Scattered Thoughts . . .

I 'm a few days late with this St Patrick's Day post due to some lousy health over the past few days.  Fortunately, I managed to record and upload a couple of piano recordings this morning so I was able to publish this post.   Ideally, I had hoped to have these two recordings posted here sometime  before St Patrick's Day but being only three days late isn't all that bad.  At least it's still the right month, the right week and the right time of year!   This first recording is "Danny Boy" which is an arrangement by Keith Jarrett.  I really like most of his arrangements and his arrangement of "Danny Boy" is definitely one of my favorites . Here is the recording... This next recording is of the Irish lullabye, "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral"... I really need to do more recording at the piano before I lose any more of my piano ability.  Unfortunately, I usually have a difficult time recording myself though.  Whenever I attempt this, my mind tends ...

W e had planned to have our St Patrick's Day dinner last night (Sunday) but I was still recovering from fixing our neighbors roof earlier in the week so we put it off until today...  assuming I felt better.  I was feeling quite lousy yesterday and I was so exhausted I didn't even have the energy to stand.  I did feel better today so we had this heavy, fat-laden meal tonight. I started the day's cooking this morning by baking some Irish Soda Bread.  I cut the recipe for this bread in half this year so it didn't come out as well as expected.  Since it was smaller, it turned out a bit drier than usual but still more moist than most other people's soda bread.  So, I'd say it was "slightly" dry...  whereas I would say that most soda bread that I get elsewhere is "exceptionally" dry bordering on inedible.  My Irish Soda Bread is usually moderately moist. I usually make this in a 9 inch springform pan but this year I only made enough to fill a 6 inc...

I missed the lunar eclipse the other night even though I spent some time during the previous two weeks collecting the necessary gear from storage, ensuring everything is in working order, and planning the shots I wanted.   Unfortunately, I was feeling quite lousy after fixing our neighbor's roof and the weather wasn't ideal for this eclipse project anyway.  We seem to miss most astronomical events here in Waterbury due to what could easily be classified as abysmal Pacific Northwest-type of weather so I can truly say I am not the least bit surprised by another hazy night turning into a cloudy, foggy night.   On the following night, the moon was shining through our living room window so I grabbed one of my cameras and a lens so I could shoot a few photos through the open window.   I've been trying to use my micro four-thirds cameras more often lately so that is what I did on this night.  I don't know why I keeping attempting to shoot photos with th...