Tag Archives: Ireland

Waiting, Seeing, Sweetness

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To save money, we decided to split up.  My daughters and I would ride in the horse-drawn buggy through the Gap of Dunloe, and my husband and 15 year old son would run/walk and meet us at the boats.  We joked about who would arrive first…the trusty horse and its passengers, or the hearty he-men who would conquer the mountainous terrain.  Amazingly, the hearty he-men kept catching up with us at various points along the way, as seen in the below picture.

Joshua, catching up with our jaunting car.

We did reach the bridge leading to Lord Brandon’s Cottage only 10 minutes before our guys, and we waited anxiously and excitedly for their arrival.  That’s us in the first picture…you can just see the top of little Amy’s head.  My husband is taking the picture, and I can remember how happy we were to see them coming.  Absence had indeed made our hearts grow fonder in this case, and the reunion as a family was sweet.  And of course, our guys had conquered, overcame, and reveled in the experience.  Many good stories were off and running.

Slainte, Lisa

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*

Three Folds in my Garment

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Three folds in  my garment

Yet only one garment I bear

Three joints in a finger

Yet only one finger is there

Three leaves in a shamrock

Yet only one shamrock I wear

Frost, ice and snow

Yet these three are nothing but water

Three persons in God

Yet only one God is there

-Irish blessing-

Thank you, God, for being an amazing, mind-blowing, beyond-my-imagination God.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Forever and ever.

Slainte, Lisa

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

Wind on the Haystacks

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“There’s no need to fear the wind if your haystacks are tied down.”  -Irish proverb

Photo by Patricia Edwards in County Clare, 1958.
www.irishcultureandcustoms.com

 

After piling the dried hay into 7 to 8 foot stacks, hayropes would be tied down over them.  At the end of the ropes were heavy stones to hold the haystacks down in the wind.  You can only imagine what would happen if they were not tied down…hay lost, much hard work and sweat gone to waste, and no food for livestock.

This got me thinking about my life…is it tied down?  Am I blowing crazily in the wind, or am I secured to the rock?  “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.”  (Psalm 18:2)  Sometimes life gets crazy, and winds are howling, and it feels like you’re going to blow away.  But the Rock that is stronger than me will hold me down and keep me together in my “haystack.”    Slainte, Lisa

Women helping to create haystacks
www.irelandcultureandcustoms.com