August 2023
As I look out the window, the sky and the sea are almost the same colour. It's hard to see where one starts and the other ends, a little like life’s beginnings and ends. The hummingbirds are challenging each other to fight to the death by the sugar water feeder we hung on the old barn, but inside the house, it is quiet for the first time in weeks. I’m not sure I like it.
It’s been a summer to remember, for good reasons and, and not so…
My greatest fan (sometimes), my daily phone call buddy, my distant mechanic (don’t forget to put oil in the John Deere and check the engine for squatter mice), my this my that my — well, my most things really — my Dad passed away on July 14th in Dublin, the city of his birth.
Perhaps some of you knew him. He really loved the friends of mine he met, like Pat and Michael in Mering, Gabi and Werner in Heusenstamm, Katja and Gregor in Eppstein, Jan from BSG, Martin near Marbach, Romy and Martha and Bruno in Switzerland, and Michael and Ellen in Taunnestein, who impressed him for years after by driving us home 75 kilometres in the wrong direction for them! If I’ve missed out people, forgive me.
He travelled with me to shows occasionally in Germany, and he and my mom once came to see me in Switzerland (he loved it but he never forgot the price of everything there).
I took him with me to Frankfurt to the Music Messe — I nearly killed him with all the walking. Sorry, Dad.
He had been sick of course, but you never can be truly ready for that finality. Strangely but somehow feeling normal, his family (me and my children) on the other side of the Atlantic pond watched him leave via Skype. Since the pandemic, it seems every rite of passage can be comfortably viewed via a screen these days.
Louise and I flew to Dublin for the wakes (two days and two nights where he was never left alone) and funeral. I was lucky to have two of my dearest friends in the world with me, which made it bearable.
Lou and I flew home, leaving my poor mom to navigate the abyss, but not alone, as thankfully my brother lives with her, and my sister and her family are only a 25-minute drive away.
We landed in Halifax Nova Scotia to the worst floods in memory. We were 17 hours at the airport, joined by our son and his wife who had flown in from Toronto for the first Nova Scotian O’Brien Family gathering.
We left Vancouver Island (sigh) in May 2017. Arrived in Nova Scotia in June, rented two houses, bought another two, and now, since October 2020, we live in an renovated 1870s cottage on the Bay of Fundy.
It was so great to have our three children here in our new house, with the grand-daughters and partners, except for Gianna who sadly for us was finishing her Masters back in Berlin. But congratulations Gianna on a brilliant achievement!
We had a wonderful week and even squeezed in a family show, our first gig since December 2019. Big thanks to Janet Larkman at the Kings Theatre in Annapolis for the invite. The show was crowned by the youngest member of the band (Orla, almost 3) who joined us on stage for a delightful version of Baby Beluga.
Yesterday, I dropped Fin back to Halifax Airport, the others having previously left, and now he is home in Berlin, getting ready to put out his brilliant new songs.
I am getting ready for the Fall Tour. I know in my heart it will be different, because I was always calling Dad and telling him about the shows, and that won’t be the case anymore. I know it will be difficult because I have songs I sing about him (not sure I will manage Oregon Sky this time round) but I’m really happy to be out on the road.
The tour begins, unusually for me, in Ireland. My first proper solo show EVER! September 8th in Glenbeigh County Kerry. I will also do my very first school workshop in Ireland, in Kildare, at my nephews school, cheers Mikey (commission is in the post).
I’ll be playing at some of my favourite places again, like the Kanapee in Hannover, and the Land Cafe in ‘little’ Kerpen in the Eiffel. And new places too, please check out the dates.
Thankyou all again for being there, you mean so much to me.
At the service for my Dad I read some words out from a song I had written about him years ago (“Chariot of Love” - lyrics below). The song was inspired by the best Christmas present I ever received (and there were many good ones, an Ovation guitar for one!).
The present was a fully working motor go-kart that he had built in his spare time after 12 hour shifts, top speed around 40 mph. My brother Aidan and I were thrilled, him not so much when I crashed it hours later…. But we are back on speaking terms now.
Chariot of Love.
Dad, you never wrote a song for me
But, then I never asked you to,
It would have wrung with wisdom words,
If maybe not the sweetest tune
You never drew my youthful gaze
Or lay a simile upon a page
But looking back I know it’s true
You gave me everything you knew
With hands that always seemed to be
Blackened by the factory
The arms that catch us when we fall
In those oily Dunlop overalls
You always walked a straight road
And you always took the heavy load
No-one ever asked you to
You gave me everything you knew
So now, Dad, I’m standing in your shoes
And there’s times Im lost without a clue
To pass on what I’ve learned in time
Seems so little in my mind
But I only hope that down the line
When my time it comes to step aside
They’ll say the same
As I said for you
That he gave us everything he knew
I will ride that chariot of love
To know the Father that you were
With my hands around the wheel
Like a prince you made me feel
When I ride my chariot of love
