Category Archives: Travel

Picking a Favorite

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Many different instruments can be used to create the wonder that is celtic music.  Fiddle, tinwhistle, low whistle, guitar, accordian, bodhran drum, uillean pipes, hammered dulcimer, piano…..I’m sure I’m leaving out some, but you get the basic idea.  The other day as I was listening to a recording I tried to decide which instrument was my very favorite…the one I would miss the most if it was missing.  The winner?……..

The tinwhistles and low whistles…without a doubt.  Very expressive instruments that seem to “sing” the Irish melodies with just the right amount of melancholy or joy, depending on the tune.  I have some whistles, and have yet to capture the right sound.  Oh, I can play most of the notes, but there is so much more than that…the small little turns and dips and expression that makes it such a wonderful instrument.  But I’m glad I can’t play them right yet; it gives me something to work on to keep me out of trouble!  🙂

Enjoy whatever kind of music you’re listening to today, and sing to the Lord a new song!  Slainte, Lisa

*Picture via Google images*

Traveling Out and About

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“The belt of Christ about me on my going out and on my coming in.”

“God be on your road every way you go.”

Irish Blessings

  My poor baby fell out of bed this morning around 4 AM.  She’s five, and recently insisted that she was big enough to sleep without the guard rail.  We agreed, but now my mother bear instincts are questionning this.  Her poor little nose took the brunt of it, but thankfully, she seems to be alright.

Letting go, letting your children grow and develop independence, is scary sometimes.  You want to protect them from all the bad things, the hurts, the wrong choices.  You want their life to have the happiest endings possible.  Yet they can never grow up successfully with that kind of hover parenting.  And that’s one of the amazing lessons of parenting…learning to trust God for the times when you can’t be there or shouldn’t be there.  Because He promises to protect, to guard, to do what is best for all of us.

“He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.”  (Joshua 24:17b)

Go with God, and know that He is with you today.  🙂  Slainte, Lisa

3 Things that Constitute a Harper

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In the Celtic oral tradition, triads are popular.  These are little nuggets of wisdom grouped in three.  The triad for the day:

3 Things that constitute a harper:

a tune to make you cry,

a tune to make you laugh,

a tune to put you to sleep.

This tune by performed by the Corrs might just help you do all three.  🙂

Slainte, Lisa

Cahir Castle

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One of our favorite castles in Ireland (because how can you pick just one?!) is Cahir Castle, located in County Tipperary.  Dating back to the 13th-15th centuries, and designed by Conor O’Brien, it is an impressive, imposing, yet beautiful defensive castle.  This is the kind of castle that inspires 7-year-old boys to proclaim, “I could live here FOREVER!”  and propel return visits because you may have missed something the first go-around.  Have a wonderful day, Lisa