Sunlight reflected on Great Slab Bow Fell

Sunlight reflected on Great Slab Bow Fell, originally uploaded by M+MD.

Changing Weather

Changing Weather, originally uploaded by M+MD.

View from top of Glaramara

Bagging Wainwrights

There are 214 hills in the 7 Wainwrights pictorial guides to the Lake District. They are not exactly all the biggest hills - though they are pretty close. Lots of people (mainly from the North of England) make it there ambition to climb each of these hills. I have done about 67 of them - though I am not certain of some of the early adventures. A couple of days on the walk I did in 1981 are a bit vague - especially the first day when I climbed Grasmoor above Buttermere and the last day when I climbed High Street.

There are now lots of resources on the internet for walkers and climbers. This site allows you to mark each hill you've climbed - pretty cool. My Wainwrights

This weekend I hope to add another five to this list. Watch this space.

Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes Concert at Vicar Street, Dublin on July 1, 2010

What a fantastic concert. Its been nearly twenty years since we saw Elvis Costello at the Feile in Thurles in 1991. He has taken many musical twists and turns - that what I like about him. Currently he is touring with a band called the Sugarcanes. In theory promoting their album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. This is a bluegrass and country themed album. But in practice the concert was the full repetoire. It's a long time since Elvis played in Dublin - I'm not sure how long - but I missed the last concert and I won't be missing the next one.

Elvis Costello
uploaded by M+MD

Jim Lauderdale
uploaded by M+MD

The band is pretty good line-up, featuring singer songwriter, Jim Lauderdale on Guitar and Vocals; Dennis Crouch on Double Bass; Stuart Duncan on Fiddle; Jerry Douglas on Dobro; Mike Compton on Mandolin and Jeff Taylor on Accordian.

Dennis, Jim, Jeff
uploaded by M+MD

Elvis Costello
uploaded by M+MD

Vicar Steet is such a cool venue. We had a table in the third row so as you can see from the photos and videos, the view was pretty amazing. He was clearly enjoying himself and didn't play just one long encore - but as you can see from the setlist below he played 3 encores. His main set was a very acceptable 15 songs. However he played another 13 in the three encores!

The Setlist was as follows (thanks to setlist.fm)
1. Mystery Train
2. Blame It On Cain
3. Down Among the Wines and Spirits
4. New Amsterdam / You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
5. Good Year For The Roses
6. Condemned Man
7. Complicated Shadows
8. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
9. The Delivery Man
10. Jimmie Standing in the Rain
11. Slow Drag With Josephine
12. Little Palaces
13. Friend of The Devil
14. Everyday I Write The Book
15. Don't Lie To Me
Encore:
16. Girls Talk
17. The Spell That You Cast
18. That's Not the Part of Him You're Leaving
19. Sulphur to Sugarcane
Encore 2:
20. Mystery Dance
21. Poor Borrowed Dress
22. Alison / Wind Cries Mary
23. Shipbuilding
24. (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
Encore 3:
25. The Crooked Line
26. Happy
27. The Race Is On
28. American Without Tears

Videos:

Elvis Costello & the Sugarcanes, uploaded by M+MD.

More Photos

A Training Exercise up Lugnaquilla

In preparation for the forthcoming Lake District trip we did a 6 hour walk up Lugnaquilla from the Glen of Imaal. We had great weather. It's probably the least interesting route up Lug, but we need the practice and also its the easiest side to approach the mountain. Greg brought Christopher and Peter, I brought Senan and Kevin brought Liam! We made it up in just over two and a half hours, whch is pretty good going. We took a longer time to go down, stopping for lunch. We decided to take in the next two hills which meant that we had a longer walk back to the Glen of Imaal pub, where we had parked the cars.

Lugnaquilla
uploaded by M+MD

Lugnaquilla
uploaded by M+MD

On Camarahill
uploaded by M+MD

Going Down
uploaded by M+MD

A few words at Sheila's 80th Birthday Party

Birthday Speech
uploaded by M+MD

When I first met my Auntie Sheila I was about seven. To me as a seven year old she was very exotic; she was all dressed in white and she had a very exotic name, Cabrini. We could only see her every eight years, at least that's was my mother's answer to my question "how often is she let out?" This of course made her more exotic than her brother Martin who lived in very exotic Fiji and was let out every seven years.

My Exotic Aunt. The most famous exotic Aunt in litreture was probably Henry Pulling's Aunt Augusta in Graham Greenes novel "Travels with my Aunt". When I think about Sheila I think about my travels with my aunt and my aunts travels with many others.

But it wasn't eight years before she was let out again. Sheila visited Ireland when I was 12. It was the summer after I had finished Primary school and was just going to start 2nd level. Sheila was teaching in London and she managed to persuade Brian and Joan that it would be a great idea if I spent a month in London with her the following summer. So I did and at the age of 13 I started my travels with my aunt.

What a marvellous adventure - a month in London. London that world famous city with so many world famous place that I had seen on TV and films, books and magazines: Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, St Pauls Cathedral, Regents Park, London Zoo. So many exotic sights and places. Of course I spent a little time in school, but it was summer term with outings evey second day. We went to the Zoo, the Science Museam, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Cantebury Cathedral and much more.

Cake
Uploaded by M+MD

I did get a little carried by all the tourist hype. I was much taken by the presence of the Union Jack everywhere, from postcards and button badges to large plastic shopping bags with the Union Jack on them. I collected these various souvenirs - oblivious to the cultural significance of all of this. My father Brian, a captain in the Irish Army was not to impressed when I showed all this paraphernalia on my return and soon all union jack symbols were banished to the attic.

When Sheila moved to the Lake District, the travels with my aunt continued. Through Sheila I became very familiar with the Lake District and have been back walking there many many times since.

Auntie Sheila Replies
Uploaded by M+MD

When she moved to Suffolk and SAY (Suffolk Association of Youth) that was a very big change in Sheila's life and very much in keeping with my exotic aunt's reputation. She was now Chief Executive of the voluntary Youth organisation in Suffolk. Suffolk was a stopping off point for me travelling to Europe via Harwich.

After retiring from SAY Sheila didn't really retire but continued to travel. She joined VMM and spend 3 months in Sierra Leone, she went half way round the world with my mother Joan to visit Fr Martin in Fiji.

From Roscommon to London , Preston, Keswick, Stowmarket, Fiji Sierra Leone and many other places in between, my exotic Aunt leaves Aunt Augusta looking very ordinary.

So like all of us here today there is so much to celebrate. Sheila has enriched all of our lives in so many ordinary and exotic ways.

Ski 2010

Chalet Raphael
uploaded by M+MD

This year we went skiing again to Meribel with Deirdre, Chris, Katie and Roisin. We stayed in Chalet Raphael in Le Raffort. We had a fantastic time. The skiing gets better every year - even if the limbs get older and rustier! We were joined by Chris and Helen and family.

SnowBoard Novice
uploaded by M+MD

This year Senan and Katie S took up snow-boarding for the first time. That slowed them down for a day or two - but they were whizzing past us again by day three.

We managed to survive without any serious injuries - though we had a pretty scary run off the top on the Thursday. The problem is that the snow-board doesn't go very fast on the flat. We hit a slow spot on the top of the Cretes run and as a result we were the last on the piste. Mags made it down on her own, while the sweeper on the Skiddoo followed me and Senan. About ten minutes from the bottom (as the light faded) Senan was offered a lift on the back of the Skiddoo. I continued to ski with the Skiddoo just behind me. However with the fading light it was getting harder and harder and so when I took a bit of a tumble, the driver headed down with Senan and came back up for me. No damage done - just a bruised shoulder and a little injured pride! Anyway the free Skiddoo ride down was worth it!
Ski 2010, uploaded by M+MD.

Christy Moore & Declan Synott in ConcertVicar Street 5th January 2010

New Years concert in Vicar Street with Christy Moore and Declan Synott.

Christy Moore & Declan Sinnott, uploaded by M+MD.