After the Wedding

Well, the wedding's over, the vows have been spoken, the bride and groom are on their honeymoon; and me - I have a sister after 25 1/2 years. That and a lot of soup in the freezer. And lettuce in the fridge.

It was small and simple, and completely them. Even to my darling brother's phone going off right before the ceremony... with an alarm that he had a wedding to go to!

K. walked up the aisle with our pastor.  E. walked with her mother. No attendants. K and E did their own  and most of the family pictures before the wedding. 3 kinds of soup, salad and bread, with cupcakes and a smallish triple tower cake. The soups were a collaborative effort, with 2 friends making one kind, myself another, and the 3rd was purchased from a restaurant supply store. Two more friends made the cake and cupcakes.

The decorations were put together by E, K and E's mother.

When they left to start their honeymoon, they had sparklers for all to send them off in style.

I didn't take one picture, but enjoyed the memories that were made.

The next day (Saturday), I spent being completely and utterly lazy.

Year End Rambles #2 (A Day Late!)

Wow, how much has changed this year.
My little brother is now an engaged man (almost married), I worked my last day at my 4+ year restaurant job; and started working for my Dad in the drywall industry.
Relatives passed away, 4 new babies joined the world at my church; and my cousin had twin boys, who though premature, are safe at home now!

I learned how to make applesauce, pickles, pickle relish, blanch corn, and tomato juice cocktail.

(The pickles have been on my bucket list for years!!!!) YES! *Fist pump*

I got a new computer, painted a bunch of trinkets back in January and February.

Finally learned how to cook dried beans - soak 'em in saltwater (3 tablespoons to a gallon of water). Cook's Illustrated magazine is a good one to find out about things like that.
Organized the pantry.
Went to the Indiana Master Gardener Conference! WOW did I learn a lot - especially about bees. The money I spent on the lessons in high school was the best investment I ever made.

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......

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:

 

♪Sunday Worship♪

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