I am back in Poland now with Wiesieck, Nancy and fam having a ball. Spending the last days bouncing on trampolines and hauling large amounts of earth uphill. Some of you may have seen the new album on Lovable Quirks with pictures from my time in Germany. The family pictured are the relatives of Cathrin that we visited in Stuttgart. I had a wonderful time on that trip especially to have the opportunity to relax, enjoy manageable summer sunshine, and meet some new people. Crazily enough I am off tomorrow with fam here to Warsaw until Sunday when together with their friends and mine (those who spent hours teaching me Polish the last time) we will set off for Croatia for a two week adventure. I will continue on to Slovenia from there and they will return here to Poland. I'm not sure how long I will spend in Croatia but will then return here after a possible brief stint in Nowy Sanz in the south of Poland (many of you will remember my friends there from last August). I had planned to limit my traveling at the point of arrival but as you are reading I am not accomplishing the task.

I must note some occurrences from my bowel basher of a drive from Koln, Germany to Gdansk, Poland. The 14 hour extravenganza was littered with early bathroom stops before traveling the final seven without a single one. I remember from my years in the States the excitement around the German autobahns and on this drive the remembrances made me laugh. There was always a sense that the speed-limit-free autobahns were a chaotic free-for-all of grannies driving 120 miles per hour and the younger crowds breaking the sound barrier. Instead I had many miles of construction and the ol' Citroen chugging along with surrounding traffic doing speeds that most bicyclists would scoff at. Even in a good spot I passed a dreaded fahrschule (driver's education) student doing nearly indectable speed in a new Mercedes. I felt sorry for that car that had been built for the speeding freedom of such roads.

When I neared the Polish border I noticed the road becoming progressively worse. I'm not sure what this says about Polish-German relations but it was the only extremely poor road condition I experienced in Germany. There were weeds growing on the road's surface and bumps that caused my last twelve meals to reemerge with fury. Once across into Poland I experienced the finest road that I have seen anywhere in the country. This lasted only a short distance before I came to the less than perfect regular roads but the discrepancy was strange. The German side seemed to imply "Go no further" while the Polish side had the short distance red carpet entrance. One of the first signs of entering a different nation was the scantily clad construction workers I soon encountered. One chap was hurrying back and forth across lanes of traffic wearing only a small vest and shorts that were nonexistent without the use of magnifying glass. The sight brought eight of twelve of the previously mentioned meals back to the surface and when I saw a mile or two later that some chap had driven off the road I was not surprised. I witnessed later another driver's education student in the act of soiling himself. A full size truck made a pass on the two lane motorway and only just avoided a head on collision with the student. I have never seen before such a look of driving terror as that student had when he passed me. Since most motorways in Poland have only two lanes the frequency and aggressive nature of passing is difficult to adjust to. I was so lucky that I reached a point in driving where my energy level seemed to just coast and I was alert until I arrived here at the house and then felt utterly exhausted.

In my next two weeks in Croatia I will have little chance to email or post but as soon as possible I will again. The time alotted for relationship mean that it should be marvelous all round.

I arrived here in Germany on Tuesday after 24 exhaustive hours of travel with about three hours sleep, six hours of airport wanderings, and the consumption of two organic bars (courtesy of Tricia) that tasted and looked a little like chocolate covered pete moss but did the trick of energizing and masking the hunger. I apologize for the length of that sentence but the jet lag is still at work on the old brain. As insane as it sounds, tomorrow I will journey with Cathrin and her mommy Maria down to Stuttgart and some relatives of theirs living there. Another trip I know but one where I can relax and enjoy the drive and also meet new people so there are no complaints on my end. Beyond that, next week I shall return to Poland to prepare for a venture with my family there down to Croatia to soak up some sun and experience my favorite area of Europe through the eyes of others.

I want to describe some of the happenings of my time in Chicago and Milwaukee. My time in Chicago was spend primarily with my Uncle Tom (father's brother) for the first half and my grandmother (mother's mom who I affectionately call Gram Crackers) for the second. The time was spend relishing the opportunity to learn something of the history of my family on both sides and have quality time with my two relatives who made the most effort to remain a part of my family when we were living in Ireland. The two never let distance seperate and I will always admire their determination to stay connected with us. I spent many hours looking at old pictures and asking all kinds of questions about the whos, the whys, and the what happeneds.

My Uncle Tom and his stories always make me laugh, laugh in a way that I don't often do. I'm not sure if it is the style of the story telling or the content but I loved to listen. After the hectic and exhausting days of my last week in Phoenix this was the refreshing and relaxed time of connection that I needed before my journey to find home began again. We visited his children and other relatives, ate at marvelous restaurants (my Aunt Pat, his wife, is to be given the credit for much of this), but mostly just chatted which is what I had wished to do more than anything. Then with Gram Crackers there was plenty more visiting (cousins close to my age who I have not seen but who have grown and it was wonderful to talk with them and know of their lives) but again a majority of time to sit and enjoy relationship with her and to learn of the history of my family. Gram Crackers has kept an amazing record not only in photos but with memorobilia from her relatives and a treasure of letters from my mother during my parent's years in Europe. I read some of those letters as if opening a gold chest so excited to read about their adventures in much the same way some of you have enjoyed reading mine. Poor Gram Crackers was asked by yours truly to part with some of her treasures and was wonderful to allow me to take so many with me. I never want to come to a place in life of forgetting who I am which includes knowing the stories of those who came before me. As I said these experiences and moments of relationship were what I needed before returning here. I needed to not have a car so that I could not run around town as I did in Phoenix but just to sit and focus on one relationship at a time and not feel that pressure I had felt. This time was a gift and such that warmed and rejuvenated my heart.

Last Thursday evening my friend Tricia arrived in Chicago to pick me up (considering the weight and quantity of my bags this was such a gift) and bring me north to Milwaukee. She spent the night at Gram Crackers and then Friday after a marvelously relaxed morning we meandered on the roads north to Milwaukee along the coast of Lake Michigan. Tricia is a friend that like my sister Tara knows me so well and is one that I can chat with so easily. The time flew but in the best of ways spent chatting about so many elements of life and relationship with our creator. For a last three days this was the perfect culmination. An incredible and unusual amount of chat time and the chance to see Milwaukee in the throws of spring color and beauty. Right away Friday evening I visited with Tricia's boyfriend Tom and had a wonderful evening of fine food and hours of chatting around a fire. Tom like Tricia gives his all to relationships with people. I am overjoyed to see that Tricia has met someone who cares so deeply and lives his life with an integrity that others could model. Saturday was spent wandering Milwaukee's old neighborhoods and wondering how in the bleep Tricia ever moved from that place. The leaves on the trees had sprouted to life and shrouded beautifully the old homes each with a character and grace that I have sometimes forgotten the look of in a world of awful subdivisions (complete with their cookie cutter homes and devoid of community). I took a wealth of pictures after a relatively quiet week in that department. I took only a few pictures in Chicago considering and for what reason I don't know. The spring time beauty here had me snapping shot after shot of houses and seldomly of fire hydrants that accented roads beautifully. That is how Saturday was spent until evening when a visit to Tricia's best friend was commenced and enjoyed with glee. Her friend Amy cares for and takes an interest in her children's lives in a way that I hope I can mimic as a parent. She also has made herself a part of her community and the life therein. On Sunday we had a party for Mother's Day at Tricia's house complete with all but two of her siblings. It was so wonderful after years of talking with Tricia about them to finally meet nearly all and understand why they each mean so much to and in Tricia's life. The only difficulty in this was to once again have opportunity to start friendships with many new faces only to have to leave the following day and start the gargantuan journey earlier described. My hope is that now the door has been opened that I can return again to this place and have more time with all of the people therein, most especially a friend that has been of great support in my time traveling with her care and interest in my emotional and spiritual well being (it can be difficult to find friends whose utmost care is those areas).

I have added two new albums to Lovable Quirks for your visual enjoyment. I will do a more than usual amount of describing for the sake of my family. The first four in the Chicago album are pictures of the houses my parents lived in when they met each other. Those houses stand across the street from one another in an area called Roseland. Pictures 5-9 are first of the house my father grew up in and then of the area around it. The next six are of relatives on my dad's side. The fifth of those is of two of my cousins (grandchildren of my dad's first cousins). The sixth a picture of my second cousins Catherine and Joan on the right side sitting and the woman standing and woman sitting on the left daughters of Joan. The last in the album are of time with my grandmother and relatives on that side and I think my family will recognize all of them. The other album then is from the days in Milwaukee. The second half of those being of the Mother's Day party and then a visit to Tricia's friend Amy on the last evening. At the Mother's Day party we played a game called "Pin the heart on Mom" so that should explain a few of the party shots. Hope all of this was understood and the pictures enjoyed. I will post again after my return from Stuttgart if not before.

I hardly know where to begin trying to document over a month of activity especially as until my arrival here in Chicago I've had hardly a free moment. I attempted to prepare myself emotionally for a second departure from my family but I now know there is no preparation. The awareness that I may spend the rest of my days thousands of miles from some or all has in it no consolation. I leave there instead holding on to the priceless memories of time with each. I was there to watch Faolan take his first steps and overjoyed to hear him calling "kyer, kyer" to me from the next room and see his face light up as I run to him. Spending full days with Zaria holding her against me as she sleeps and whispering to her that she is loved. So many children enter this world with little hope of hearing those words and this uncle did not neglect the opportunity to utter them copious times. I will remember Tara waking me up in the morning with Faolan in her arms for a day-starting-chat while Faolan crawls around with exploratory euphoria. For some immediate morning chats might sound like a nightmare but for yours truly it is a honey and scones and unicycles dream. I am so grateful for the times that all of my family came together with little organization as for some to meet with one other person can take weeks of planning. To have us all together especially as our numbers continue to grow is a gift and one that we often take for granted. We forget that for millions of families time together is either to be dreaded or something that cannot be expected. There is much else that I will hold in my heart and treasure from my time on this visit but as is so often the case unless I write about something close to its happening I am unable to write about something in a way that is meaningful later. I will say that two weeks before my departure I wanted desperately to stay longer as I felt the time had passed much too quickly. More time, I thought, would make the goodbyes easier. The quoted costs to change my flights made this a non-possibility however so there was no putting off the reality of another "Adios" and "Adieu."

The most difficult aspect of my visit from an emotional standpoint was the reminder that the pace of modern lifestyle here is always to the detriment of relationships. People take relationships for granted because this world has them chasing after so many other things. I was run ragged in my last week in Phoenix trying to visit and see everyone. I started asking why people cannot feel the urgency to have time with someone before the opportunity is about to run out. We can so easily get used to someone being around and then when they are gone we wonder why we didn't spend the time when we still could. It just angers me that we've allowed ourselves to be convinced to chase a thousand temporary satisfactions rather than fully invest in relationships with the people around us. Late last week I attended concerts two straight nights and realized after that I needed such activity to escape the pressure I felt to chase after people to spend time with me before I went. Quality time with others is the only thing I really now crave and to have been robbed of that in the earlier weeks when I had more time became too much. Just to go and be entertained by live music was about all the energy I could muster. I left Phoenix exhausted physically and emotionally and appreciate now in Chicago to be more relaxed though I continue to visit my more distant relatives here. I don't want any to think that takes away from the tremendous joy I experienced in the moments and intimacy of my time home but it was the reality that left me tired enough to sleep on the plane coming here to Chicago (something I can almost never do).

The new albums on Lovable Quirks are a little out of order. The fourth one down is pictures from last Saturday's going away party for me. We were all together at Tara's for one last hoorah that meant the world to this weary fellow on that day. I cannot expect that such a gathering will be possible for some time and in those hours I could not have asked for more. On up are various albums of fam and friends and in those top two pictures of me with my precious nieces and nephews. More is to come soon I hope to share about my time here in Chicago and perhaps more from time in Phoenix.