Saturday, October 29, 2011

Seamus Creagh's

Today was kind of perfect.  I wrapped up this last week of working on two different research projects and taking a midterm exam and really needed a weekend.  So today I woke up late, did some laundry, and then traveled up to an abandoned farm and picked apples from a couple of neglected heirloom apple trees.  It was just what I needed.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Camel's Hump

Today I was looking through all of the photos Sam (my spouse) and I took during a very long backpacking trip we did a couple years ago so I could assemble them into a book using blurb.  It made me very nostalgic for tromping around the globe with a backpack and a cheap fiddle.  It was a life altering, mind expanding experience.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Road to Cashel

I underestimated the mental energy this project would take when combined with my thesis research and trying to maintain some semblance of an exercise schedule to keep my body from turning into a lump of hagen daas icecream with two, beady computer screen eyes.  Woops!  I did a nice, easy one today to give myself a break.  This is a traditional Irish reel I learned off of an Altan recording.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Seàn in the Mist

Today I learned another tune suggested by Lars M., from Colm Murphy's album "The Irish Drum," called Seàn in the Mist.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The North Wind

Here's a simple hornpipe for you.

Confession: I sometimes really don't like hornpipes.  I'm not particularly in love with this one, but I liked the name since I did another wind-titled tune yesterday.  The changing season here in the Rockies manifests itself with really cold winds in the morning, but the afternoons still warm up, so you forget your jacket at work.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The South West Wind

I had a long teaching day, Tuesdays are my marathon-fiddle-lesson day. I teach 8 lessons today, spanning the entire afternoon into the evening. I love teaching and I have the best students in the world, but by the end of the day I'm craving cookies and tea in a big way.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Buffalo Girls

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving AND Columbus Day!  The day the Post Office gets to close but no one else does!  Well, USPS, your days are numbered anyway, so I hear.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Kopacka

I went to Serbia once.  We stayed mostly in Belgrade, but also went to Novi Sad and Frushka Gora.  We rented a car in Belgrade, a trusty Dacia Logan, Romanian made.  It got something like 75 miles a gallon. We took that car a few hundred miles all over Europe.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Boules et Guirlandes / Mrs. Crehan's

There's snow on the hills behind our house, which is crazy insane.  Last week the daily high temp was reaching 80, and today I can't get warm even wrapped in a fleece sweatshirt.  So! Why not learn a Christmas-y tune!  The first tune, "Boules et Guirlandes" is a Breton 3-2 which is a cool tune form.  The second is a reel my friend Tiffany suggested I learn called "Mrs. Crehan's."

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

St. Kilda Wedding

I recorded this video yesterday, but youtube was under construction and/or cyber attack so I couldn't upload it until today.  I think that means I won't do another one today.  I'm trying for at least 4-5 a week, but I have to be realistic.  I'm working on coding about 1000 pages of NEPA documents right now, so the break to learn a tune, although welcome, is hard to justify 7 days a week.  BUT, I figure people say "I go to work everyday," and really that means, "I go to work 4-5 days a week," so I'm still justified in saying I'm learning a tune everyday.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Dunphy's

I LOVE Saturdays.  I ran 9 miles this morning.  And THEN, I ate my body-weight in oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Aw yeah.