Box? I’ll Box Ya
When I left Ireland for Kansas City in 1999, I brought 32 boxes, a suitcase and a bicycle.
And 2 extra large brown soda breads straight from the oven in Dublin strapped to each bicycle wheel.
I still have many of those boxes.
But the brown bread is gone.
Yesterday my porch in KC looked like this:
And my living room looked like this:
And my studio looked like this:
And most of the paintings were here, somewhere:
And the end of my living room looked like this:
And then this arrived:
Meanwhile a steady stream of furniture paraded out to the road and into strangers’ vehicles.
And I’m giving away this lampshade I painted - though somebody has first dibs on it before I put it out by the road:
Yet still, I will be going home with more than 32 boxes. Is this progress?
With the door open all day the mosquitos have moved in and the mice seem disgruntled. The dog thinks this is no way for an internet superstar to be treated, so is spending most of the time eating cicadas. Meals that buzz.
And my phone broke. And I can’t find my screwdriver.
Apologies if moving to Ireland makes me seem not too Irish for you this week. But you never know what I might do at four in the morning.
See Vaguely Related Posts:
• An Irish Odyssey in Kansas City
• How Do You Find America?
• I’m Reminded of the British Police by Valentine’s Day in the USA
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
I wish you weren’t going.
But I understand that they have them “internets” over there in Ireland too.
No reason why we can’t stay in touch, right?
Yes indeed. I plan to continue this site and American Hell, so I’ll certainly still be in touch with the Kansas City blogging people whilst ranting against my new life back in Ireland.
And I will be coming back to KC for visits, ideally frequently, so a little bit of online co-ordination and I can be happily drinking cheap American beer in the company of a whole slew of pseudonymous people.
which box is dog-dog in?
Elizabeth, Dog-dog won’t be coming with me immediately but has to go on holidays first and then will be having a special trip to Ireland that I intend to fully document.
“Dog-dog won’t be coming with me immediately but has to go on holidays first…”
That sounds suspicously like “Lassie went to live on a Big Farm with lots of other dogs where she can run free.”
Say it ain’t so, Eolaí!
XO, the dog is most definitely coming to Ireland with me - it’s just a complicated process to go through in place of quarantine. I’m one of those people who believe that when you get a dog you get a responsibility for life.
Indeed if the quarantine system was still in place then I wouldn’t be returning to Ireland at all as I couldn’t put the dog (or me) through 6 months of that.
The dog has had a European chip implanted, and received all the relevant shots and met the necessary levels of anti-bodies.
There are some more hoops to go through but they are right before the dog flies - and legally the dog can’t enter Europe until December. I can’t afford to wait until then however so am going early to sort out employment and accommodation, and then returning for the dog as dogs have to be accompanied.
In the time we are separated the dog will be with a family of several kids and 1 other dog, sometimes two dogs. So I suspect that being a social animal Dog-dog will do much better than I will.
Fragile`. Must be Italian.