One of the tunes I’m glad to be learning on the penny whistle is “Mo Ghile Mear“, an ancient Irish tune whose words are a woman’s lament for her man slain in battle. It was later used as a lament for the exile of Bonny Prince Charlie, who as a Catholic monarch would have been as welcome to the Irish as to the Highlanders. Here’s Sting singing “Mo Ghile Mear” with the Chieftains. I’m not generally a Sting fan, but... Read more
A solitary rock is always attractive. All right-minded people feel an overwhelming desire to scale and sit upon it. — Dorothy Sayers, Have His Carcase. Read more
The first settlements on S’Mary’s World were run along the lines of monastic communes: the people of the settlements, though not professed religious, lived, farmed, worked, and built their homes and infrastructure together, and held it all in common. The settlement’s church was usually the first permanent structure, and, as many of the colonists were tertiaries of various orders, an abbreviated form of the divine office was usually sung or said each morning and each evening. As the second and... Read more
I spent several years learning to play the recorder, with the help of a co-worker who had quite a bit of experience. I can (or could) play soprano, alto, tenor, and bass recorders (with varying degrees of mastery); but there were some things I never managed. A recorder’s range is a little over two octaves, and I always had trouble with the highest notes. They often involve half-hole fingerings, and you have to control your breath very precisely, and the... Read more
In Galloway, according to Dorothy Sayers, everyone either fishes or paints or both. This is her introduction to The Five Red Herrings, a fiendish mystery novel involving seven painters and fishers, one of whom is dead, one of whom killed him, and five of whom didn’t. All six of the living painters have alibis, one of which needs to be broken. There are a great deal of cars and trains and bicycles—oh, the bicycles—, far too many train schedules, and... Read more
Why don’t Catholics handle church discipline in the manner described in the New Testament? St. Paul has a number of things to say about Church members who sin publicly, thereby causing scandal, up to and including casting them out of the community until they shape up; but the Church today handles matters quite differently. Why so? This question arose in a private forum I read; and a number of answers were offered. The most obvious is that there is an... Read more
Reading about the interior life is not the same as living it. (Neither is writing about it.) ’nuff said. Read more
This was first posted in January of 2004. I’ve got three kids (soon to be four); the oldest is just shy of seven years old. I’ve got a full-time job. And yet I’ve got a web log; I write open-source software in Tcl; I’ve written a couple of (unpublished) novels. (And my wife is still speaking to me!) And, far from neglecting them, I spend a lot of time with my kids. How do I have time for all of... Read more
I’ve been listening to a lot of Irish Traditional music recently, and a lot of Irish traditional songs are played on the penny whistle, also known as the tin whistle. (That wind instrument you hear on records by the Chieftains or the Dubliners? Probably a penny whistle.) The penny whistle, a cousin of the recorder and the flageolet, is one of the simplest wind instruments: a whistle, or fipple flute, with six finger holes, capable of playing two full octaves... Read more
The late Jerry Reed had a knack for novelty songs like “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” “She Got the Goldmine, I Got the Shaft”, and this song, “Tupelo Mississippi Flash,” which is not quite a song about the discovery of Elvis Presley; but in addition to that, he was truly an outstanding guitar player—which is also on display in this song. Give him a listen. Read more
Cry 'Woof'
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