The Byrne Diaspora

Happy birthday, Mary Anne!

We miss you so much.

Visit to Brooklyn

Ellie and Lucy visited Julie this month! Julie writes: the intrepid explorers ellie and lucy came to brooklyn when they were visiting new york. it was so great to just talk and be and do whatever. we hung out in the apartment, and then went for a late lunch at one of the cafeteria-style halal places on fulton street. curried chick peas, ginger beer, and bean pie were all sampled and enjoyed. on the way back ellie and i got $4 summer shirts and lucy got a $2 bra. the caption for the pic where ellie's pointing to her head is: "all negativity-- it's just in your head!!!"

See pictures here!

Honey wine

Two weeks ago, as a highlight of my birthday celebration, my whole Clarion workshop went out to a wonderful Ethiopian restaurant. We sure waited a good long time for the food, and when it arrived, I was afraid that it wouldn't be enough to feed the seventeen of us. But half an hour later...maybe only half of the food was gone, and we were stuffed to the gills. I scooped up all the leftover food with my hands, and ate Ethiopian food for several days afterwards. Whee! See the pictures here!

Our time is come

Last weekend, Julie had the great pleasure of going to Boston for a conference orchestrated by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, for Julie's forthcoming book about independent Catholics. More importantly, she got to attend an ordination! Looking through her pictures, and reading the articles online, made me very weepy. Julie explains it even better:

i attended this ordination mass yesterday.  really moving.  i guess i thought, like so many other people, "we'll never see it in our lifetimes."  but yesterday, i was watching, and i was like, "i'm seeing it.  i'm seeing it the only way it will ever get done.  not waiting for permission.  just doing it."

it also came home to me how sick the logic is: in the independent catholic churches i study, or in rcwp (which does ordain men), if a man ordains a man in correct apostolic succession, vatican officials actually grudgingly acknowledge it is "valid"--though not licit (i.e. it was done without rome's permission).  but "valid" at least means the sacrament "took," it has its juice, and that person can validly celebrate the other sacraments.

but when a woman ordains a woman or a man ordains a woman, according to rome, it is not only illicit but also invalid ... because? ... the sacrament actually does not "take" on women's bodies.  that is what they mean when they say "it is not possible to ordain a woman." whoooooooo ..... breathe.

the beautiful banners in the processional, however, said differently: "Nothing New!" with pictures of early christian women who, historically, were clearly known by their communities as deacons, priests, and bishops.

as the articles say, the church was packed, with men, women and children of all ages, primarily boston roman catholics.  an amazing thing to see in the archdiocese that was the epicenter of the sex abuse crisis. all this came on the back of hearing matthew fox say at the beginning of the conference: "all the problems of the human species and the earth that sustains us boil down to one thing: fear of the goddess."

perhaps there really are goddess-rumblings happening all over ...


...Amen, I say.

Laurels

I'm so proud of my theater company, Little Green Pig - we were just awarded an Indy Arts Award from the Independent Weekly, North Carolina's biggest independent newspaper! Read all about it here. There are some great quotations from the dual directors, Jay (who directed Fistful of Love) and Dana (who played my sister in Fistful of Love); as well as Tom, Jason and Emily, who were all also involved. Hooray for us independent artists! :)

Picnic season

 
Last month, we finally got to host Vimala and Rush - Rajeev's parents - at Melleray! But then it turned into a full-fledged party-picnic, with Donny's friend Shola and Aunt Laura and Joel coming, too. It was as if the stars had aligned! We had excellent food - vegetable pakora, hibiscus tea, beet salad, and a chicken stew that Dad had made from the remains of Jill, who had died in a fight the day before. Donny gave us the blow-by-blow.

You can see picnic pictures here...

Brooklyn fireworks

Julie writes: on the roof of 72 Herkimer ;-) ... the fourth here was a cool day that threatened to rain on the bbq, but didn't, so it was perfect for rooftop hanging out. we were trying out a new hibachi, which stefan agreed to "break in" for me. the heat started to burn the rooftop tar, but when we moved it to the surface of a wide terra cotta pipe nearby, it was fine. the pork ribs were excellent! so were mary's homemade baked beans and strawberry compote, and clare's raita as dip for veggies, pretzels, and chips ... later it did rain on the fireworks, but the effects of the atmosphere on the show were only good--we couldn't hear them, but they looked all lacy and watercolory ... ;-). happy fourth from brooklyn. yay america and goddess bless the whole world.

See pictures here!

The view from the pergola

At Melleray, work on the pergola has been proceeding all summer. I visited in mid-June, and got to ascend the steps to the stargazing platform, which afforded a beautiful view of the garden - and all of Melleray, too! See pictures here.

Gemini

Last month, there was a party in Manhattan for the two Gemini birthdays among them: Julie (May 27) and Stefan (June 19). Julie sent some pictures of the festivities!

She wrote: clare and mary and mark put on a lil combo birthday bash for me and stefan, both geminis; stefan is june 19. all food homemade! there were pickled things and quiche, vegetable chowder and luscious salad; there was a barbie cake (edible image of the blonde one the only thing ordered out) and peach compote for the ice cream. clare also carved stamps as presents, so you can see some stamp art here.

Cousin Jeanne

A few posts ago, we got a wonderful comment - really a full-fledged letter! - from Dad's cousin, Jeanne Manzer. After corresponding a little, she was able to send me a photograph of her and her husband Bill, which I scanned onto the web site. Now, if THAT'S not a beautiful Byrne face - ! Here are my four pictures of her two pictures.

Here is what she wrote:

I'd like to introduce myself...to most of you...and then ask a question. I am your Father(Cousin Donald)'s cousin. We share the same month and day (though not year) of our births. Every year we communicate on our shared birthdays. He has given me this site address on a couple successive birthdays and I read it fairly regularly...but I sometimes feel like a phantom reader because none of you know I am following your lives...and indeed, I have never met most of you. I "met" Julie when she was younger than one year of age! I met Mary once when my husband, son, and I stopped in Annville enroute to Maine. Mary was of high school age...all the rest of you and your Mother were elsewhere. I just decided I would come "out of the closet", as it were, to let you know I follow your lives with great interest. You have a wonderfully close, delightful family spirit with mutually encouraging relationships. My question is: When you, Monica, are out traveling the world starting next January,(and by the way, Congratulations!) will you be able to keep up this site? or will one of your siblings substitute until you get back? or will your lives be on hold, waiting to burst forth again after your travels have turned to the next phase...using what you learn/experience to write a novel?

I will tell you something of myself. My husband and I live in Wyoming. My husband is a South Dakotan by birth. Earlier this month we returned to South Dakota...along with his 8 brothers and sisters to clean out the family home after the recent death of their 94 year old father. They chose to do this at the time when the small town where they were born and lived in until leaving home (pop. 350) was celebrating its Centennial. The cleaning out of the house was a major job...which you can relate to because it wasn't so long ago since you moved out of your home in Anneville. The small town where all 9 of the brothers and sisters were born and where they grew up went all out to celebrate the Centennial...and we all participated whole heartedly. I am sure you know of the informal group "The Red Hat Ladies"!?! Even in that small town they have a Red Hat Ladies Group. They decided to be part of the celebration, so they organized a Community Pot Luck Supper to begin the celebration. I believe they said there were over 600 people who attended it. Bill and I enjoyed it immensely. I had no way to make anything for the pot luck, but I brought a large cut glass bowl filled with mixed nuts...the bowl being borrowed from my Mother-in-law's estate! It went on the dessert table and the entire contents were gone by the time we left the site! I can't tell you all about me...but now you can see an example of the shape of my life.

I will gladly take the answer to my question "on line" as they say on radio talk shows. I am glad you know now that I am following you...I won't feel so much the Phantom!! Second Cousin Jeanne