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In 2009 Mish and I became slightly obsessed with the TV Show The Wire (true to form about 18 months after everyone else). Everybody has a favourite version of Tom Wait’s “Way Down in the Hole” (Mine was Season 1 whilst Mish prefered the one for Season 4, which was performed by Baltimore teenagers)

Here’s my homage to the theme tune on the old banjo whilst mucking about with a half slide I found.

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This Christmas, I asked Paul for one present – have our data recovered from our damaged external hard drive (the one thing broken in the move to Musselburgh).  Paul came through big time, with some help from both sets of parents.  We now have all our digital photos back, yay!!!!  So, better late than never – our photos from the trip home to Boston last May are now finally up on our flickr site which you can look at via the photos section on this blog.  The photo sets include Bethany and Jeff’s wedding day, visiting with Boston friends, being touristy in Boston and Paul’s random folk session in Cambridge.

Yay for happy memories – thank you Broon!

We just got back from the Watch-Night service at church.  My brother Stu and I sang and played in front of the congregation.  I was pretty nervous but Stu kept me right.  You could hear a baby crying right after a moment of silence at the beginning of the song.  How apt!  It was very moving indeed.

Click below to hear a recording…

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I’m so glad that we can finally relax and enjoy a family Christmas.

Peace and love to all.

Best wishes,

Px

We are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas and New Years after a very busy December at our two churches and at work too.   This year I left the afterschool club job for a temporary position as the maternity cover for the Youth and Children’s Officer for the Diocese of Edinburgh.  It’s been an excellent experience filled with new and exciting challenges every week.  I’ve learned quite a bit and met some lovely people in our Diocese as well as visitors from other Dioceses around the world too.

At the end of February, Paul and I had the great joy of visiting my family in the states once more.  This time, during Fawcett birthday season – so we managed to be there for Aunt Barb’s birthday and also to celebrate my birthday and dad’s birthday too.  On our visit home, we took a road trip to Maryland to meet Pat and Patrick Costello – two wonderful banjo players who share their love for this music online daily through free banjo lessons.  As Paul had learned to play from watching them online, it was a great joy to see him finally meet them in person.  We were treated to excellent hospitality by both Pat and Patrick along with Pat’s wife Miss Trudy.

For my birthday, Paul and our family chipped in to get me a digital SLR camera!  I’ve had loads of fun this year trying my hand at digital photography.  Paul has enjoyed the new gadget as well and has become quite the nature photographer too!

In the spring, we helped as leaders on the Easter Vigil and a youth retreat for St. Philip’s youth group.  Once again the Breakfast Club and our co-leaders David, Carol and Lesley continue to inspire us.

Yay Broon!

In May we traveled home to Boston for Bethany and Jeff’s wedding. It was excellent to be back to see all our great Boston friends, especially Lisa, Matt and Melissa.  We realised just how much we miss Boston and are sure that when we eventually move back to the states, it will be to Boston.  One of the highlights of the trip home was meeting Tommy, Matt and Melissa’s baby boy. He was quite impresssed with Broon’s banjo playing, repeatedly saying “Yay Broon!” We enjoyed a fun a trip to Cabot’s with the Sagendorphs.  For me, it was especially wonderful to be able to visit with my best friend Lisa and we hope it won’t be too long before we see her again.

In July, we made the big move!  We moved out of Edinburgh to a nearby seaside town called Musselburgh (although we officially live in Fisherrow apparently…).  We are renting a flat for just the two of us and it’s lovely.

We celebrated our three year wedding anniversary on the 26^th of August.  Paul treated me to a lovely meal at the Glasshouse in Musselburgh and we finished off with ice cream from S. Luca. (So thankful to be living closer to our favourite ice cream parlour now!)

In November, Mom and Dad crossed the ocean for a visit to Musselburgh to stay with us.  It was so nice to be with them again and to have time to see more of Edinburgh.  The highlights were definitely sharing High Tea at the Balmoral Hotel, climbing Arthur’s Seat with Dad and sharing in an early Thanksgiving meal with the Broons.  During this week, we also were thrilled to celebrate Paul’s Baptism day.  There was a quiet service at St. Philip’s followed by drinks at the Dalrieda with family and a couple friends.

We’re looking forward to seeing what 2010 brings and hope to catch up with you soon.   Many blessings for you and your family this year.  With Love, from Mish and Broon.

We are fast approaching the end of this decade.  How did that happen?  It seems only yesterday that I was permanently wearing plaid shirts and banging on about how Beck was a visionary, Oasis were mince and Mick Foley was “more than just a wrassler”… Oh wait, that was yesterday.

I’ve never really been fashionable and the term “early adopter” is as contrary to my musical taste as “no claims bonus” is to Tiger Woods’ car insurance.  That being said I have sought out and discovered (albeit six months after everyone else) a wealth of music that I have grown to love, cherish, identify with, be protective of and be inspired by.

So taking a leaf out of Nick Hornby’s book and following on from NPR’s All Songs Considered excellent 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade series I have put together a Best ‘o the Noughties playlist.  I’ve limited myself to 12 tracks and these songs represent either a great album or one of my favourite artists from the last decade. I could ramble on about the merits of each track but I’m sure you have better things to do…

1. The Shy Retirer by The Arab Strap (from Monday at the Hug and Pint)
2. Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk (from the Discovery album)
3. Old Old Fashioned by Frightened Rabbit (from The Midnight Organ Fight)
4. There’s None of That by King Creosote (from the Bombshell album)
5. Late by Ben Folds (from Songs from Silverman album)
6. Little Drop of Poison by Tom Waits (from the Orphans collection)
7. O Valencia! by The Decemberists (from The Crane Wife album)
8. He Lays in the Reins by Calexico and Irons & Wine (from the In the Reins EP)
9. Romulus by Sufjan Stevens (from the Michigan album)
10. Sugar and Pie by Abigail Washburn (and the Sparrow Quartet)
11. B.O.B. by OutKast (from the Stankonia album)
12. I’m the Man Who Loves You by Wilco (from the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album)

Click here to listen to the playlist on Spotify.  If you can’t access this and would like an invite to join Spotify then please drop me a note as I have a few going spare.

I would love to hear what your choices would be so please send me your playlists.  One thing becomes clear about these picks.  I have lost the notion to RAWK!  I’m sure there were some balls-out rock songs I have enjoyed over the decade but for the life of me I can’t recall what they were.  I’ll look forward to your suggestions.

I spent the day up to my elbows in Christmas Trees.  I have been volunteering for the Caring Christmas Trees project over the last couple of years and today was my first session. It’s a great project with all the profits going to a winter shelter for homeless people providing hot meals and a safe, warm place to sleep over the winter months.

First job: get out of bed!  A big ask this morning as I was a little ‘tender’ after having a great time with our friends having a Christmas meal and a few wee drinkies.

Then off to the site to unload 127 Normand Fir trees out of a Bedford truck, count them all and set them up for display.  The other volunteers and I greeted a steady stream of folks picking up their trees and we unwrapped and wrapped a bunch for our discerning customers to make sure they were getting what they wanted.  Michelle came along to pick our tree (as I “would have picked the wrong one”) which was generally the story of the day for the gentlemen picking trees.

After my stint I brought our tree home and Michelle and mum helped decorate it.  I love putting up our Christmas tree.  Mish and I have collected a number of ornaments over the years that remind us of our friends, families and the things we love.  We have ornaments ranging from home-made decorations from our first tree that we made out of paper when we were skint to my favourite; Boba Fett.

As I type this Mr Potato Head is surveying the living-room from his perch at the top of our tree.  It’s become a tradition for him to be up there in place of a star or a fairy.

There are some photos over at our flickr site.

This summer was a busy one for Broon and I.  We started off in May going back to Boston for a visit to see a great friend of ours get married and to see loads of lovely people we miss in Boston.  We took sooo many pictures as it was our first big holiday with our new camera… and then when we got home, we uploaded those photos to the external hard-drive on the computer and deleted them from the camera to make more room for work photos I needed to take at the church that weekend.  Three weeks later we moved to Musselburgh.  The move was smooth and all went well…. except our hard-drive has gone bust so sadly, no Boston photos to share…. but plenty of Boston memories.

Thanks soooo much to Lisa, Matt, Melissa and Tommy for looking after us.  Thanks to Bethany and Jeff for including us in your big weekend!  (Paul had the chance to sing in Bethany’s wedding – a Rascal Flats song I love – it’s the same one Bethany sang for us at our wedding…)  We also loved celebrating Pentecost at the Watershed worship service at our friend Rob’s church in Waltham.  It was lovely to be home in Boston again and definitely confirmed for us that when we move back stateside – it will be back to Boston.

My favourite part of the flat

But in the meantime, Musselburgh has definitely become our home sweet home.  We moved here in June and have loved having a summer by the seaside.  This is our first place we rented on our own since we were married three years ago and it’s been so lovely to be in our own place.  We have a guest room which doubles as Paul’s music room.  He can quite happily be heard strumming the banjo there.  The living room is my favourite place to be – loads of light and now all of our books are no longer piled in cupboards.  We actually have bookcases!  Late in summer we had a flatwarming party which was lovely to share the new place with our friends and family here.  For a look at the flat and the nearby seaside/harbour – have a look in the photo gallery.

The end of summer brought even more change – I’ve got a new job! For the next year I’ll be the Youth and Children’s Officer for The Diocese of Edinburgh covering the maternity leave of a good friend. I started a couple weeks ago and it’s brilliant.  Loads of new challenges and new connections.  This job is part-time so I’ve left afterschool club and now work full time in ministry between the new job and my other job at the church.  It’s a real joy to get to use my degree more and have the opportunity to spend more time thinking about the theology of children’s ministry and youth ministry.

As fall is quickly approaching, we are discovering a new season by the seaside and are enjoying seeing the sunsets and walking along the blustery harbour. We’re very much looking forward to mom and dad’s upcoming visit in November.  There are times when the Atlantic Ocean seems bigger than before – now is definitely one of those times.  While I love living here, I continually miss my family.  Right now, my Aunt Barb is fighting cancer for the second time.  I would give anything to be back by her side in New Jersey as she goes through the treatments. I wish it were possible to live nearby both our families at all times.  For now we will appreciate every moment with the Browns whilst we live in Musselburgh and when the Fawcetts come over for a visit we will spend as much time as possible with them and we will save up to go home soon for a visit again.

My friends Grant and Lan gave me a copy of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music Vol.4 for my birthday this year. This song, originally sung by Uncle Dave Macon is particularly prescient considering the current economic climate and my line of work. Bah!

Thanks for the CD though guys – its ace!

Mish and I have just returned from our trip to Boston.  We had a great time reconnecting with our friends, seeing our old stomping grounds and even discovering some new ones.

This trip turned into a bit of a musical adventure.  Our friend Bethany had asked me to sing at her wedding (a favour I was happy to be able to repay as she had sung beautifully at ours in 2006).  Bethany is the Contemporary Music Director at Newton Presbyterian Church, where the wedding was to be.  She has assembled a talented bunch of musicians and it was great to be able to play in a band again.   After some rehearsal I managed to get through the song without messing up too much and the backing was great from the guys.

I had also dragged my banjo over the ocean with me. I don’t think I could stand being apart from it for a whole week so it was nice to be asked to sing a wee song at the reception in-between the sets from the Ceilidh band.

Before leaving, I had briefly looked for opportunities to play in Boston.  I had noticed a couple of open-mic nights and sessions but they just didn’t work with our schedule.  Our good friend Lisa, who we were staying with, had suggested we try the Cantab Lounge as it has a very well established open-mic night on Mondays.

By this point in the trip I must confess I was a little knackered.  We had been enjoying a nice dinner in Harvard Square with Lisa and Kelly who was visiting, so I wasn’t too bothered when time got away from us and we were quite late for the start of the open-mic.  I thought at this point it would be way too late to sign up and was actually relieved.

We decided to walk along to the bar anyway and check it out for next time.  On the walk over to Central Square we happened to walk passed a music shop called Sandy’s.  I remember buying guitar strings there when I lived in Boston for a short while in 2004.   I had to make a quick double take when I heard and saw a bunch of banjo, fiddle and cello players crammed in the shop and jamming away.

Unbelievably they were having an Old Time open jam session.  I plucked up the courage to ask if I could join them and they were more than welcoming, so I tuned up to the key of A and away we went.  I kept up with the playing as best as I could whilst Michelle, Lisa and Kelly managed to squeeze in to the shop and find a seat.

I shakily shared a couple of songs with the group and learned a good few more.  It was amazingly serendipitous to happen upon the session like that and I was thrilled to get the chance to  play with other clawhammer and traditional fiddle players.  It was interesting to hear the difference in styles between traditional American and Scottish traditional fiddle playing, particularly the cross-tunings and I learned a lot just by listening to what was going on.  I’ve made a good few mental notes of improvements I can make to my playing for the next time I accidentally come across a jam session.

Jon and Kathy, two of the musicians there,  have set up a nice website called planetbanjo.com where you can hear some soundclips of the type of music we were playing.

Here is a link to Sandy’s Music shop in Cambridge: www.sandysmusic.org You can find out more about their instruments,  services and regular jam sessions.

After a wee while we headed off to the Cantab but I was not overwhelmed by the place so decided to head home, my musical appetite already well and truly sated.

We’re in Boston, MA right now to go to a wedding and catch up with some friends. It’s nice to be back in the city and we’re acting like absolute tourists (we even bought mugs from the fake Cheers).

I’ll post more soon but in the meantime I’ll tweet when I get the chance.