harryc

IRISH DAYS

When I inserted photos in my posts I have been having problems getting the text to remain in the layout in which it appears in the first typed draft. When a post is published the text seems to make up its own mind and wraps itself around the pictures.

TomLR, has suffered from the same problem but has now been cured by expert 'techie' advice from Ben.

Tom has kindly  passed on the advice to me and this is my first attempt at fixing the problem.

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That time of year is approaching when I pay my annual visit to Ireland to see my brothers, their families, and the diminishing number of old friends from my schooldays.

My hometown is Youghal (pronounce it 'YAWL') Co.Cork. It is an old seaport on the coast east of Cork City.

This is Redbarn Strand which is one of my favourite places on Earth. I love to walk here in a raging storm or in brilliant sunshine. There is usually a stiff breeze blowing in off the sea which clears any cobwebs from the brain pretty rapidly.

REDBARN STRAND

 

At Youghal, Co.Cork is separated from Co Waterford by the river Blackwater. A short drive away on the Waterford side is Caliso Bay which is off the beaten track. If its tranquility you're after this fits the bill.

CALISO BAY

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These images are from a past year's visit that I've just used to test that I have absorbed Tom's teach-in.

I'm going to press the button now and see what happens...............................

ON A MISSION FROM GOD................

                  

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Played our gig in Chalfont on Friday night and had a fairly full house. It went very well and the 'take' for the charity (PACE) was impressive and exceeded last years.

For our Blues Brothers medley the whole training band (25 in all) sported Blues Brothers hats and shades.

That's me above - not a shot from the gig but a 'studio shot' for promotional purposes !!!

The rhythym section started the medley with just the opening bars of 'Everybody  Needs Somebody To Love' as the rest of the band shimmied in and took their places, with the crowd clapping in time.

We also had audience participation with competing sections clapping to the latin rhythm of the 'Peanut Vendor' .

All in all a great fun filled evening -  LOVED IT !!!!!!!!!!

I would like to wish anyone reading this blog a very happy Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year .

TEMPUS FUGIT !!

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I find it hard to believe that it's just about a year since I joined the band to become 'a born again' saxophone player. The time has passed at frightening speed - but has been even more enjoyable than I expected.

We play one of our annual gigs, jointly with our concert band, next Friday, 14th December in Chalfont St Peter. This is a big occasion for us and we have been rehearsing hard for it over the past few months.

Our program will be :

A Blues Brothers Medley

What a Wonderful World

The Peanut Vendor

Christmas Carillon

White Christmas

We'll be playing the last two numbers jointly with our concert band.

The Blues Brothers Medley includes bits of 'Everybody needs Somebody to Love' , 'Gimme Some Lovin' and 'Jailhouse Rock' .  I watched the film on DVD again over the weekend - sheer enjoyable escapeism  - with some great music.!!!

In addition to playing with the band each week I have been having weekly lessons with a private saxophone teacher. Over the past few weeks we have begun to work on  jazz improvisation. Although I am only in the "foothills" of the subject I love it. It creates a very strong incentive to become very familiar with all the scales, major, minor,blues and pentatonic etc. I also find myself listening more intently to all sorts of music and the improvised solos by the various players. The stuff we are working on at the moment includes :-

Blue Monk  -  by Thelonious Monk

Watermelon Man  -  by Herbie Hancock

Cantaloupe Island  - by Herbie Hancock

Colonial Blues

Straight, No Chaser

The problem of course is time - practise time - and as a result I've had to postpone the garage clearance again !!!!!!!!

BIRTHDAY BOY

It's always good to see Paul and the lovely 'C' (aka 'The Wife') and on 30th September (the nearest Sunday to his birthday) they came and had lunch at home with Joanski and me. His sister Emma and little niece Margot also came to help him celebrate

Joanski cooked his favourite lunch and also baked a chocolate cake, a lemon drizzle cake, and a huge apple pie (she's always spoiled that boy !!)

He's always prepared to help out though :

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He carved the lamb, assisted by 'C' - he said I should avoid sharp instruments !!

It was then that the 'Gin's Fork' incident took place. We replaced it, apologised and the whole business was forgotten

When lunch was over we had the ceremonial blowing out of the candles on the cake :

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He was genuinly touched when we gave  him his present :

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a pair of crocs in his favourite colour !!

We rounded off the day watching Ireland being hammered into oblivion by Argentina - but I still say that Ireland were the better dressed side.

Apologies btw for the terrible photography - I was using my phone camera and a non-techie with shakey hands is not the best combination !!!!!!

IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE...............

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It's been a while since I posted about how the revival of my saxophone career is going. 

I'm now into the second year with a local band and we have weekly rehearsals. I have continued to have weekly private lessons with a teacher in Amersham.

I supplement these sessions with daily practice at home (I haven't had any complaints from the neighbours - yet !!!!!!!!!)

I'm pleased with my progress and I've settled in to playing second alto in a section of 5 saxes. Sometimes when the lead alto player can't make it to rehearsal I get to have a bash at the first alto part - I love that - the pressure is on and there's no hiding place !

Our next gig is on 14th December in Chalfont and we will also be playing a number of Christmas carol sessions out and about locally as we did last year. All proceeds go to charity.

We are currently rehearsing :

'The Peanut Vendor' - made popular in the 50s by the Stan Kenton Band.

'What a Wonderful World' - the definitive version is the vocal by 'Satchmo'

'Peter Gunn' - my favourite version is this one : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xME2VC56ubA  .

Our version has been rearranged for a big band by our Musical Director and is great fun to play.

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'Blues Brothers Medley' - some of the numbers from the film and again great fun to play.

The year has gone much better than I had hoped for, and  I'm enjoying every musical moment of it !!

PAUL ....by me !!

I have never had any experience of drawing - and as you can see it shows !!

This is my impression of Paul - and this is the first ever, anywhere, public showing of a pencil sketch (unsigned ) by Harry C.

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THE WRONG IMPRESSION !

On a few occasions recently I have answered a knock on our front door wearing this device. I was aware of some odd looks from the postman or the milkman but thought no more about it.

When I opened our door to one of my wife's friends last week she said with a smile "well now what have you been up to" ?

I thought I'd better explain that I hadn't developed an interest in bondage in my old age and that in fact this was a saxophone harness.

It is worn like this:- *

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The sax is quite a heavy instrument and the harness is an alternative,for the older player, to the conventional sling which concentrates the weight on the neck like this :-

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I have found the sling uncomfortable because it puts pressure on the carotid arteries which supply blood and oxygen to the brain.

And my brain can do with all the help it can get !!!!!!!!!

So that's cleared that up then !!

EXPERIMENT, HAVE FUN !!!!!!!

On my previous post under 'Technorati Please Note ' I included a file which demonstrated a standard piece of Microsoft software called 'Sound Recorder' with voice narration over the top of a music background.

Since then I looked at a similar piece of software under 'Accessories' called 'Windows Moviemaker' and played around with that.

In looking around for images and material to use I ' borrowed ' the very impressive presentation 'Viennese Twirl' by TomLR on his blog Raymond. (I hope you don't mind Tom - otherwise I'm sure we can reach some reasonable out of court settlement ! )

The result below is the first cut as a demo.

Download toms_viennese_twir_2l.MSWMM

I have included a music track throughout and was trying to dub Tom's script over the top - but you can't do both. The music track can be removed and substituted by voiceover which can be synchronised with the images. I didn't attempt that because of the voice requirements for the various characters ( I have not had Rada training !! )

The software comes with the basic rations and is easy to use . You can present your favourite photos or postcards with a commentary or your favourite music as a background.

Go on give it a go !!!!!!!!

SHADES OF THE GOOD LIFE ??????

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This is our 2007 crop of organic potatoes

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and this is our crop of Blueberries.

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My good lady Joanski is a keen gardener and favours all things organic. She has been quite successful in recent years in producing potatoes,beans,peppers,tomatoes, onions and even garlic. The objective apparently is to become self sufficient in vegetables asap !!

As you can see the harvest this year has been somewhat disappointing for her - due, I am told, to a combination of extremely wet weather and aggressive slug activity.

The two blueberries will be kept for display purposes and the potato crop means we will be self sufficient for three to four days (then it's back to Sainsburys !! )

Technorati Please Note :-

You will see that I have continued, and varied, the pioneering work on the use of full-stops by TomLR by using asterisks here. As an additional development I have made a music file and added a 'voiceover' which I have embeded below (this puzzles me since I still can't embed a video from YouTube)

But the work goes on !!

Download harrys_test.wav

The download works for me. If it works for any readers please let me know.

CAT BULLETIN

As Paul mentioned in on of his posts, we have acquired a cat - a mature female cat. Her name is Georgia but she prefers to be known as Georgie

Her previous owner has relocated to the west of Ireland, but Georgie decided that she would have a better lifestyle here  - (this girl is no fool !!)

She will have been with us three weeks next Sunday and has had to spend the time so far confined to the house. The vet tells us that mature cats should spend a minimum of three weeks indoors otherwise she would seek out her previous abode.

Here she is surveying her future domain -

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"Next Monday, kid, all this will be yours "

In the meantime she spends her time relaxing -

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and sometimes she can be persuaded to lighten up -

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But she's keen to get out and about - access is already in place -

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She's spent some time tarting herself up - . 

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So roll on Monday and good luck girl !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!