December 6th and & 7th

Looking back to June and July: Perfection

After this post, we are a little more than halfway done with the year that was 2022.

I have already forgotten why I began; ah yes: to remember, to create something concrete, to define 2022 as a demarcation away from 2020 and 2021, have it all in this digital shelf instead of another one on the phone or social media or the electric, multimedia space known as one’s mind. The digital landscape–this entire world wide web on which exist posts upon posts upon posts upon posts, this entire arena filled with various social media updates–now appears more akin to a gorgeous cemetery than shelves. But some lots are aglow with lanterns and we think, we know, we hope, somehow these potters’ fields will survive Time.

I am aware that there was an error in the December 5th post; it’s been updated. I am also aware that if you are an iPhone user and receiving these posts in your inbox and viewing them on your iPhone, you are not able to see images unless you click “view in browser.” Unfortunately, no one knows why this is happening except it has to do with some iPhone update 10 months ago. I hope to have a resolved alternative before the new year begins. That’s my being optimistic that there will be more frequent updates on here in 2023! And with that, I believe I have met my optimism quota of 2022.

Here are the posts so far: December 1: Looking Back To January, December 2: Looking Back to February, December 3 & 4: Looking Back to March and April, and December 5th: Looking Back to May.

June and July:

I don’t know what to share. Photos? Thoughts about the time? That would be 1000 words per photo. There are so many photos. These two months were quite perfect months. Maybe even more so because although June and July 2021 brought great writing news, they comprised of one of the worst summers since my teenage years. Even worse than 2020. I don’t know how that’s even possible, but there we have it. Or maybe June and July of this year are so sparkly because then I thought the worst was finally over and I didn’t have the knowledge of the fallout called “returning to normal” that awaited in August. If your life is going well and you are grateful for much despite any challenges and you don’t understand what all the fuss is about anywhere in the world or U.S., I highly recommend paying attention to your local schools, even if you don’t have children or if your children are now older. It’s the surest way to take the temperature of society-at-large, locally and nationally. I didn’t know what awaited in August. Or September.

June and July were life at its finest. And yet, I am not able to write about them. I narrowed the photos down to 50! Then 25. Still too many. Too much. Optimum, glorious living. While trying to narrow a batch of images, I realized that despite the joy in June and July, there was no pause, no ‘nothing’ period, between the first four months and summer. And certainly no pause after July. No “downtime” to be able to say, ‘not much going on.’ This not-much-going-on is to crucial to not burning out! But it was summer and it was not the summer of 2021 and March wasn’t enough and I had to return to Ireland and be there longer. I wanted more life after the last two years.

June: I am not able to share very many photos because they are of my nieces and nephew. We are a fairly big family and my siblings have younger children. This means the holidays are busy and there is always some unexpected joy around the corner despite the world being upside down. But June and July are simply nonstop in my family due to many birthdays. My father’s, my brother’s, my niece’s. That’s back-to-back in early June. Even when we try to “combine” them, we don’t. And in July we have my mother’s birthday, which is on the same date as my father-in-law’s (he passed away in 2019, but we still celebrate him in July). So, June consisted of being back in California and spending time with my family. And finally getting my writing life organized. It’s also when I left for Ireland and I didn’t realize I was away for four weeks until I looked at the photos on my phone. I returned in mid-July only to fly back to California for my mother’s birthday.

Sculpture at ABQ Sunport Airport.

“Dream of Flight” Sculpture by Lincoln Fox (1989)

Back in Dublin, back with friends, back at my friend’s sister’s Italian restaurant.

At a friend’s home in Dublin. There I also worked on a very generously paid blog post for teachers.

Visited a friend and her family in Waterford and they also took me to Tramore, a seaside town in County Waterford.

The Commercial in Limerick. I took 20 photos of this window.

My mother and I visited West Cork. It was my first time visiting this part of Ireland, and it’s breathtaking.

Bantry, West Cork.

Sculpture of St. Brendan the Navigator, Bantry, Co. Cork.

We celebrated my mother’s birthday at the end of July.

I was in California in June for birthdays. I was in Ireland for four weeks, part of which was dedicated to writing, part of it was spent visiting friends–I didn’t even include any photos of visiting friends in Clane or Headford or Cork or Galway or my trip to Knock with my mother or the trips to Leenane, Doo Lough, Carrowmore Beach, Louisburgh–and part of it was spent traveling in West Cork with my mother. One can spend a lifetime on the small island that’s Ireland and still not discover all of it.

And then, just like that, July was over.

I was excited to start the new school year given how May had ended. I didn’t know the challenges that were stacked ahead, and I am so glad I didn’t.

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings”
from “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee.