even due to depart from New York for Boston. A pretty good result, if you ask me…!