The Byrne Diaspora

The open road

I can't keep up with those two, Dad & Pam.  Recently for a second time they hit the open road, driving north with a few ideas in mind, a few people to see, and then meandering to see what happened next.  The first trip included seeing Clare & Stefan in Vermont, having a "light-blessed" lunch with Laura & Joel in upstate New York, a day with the monks at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Genesee, and a stop at the Corning Glass Museum. Pam snapped the gorgeous shot of the glass bowl of fruit above--you can click on all the pics for a bigger view.  Dad wrote:

The glass museum was a MOMA and a Met in and of glass, if you can imagine it--which you can do only if you reflect on the multiplicity of forms and states glass can exist in and the fantastic plasticity of human imagination. Some creations were like dreams, and some--like the exhibition of the world-wide history of beads, their aesthetic and cultural shapes and uses--were eminently this-worldly. What a day that was, from the sacred song of Trappist liturgy the day and night before to the transcendent silicate hymns of the Corning Museum. (And the day after--to continue the theme--a eucharistic meal with beloved family.)

The second trip included meeting up with Mary & Mark in New Jersey, to hand over some special wedding gifts.  They were partly music-related, since Mark Rogers & Mary Byrne are slated to record their first album soon!  Dad said trip bumpiness, rush and bitter cold all started to turn around, spending those lunchtime hours with the newlyweds in a warm, friendly Italian restaurant in Summit.  Mark and Mary were awed. "Words cannot express," Mary wrote.

The following days, Dad & Pam did Montclair, New Jersey, Pam's hometown.  They "toured high spots of Pam's childhood and pre-college life and took many pictures, including of her home and bedroom windows, schools and church," and visited the graves of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  It was all so engrossing that they left Dad's walker at the cemetery!  But could buy another one easily when they got to Maryland.  Then they toured the museum of the Battle of Gettysburg.

They were all wondrous days!!  Quite a journey, and now we are home.  Love and joy and peace to all.

So, in the spirit of the upcoming seasons, here are "Thanksgiving" pics of the second trip, framed by the "Christmas ornaments" of the first.--JEB

 

Take me back to the island

This summer, Glen and I had the greatest time hanging out with our aunt Frances and uncle Alan (above) and their whole family up in Martha's Vineyard. I could hardly do justice to the lore of this island in the family, though it is a "new tradition" discovered by Francie and Alan with friends. I will just say that I was abundantly re-introduced to it all, and Glen soaked up sun, beach and island as happily as if it were Trinidad itself. We lounged and biked and ate seafood all day, and went out much of each night (MV "closes" at 1am so we could not do too much damage!). Indeed, we hooked up with a childhood friend of Glen's at night, one island to another island! Happy autumn to all, and let us cherish the sunshine even as it shortens day by day. See more below.--JEB

Julian!

Elizabeth! We could not believe that it was already two years since we last gathered on MV for Liz and Julian's wedding.

Matt & Jen hosted a bbq on the beach our last night there.

Almost everyone.

Maddie and Mimi and boy friends riding in the back of dad Matt's vintage Army Jeep. The "rules" according to Matt are "just don't fall out."

Me and Glen.

Francie and Glen.

Everyone.  No one looks bad in sunset light!

Glen's mate Boug was our tour guide for MV night life. He stopped by Alan and Francie's and hung out for happy hour Saturday evening, too. Winters, he's a golf pro in Palm Beach, Florida. Summers, he does MV.  MV = presidential caddying. Here, Boug and Barack the week we were there, together for the fifth straight summer.

 

Of abundance and pine coffins

"What's enough?" Don 3 talks about the abundant life in this vid of off-the-grid Melleray Farm life.

Don teaches ESL in Chatham County, NC, and Nicole works the farm & grows the kids all day. Somehow this summer they also managed to start a school and launch a business. 

The school: a free Latin academy for local kids. 

The business: a contribution toward abundant death.

Piedmont Pine Coffins is a workshop hand-crafting wood boxes in the spirit of the new "natural funeral," "green burial" and "good death" movements.  All, in turn, are inspired by monastic traditions. 

I was awed at the education I got just by reading the site they put together.  Piedmont Pine Coffins is on Facebook, too, and will attend an expo for "good death" resources this fall.  Plus the whole farm was recently featured on Tiny House Swoon.  Swoon!

But the best of all is that Don 3 said the new venture sold its first coffins as of last week.

Blessings to all for the full cycles of earth's seasons and our precious human lives!

--JEB

P.S. Check out this re-creation of the famous statue Hoi Moskophoroi by the Melleray Latin Academy & friendly creatures!

Wedding day in Brooklyn

The big Byrne news of the summer was a wedding!!!

Longtime couple Mary Byrne and Mark Rogers got married in late July in Brooklyn. I was incredibly honored to have a primo view on the ceremony as Mark & Mary's official witness. So we all got legal and signed papers. But what I witnessed more than anything was ridiculous JOY and abounding LOVE. It was just a perfect wedding in every detail, from the sunshine outside to the stylin' attire to the magical slow-time of it all. The real deal was just being around the gorgeous couple and soaking it all up!

The new marrieds put together this album, and here are a few more pix you might not have seen.

Congratulations, Mark and Mary, with all best wishes for the rest of your life together!

Yay for all of us, for Mark and Mary joining our respective families, for the circles ever growing bigger and better!

Finally, if you didn't know, YES to "Mark Rogers & Mary Byrne," the new hot music-making tandem in NYC. I've been going to shows all summer, and, like woah. There will be a future post on that, but in the meantime, if you want to get in touch with Mary and Mark directly, see contact info at their music sites, here, here & here.--JEB

What's paradise to you?

Awhile back, I wrote a post on Itziar Barrio's amazing billboard at the corner of Nostrand and Fulton. Itziar later asked me to be part of a short documentary she made on neighborhood reactions to her art piece. The film has shown at the Havana Biennial, Loop Barcelona and the Henry Thomas Ross Gallery in Montreal, but funnily not yet in New York. So, I just got to see it on Vimeo. Yeahhhh, basically everything in it is the people and places of one square block around my building. And people are being deep as usual. Anyone who's been here living or visiting, you will recognize. Everyone else, come by already! Enjoy. And kudos again, Itziar.--JEB

Thanks & two birthdays

After a camera mishap I finally recovered photos I took in North Carolina. It was a grand Thanksgiving-Laxmi-birthday-Clare-birthday extravaganza! (We did miss Pam who was in PA, but she & everyone else in far-flung places were much on the mind ...) I remember how Thanksgiving dinner seemingly materialized with no effort, there were so many cooks. Somehow space cleared for lounging in the sunshiney afternoon, with Clare & Dad playing the guitar and the rest of us dancing and singing. It was a quiet dinner, since the kids napped and then joined us for the second course. The birthday night in contrast was way more raucous, as you can probably see here! My abiding impressions were astonishment and admiration at the level of energy and creativity that parenting takes. Which Nicole and Don and so many of you do with aplomb. Hats off and HUGS to all parents!--newbies and also those well along, with growns and grands.--JEB

Capricorn crown

Happy birthday to my dearest father, Donald Edward Jr.! Here he is on G-chat, that venerable newfangled vehicle we've been using to keep in touch since I've been in Belize. He was in Burger King getting a treat with Pam and asked her to hand him a paper crown. I hope he still has it and is wearing it today.

Love you, mi padre. Here's to a new year and new adventures, inward and outward.

Live simply (so that others may simply live)

"LIVE SIMPLY: off-grid 30 acre Farm, NC Piedmont. 3 cabins, 2 deep wells, stream, greenhouse, 4 SEASON GARDENING!"

Yes, it's true: we're selling the farm. Above is the ad that Dad put in Mother Earth News. And here is the much more comprehensive ad they put up on Craigslist, complete with 52 glorious photos.

Some of you may have heard this through the grapevine. Dad's looking to sell because he can no longer work the land, due to his back surgery last year. It's difficult, for sure, both emotionally and spiritually; but as Dad always taught me, change is the only constant. In the best case scenario, we'd like to see the land go to good stewards who'll love it as much as we do. 

So please forward the Craigslist ad to anyone who might be interested! Melleray is a jewel, and maybe she'll find a new caretaker in the new year. May the circle be unbroken. And may yet another new phase of life begin for us all. 

In Ernest

This post is brought to you by how uncannily our father resembles Ernest Hemingway.

Though important distinctions must be noted, such as Dad's normal-digited cats, thank you very much. 

Sisters in Belize!

During the years 1963-64, our mother Mary Anne taught high school girls in Belize as part of the Papal Volunteer Corps. She never got to go back before she got sick, though I think she very much wanted to.  

That's part of why, when I was planning a trip to Central America in 2011, I chose to visit Belize. I thought it would be a nice pilgrimage-ish detour before getting to the more famous Costa Rica. I turned out have it backwards. Not only did I fall in love with Belize---Cayo, the western district, in particular---but when I got back to Durham, I hadn't even unpacked before I started looking up flights to go back. (I wrote about that journey starting here.) I stayed in the States long enough to put up one play, act in another, and see that Obama got reelected. Now I've been back in San Ignacio, the capital of Cayo, for a month; and will be for two more! 

One of the greatest pleasures has been sharing Cayo with my sisters, Clare and Julie, who came to visit for five days. They traced the path I'd originally taken---first landing in Belize City and staying at Belcove, where Haulover Creek laps right under the windows; then taking the bus into Cayo, where I met them at the bus depot just uphill from the Macal River. We had many adventures, of which I'll let them tell tale, if they want :)  Above is a picture of Clare and Julie by the Macal at DuPlooy's Jungle Lodge, not far from where I'm living. 

Meanwhile, here is the ongoing album of pictures I've taken since being in Belize this time around. Enjoy!