They’re the kids of America

Another thing I’ve noticed about America and I thought this deserved its own post, is something about the Kids of America.

It’s confidence, and not badly to the point of arrogance. Just plain old self-confidence and self-assurance. They have it and it like they’ve been bestowed with it from birth.

The main reason we were in America was for Damien’s son’s Communion and that’s when I first noticed this self-belief. None of the kids had any qualms about standing in front of a crowd. Many of them read passages from the pulpit in full view of the congregation. They enunciated clearly and loudly like accomplished orators. I remember my stomach churning whenever I had to talk in public. I only got rid of this in adulthood and it returns now and again and to force myself to get over it. I remember feeling like this and turning red in the face with embarrassment, when only having to read aloud to the rest of my classroom. Words would come out with a robotic stammer.

I was really impressed by them, and it made me jealous that I wasn’t more like this when I was younger. I was also taken aback by the overall discipline of the children in the Church, bar one particular child that lost attention now and again. I was later told that the school does Communion rehearsals, 4 or 5 of them. In Ireland, they’d probably do 1 rehearsal and the whole thing would be a shambles.

Side Note: Damien’s 4 year old daughter sat quietly with us, scanning pictures on a camera. She stopped abruptly on one of Richie and me exchanging a very small peck on the lips. She felt the need to move to every single person on the pew and tell them, ‘I saw Paddy and Richie kissing’, in her most adorable American accent. By the time it got to Richie’s mother, she actually thought we were kissing there and then, in the church.

Finally, where else but in America would kids just sing together randomly on the steps of a Museum.

America. In general

This is all matter of opinion and if you’re an American patriot, you may feel insulted or aggravated, or complimented and proud. Either way, and getting back to my recent trip to New York, here are few observations I’ve made while I was there and my intention is not to offend.

The first thing I’ll touch on is the attitudes to food. I found myself eating more in New York. I’m not doing a good job at watching my weight here in Ireland but I feel if I lived in New York I’d be obese. The portions are larger and the food is richer and you can taste the entire deliciousness and also the calories. Starters are like a Main.

Yet another ‘bite to eat’.

Some places even printed the calories. How informed but disappointed I felt after I saw that the Special Burger with fries, that I was eyeing up, was nearly 3000 calories. That should be my limit for the day, and more. It’s no wonder a lot of Americans are overweight. And that’s another thing. There’s not much middle ground. It appears as though they have the perfect body or are fat. I still find it hard to see how people remained slim with so much food available.

‘America is a superpower!’ That’s what I got from Damien while we were there. There’s no misunderstanding on that point. But not when it comes to recycling and energy use. Americans are only now feeling the pinch at the pump when refuelling their car. Gas prices have shot up in recent years and are continuing to increase (like everywhere in the world). But this is new concept to Americans. I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I firmly believe that someone has already invented the future replacement energy supply and it’s cheap and clean. It’s just that corporations and capitalism is still earning off oil.

I thought Ireland didn’t really recycle much. I was wrong. We have bins for plastics and paper, bins for foods and one for other waste. They are regular sights throughout the country and so too are bottle banks or bring centres. It took a little bit of re-educating but it’s engrained in us now. People look at you weirdly if you say you don’t recycle. I don’t think I saw anything like our bins, in New York. America should be leading the world by example on recycling. Am I wrong about this?

We went to a Yankees game. For me, baseball is kind of boring. The game is long and there’s not much to keep you in your seat. In saying that, I did see two home runs and that certainly got the crowd going. But it lacks the constant noise from cheering and chanting and involvement that you’d be part of at a European soccer match. People come and go. Between innings, which are frequent, you’re thankful of the big screen and interval interviews with the crowd (and prize giveaways), smile cam, beer, hot dogs, etc. I’ve seen enough movies about baseball. All portray them as exciting and fast paced. In reality, they’re not. Richie’s been to a basketball game and he’s said that the entertainment at those are even better and that it seemed some people came to see that over the game. What it comes down to though is that America knows how to entertain.

Everything is overboard, overwhelming and over the top, all in a good way. All designed to stimulate the senses and entrap you in the entertainment. America does a great job at this. It’s like they think of things you didn’t think of. Theme parks are THEME PARKS. Baseball games are BASEBALL GAMES. Even a museum is a MUSEUM.

And on the small scale too, things are overboard. Take the ice-cream parlour, Carvel. There are not many ice-cream parlours in Ireland. My senses nearly exploded when I entered Carvel. I found it hard to decide and pick something. There was, thankfully, too much on offer and generous helpings. There went my calorie count again! I avoided the regular strawberry or vanilla flavour and went for flavours unheard of back here, cake mix and chocolate peanut butter.

If entertainment isn’t overwhelming, in the most positive way possible, then the country is. The buildings are huge and a definite credit to the visionaries, architects and engineers that built them. Right down to the smallest most ornate features.

The country is beautiful and I’ve said this before. I never fully realised the expanse of the country. Some say that cities sprawl but the countryside in New York state sprawls. Vast spaces of green valleys and hills, wrinkled with rivers or roads. The people impact is quite minimal once you get outside city and suburbs.

And finally, a word about the people! I heard it said that ‘America? That’s an open asylum’. Obviously that’s not the case. Like every place in the world there are a few crazies. But from the single woman we met in Hudson, who was engaging and interested and interesting…, from the immigrant taxi driver from Russia, with his confusing accent and his almost NASCAR techniques…, from the suburban lesbian couple, taking some respite from wilds of Manhattan…, from the friendly and welcoming bar tenders friend of Albanian heritage…, all the way down to the Priscilla impersonator, broadway ticket street trader, with feathered headdress and queer English accent. It’s the people that make America.

Most offer and contribute to a country that is as diverse as it is big. Diversity and differences were the foundation of the USA. Pride, acceptance and celebration in this diversity is fundamental to its continuing success.

Sunshine Breakfast in a Donkey Shed

It was my birthday last week and i arranged to meet my best friend Paul and his boyfriend Mark. Ireland has been in the grip of a glorious spell of hot weather, that is set to continue into the next week. So rather than just visit the guys at their home we met up with them, in a hidden gem, just north of Dublin in county Meath. It’s very close to the town of Ashbourne and it’s called New Barn Farm.

I learned of this splendiferous place through word of mouth from other friends, Paddy and Elaine. They often go for lunch and bring their 1 year daughter with them. And who wouldn’t bring their kids. Not only does Newbarn Farm have the Donkey Shed restaurant but it also has an Open Farm, which is complimentary to all restaurant patrons.

You couldn’t have a Donkey Shed restaurant without a real life mule somewhere.

As I’ve said, we only had breakfast but if that’s anything to go by then lunch and dinner must be a real treat as well.

3 of us ordered the French Toast, with Crème Fraîche, maple syrup and berries, and all 3 of agreed that it was the best we have ever had.

Richie had the full Irish breakfast. He loved it and I can substantiate, from stealing the odd bite, that it was delicious too.

Mark was hungrier than the rest of us, so he grabbed the omelette. Yum, and as you can see he made short work of the french toast. Notice the empty plate.

I can see why it’s a great place to bring your family but as an adult I even enjoyed the stroll around the open farm and taking in all the animals.

Of course Richie was immediately drawn to anything fowl.

This guy I assumed would be lazy in the midday sun.

It didn’t stop him from getting up to shove his snout into the lens.

From a distance, it looked like she had an orange smile.

All the animals were eager for the green shoots they couldn’t reach.

Don’t think I’ve finished yet. What else would you expect to have in a farm? Well it wouldn’t be a farm without a farmers market. That’s right. Newbarn also sell produce, most of which is from the actual farm or locally sourced, where available.

Looks like someone needed some shade to cool off.

Mark couldn’t help picking up some fresh food items.

I’ve lived most of my life in Finglas, and it practically borders county Meath. I’ve driven by New Barn Farm many times and never knew it existed. I’m delighted to have found it and delighted to be able to pass its secret to whoever reads this. I can guarantee you will fall in love with it.

Why we need Glee

You either love Glee or hate it but it’s of my belief that Glee has a very important role to play in our lives and society in general.

Last night was the penultimate episode of Season 3. Not only did some of the seniors move on, it closed off the story of Rachel Berry and came full circle for her. The show started with her singing a solo and ended with her doing the same. For me, Glee has mostly been about Rachel. I adored both her arrogant confidence in her talents (a lot of the time), but also her failings on the popularity stakes and attempting to fit in with the rest of the school. She’d continuously grind on me with quips about being the voice of the glee club. Anyway, however they did it, the writers made me love her and I don’t know why exactly.

Story lines were not always the greatest and for Season 3 it seemed songs were thrown in to fill up an episode. It stopped being a musical when a constant weekly assignment allowed cast members to sing a song in front of the rest of the glee club. Songs were no longer assisting with the story telling. Well, not entirely. They still contributed to the story and songs were chosen well but for the majority of the time, did they always have to be delivered in the Glee Club, or auditorium or by Rachel walking down the same hallway. Plus when someone sang the rest of cast knew they were singing. It would’ve been more commendable when someone sang, that the rest of cast interpret the singer as if they were speaking.

I couldn’t tolerate Mr Schu much, singing or dancing with the students. Yep, he can sing and dance but it felt contrived and as if he was living his dream through the kids rather than chasing his own dreams. But the writers did their best to rectify this and finally turned him into an inspiration for the kids.

Being Irish, I guess I have to touch on the Irish student, Rory. I just think he hasn’t been given a chance yet and is a bit wooden. If he makes it to Season 4, he might get his chance to shine.

I’m getting off track. Why is Glee important? Well, for me it comes down to the boundaries it pushes up against. I wouldn’t say it breaks them down fully but it does lean against them as a hungry cow would thrust against a garden fence attempting to get to the greener pastures. Glee is a celebration of diversity.

So what have we got?

A young lesbian couple, one of which (Britney) is unsure of her sexuality but is willing have the relationship, as she plainly loves the other (Santana). Thankfully Santana got developed and turned out more complex than she was, in Season 1. Writers explored her fragile interior to a strong confident exterior. But the main thing is that we have a highly visible lesbian couple, fully integrated and accepted by the people around them.

Mentioning a gay couple without referencing Kurt and Blaine would be a sin. Kurt is the original gay character. I’ve spoken to other people about him and some believes his portrayal is stereotypically gay and may not be a good for how the gay community is viewed by the rest of society. But I think they are wrong. All individuals in society are different and so are gay men within their community. Just because he fits a stereotype, doesn’t make him any less real. In fact, I think both he, Blaine and Karofsky, show the internal diversity within a minority. There’s nothing else to do but accept Kurt and the reality is that he was accepted quicker than the closeted gay jock character, Karofsky. Kurt’s visibility and courage made people move on and accept him. I can’t pass on mentioning Kurt’s dad. Now there’s a positive father figure. He just loves his son and that’s all that matters and that’s all that should matter.

And then we come to Unique. Glee gives us a Transvestite/drag artist and a very young one at that. This guy knows who and what he is and Glee shows his struggles but also his extreme strength. For me, this is a boundary, blown away.

So far, I’ve spoken about the sexually diverse characters but I’m moving on to the character of Becky. The character that happens to have Down Syndrome. I can hear you saying ‘it’s been done before, with Life Goes On’, and done again by Ryan Murphy on American Horror Story but Becky to me is different. She has an attitude and spunk and is truly integrated to the show. There are no awkward looks from other characters when interacting with Becky that you’d usually see in real life. You know that look on some peoples faces where they are treating someone like Becky the same as them but there’s a hint of known difference in their eye. That doesn’t exist on Glee. I loved her attempted seduction of Puck in recent episodes and her side kick role to Sue. I’m team Becky all the way.

Actually that brings me to Sue. I can’t write something about Glee and not mention Queen/Goddess/Supreme Being and overall Omnipotent Coach, Sue Sylvester. Maybe it’s the actor but I don’t think I have to say much. Her one liners are clever, provoking and a lot of the time mean. But we still get to see her soft side. Ryan Murphy made a villain I love to love.

After all of that, there is one other thing that Glee gives us. That’s music and song. Isn’t the world a better place when they are coupled together and knocking about, mischievously tickling our ear drums?

Abercrombie & Wait

WARNING: Moan and Rant in progress.

What an awful experience it is to go to Abercrombie and Fitch. My first time in one of their stores was in San Francisco a few years back. That’s when it was a pleasure to shop in. It was brightly lit and seemed like any other normal clothes store.

But on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, they have to be different. Or have they changed to this new dark cave, everywhere? It’s a pointless and stupid experience. My first visit was to browse for myself. After 10 minutes in the store I needed out. I couldn’t see a thing, not to mention even try and make out the colour of an item. I realise why most of the models wear next to nothing. It’s not that I’m jealous of their statuesque bodies (you’ve guessed it, I am), nope, it’s the heat in the store. Every other store on 5th avenue offers Air conditioning, a stop to shop and cool down.

My second visit was a necessity, since a friend asked me to pick up their brand of cologne. I thought I’d be able to grab and go. What a fool I was to think it would be that quick and simple.

I got the bottle and was directed downstairs to pay. I can see the marketing in that. Make me go further into the store so that I see more and possibly buy more. This didn’t irritate me.

It was the waiting in the queue to pay that made me irate. I waited for 15 minutes and there were only 3 people in front me. The sales assistants behind the tills danced and chatted, sang out loudly and screamed when a song came on that happened to be the ring tone on one of their phones. Annoyed, is a word that isn’t strong enough to describe how I was feeling. I really wanted to deck one of them. There were two in particular. Wretched, vile, plastic robots programmed to be happy. All completely fake and unnatural. A&F have succeeded in moving from clothing to people and designed people to be marketed as young and fun. If this hadn’t of bugged me, it was the process they used for packing your items. One person hovered around behind the people at the cash tills. After scanning an item, they’d throw it to the counter behind them. Then to be folded and placed in a bag by the hoverer.

Do you know what, I’m stopping right there. I’m getting angry again, just thinking about it.

NB: In case you are wondering why didn’t I say anything? I didn’t want to be told I was old and boring.

And now, to a more Sombre Note.

A gloomy cloud has descended over Woodhaven. Linda has been killed. The life of one of our ducks (Linda) was taken by a dog while we were away.

Our ducks have always had the free reign of Woodhaven. They even leave it, to the surrounding fields, but always come back home. Linda has been brooding the past few weeks and we worked it out that her clutch wouldn’t hatch until we came back from New York.

The poor girl was dishevelled and exhausted. Whenever she left her eggs for some food or to freshen up (as if she had her own powder room), Hank (the drake), would attack her. It was almost like he was forcing her back to his offspring. I condemn domestic abuse, so there was a few times he nearly got a kick in the arse from me. The other wives of his harem were protective of Linda, to an extent. I noticed they tried distracting Hank. It was either they were protecting her or just glad they weren’t the brooding mother.

Back to the point though! The murder happened during the day time. It was quick and could not have been avoided. The dog got loose from a nearby house and did what dogs do, I guess. The young Husky cast a large, dark shadow over our content home, that day. I’ve pictured in my mind what ordeal Linda went through. I hope she put up a good of a fight, as she did whenever we came too close to her. And where were the rest of the flock? The lucky four were in a back field, rummaging in the undergrowth for food, oblivious to the heinous crime that was being committed.

The two Lauras and Mark made a valiant attempt to save the eggs. They had friends arrive with chickens in the hope they would adopt the eggs and complete the hatching but sadly that wasn’t meant to be. They even tried to get an incubator. What they did next, I was most appreciative of. They buried Linda in the garden. But not only Linda, they placed her brood beneath her, together in the end and forever.

So what have we learned from this? We got complacent. The ducks are free spirits but they are going to have to be more restricted now. We bought a 50 metre electric fence for their protection. They’ll still be happy. The area is large and their safety is number one after all. I wouldn’t want another episode like this to happen.

Here lies Linda and her brood. RIP.

Onwards, to Sharon Springs

After Hudson and Olana, it was on to one of the highlights of our trip. Originally, we didn’t think we’d make it to Sharon Springs but because Damien drove us we had the freedom to go where we pleased. This put Sharon Springs back on our itinerary and more importantly, a visit to Beekman 1802 and chance to meet with Brent and/or Josh from the Fabulous Beekman Boys.

From Hudson, Sharon Springs was about 1.5 hour drive away. On the way we stopped at a bar/restaurant called the Stone Castle Inn, Cairo NY. We met a lovely bar tender call Kyla (I’m not sure how to spell her name, but she did tell us stories of how everyone would get her name wrong). She seemed delighted to have company since the bar was empty when we arrived. She was extremely friendly and interesting and also interested in us. It was her last week of work, as she was heading to Virginia Beach the following week, since she was attending college there from the late summer.

The original name and sign of the premises.

After that we made the small 2 minute trip to the Blackthorn resort. I can’t remember why we stopped, maybe it was because Cairo and East Durham seemed to have a lot of Irish heritage. Myself and Richie explored a little, while the other two played pool in the Irish bar.

I had to take two shots of this albino peacock. He was too pretty.

While looking for the location of the Blackthorn resort I stumbled upon this intriguing aerial view. It’s the map of Ireland, obviously. I’m raging we missed this.

Take the picture already!

It was late when we arrived in Sharon Springs, nearly 5pm and we thought the Beekman 1802 Mercantile might be closed. Dark clouds overhead gave the impression of twilight so it seemed later than it was, plus the street lights were on.

Myself and Richie walked into the Mercantile and was greeted by Megan (also from the show). Like everyone else we had met, she was friendly and welcoming. I blurted out that we were fans of the show. I thought there was no point in lying since they must get these types of visits often. We chatted for a bit and she went to a back room and then appeared Brent. All four of us conversed, mostly about the Beekman fandom and our trip from Ireland. Then we got the chance for a quick photo opp.

After that, we bought a few things, including a soap cutter (I intend to use it for cheese) and a Stick of Butter. This was gifted already before I took the photo below.

We went away, travelling back to Yonkers, tired but happy. If it wasn’t for Damien, our trip to Sharon Springs would not have happened and we wouldn’t have met with Brent and Megan. If we ever get a chance to return, I shall pester Brent for a non-stalker visit to the farm, in order to meet Josh, Farmer John and Polka Spot, of course.

One other thing, Brent gave us a t-shirt each also. And here’s my one, just before I become lumber Paddy. Stop laughing! I do chop wood.

That isn’t the last thing. This is. I should’ve mentioned earlier. America has a stunning landscape, well New York state does. It quite reminds me of Ireland and it’s greener than I expected. There’s just so much space with wide views. I couldn’t help wonder what it was like for the first settlers and frontiersmen that arrived when America was new and practically untouched. How did it feel for them to wander into a beautiful creek or stumble onto a lookout point over a valley, never seen by the eyes of any other explorers?