Glenstal Castle and Abbey in Ireland

This castle is built in the Normanesque style and is near Limerick, Ireland. We visited last November. You can see that the weather and light changes suddenly.



Des with the cannon that looks down into the valley.

Sunshine one minute and darkness the next.

Inside the sanctuary of the Abbey, which is inside the castle grounds 





Des at the castle gates.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Manet and Degas at the Met in New York

Image
 My art history knowledge is pretty basic, but I have always loved the ballerinas by Degas so for my birthday this year we went to the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the special Manet/Degas exhibit.  They were friends and painted each other. Degas collected Manet's art, as he outlived him. It was a fascinating exhibit and very crowded so some of the angles on my photos are skewed. Thanks to Brian, Sandy, and Trey for coming with me to this exceptional exhibit.   This is the famous painting by Degas that was slashed by Manet and caused a rift between the friends for a time. It is of Manet on the couch and his wife playing piano.  Manet cut off his wife's face and the right part of the painting. It was exhibited next to Manet's painting of his wife below. Manet's painting of his wife at the piano.   Lola de Valence, a Spanish dancer who had come to Paris painted by Manet. Degas painted this woman with flowers in 1865.   Degas had family in the New Orleans c
Read more

Video Index, updated periodically

Image
https://www.youtube.com/ channel/ UCWMkn2CgTSLwAMRjQLxDtxA Video channel includes playlists of educational videos, performances, and nature videos. Music learning videos are designed so the student can play along, rewind the tricky bits, and then each piece has a straight-through playing without talking. These are not perfect, but I hope they will be helpful. It is vital that you continue to listen to the reference recordings with your book for tempo, intonation, and phrasing so when you are able to play in groups you will match the other participants. Sara Penny Bow as a Magic Wand:  Video:  Creating magic in your music.  More ideas on musical interpretation:  Ideas for music nuance Setting Up a Small Child for Violin or Viola plus Rhythm Tools Video: Magic wands, feathers, and other ways to engage small children Opening left hand and Balance :   Relax left hand for better results Violin: Pre-Twinkle and Bingo :  Link for finger exercises, pre Twinkle, and using Bingo sh
Read more

Des and Sara onstage

Image
Beaumont Community Theatre became our Texas family during the seven years we lived there between Ireland and Utah. I don't have photos of every production, but some of our favorites: Des had been in plays in Ireland before coming to teach at Lamar University. He also helped with stage managing Camelot, Music Man, and other shows. Sara helped with publicity. Des did perform a few times in plays after moving to Cedar City and was in the Utah Shakespeare Festival for one summer. His teaching duties made it hard to continue in theatre, but he continued performing music until Covid sidelined all of us. Some of his favorite roles in Texas: Professor Higgins in  My Fair Lady Starbuck in  Rainmaker Mr. Lundie in  Brigadoon Koko in  Mikado  (this was at the Orange Theatre, near Beaumont) Priest in Hamlet (he also performed this role in Cedar City at SUU)  Ghost in MacBeth Sara's favorite roles were in Oldest Living Graduate playing a snarky small town woman with "big hair" an
Read more