Saturday, December 27, 2014

Irish On My Mind *Lots of Videos*

I happened to re-watch some videos from Celtic Thunder early in the week and I've got the songs stuck in my head.
Songs like this:
Which by the way, I've never heard the original of. Listen from 1:17-1:20 in the video to the word 'more' as Colm (blue shirt) fills in the bottom sound with his singing. That's musicianship.

Keith in this song demonstrates the fun that can be had by simply making faces and gestures. He allows Daniel to take the lead. And between the 2 of them they show how funny (and annoying) copycatting someone's every move can be. :P

Sadly, George passed away almost 1 year ago, but this song was a signature of his. For some reason, as I was looking through the videos I kept thinking of the song in "White Christmas" - 'We'll Follow The Old Man Wherever He Wants To Go'. I miss hearing that Scottish burr in Celtic Thunder's songs.

Ryan Kelly and Neil Byrne of Celtic Thunder have formed their own group and have done several tours already and just released their 2nd album.

A new favorite simply for the bouncy melody, the lyrics are a wee bit odd.

*A/N* 1/8/15. Now HOW could I forget this song? The fun and joy radiates from them.

I can't forget these ladies
  
This was recorded after than the next video. I love Celtic Woman's bouncy, beautiful songs. Lisa Kelly's voice is heavenly. Chloe Agnew is my age - hard to believe sometimes.


  
This is such a fun song

Another favorite with Alex Sharpe who I still miss - her voice is amazing. It's got such a warm tone and you know she means what she's singing about.

 These lads are awesome - listen to the first verse. THEY SING IT A CAPELLA! (yes, the shout was necessary, that is an extraordinarily hard song to sing.) 


  
beautiful voices


                                                      Hehehe, a fun lil' bit of a song.


Finally the group that sparked my love for Celtic music - The Chieftains. They have been touring for 50 plus years and this past March, I was privileged to see them in person!

They play a lot of instrumentals.


 
They make vocals sound amazing. The way Sinead sings this song is enhanced by the Chieftains.




This is my favorite version of 'Raggle Taggle Gypsy'. Bluegrass-y Celtic country at its finest.


 'The Chieftains with The Belfast Harp Orchestra'  was the first I ever heard of their music. My Nana let me listen to the CD she had and I was hooked.

 

The Chieftains have collaborated with everyone from reggae, rock, folk, country, pop, and I'm sure a few more genres I missed. And, as a happy result showed the world where so much of the roots of music - particularly in America - comes from.



Cheers and one last song to listen to......


Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Make Your Own: Trail MIx

My dad loves trail mix, but he doesn't like almonds, but he loves chocolate and sunflower seeds. And it's so darn expensive for a small bag of the stuff - even at a bulk store like Sam's Club or Costco.

A couple of years ago, Mom and I came up with the solution - homemade trail mix.

Peanuts- the XL Virginia ones for Dad. We get this at Sam's Club.


Cashews - yummy! Sam's Club


Peanut M+M's- Sam's Club


Raisins - more than enough for 1 enormous batch (2 30 oz. bags). Get at Sam's Club

These (either flavor works well). 

Sunflower seeds - Dad likes to buy these at Menards. We also have gotten them at the new Fresh Thyme Market that opened near our house and they are delicious.

Honey Sesame Sticks - have gotten them at Meijers but they are better from Fresh Thyme. Not so sugary, but full of honey flavor.


The pot I ended up having to use holds................ 2 generous gallons. (Had to go and check.)
 when you make this, just start dumping it in and then use a large spatula to combine everything. Oh yea - put in the sesame sticks and sunflower seeds last. They sink so fast.

You can see how full it ended up. 
To store the mix, just put it into the empty nut jars and the bags. I took the pictures of the process a month ago today and Dad is still working on the final jar of the trail mix.

For best freshness - do store this in the freezer if you can. 

Try this recipe if you have biiiig fans of trail mix around your abode, and personalize it to suit your own tastes. Cheers to trials of awesome trail mix.





Shared with:
 Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Dancin' Duo of Awesome

I love old movies, so when I found 'Singin' In The Rain', immediately loved it and thought the actors were interesting. Soon I started to look for clips of them on YouTube.

Then I discovered this video and was confirmed in my suspicion that Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor should have made more movies together.
To compare them would be like comparing the merits of apples vs. oranges.
  
Gene Kelly had a muscular, extremely athletic style of dancing. 

 
Witness this. He dances on roller skates. Yes, you read that right! What's more - Gene makes it look easy.



Donald was graceful - when he wanted to be - light on his feet and athletic also.


 THIS is why Gene and Donald should've made more movies together.

And this...


Sunday Worship