I had given up on ‘surprise’. Didn’t really want any more. Had enough.

But, what about this. I just got an email from a lady from Co. Donegal who said that she had heard about Pádraig’s accident in the journal.ie. Turns out, she also had studied Irish in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and was Rúnaí of the Cumann Gaelach. She says that all of her kids speak Irish and that she has taught the language to many people since 2001. She writes, “Yes, Pádraig’s dream of having everyone everywhere speak Irish can become a reality!” Now comes the truly amazing thing: she wrote from Cleveland, Ohio, where she lives with her husband and Irish-speaking children.

I think it was when we brought Pádraid to Kentucky that we spent a few hours in Cleveland, one of the few cities in the US that has more ethnic Germans than Irish! During those long days of driving, Pádraig insisted in his nice but somewhat uncompromising way to play his music. It was all in Irish and he sang along with it. For hours. Carefully phrased questions, and then more forceful insistence on playing some of ‘my’ music for a change, were not really that welcome. Then, I got a bit annoyed – looking back, I now would listen to any music for any length of time; and only now have I understood what it then had meant to him, spending hours recording all these Irish songs and Irish versions of English songs, waiting for days and weeks for those days that we were driving – and then being asked whether we could listen to the Stones and Dylan for a change!

Beannachtaí ó Chleveland! – Still can’t believe it.

Pádraig had another great day today, sitting out in his wheelchairs and using the speech valve non-stop during the day. It is fabulous to see how his oxygen levels are so much better with the speech valve than they had ever been before. There is no suctioning at all during the day. Whatever there is in his throat, he coughs it up, and settles back down. This is such good progress! And there isn’t really any obvious reason for him not to use it around the clock, and then, eventually and if it all works out, to get rid of the tracheostomy altogether.

We were driving up to Tating to check on the post and other stuff, together with a friend who is visiting Pádraig. Just skimming through the local paper, he spotted an amazing headline about a drone causing surprise and anger on a Northern Germany Beach – not any beach, but one the Germans call FKK for ‘Freikörperkultur’ which is just another word for nudist beach. Who were those people flying the drone over the beach?  Was it the NSA now not just listening to Angela’s phone but also watching the German brothers’ and sisters’ most intimate and private affairs? They came up with some pretty lame excuse, saying that it was a drone rented by a building surveyor – yes, that sounds reasonable:)!

Today’s Music Tip
Pur, Wenn Sie diesen Tango hört. A song about a widow, who is lonely, watches a lot of TV, but remembers the good old times when she hears this Tango playing.
What’s hot
Speech valve all day
What’s cold
Suctioning
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Aufregung um Drohne über FKK Strand