Thursday, September 21, 2006

Fair Sets The Wind For British Columbia!

Right, 9.30 at night here and really time to close down. We have to get up at 4 am (why is everybody from Yarn Harlot to Ms. Knitingale getting up at 4 am lately, really I feel in good company!) to get to the airport. Fly to Amsterdam and then to Vancouver, getting in almost at the same time we leave, thanks to the delights of different time zones.

Rest assured I will miss no opportunity to update the weblog and see what you have all been up to. This is my first lengthy trip away since getting into the whole weblogging thing and I will MISS everybody.

Until we talk again, here's my very very favourite poem. You probably know it, and it's a bit hackneyed by now, I suppose, but it expresses so much.

An Old Woman Of The Roads.

Oh, to have a little house,
To own the hearth and stool and all,
The heaped up sods upon the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall.

To have a clock with weights and chains,
And pendulum swinging up and down,
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled, and white and blue and brown.

I could be busy all the day,
Cleaning and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on the shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store.

I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph.

Och! but I'm weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there's never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and track,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush.

And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying him night and day,
For a little house - a house of my own,
Out of the wind and the rain's way.

Padraic Colum.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have a wonderful trip, and buy lots of yarn. Can't wait to see what you come home with, and hear the tales of your travels.

Anonymous said...

Jo, Have a great trip, loads of good times, what with all the fiber goodness you'll be coming into contact with. Can't wait to hear all about it.
I love that poem, I do. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Have fun! Buy lots of yarn. I was doing the 4am thing last week, and boy, am I glad to be home again and on a better waking schedule.

What a sweet poem.

Anonymous said...

Bon voyage! Buon viaggio!
Have a great time and don't forget to take pictures. :)

rho said...

Can't wait to hear all about the fun times and all the yarn you find and people you meet. Have a BALL!!!

Fiberjoy said...

May your journey be filled with good people, delicious food, beautiful sights, and smooth flights and uncrowded roads.

Anonymous said...

Bon Voyage, dear Jo. May fair winds speed you on your way. High anticipation of your reports from the New World. When do you come back? Couldn't you manage to report in from the road????

Thank you for the lovely poem. I lost a dear old friend yesterday, and am thinking of reading that at her funeral tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

This time-zone thing is weird isn't it? We remember in "West-Wing" something like The President goes to Tokyo and will be back before he went ...Holly and I got brain ache even though we knew what it meant.Buy lots of scrumptious stuff bring me back the best-looking Native-American toy-boy you can find.

gwtreece said...

Have a great trip. Enjoy Vancouver. Can't wait for the updates.

Charity said...

Ooooh, here to BC! How exciting! I hope I hear from you while you're over! :0)

Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns said...

Thanks guys, you really brought me to the edge of tears with those comments. I'll keep in touch - how could I not?

Anonymous said...

oh my, i love that poem. i remember being younger (well evening my late 30s) and still not owning a home and wanting that more than anything—just a place of my very own! and then i finally bought one when i turned 40 and it made me feel very happy indeed.