Time for reflection

"Be sure to build in time for reflection." Words of advice from the Minnesota State Arts Board for planning the grant project.

 I can reflect all you want in a 400-year-old fisherman's cabin

on a private island in County Kerry, Ireland.

Especially when my bedroom looks out on this:

...the lagoon opening up to the Atlantic.

Nine Waves over the sea lies the Iberian Peninsula of Spain,

where the Gaelic people who eventually populated Ireland originated from.

This is where I wrote "Nine Waves" in 2006.

Our friends Kevin and Lori own Mermaid Isle and opened up the cottage for us. The peat fire inside, the secluded beach outside, the utter quiet. Ahhhh...reflection. And none too soon. The cough that had started creeping up on me in Lahinch had turned into viral pneumonia. 

 I spent lots of time in front of that peat fire, wrapped up in Irish wool, 

sipping hot tea and running my fingers over the strings of my little harp, 

calling up the memories of the previous two weeks.

 One afternoon, the clouds cleared and I stepped outside

into the moist cool air with the harp. 

I started humming a tune fragment, then started playing it. I added some chords, played some more, and the fragment became a song. I quickly wrote it down. Little did I know Mom was capturing the whole creative process from her perch just outside the cottage door:

Pale face, dark circles, Wild Irish hair...not my best look.

But underneath the fevered appearance, there was the contentment and deep peace and happiness that can only be found on Mermaid Isle. The visit was creatively productive, physically healing and also bittersweet. Our friends Kevin and Lori are planning to sell Mermaid Isle and move back to the states to be closer to their families and grandchildren. Got 4.5 million Euros? It's yours.