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Happy New Year <:firstname:>!

I'm back from a wonderful holiday break. Three weeks in Europe and every bit of it was magical. I spent a lot of time writing, took scores of pictures, ate, drank, and had a blast. Now I'm back trying not to go back to my usual routine.

I was successful at sending out all my postcards, so if you asked for one, you should be getting it in a few days.

I haven't yet posted all my stories of the trip. I'm gonna try to write some of the trip up this weekend and post some pictures. So stay tuned.

MY ITALIAN PETS
It was a delight to see my pets in Italy. I have four: two Pekingneses and two cats. Leah and Betta are the Pekes and were as sweet as ever. Leah is getting so old though. She's deaf and partially blind, but still as beautiful and a loving lap dog as ever. Betta is bouncy and loves to have her back rubbed. You should see the look of bliss on her face and see her smacking lip when you rub her back. It's beautiful

Mama is the newest member to adopt my mom. She's been with her a few years. Last time I visited, she would have nothing to do with me. Now, she's finally starting to accept me.

Coco is the grandmother of the group. She's 19 years old and looking it. She sleeps most of the time and has stopped cleaning her fur so she absolutely LOVED it when I would take the time to rub her chin or pet raggedy old coat.

CAT DRINKING SONGS FARK FEATURE
I was really taken a-back over the holidays when I stopped by my website and saw that my Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers website was featured on on FARK.COM. I had over 23,000 hits on to my website that week while it was featured there.

You should go read the comments. It's fascinating. I'd say 80% of the people thought the idea was stupid! That's brilliant because the others Adored the idea. It just goes to show if you know your target audience, you can't go wrong.

What's extra cool is now the site is popping up all over the place, featured by various websites including a PeopleSound.com, a website in Europe for free music downloads.

LISTEN TO MY ITALIAN INTERVIEW ON SUNDAY, Jan 9
Do I really speak Italian? There's one way to find out. Listen to an interview I did and find out.

While I was visiting a friend in the Umbria region of Italy (east of Rome), I was interviewed for a Celtic radio program there. The program airs Sunday at 9pm Italian time, or 2pm Central Standard time like in Austin. The program lasts for two hours, and I believe the middle portion will feature yours truly.

You can listen to it by visiting http://www.mepradio.it/ on Sunday and clicking the "ON AIR" link on the left.

MOUNTAIN RAIN DISCOVERED
I was blown away to discover that when last I came to Italy two years ago, I left some CDs, including four copies of Mountain Rain. That was a CD I put together for MP3.com. It features a couple songs that are now on Soul of a Harper, plus songs from my first CD, Geography and a few other tracks.

I have no plans to re-release this CD, so if you want a copy, order quickly. The CD won't be around for long.

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Many blessings and a great new year, Slainte!
-Marc

Swiss Snow
by Marc Gunn, December 19, 2004

I took a train through the Swiss Alps and was blown away by the gorgeous whiteness of snow. It left me daydreaming.

Blossoms of white
On frozen trees of browwn.
There's a fine powder
Blinding and unwinding
As the soft sun pokes through
The weary winter haze.

A bird lights soft on a branch,
Hard enough to send
A shower of white rain from the branches
Onto my head.

Pure bliss.
Bathing in cold snowy showers
From these wintery flowers
Admidst Europe's white towers.

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Happiness Is An Italian Cafe
There's really nothing like sitting out in an Italian cafe eating gelato and drinking capuccio and watching people walk by on a market day.

Listen now!
"Liquid Sunshine"
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only 4 copies available!

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