HEARTSTRINGS
Laura Burian, violin
Paulette Lynch, hammer dulcimer
Marj Ingram-Viales, guitar
Rick Chelew, bass
Melinda Coffey Armstead, organ
Chapel Concertino
Jim and Judy’s Waltz
Floppy Eared Mule / Over the Wayerfall / Whiskey Before Breakfast
Parting Glass
Danny Boy / Elzik’s Farewell / Vladimir’s Steamboat
Eibhlin Gheal
Dick’s & Joe’s Reels
Offertory
Brid’s Farewell
Postlude
Mari’s Wedding / Flowers of Edinboro
“Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.”
Irish poet and Nobel Laureate, William Butler Yeats.
“If it was raining soup, the Irish would go out with forks.”
Irish author and playwright, Brendan Behan
The Irish – all of some of them – willingly and gladly promote generic self-deprecation by Irish jokes. (That and the reputation for the enjoyment of adult beverages.) For example, the Irish Minister of Transport declared that they would switch from driving on the left to driving on the right. But in stages, trucks and buses first.
Saint Patrick was a benefactor of Ireland, served there for twenty years, dying there in 461 AD. The most popular legend about him is that he put a curse on poisonous snakes and thereby drove them out of Ireland. Speaking of snakes, it is rumored that the Irish found the cure for delirium tremens (DTs), a serious condition caused by the withdrawal from alcohol. Not being a licensed physician, I can’t reprint the cure here, but you can arrive at it by just reflecting creatively for a few seconds. “Delirium” is Latin for “going off the furrow,” so it’s a farming metaphor. I kid you not. Symptoms include shaking, irregular heart rate, and hallucination. Seeing threatening snakes is a common benefit.
Bear in mind that I’m Irish, which gives me safe harbor.
