a lazy post

I'm really, really tired this week.

Been thinking about a new post, but just couldn't come up with anything, then Kerri had a beautiful photo with a cute quote and , hey ho! here's a post!

This fridge magnet was given to me by my dear friend Cee, who lives in Brussels. I think of her every time I open my fridge! It says "there is nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend who brings chocolate", and she always brings the most delicious Belgian chocolates, but even if she didn't, I would be delighted to see her. She's been living in Brussels for 10 years, I see her about 4 times a year, we talk and email every couple of weeks, but I still miss her very much, and look forward to when they come home, whenever that is!
The first photo is edited, in sepia with camerawesome. I really like that app a lot!

 I do not like the new blogger, how do other people feel about it?
I had already turned the bottom photo in my files, but for some reason blogger has decided to post it in the original form?????

Settling down

Life is settling down after the huge challenge (musically and timewise!) of playing in the Band Championships.
Of course, no sooner is one event over, than another sidles up to take its place, and we are very busy in school with an open day coming up.

I did manage to get a lovely long walk in at the weekend, and this tree brightened my spirits! Wouldn't mind that car either! And the blue sky is, of course, a delight!I love when people plant flowers on the grass verge outside their house. Must try to do that next spring! Pretty!


This road very close by has these beautiful cherry blossom trees lining both sides, and it is just gorgeous for these few weeks, like driving under a canopy of blossoms, so I was thrilled to snap a few shots with my phone. It was hard to get one without a car blocking a bitof the view.
I was playing around with the Cameraawsome app, and got this stormy effect from CleanX, though a rain shower was just beginning as I took the photo. I like how the phone lines make it even more fierce looking! The sweeping clouds are not an edit item though, they really were there and they opened just as I reached home again.

Have a lovely week everyone!

Championships!

What a weekend! It was fantastic!

Thank you all so much for your supportive comments, and you were right, I had nothing to worry about. The playing went very well I played a lot more than I expected to be able to, and I was very happy with that. I had a terrible sleep on Thursday night, very anxious and worried about the whole thing, and when I went on stage (leading in the French Horns!! Thrill for me as 4th Horn!) , all my nerves had been worked through! I enjoyed the experience more than I ever thought possible; the only thought in my head was "this is something new and wonderful, so enjoy the moment" and I did!

But moreso, I got to know the people in the band a lot better, and we had so much fun! It was a great bonding weekend, and I think we'll be laughing and reminiscing for many a long time to come.
I brought a camera but never got a chance to take it out of the bag (good sign!), so these 2 photos are from my iPhone with the CameraAwesome app. The first is through the window of the B&B where I stayed (look at that blue sky! it was raining by the time I got back to Dublin), and the 2nd is Early Morning on the streets of Cork, as I walked back to the train station.

Oh, I almost forgot to say...we got 1st place in our section, and also our Tubas got best section cup too! So, a great weekend all round!

Happy Easter! with egg platter

I hope everyone who celebrates it is having a lovely Easter, lots of eggs etc!
I'm one week into Easter holidays and it's just bliss! Had lunch with friends, went to visit my sister, and caught up with her, my brother, niece and a few friends over a lovely dinner.
And today we met Hubby's sister for lunch. It's their first Easter without their Mum, and we thought it would be nice to get together. We had a lovely meal, in "The Purple Onion", half-way between us, so not too long a journey for anyone.
2nd Daughter came with us, which was fun. The Purple Onion is close to my home town, so I gave Daughter a guided tour of my childhood home town; she was not very interested!

Last night, I made a couple of Easter treats for Eldest (vegan) Daughter.

These truffles are so easy, and quite healthy too! You just match the weight of chocolate with a little less in mls of this oat cream. I used 30g chocolate to about 20ml cream, which made a few truffles to go around the egg, pictured above.
Heat the cream, break the chocolate into little pieces and add into the cream, mix& refridgerate for half an hour.
Then make into little balls - I used a melon baller I've had from about 25 years ago when melon balls in Creme de Menthe was a fashionable starter. Does anyone remember this starter?Then you roll the chocolate truffle balls in the coating of your choice- icing sugar, cocoa powder, chopped nuts. Easy! Delicious!

Finished platter:I'm practising a lot now for next weekend's Band Championships, trying to improve my play and reach a stage where I'm playing most of the part. I was supposed to have someone else playing the part with me, but now I'm on my own on 4th horn, agh! at one point I'm the only horn playing, so I have to get that bit right.
I have planned to upload an audio or video of the music from The Sound of Music, in the next few days. Just need a few minutes to get it in the right format!

Behind the Parade 2 and Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It's turning into a busy weekend of celebrating, all packed in.
I hope all you Mothers are being spoiled and given lots of treats!

I can't believe this is my 3rd year of "Behind the Parade" from Dublin! To see PART ONE of this year's offering, click HERE!
Spotted on the way home: €10 for dinner and a pint- not a bad deal! I like the rainbow and bottle bin at the bottom of the poster too!
This band were setting up as I was on my way home, not much of an audience, but maybe later. The red building behind them houses The Bretzel, a fantastic Jewish bakery, we sometimes call there on Sundays for delicious breads and muffins, yum!
After all that waiting and cheering, all kids wanted some ice-cream..This is the bit I don't like- lots of litter and cans thrown on pavements. I don't understand why people do this when there are lots of litter bins around.
Cute huddle outside Government Buildings
Car with decoration, and sweeping truck on the clean-up routine...
On the way home, I passed a well-known knick-nack shop, Christy Bird's in Portobello, and he had some interesting pieces in the window.
An interesting combination!The Guinness toucan, remember him?

I've never before seen a green Bakelite phone!

I had a lovely vista pic, which is on my way back home, but deleted it by mistake. Why doesn't blogger have an undo button?
Hope you all had a good day, and I'll be around to visit later!

Behind the Parade 1

Happy St. Patrick's Day !
I made my usual trip in to the Parade to snap some photos.
This year's crop is not great, mainly cos I left it quite late to go in, thinking I would catch people as they were coming away from the Parade.
What I found was that it was difficult to get into the atmosphere, and hence difficult to ask people to pose , or for permission to take their photos.

This pub was well ready!
People were busy, on phones or chatting to their friends, looking lovely in their tricoloured shorts!
taking in the atmosphere and taking photos!
Multitasking!
There were lots of face painters around, and after I uploaded the photos, I thought the shop window in the background of this one was very pretty.

Remember my friends from last year, Suas-Education for all? They were busy painting again!

Another donation and another pose!
I think this beard is flying a bit low!

The blurred bit to the right of these 2 green-headed lads is actually a ride going by!
These two were beside a sign for a ride that read "children must be with a responsible adult"...would these qualify as either?
More tomorrow, hope you're all having a great day!

Busy Busy

Life has been very hectic these last few weeks. That's why I haven't had time to post.

I've been giving a course on "Aromatherapy for you and your Family"; this is my first time to teach a course, and I'm loving it! I also wrote the material, and even though it was hugely time-consuming, I learned lots and got a lot of satisfaction from doing it this way.

Each week, I incorporated an inspirational quote, and also a recipe that used essential oils. I made up the recipe and we ate it with a cuppa at the end of class.

I was blessed in that a friend, who wanted to do the course, offered her beautiful, cosy dining room. This meant that she didn't have to hire a babysitter, and I didn't have to prepare a room in my house!
Last week each person blended their own hand cream, using the knowledge they had gained in the previous 4 weeks. We had so much fun! The course should be finished now, but we were all enjoying ourselves so much that we decided to do one extra week, this Wednesday.

Musically, things are also hectic. In band, we are preparing for the National Band Championships. I had hoped to not participate, as I still feel very new and quite overwhelmed in the band, but they kindly wanted me to be part of it, so that means a lot of practice for me, as I'm really challenged with the pieces. I think they'd do much better in the competition without me, but they're including me, which is really nice! It's in Cork, so it will also involve a night away;that should be fun, getting to know everyone a bit better.
On the plus side, it makes for good progress.
The music doesn't look too bad, till you read the fine print! The fine differences in articulation, the fact that some of it is played as a speed of 176, yikes, I find it hard to keep up, my lips and fingers are nearly on fire! The end of the piece below is a Gallop, and it's literally like horses in a steeplechase! Dih,dididih,dididih and so on!Finally, we had an orchestra rehearsal this afternoon, as we have a big concert coming up in April. We were divided into sections, and it was brilliant! More on that later..