Seaweed Chronicles

Band Camp January 2010

OK, so this is totally out of order but I'm getting caught up.  These are pictures from the recent full-day band camp we held. We've got competitions coming up, people.  Including a huge one in Scotland!

Snow Day

OK, so chances are that, since it was a weekend day, I would have been at home most of the day anyway.  But the weather today was indeed frightful.  Sideways-blowing heavy snow most of the day, temps around 25.  There was no chance of going anywhere.  And I very much enjoyed that.  Am still enjoying it.  A few pics from around the house today:

Notes on a Pending Blizzard, February 5, 2010

We're likely to get anywhere from 2 to 22 inches of snow during the next 2 days.  Too much. My thoughts?

- I'm prepared to hibernate.  I'm reading a few books right now, I need to practice piano, and there's cooking to be done.  Turkey meatloaf on Saturday, chili and buffalo chicken dip for Super Bowl Sunday.

- Speaking of Sunday, Go SAINTS.  I have money riding on this game.

- Also on the schedule:  researching more about our Scotland trip this summer.   Plane tickets are purchased and we are in the final stages of booking transport, tours, etc. 

- I am NOT studying this weekend. I have been doing that almost every weekend for a year and this weekend I'm taking a break.  Oooo rah.

- Much as I love my current job, I would prefer to cook for a living.  Just couldn't stand the hours.  

- I've discovered (again) listening to books while I'm driving.  Right now I'm halfway through "The Boleyn Inheritance," sequel to "The Other Boleyn Girl."  It's awesome listening, particularly for a former history scholar. 

- Also in progress:  Breaking Dawn (the last of the Twilight quad), The Road (didn't see the movie), a few books on India, Scotland, Whiskey, Modoc (an elephant love story), a book on penquins, a book on seahorses, and a couple'a poetry books (including the amazing Paul Guest).

- I never had ADD as a kid but, boy, do I have it now.  My attention span is 10 minutes max, and I have to have 25 things going at a time.  Except conversations. And TV.  Noise.  I don't need that very much.

- People around here ask me if I'm REALLY a Saints fan when I'm walking around with my Number 9 jersey on.  Ummmm, nah.  I just decided to spend $50 on a shirt because it has a fleur-de-lis on it.  But here's the real deal:  I had an awesome four-day weekend in March of 2005, right before the summer Katrina hit.  There were some amazing women involved, and it was a beautiful city that I didn't get to see enough of.  I resolved to see more.  And then, five months later, it was destroyed by Katrina.  That's right about when I threw my devotion and football loyalty behind The Saints. Whatever happens, they are the winners! 

Happy Birthday, Robbie!

Today's Robbie Burns' birthday, but we celebrated yesterday with much pomp and circumstance (and ale and scotch) as usual.  This year, I finally tried the Haggis.  In fact, several of us lost our Haggis Virginity yesterday.  It wasn't as painful as I expected.  In fact it tasted quite like corned beef hash, impossibly.   Here are pictures from the festivities and to top off an awesome day, the Saints won their playoff game. 

  

George's Judgement Day

I had the misfortune, or pleasure, or honor . . . honestly not sure what to call it . . . of attending George Whitmore's Memorial Service this evening. He was the father of one of my best friends in life (she being a canoe trip member!).  He was my divorce attorney.  He was also a great wit, a huge personality, a brilliant mind, a lover of Airedale Terriers.  And he died this week at age 73 which is really way too early considering. 

Here's one of my favorite George stories. I find it hard to believe I wrote this six years ago, about an incident that occurred probably twice that long ago.  

St. George vs. The Bicyclist. 

Serendipitous Saturday

What an awesome flea-market kind of find I found today.  A bunch of old Irish or Irish-related LPs.  In the back room of an Irish shop near us, at $5 each. Lookie!

This one has beautiful cover art, and holds 18 songs recorded by different artists in 15 counties in Ireland.  It was produced by Martin Costello of Banshee Records based in Newark, NJ.

Next up is Folk Dance Music of Ireland with Johnny Powell and his Band.  The photo on the cover is of a cottage in Wexford.  Some of the songs include "If There Weren't Any Women in the World," "Little Burnt Potato," and "Humors of Whiskey."  Kind of has something in common with country music, don'tcha think?  My woman left, I can't cook to save my life, I'm drowning my sorrows.  

Next up is Come to the Ceili:  Favorite Irish Dances, featuring the Gallowglass Ceili Band.  (If you weren't already aware, Ceili is pronounced KAYlee.)   Featured songs, reminding me very much of my teen years, include "I Won't Be a Nun," "Boolavogue," and "Smash the Windows."  It's got a shamrock (!) shaped cutout on the cover allowing you to preview the spiffy couple inside.  The cover:

The inside, below, notes that the Spiffy Couple (aka "Dancers") were courtesy of McNiff School of Irish Dancing, and that the musicians, "have been keeping toes tapping around Naas, County Kildare, for many a year."  And I'll bet the have, by golly gee.

The one below, A musical Taste of Ireland, has a beautiful reproduction of a watercolor print by Eric Patton on the front.  It features the singing of Paddy Noonan accompanied by the Irish Light Orchestra.  It's dated 1980.

And I can't decide which of the next two is my favorite of the lucky lot.  For those who know me, this one's very appropriate, I believe.

A closer look at some of the original songs included:

The back cover includes information on Kennedy's life and his ties to Ireland.  At bottom (out of the range of this picture) are details about the songs on the LP.  "The Ballad of Jack Kennedy" was composed in honor of President Kennedy's election.  The "Death of a Hero" is a poem "written and spoken by Irish housewife model Susan Murray of Liexlip, Co. Kildare" and "is reputed to have been published in every English-speaking country in the world.  Mrs. Murray, who had never written anything previously, wrote it on the day of President Kennedy's funeral."  Wow. (That's her picture at upper right.)
As cool as the Shamrock Kennedy Tribute album is, I think I do like the last one best of all.  It is a recording of Eamon de Valera's March 17, 1947 Broadcast to America.  Eamon was perhaps THE most important person in Ireland's 20th century.   Here's the cover:

His history as of 1947 is inside.  You can also see that this is a true, original type of  78 RPM Record Album, with multiple pages (sleeves).  It pre-dates vinyl. 

Here's some detail of the label (there are two albums marked Parts One through Four):

And as a bonus, there was an extra disc in the back of this album, unsleeved, containing four hits by the Mickey Carton Orchestra.  Here's one side:

And here's t'other:

Wow, sorry about that flash glare.  Anyway, awesome find, this whole collection was.  And now that I appear to have a new collectible hobby, I'm heading off to eBay. 

 
  

Auld Lang Syne

OK, so 2009 wasn't so bad.  It wasn't so good, either but I hesitate to say good riddance to it lest that gesture jinx me for next year.  So, hmmmm, a little reminiscing?

January:   This was the month my fascination for taking pictures of dead birds was born.  And my favorite guy turned 200. 

February:  My fashion sense sunk to a whole new low.  Previously just oblivious to trends and labels, in this month, I took active steps to defy good taste.  On the bright side, there was our Burns Supper, always a highlight of the winter if not the whole year.  And a Sussex Spaniel won Best In Show at Westminster.

March:  Oh, the High Holy Month.  Parades galore, the Philly Phlower Show, more dead bird photo opportunities,  and my abduction by aliens a pipe and drum band.  

April:  Wow, this was a big month.  I got new shoes, went to band camp,  and finally got a photo published in a major magazine.  Look out Nat'l Geo, here I come!

May:  I made my debut with the band!  This might also have been the month during which I accidentally put the litterbox lid on backwards one morning after cleaning the box, which meant that the door (aka the only opening) was facing the wall in back and couldn't be accessed, and when I got home from work about 12 hours later both cats were sitting in front of the box with their back paws crossed looking at me saying "YOU IDIOT" with their laser beam stares.  But I didn't get any pictures of that so you'll just have to imagine how funny it was. 

June:  I think it was around this point that the scales for 2009 really started tipping away from the "Sweet" side to the "Sucks" side. I did get another good dead bird photo.  Actually, we had a bunch of good days on that vacation but it is still that illness I got that defines the week for me. 

July:  Oh, wait.  There WAS a month worse than June.  I was still sick, we cancelled our summer family vacation, our band came in last in our first competition,  I fainted after a hot parade.  That is all. 

August:  Technically, I got my new car in July (the 31st) but didn't begin enjoying it until August.  Here, at December 31st, I'm about to turn 15K miles . . .

September:  We're tipping back a little towards the "Sweet" side this month.  Murphy adopted us, for one thing.  She is still here daily, but after a miserable failed attempt at getting her to be an indoor car, we have decided to continue living on Murphy's terms, with her firmly outdoors.  And no thanks to Facebook, I was reconnected with a friend I'd thought long as-well-as-dead.  Miraculous  Finally, a new tradition was started. 

October:  Well for starters, I died.  Then I went to Virginia for a few days. And then I died again.   

November:  Perhaps the toughest month of this year.  But I met some really awesome people and shared some very important stuff and gained heaps and heaps of wisdom.  These are the times that give us the most reason to be Thankful.  As I truly am. 

December:  Fast month, busy month, but I managed to enjoy it for the intended reasons without going crazy.  And another new tradition was born! 

So, good times were had, but on the whole?  This sums it up:

So 2010?  We're ready for you.

BRING IT.

The New F Word: Fezziwig!

We went to a production of A Christmas Carol at the McCarter Theater yesterday in Princeton.  That was followed by a Fezziwig Feast where there was a whole lot of merriment, and in between was a short walk around the Princeton Campus.  I could spend a week there and not have enough time to photograph all the things that caught my eye.  And Jerry's, too.  Album here is composed of shots from both cameras.  (Slideshow option is recommended)

Not much planned for New Years.  We'll be spending the evening at home, and making a full turkey dinner on New Years Day.  Yeah, the free one I got for Thanksgiving really needs to be COOKED already.   

2010 is going to be awesome, right? 

On the Thin Ice of A New Day . . .

We had a really awesome day.  The kids were happy with their gifts, I had a happy text from a dear friend, and I got to spend the day with my kin.  Nothing could be better.  Let it be known that if I ever keel over from this point on, it's all good . . . I have had such a good life.  I want more, and I'm going to try my best to live another 20, 30 years or so, but in case that doesn't work out, know that I am perpetually happy to be here and to know you!  If the extra 20 or 30 doesn't work out for me, so be it - I won't know the difference and I wouldn't want you to bother, either.  And jeez, this isn't a doom & gloom note.  Just want you to know I'm happy !  Live, Love, Laugh. 

Merry Christmas

I haven't been posting much lately.  Has anyone? Facebook seems to have usurped this method of communication but I am reluctant to accompany it on its death-march.  Instead, I will continue to post things of relevance, infrequent tho they may be.  So much has been going on and not all is share-worthy, but tonight is Christmas Eve and I wish you all a blessed Holiday, lots of good will, and merry times to come.  

Just for kicks, these are pics from our evening this Eve.

Merry Christmas, all.