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is there anything else that you would like?

18 Mar

It must be something in my voice or on my face. People frequently ask me if I am Irish. I always say that I wish I were.

I am enamored with things Irish, which might explain some of my delight in a group of women Irish singers, Celtic Woman. 

Celtic Woman was formed 10 years ago as a “one time” event. This year they celebrate their 10th anniversary.

The group has evolved over the years. My favorite combination is Alex Sharpe, Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly and Lynn Hilary, with fiddler Mairead Nesbitt, as pictured below.

CW favorites 08

My favorite album is “Songs of the Heart,” as pictured above.

This has more than a little to do with the fact that …

(1) I was in Dublin at Powerscourt House and Gardens in 2009 on purpose: to attend the filming of this album, with the pastor of one of the girls,

CW favorites 07

(2) when this combination was on stage, 

CW favorites 06

(3) when red, white and blue fireworks went off during the singing of “O, America,”

CW favorites 04

(4) when I was sitting in the front row,

CW favorites 05

and (5) consequently, appear on the video four times.

Lisa Kelly has been and continues to be my favorite of my favorites  0 Lisa Kelly and Rob Fox closeup 01 a email copy b

One of our parish staff asked me, “What would you like for your retirement?”

I answered, “I’d like to have Lisa Kelly come to sing at my final Mass at St. Andrew.”

He immediately laughed and responded, “Is there ‘anything else’ that you would like?’

 

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things I will miss (1 of …)

28 Aug

Knowing that in ten months I will be leaving my beloved St. Andrew parish, this place and these people, I am more and more noticing things that I will miss. Last night as I was closing the blinds of my bedroom windows, preparing to prepare myself for bed, I looked out my back window. “There is something I will miss.”

I took three photos on my iPad, and deleted two: one with a stray cat roaming into the bottom right corner heading toward a drink of water from the fountain, and one that cut off the top of the statue and the top of the cross on top of the grotto. This one was the best of the three:

Things I Will Miss 01

I tried to enjoy the scene fully, hoping to engrave it in my memory.

Then I prayed a Hail Mary …

… and closed the blinds.

 

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