Loose Leaf Notes

I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day Eve in my shamrock scarf with a front row seat to a Virginia Blue Ridge Music Festival Celtic Celebration concert.

It featured accomplished violinist and fiddler Katherine Wiley on fiddle, David Scheim on harp and piano, Geoffrey Saur on small pipes and bagpipes and Ash Devine singing vocals.

It was an emotional experience that stirred my Irish dna, from the upbeat joyful jigs to the bittersweet yearnings of melodic aires.

Ash sang a song, Bonny Portmore, that really hit home, touching into the grief surrounding today’s degradation of democratic freedoms and the longing for a higher good. “It’s about the sacred oak tree groves in Ireland that were deforested and taken away to be turned into warships by the English. It’s a song of grieving and honoring that which is dear to us.” Ash said.

This one sounded familiar!

And this was fun. A sing-along: And we’ll all go together, to the wild mountain thyme, all around the heather, Will ye go, lassie, go?

Then onto an engaging dinner with friends at The Parkway Grille for some great food and craic. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!