Video!

At last I've time to update this poor, neglected blog.
I hope you all had a happy, peaceful and healthy Christmas time. My mantra, as this busy time, has been "it's a season, not a day" and it's been a great help to know that whatever didn't get done in time for 25th. might get done on another day! Or might not!

So, after an interval of over a month, New Ross JFK memorial is today's topic.
It didn't go quite as expected, but well enough. A friend travelled down with me, but we got lost en route and instead of arriving 30 minutes before a rehearsal/runthrough, we arrived 15 minutes before the actual performance. I was quite upset, and felt rushed and not in control, and of course this caused the little mishap that followed.
Taking my Horn out of the case, I let it fall and now have 2 horrible dents which will have to be fixed. Thankfully, they do not seem to unduly affect the sound, as I couldn't leave it in to be fixed because I needed it to play!

In all this chaos, I forgot to ask my friend to video the performance, so all I have is a photo, but it is a precious one.

This is just after the performance, with Vincent, the composer. You can see the JFK memorial and eternal flame in the background, and to the right of the picture is the spot where JFK made his quayside speech when he visited New Ross in 1963, just a few months before he was assassinated.
I asked Vincent to autograph my music, and he wrote the most beautiful words, telling me how proud he is of my achievements and the musical journey I am on! 

The piece was played again in the National Concert Hall the following Tuesday, and I got a piece of video so you could hear it. I'm not playing, but I'm a proud Mamma cos Zoe is playing tuba in it! I found that I had to turn up the volume on my laptop to hear it, so I hope it will work for you.

There have been several other musical adventures in December, more to follow.

Harvest and Autumn

I've been having some fantastic walks and blackberry foraging expeditions with my friend Patricia.
We discovered a lovely little patch, very close to where both of us live, and it has been so much fun to pick the berries, chat, then go home and make jam and crumbles!

Even a handful of berries livens up an apple crumble! I use eating apples, then it needs very little sugar.

The same friend invited me to a Hallowe'en "Samhain" (Irish word for Hallowe'en) party. I wasn't sure if it would be my kind of thing, all I knew was that there would be a bonfire and that it was alcohol-free. I decided to give it a go, as everyone else had plans, so a party was definitely better than sitting home alone!

It was about 40 minutes drive from Dublin, down winding country roads, but we got there just fine.
A beautiful sweeping driveway led to a huge, well-lit house, and as we parked, people were assembling and greeting each other. We registered and paid, then went and had a cuppa.

We were invited to write out something we'd like to let go of, wrap it around a twig and offer it up to the fire. That's my twig in the picture above!
About 8.30, everyone was invited outside for the bonfire ceremony, and my word, what a bonfire! I've never seen one so big, or so well built. It lit first go, and flames licked the sides and in seconds it was a well established and warm fire.

 We all put our little twigs on the fire, stood and chatted for a while, and listened to some drumming.

Then there was dancing in a huge room in the house, and a lovely looking butternut squash curry with jasmin rice. Oh, and chocolate brownies! And more tea!

The dancing was electric! It was hard to believe that it was an alcohol free scene, and there were people of all ages. We really enjoyed dancing to the rock beat, and when we got tired there were some bean bags to relax on. I took the above photo from my bean bag! The muslin with autumn leaves was a very effective decoration.

We explored the house a little too: it's used as a Shamanic healing centre, and they had massages and other things on offer in the beautiful rooms.

Just like Cinderella, we had to leave the ball at 12.00, as Patricia had to collect her daughter and friends from a disco.
We certainly enjoyed the night; I was so glad I had accepted the invitation!

Culture Night

Just home from a most amazing night.

The orchestra I play with, who rehearse just once a month (as opposed to Band, which is twice a week!), were invited to play in Castletown House for Culture Night.

Culture Night is a fairly new phenomenon in Dublin, where lots of places open their doors/ hold events free of charge. Buildings that are normally closed to the public open up for the evening too. There is always a great buzz around the city, and the country too, as the popularity of it has spread nationwide now.
Below is a picture of the beautifully restored Hunting Room, where we played.

We played in Castletown last year too. This year was even more special for me! We had been working on Beethoven's 7th symphony for much of last year. It is very challenging, even for great players. The 2nd movement featured in The King's Speech. We played it at our summer concert in June, in a church in Co. Kildare.
But this time, the 1st Horn guy was unavailable, so I was on my own, which to me is terrifying.
 However, I decided to "feel the fear and do it anyway", got down to some serious practice over the past 2 weeks, and did it!

Castletown is a most beautiful place; the grounds are amazing, and it's just 30 minutes drive from my house!

 I went straight from work, so had about 20 minutes to walk around and take these pictures.

 Isn't it beautiful?

Lest you think it's all meadows, peace and quiet, there is a small airport nearby, so planes are overhead if you care to take notice!

I am so thrilled to have played a very difficult piece of music, and solo Horn! All the work was certainly worth it, and has given me a  new-found confidence.
On a high!!! And once again, I reflect on and express gratitude for, this marvellous musical journey that I am on. It has already taken me to places I would only have ever dreamed of, and I have made fantastic friendships along the way.
There is no destination here, it's all about the journey. A good philosophy for life!

Don't know where to start, but here goes..

It ironic that I hadn't time all summer to write a post, barely had time to comment, and now that school's back, and band's back, found time! So much to catch up on, better make a start.

Hubby and I had a lovely Italian holiday in June. We had a Silver Wedding anniversary, and coincidentally our flight was that day, and even better, there was a performance of Aida in the Arena in Verona. Yippee! Got a train from Milan to Verona.

It was very little extra to go 1st class, so we did, and free Prosecco was included! yay for Italian trains!

What better annniversary food than pizza. Delicious!
This is where our luck ran out.

As we began to eat our food, the rain began, and did not stop all night.









There was water running down the street, like a little stream.

There was great debate as to whether the opera would begin, and we got all the detail: if it doesn't start, you get a refund, but sometimes it starts, stops a few minutes later, maybe restarts, and so on. In this case, no refund!
We made our way over to the Arena, which was full of excitement, people wondering if it would start.

We waited half an hour, but the rain showed no sign of letting up, so we went back to our hotel.
Next morning, the sun was shining again. The opera had not started. Wise decision to go home!
To be continued....
I'm not sure what Blogger is doing to my pics, will try to rectify this tomorrow!

Read Only

Life has been a whirlwind, and my blogging has really suffered. I've been a terrible blogger recently, posts only whirling round in my head, never making it to the keyboard!

(this picture is of a glass of Cava!)

I'm still enjoying reading your blogs, and commenting when I can.

Hoping to be back with some posts soon. In the meantime, I hope you're all enjoying this amazing summer.
Last one like this I remember, it was the summer before my (now 17 y/o!) son was born, and my 2 little girls, then 2 and 3 y/o, spent every day in the back garden, swinging, sliding, paddling. Most days, we'd have some friends over, and what a blissful time we had. Endless days of blue skies and summer fun!

These days, they barely go outside the back door, the garden is mostly used by me, and I enjoy pottering, clipping, watering.

See you all soon, I hope!

Sunshine and holidays! At last!

We've had some lovely days here in the last couple of weeks.

When I see a beautiful sky, the words of W B Yeats always come into my head "Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, enwrought with gold and silver light". I thought of cropping the wires etc out of this one, but decided that they give it reality.

 I thought the shadows on these buildings looked eerie, though I love this stretch of Stephen's Green.

 And this was eerie; there was hardly anyone around, at only 9pm!

"Tread softly because you tread on my dreams".
School's out since Friday! I thought it would never come- the last couple of weeks have been incredibly busy, but some more dreams have come true too. More on that in the next post.

A Race, and Rose Petal Butterfly Buns

It's been a busy couple of weeks here.

2 weeks ago, daughter was  stewarding at a rowing race, so Hubby and I went along for a look.

We didn't get to see her, but we did see some cool boats.
They're bigger than I thought up close

We had a "Country Fair" in school last week, organised by a group who are following a vocational programme of horticulture, woodwork, cookery and I.T. They had lots of games, a mobile farm, a falconry display and some cake competitions (for staff!).

Initially I thought I would make something for the Novelty Cakes section, but then I knew I wouldn't have time, so I entered the Taste section with plain old butterfly buns. For filling, I used my Rose Petal Jam, and cream. The recipe is a very easy, all-in-one method that I have used countless times over the years when baking for school cake sales.

Well, guess what? They WON!!!!! First prize!
( I know it's all about taking part, but I love to win! Others clearly do too, because the competition was huge...chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, pavlovas, profiteroles....)

We're now just 4 weeks away from summer holidays, and I can't wait!
The sun finally made a decent appearance this weekend, and I did loads of gardening...of course I'm exhausted and stiff now!