Time Flies...

Wow! I know I promised to stay in touch with everybody since we got back into the country. But, boy does time fly when you're catching up with everyday life. We've been busy catching up on business, and of course we're always exhuasted from coming home and going back to our boring old jobs after two weeks of nothing but tunes and travel!

Week One P.I. [post-Ireland]: I miss the food...
We spent the first week home trying to capture the magic of Irish food. You might think that "good Irish food" is sort of an oxymoron, but I beg to differ. The meat is very fresh, great fruits and fresh veg, and the seafood chowder and mushroom soup is to die for! The sad thing is that I still can't figure out how to make proper brown bread!

And to anyone that thinks having beans with your eggs is crazy, I challenge you to try it. The thing about Irish baked beans is that they're in this light tomato sauce that's nothing like the crazy heavy sweet sticky American beans. So go ahead, if you see a can of Batcheler's, buy it. You might want some Beano, though. They are beans, after all.

You know that there's the traditional breakfast called a "Full Irish" or up north, an "Ulster Fry." That's fried eggs, "chips" (french fries) or fried potatoes, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, black & white puddings, bacon, Irish sausages, toast and tea or coffee. Well, in a nostalgic fit, last night's dinner was what I affectionately a "half Irish": eggs, bacon (can't get good Irish sausages here), toast, beans, "chips". No mushrooms, no tomatoes, no puddings (bleah). Woulda had the veg if we'd had any floating around the house. Plenty of tea, anyway. Ah, it's a good meal any time of day.

My big discovery of the trip: Treacle.....is......MOLASSES!!!! OK, now I know I can make ginger cookies when I'm over there. Whew. What a relief. I did also find this cool type of brown sugar they have over there. It's called Muscovado sugar, and it tastes a bit like molasses itself. I think it's kind of cool, and I did bring a little back to try in baking, but it's not my favorite, and it makes my chocolate chip cookies taste a little funky.

I did try to rein in my undying passion for grocery stores while over there, so as to NOT drive my friend Gary absolutely crazy. I failed miserably. Gary survived. I regret that I didn't take any photos of the stores, and my biggest regret is not getting to the gigantic Dunne's Store on the outskirts of Limerick City -- I was drooling as we drove past on our way to Cashel to climb the Rock. We did manage to get into a Dunne's Home Store, which is like the home section of Target, only better! Next time I'm going to get to the home supply places on the way into Galway City.

[A thought: Why do they tag Limerick and Galway with "City", when Sligo is only its little old self with "Town" tacked on the end? Guess I'll have to go up there to find out.]

Week Two P.I. [post-Ireland]: Back to the Tunes
Week Two was mainly all about getting back into playing tunes here at home. I was off to slow start, though, because I had to hand over my fiddle to my repair tech. A little mishap on holiday resulted in a broken peg, and I needed a replacement asap. I did work out an arrangement to try out a nice fiddle while mine was in the shop, so to speak. This fiddle probably had a good 40 years on my baby, and it had a nice even, full tone. I enjoyed playing it, but in a session setting it was incredibly quiet. The neck on the loaner is considerably thinner than on my fiddle. I enjoyed how responsive the fiddle was, allowing for quicker movements and changes in noting and phrasing, but it also changed how I held my wrist. It's still a little sore from a couple of days in a weird position, like.

Your Assignment, should you choose to accept it...
I think I probably have a harder time trying out other folks' instruments, because I'm a lefty, but I still do ask to try nice sounding fiddles, just to see how they feel. I also like trying out different bows, too. If you haven't done that before (and assuming you're not a flute player with a cold or something), I highly recommend it! Just see how a different instrument feels or plays or responds to a technique that, on your current instrument, isn't working. It could be the way your instrument is set up, or the way it was made. On the other hand (as in my case), it could be the way you're playing and not the instrument. But you won't know if you don't try, will you?

Raise Your Glasses to our Friends! Congratulations to our own Beth Lassi, who performed on mountain dulcimer at the Old Songs Sampler [a fundraiser for the Old Songs Festival]. Also, a hearty hale and welcome to our own Pete Forward, who showed up a local fast session to try his hand at some of the tunes we've been working on! Pete and Beth are good examples of a)loving the music, b) working hard at it, and c) having a great attitude! Keep up the good work!!!!

Remember, it's only two weeks to the next slow session at Old Songs! I'll be putting the list up this weekend. Don't forget to practice the repertoire.

So, hey. Stay warm, keep on playing, and we'll see you around the peat fire....

The Trad