More birthday shots

A buddy from perth now living in Ireland just sent me these photos from the pirate v ninja party

Here I am pouring a few pints from the bar fridge

And here is Jane lighting the candles on the giant rice-krispie birthday cake

And here is Denis and Finn (who converted to ninjaism) set to sail the high seas in a bathtub

Skype Mobile

Hi Guys

I just got skype for my mobile phone so i should be available a whole lot more now if you want to call. My skype ID is violacharlie and lines are now open!

Gig of the year 2005

There is always one gig per year that outshines all the others. This year its looking like a tie between 88 shows of miss saigon and a paddys day gig in kalgoorlie (mining town in the middle of nowhere about 500kms from Perth, home of lunatics and the deranged). Last year was a close one but the War of the Worlds gig won it over by a nose. 2006 has to be the stephens night gig in the shelbourne, got off the plane at 730 from australia and was plaing jigs'n'reels by 8. And for 2005 it has got to be this one, a day out in donnybrook with the lads, podge and rodge. I just came across the clip on youtube. It was a mime gig, i got a photo with the lads, a signed dvd, a burger and chips in the canteen and 50 yoyos, i didnt get to keep the t-shirt.

Day trip north

Jane and Hugh and I took off yesterday to a place 150kms north of perth on the coast and stayed with Adam, Nadine and Finn and our friends Steve, Renee and kids Austin and Osca. We had a great time, drove on the beach on a 4x4, had a lovely BBQ and met their pet kangaroo. This picture is of a rare wee dragon, spikey tail and all.

And here is that Kangaroo, goes by the name of Roo-by. Steve (the guy who takes us fishing) is a ranger for a national park and has to keep the place relatively pest and weed free and cull feral animals, goats, rabits, foxes. He came across this lone wee joey on his travels and it now lives with them. It even has its own pouch.

Here is Hugh as a surrogate roo mother.

And here is Fin playing with Rooby

More christmas random snaps

Heres a funny one of Reilly getting a bath after a day on the beach

Christmas day we did a gig, flute violin and harp (photo below) and the best folders we could find all came with really hilarious pictures. Well, it was funny at the time....

And here is where we were playing, complete with santa hats

And this is the Finn man a few hours after his encounter with the fridge door.

Yaaaaarrr ya scurvy daaags

Here are the two most notorious pirates in all the land, Whitebeard the deaf with his pouch of pieces of eight and Nobeard the kid, passed out from too much grog on the back of a maneating seabeast.

ooohhmm cha cha oohhmm cha cha

Yup, the life of a pro-viola player on new years eve. Not a single downbeat for 3 straight hours. The Perth Pops Orchestra with special guests rang in the new year in the concert hall last night with a selection of strauss classics and more polkas than a...eh...jar of polkas on a polka collectors desk.......eh..yeah.

Twas the morning after my other birthday party ( i had a few) after close on 15 pints of beer and 5 hours sleep I was certainly not the cheeriest chap in the orchestra so at the break in rehersal I had a snooze down the back of the hall. Here we can see me hiding from the orchestra behind a net of midnight suprise baloons

And this was the view as i had my mid rehersal snooze. The ceiling of the Perth concert hall, very relaxing i think you'll agree.

Hugh arrives in town

After the wedding we went to meet Hugh, my sisters boyfriend.

Here he is in the casino, the only place where we could get a drink at that time of night. He is here with his family on a tour of australia. Great to see him again and great to meet his family for the first time too.

And here he is on the phone to the sis.

The reception

When we got the the reception this dixie/jazz band were all set up banging out the hits. They were fantastic! Such a variety in the music of the day, it really was fantastic.

And here is Mr & Mrs Hoy

Now, one of the pieces in the service was played by that chap in white. World Champion for 4 years running in improvisational organ playing. The piece (epic work) he performed between the readings was a theme and vatiations on both their names, applying a note to each letter of the name, so abcdefg were notes, then h was a again and so on. It was incredible, made it up on teh spot and added in excerpts from Wagner, Bach, Tchaik, the works.

Matt and Jenikas wedding

Friends of ours got married on the 29th. Matt and Jenika, cellists in the WASO, giggers extraordinaire and they live just round the corner from us too. Above is Jane and Tres having a few pre-service champagnes

Here is Matt and his dad, his penultimate minutes as a single man

The music was incredible. One specially composed piece had 2 violins, organ, piano and 4 people playing tuned crystal glasses in the crowd. Here is our friend James playing 'A' complete with dynamics and phrasing.....

And here are the lads. The entire wall behind the alter was all glass, a view over teh tiver, which was amazing, but as a result of the intense light no photos came out well after this one.

Pirates V Ninjas, yaaaarrrr

Here is Finn and Adam as pirates. Poor Finn ran into the fridge that morning and his right eye swelled up shut. He looked like the meanest Pirate in the land!

If you see a ninja, they they arent really a ninja. Ninjas are invisible ALL the time and can travel anywhere instantly. I chose to be visible for portions of the party....

Here is the birthday cake Jane made for me. As you know I am allergic to eggs so I cant really eat cakes so Jane made me this GIANT rice-crispie cake complete with pirates, canons and burried treasure

And here are the usual suspects just before cutting the cake

My Birthday Party

We had a fancy dress party on the 27th, as we were all working on the 30th. it was a Pirates 'vs' Ninjas party. We had the place all decorated and lots of pirate and ninja stuff littered about the place

I had two special beers made for the occasion. Dojo Ale and a wheat beer called Pirate Patch

Even the dogs got involved. Here is Fionn and his ninja star and below Reilly as a Pirate hound

Muttcam

Hi Everyone and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Sorry for the break in usual programming, i have been out and about with gigs and parties and all that craic. So, to get us started, here are a few pictures of the hounds