What a beautiful weekend! We drove to New York on Friday night then went on to CT with Haley's fiddle teacher, his daughter, and a couple of his students to see The Yanks, a group of amazingly talented young Irish musicians from America who have a number of All Ireland wins among their members. Each is an amazing musician in his own right and together they are amazing as well.
We got up early Saturday morning even though we didn't get to bed until after midnight because we had some chocolate chip cookies for a midnight snack. Haley had a fiddle lesson in the morning first thing after breakfast. We then drove into NYC to meet with her buddy, Sofia. The girls busked in Central Park. They are trying to raise money to off-set the cost of their trips to Ireland...both won at the qualifying Fleadh in Parsippany so are headed to the All Ireland (the Olympics of Irish music) in Derry, Northern Ireland in August. Here's a short clip of the girls playing a tune written by Haley's buddy, John Whelan, called "Louise." (You can find it on John's album Passage of Time.)
They busked until they filled their cases then we went to a bakery for a sweet treat in celebration of Haley's upcoming birthday. See photo below....
We walked around the city and did a little shopping. Here are the girls trying on some great shoes....
After shopping, we stopped for some pizza then went back to the park for some more busking.
Sofia gave Haley an Irish cookbook for her birthday and Haley spent a good portion of our 2 hour drive home pouring over the book, reading recipes, and deciding on a menu for her birthday dinner. This morning she and Daddy went to pick up the items on her shopping list for dinner. She came home and made her first recipe, Brown Bread Ice Cream (one of our favorites in Dublin). Afterward, Haley decided she'd like to go busking with the boys then to the Plough and the Stars session for a bit so that's what we did....since it is still her "birthday week." The waitress brought her out this lovely desert and the guys at the session sang her the deepest version of Happy Birthday I have ever heard....so sweet!
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