Hi, Anonsi!  Not too bad.  Earlier in the day I helped my husband out in the yard and repotted some sp***r plants.  The weather was pleasant and mostly sunny.  We just got back from seeing the Simpsons movie and having dinner with our daughter.  The movie was great fun.

Give me a holler if you come back this way!  I would definitely make an effort to come out and support your band.

If Annie Moore came through Ellis Island, then she was a real latecomer.  It wasn't established until 1892.  My Irish ancestors were already in North America by 1850, along with hordes of others fleeing the Potato Famine of the 1840's.

One of my nieces who lives in Texas took up the Irish fiddle for a while, but I don't think she is keeping it up.  She and her sister, along with my sister (their mother) have participated for many years in a project that brings together Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland in a neutral environment in an effort to foster better relationships in that war-torn country.

Hi, Threeb!  I'm just popping in and out, trying to get the last few words.  Not a problem for you; you rocketed right to the top!  It's a pretty decent day.  I'm going to help my other half with some yard work, then we're going to see the Simpsons movie with my daughter.  I got to watch some Dr. Who yesterday, but then my husband commandeered the TV for tennis.  Sunday mornings I listen to a local radio show called Stained Glass Bluegrass, you can pretty well figure the content from the title.

My favorite dropping from the shirt that I gave my dad was the one from the robin (North American).  Its Latin name is actually Turdus migratorius.

Don Alonzo, if you like classical guitar, you should listen to music performed by Peter Blanchette on an instrument that he had developed called the archguitar.  Blanchette performs everything from Renaissance dances to works by Scarlatti, Vivaldi and Bach to more contemporary composers such as Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Satie, Villa-Lobos and Nino Rota.  Sometimes he plays solo; sometimes he partners with another archguitar, a trumpet, an English horn, even voice.  His website is at http://www.archguitar.com/.

Just now as I was getting the link, I see that he has updated his website and has a new CD.  I must purchase it right away!!!  I own just about every CD he has ever issued.  I discovered him and his early partner, Peter Michelini, at a craft fair in Vermont.  Since then they have appeared on Prairie Home Companion and parted ways. I don't know what Michelini is doing these days, but Blanchette keeps on making CD's.

I'm not familiar with those programs.  I'll have to check the schedules.  We have a couple of public radio stations here.  One of them is devoted to classical music all day long, and the other one has a lot of talk.  When the other station does music, it is usually traditional music, like jazz, bluegrass, folk and Celtic.  Up until this year there was more variety as far as public radio goes, but our commercial classical music station changed formats.  One of the public radio stations picked up the slack.  My husband listens to the classical music station all day long.  I love classical music, but in much smaller doses.  Thank Heaven we both like the same eras of classical music -- Baroque and early Classical, with a smattering of Renaissance and Romantic tossed in for variety.

Like you, I took piano lessons as a child.  I played the cello in the high school orchestra, as well, though I never owned an instrument.

I'll try to watch some of it.  Today is my day to reconcile the household accounts, which I always do on the first of the month.  I liked Rose a lot, but after so many years I have gotten used to both doctors and companions coming and going.