meltykisses

Had a wonderful time hanging out with Allison yesterday (though we both missed Rand and Erin). I gave her a tour of the condo and then we had lunch, raspberries with a bit of vanilla sugar sprinkled on top for dessert. And MELTYKISSES! Many thanks to Joey Shoji for the early birthday gift. The package included several flavours I had never tried before. Yummmmm.

We did some music together, worked on a new song I've written, then went through some Irish session music with her on guitar, me on whistle...I enjoyed this tremendously, hope we get to do some at FKO. The rest of the afternoon was just as relaxed: saw Bride and Prejudice at the Paramount, dinner at Queen Mother's Cafe (I introduced Allison to the delights of ping gai) and then some book browsing in Chapters before we both headed home. 'Twas a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. You can see some photos Allison took in her Flickr photo page.



Today, Jeff and I visited Nicholas Hoare's (my favourite bookstore in Toronto right now, right around the corner) and then walked over to the Distillery District to have a cup of the world's best hot chocolate. Soma's Mayan Hot Chocolate is truly to die for; ingredients include chili peppers, ginger, orange peel, Madagascar vanilla and a bunch of interesting spices. Drool.

I'm finding that all the listening to my iPod session recordings is making it much easier to learn new tunes. This past week I memorized Paidin O'Raifearta's (jig), The Maid in the Meadow (jig) and Green Fields of America (reel). Thrush in the Straw, Maid In the Meadow, and Green Fields of America are often played as a set at the Tranzac. My next goal is to memorize Lord Inchiquin and The Red-Haired Lass, the two tunes we learned at the last session.



So in theory, I know 20 tunes by heart so far:

Apples In Winter
Austin Barrett's (Dusty Windowsills)
Ballydesmond #1 (polka)
Ballydesmond #2 (polka)
Boyne Hunt (reel)
Cooley's Reel (reel)
Donegal Reel (reel)
Drowsy Maggie (reel)
Dunmore Lassies (reel)
Dusty Miller #2
Egan's Polka (polka)
Galway Rambler (reel)
Green Fields of America (reel)
Green Groves of Erin (reel)
Maid in the Meadow (jig)
Ms McLeod's Reel (reel)
Paidin O'Raifearta's (jig)
Sligo Maid (reel)
Swallowtail (reel)
Thrush in the Straw (jig)

I'm keeping a penny whistle by my desk and tend to pick it up at random times throughout the day and practice a tune or two.

Hope you're all having a good weekend.

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