A to B as fasht as you can...

...that is actually a highly sophisticated strategy in rowing that wins you an olympic silver medal!
But....anyhow.... getting sidetracked now right at the start. Starting multiple blog posts at the same time does NOT help with sticking to a limited number of topics or keeping thoughts organised! It doesn't help with anything actually. Lots of posts get started, none get finished and what I REALLY want to say doesn't get said. (What I really want to write gets written, though. Elsewhere. Not for anybody's eyes to read. Some of it is... nice.... Short, moving, to the point.... you have to take my word for it because I lack the skill to edit it in a way that could turn it into a blog post. I wish I could.....)

But back to rowing: Rowing would probably be last on the list of sports I'd follow if I followed sports. But the O'Donovan brothers deserve a gold medal for their interviews. The perfect cliché Wesht Cork lads. Well done! They must have rehearsed that! They even managed to not only mention spuds a couple of times but also the favourite variety in Skibbereen (Oh the knowledge one gains living with the family who owns the local Centra!)

Well.... "A to B as fast as you can" ... can be a strategy in playing tunes, too. I'm not sure about "close your eyes and pull/pick/bow/blow like a dog" but we definately had some warp speed tunes on saturday that made me think of the headline and a blog post about how lovely it is to get visitors over for a tune or go visiting yourself. And how wonderful it is to play tunes with friends whose thoughts you can read!

So this is a blog post about session friends and fellow musicians who live close enough to meet every now and then. One of the ones I started and want to post because there are pictures to go with it....

A lazy, dreamy sunday morning and the realisation that someone posted pictures of "instruments and irish breakfast"... only an hour or two away. I didn't need much time to make up my mind.

didn't need much time to pack either

Which led to two tunes running in my head all the way: "The peerie hoose ahint da burn" - because I really, really needed to go to the loo. And "Comb your hair and curl it" when I realised I had forgotten about "having hair" now. A quick brush wouldn't have been amiss....  But nobody commented and we had lovely tunes! Nice, relaxed sunday afternoon tunes. We came up with a set that we called "the epic extravaganza of annoying tunes". We didn't play it. Just talked about what should go in. Which is probably more fun ...

memo: learn from your peers - keep cap in flute bag... for those "forgot about hair" days

one of those lovely days... visiting people for a couple of tunes....

The most recent "reading someone's (musical) thoughts": When the electricity went off during our session and the onyl light was from all those candles. When Sirko had this big bubble over his head saying "OK! Something romantic! Which one?" and my choice was met with a big smile.

not a good picture.... it was Sirko who was smiling at me! AND the pint!

And the most recent "Oh! Isn't it lovely to have musicians visiting?" has some pictures and unfortunately no recordings. I dressed smartly and remembered to comb my hair - just in case someone takes a picture. Nobody did. Waste of energy!

But it deserves a blog post anyway because it takes... something - like a visiting banjo player - to make me got to town to an "alternative street party" kind of thing. Heat, lots of people, playing music (outside) while it is still daylight... all that.
Yep: It was worth it! For a start Conny did the usual "ooops! Harp strings just broke! Can you bring a guitar string as replacement?" followed by some very sophisticated harp restringing action

NOT cold! Some of these strings are still there from when we built the harp. The tidy ones....

Thank you Bartek! I really enjoyed playing with you again! Next time we'll have a proper place to play! Proper chairs and beer and  I'll learn some more of your tunes! (You'll have to learn your fiddler's "Within a Mile of Dublin"! Thanks a million for reminding me of that one!)

OK - this one looks ... insulting....  but it isn't! Phoebe is not covering her ears because she doesn't like the harp - loud techno beats from the stage behind us... but watch the baby! He does not like music. Even though he's got a tune dedicated to his birth (which was originaly given away in a raffle but still...)
He was happy all afternoon!

Not a great picture either but great fun: playing table tennis in the dark

or alternatively playing "pong" on screen...

Not as good as the nicest version of pong ever played but made me smile...

See? Starting multiple blog posts just makes for long, boring ones.... far away from what I want to say. So far actually that I might decide to spare you from this gibberish until  I have something worthwhile to say..... and come up with a way to say it...