Hard Times Come Again No More

I'm not sure why but this song started going through my head today. This is for anyone going through a tough time. http://youtu.be/vstfG98GxFk The singers are (l to r) Mary Black, Tommy Fleming, Eleanor Shanley, and Maura O'Connell, accompanied by De Danann. For those not familiar, this was written in 1854 by American composer Stephen …

Circle of Joy

Since I have no news, other than being home sick for the last three days and trying to work from home a bit, I thought I'd share some music. Here's a beautiful Celtic harp piece called Circle of Joy, by Lisa Lynne. Windham Hill sticks it on their Celtic Christmas collections, which is fine, but …

Celtic Sun Worship

It seems like virtually every ancient culture indulged in sun-worship at some point. But did the Irish? Or more specifically, the early Celtic settlers in Ireland? The Irish don't seem to have had a particular god or goddess of the sun, or a name for the sun as a deity. Lugh has sometimes been seen …

Pigsong

Pigsong is the third in a series of short stories, collectively titled Storytellers, by Frank Delaney, who also brought us The Last Storyteller. There will be a new one each month for the year 2012. It starts with a short lead-in, Author’s Notes, that explains the idea behind the story, delving into the concept of …

I’m Lookin’ Over a Three-Leaf Clover

Sure and begorrah, the shamrock is one of the best-known symbols of Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day. But what’s the difference between clover and shamrocks? Well first off, the four-leafed clover has, well, four leaves. Shamrocks by definition have three. The shamrock can however be any of a number of a variety of clovers. Common …