Hear Ye, Hear Ye

On By auntyamoIn Family, Getting to grips with God stuff, HumourLeave a comment

So, himself and meself were going to a wedding and decided to treat ourselves to a night in the hotel as most of the wedding guests were doing the same.
I poured over the hotel’s website looking at the fab rooms and the posh restaurant. Under the stones at...

“Yippee” says I, “they have a Spa!”

“Ohhh great”, came the enthusiastic reply, “I’ll be able to get a paper”

“A SPA!” I shouted… “A SPA! NOT A SPAR!”

I’m not even going to get into the twisted logic of why a posh hotel would have a Spar in it. Or why he was more excited about a paper than even I was about the Jacuzzi!

It’s very easy to mishear stuff. And usually it’s because we’re not listening.

I’m intrigued by this phrase that Jesus used at the end of Luke 14…
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
I wonder if the reason we misunderstand each other and God’s Word is that we don’t listen.

There are many who do not have ears to hear. They’ve already decided they have no interest. They don’t believe in or care about God or what He has to say. It doesn’t make me angry, but it does make me sad. World events, political decisions, personal choices end up being made and responded to without the essential ‘eternal perspective’.

But those who have ‘an ear to hear’… we need to hear what God is saying. In the beginning of that verse, Jesus said, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”

It’s a challenge to us to be salt.
Not enough and we have no effect on the flavour.
Too much and we make people choke and want to spit!
But as Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt…”

Happily I have my own stock to Haribo to show you 🙂

 

Oh and by the way, we ended up having a lovely time in that hotel.
I’d love to stay there again… I hear they do a great hot stone massage… and 2-for-1 on the Haribo jellies!

Ode to my 250th Twitter follower

On By auntyamoIn Humour, Silly SongsLeave a comment

This morning I promised on Twitter that my 250th follower would get and ‘ode’ written to them.

In practice mode (and cos he wanted me to) I wrote a little ditty for @IrelandsEar

In Ireland there once was an Ear, his opinion on issues was clear.

He never got bitter when tweeting on Twitter, And hashtag’d #vinb with no fear

But here is the prize winner’s… eh… prize

Ode to @psneeze

Oh @psneeze with silent p that doth tweet eloquently.

You choose to follow me? Number 250!

And I shall follow thee, until sneeze begins with p

Music on a Monday – You’re always welcome to stick your nose in our business

On By auntyamoIn Family, MusicLeave a comment

It’s a while since I did MoaM! So I thought I’d use the opportunity to revive it with a shameless plug for our little business – Miles Music

Towards the end of the year Miles Music will celebrate its 5th birthday. Rich and I discussed it for a long time; but while he thought we were still thinking about it, I was preparing a surprise for him. I had one of my neffs (who worked for Tallhouse.ie) design a logo. Good friends in quinix.com were putting together a website based on concept by Jenny Steele (moochu Designs).

I got an email address sorted, business cards and headed paper printed. I gave the email address to some friends asking them to email him to wish Rich well and then… SURPRIIIIIISE….. early Christmas present 🙂

We’ll never be millionaires from it, but it has been enjoyable and very interesting. Rich does most of the teaching but over the years we’ve sat with a number of couples preparing to get married, talking though their wedding music. I’ve been singing at weddings for a long time and have had some… interesting requests over the years….

‘Help me make it through the night’ – this was thankfully taken off the list by the discerning priest before I had to refuse to sing it
‘Young Hearts Run Free’ – the groom thought it would be hilarious; the bride didn’t!
and my favourite…
‘Harvest for the World’ – eh… why?

Anyway… things have gone a bit quiet of late and now that lessons are finishing up for the summer we’re usually preparing for the wedding bookings we have! I’ve looked online and were certainly not pricing ourselves out of the market but bookings are slow to come in this year.

So do us a favour will ya? Like our page on FB, follow us on Twitter and keep us in mind if you hear of anyone in the island of Ireland looking for music for their wedding service. Thanks a mil 🙂

I’ll leave you with this story that is said by some to be true and said by others to be apocrypha… who knows… but I hope it’s true 😀

A couple met with a wedding singer and went though their list for the service. The singer said to the bride… “Your most important choice is the music you walk up the aisle to.” Without hesitation the bride said… “I want the theme to Robin Hood!”
The Bryan Adams song, “Everything I do, I do for you” had been the first song her and her intended had danced to, the night they met.
So off the wedding singer went with his list.
On the day of the wedding the bride was there in here finery and as she took her father’s arm, someone gave the nod to the wedding singer. She walked through the doors of the church and as she did, could hear the wedding singer launch into…
“Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen… Robin Hood Robin Hood with his merry men……”

Write around the bend…!

On By auntyamoIn Writing, Blogging etc1 Comment

I have decided to take a week off to work on my MA and write some other bits and pieces.

No dissin’ the MA

I should mention at this point that when I say MA, I’m not referring to my much loved and missed mother! By coincidence, on the day of her anniversary I posted this comment on Facebook. “MA paper 3 of 4 handed in. 1 more then the big Diss!!!!” My sister was very confused and wondered why I was submitting papers about (and threatening to diss) our ma!

So you get that I’m talking about my Masters yeah?

Good – so we’re all on the same… eh… page….

Anyway! My plan this week is to get a bunch of reading done so I can start writing this now infamous 4th ‘MA’ paper. Which is on the subject of Evangelicalism: Past, Present, Future.

But as well as that I’m hoping to write some short devotional pieces, hopefully a song and maybe even some poetry – which is not normally my thing but I might give it a go. Another thing I’d like to do some pondering about is a book…! I know… scary stuff.  But it’s been suggested by a few people and I have been thinking about it for a while.

I think I need to ponder the whole writing thing in general actually. For ages I thought I would finish my MA (you can’t help yourself but picture her now can you…. ) and then move on to my PhD. Then someone gave me some sage advice about doing a doctorate. They told me that I firstly had to find a subject that I loved enough to spend 6 years researching. Well the only thing I love THAT much is me! And even I’d get bored with me in that time.

But it did make me realise that it isn’t so much the research that I love (which I do) but it’s the writing that I love more and THAT’S what I’d like to pursue. So.. after ‘dissing my MA’ I’m going to investigate learning how to write proper like! 🙂 I hope to do some courses and see where it all leads. Looking forward to it I must say.

how I often look pre writing-week…

But as for this week coming I’m going to be windswept and interesting. I will do a lot of looking out the window, staring into space as if I see someone I think I recognise, biting the top of my pen, looking over my glasses, nodding knowingly and… eating. Oh sorry, I meant tweeting… no… I mean writing!!!

I will let you know how I’m getting on. You can always ignore me if you’re not interested. But hey if you’ve read this far you must be even mildly curious.

That or fulfilling a community service requirement!

how I often look post writing-week…

Please feel free to send me subject matter. Throw some words or phrases or subjects at me and I’ll see what I can do with them.

I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my nonsense. And I know a number of you have nominated me in the Blog Awards Ireland.Thanks a mill 🙂

I’m looking forward to my week of words! 🙂

Dear Da… A belated Father’s Day post

On By auntyamoIn Family, Getting to grips with God stuffLeave a comment

Father’s Day yesterday reminded me of a letter I wrote to my Dad well over a year ago. I wrote it, but I know I can never send it…

Dear Da,

Image
Dad with 2 of his many beloved grandchildren

You’re nearly 81, who knows how long you have left? Only God I suppose. Mam’s been gone nearly 6 years and you still miss her don’t you. Every single day. You talk about your prayers and not being able to get to Mass and it makes you sad.

Sometimes I get a glimpse of grace in your life. When you wept for a prisoner who will never see the light of day again or a family whose home has been destroyed by floods. But then you go back to your little world of memories and your silly lotto tickets!

I remember the day you were knocked down. I was told that you broke your leg and I had to stay with Aunty May for a while. I didn’t like that. I was 13, not a baby but I wanted to go home. Did I know it was worse than they had told me? How could I have?

Your brain damage has taken your sense of responsibility, your ability to reason, your hygiene. But not your love alcohol sadly. But nor has it taken your love for your children and your grandchildren. You love Christmas and enjoy buying and wrapping more than getting. You passed lots of that stuff on to us all and we’re grateful for that.

I wish I could get your attention long enough to tell you all this. And to tell you that I have another Father. He is older than you but ageless. He has His wits about Him at all times. And listens to me in a way that you haven’t been able to for years. He is your Father too. Well you’ve said He is, when I heard you saying the Lord’s Prayer. I hope you totally understand what you are praying.

If I could get you to listen to me I’d love to tell you how He loves you and cares for you and wants you to be with Him when your body finally gives up on you. But I can’t get through.  So I pray the Holy Spirit speaks to your spirit and that you know His love and will be with Him eternally.

I love you Da, thank you for everything.

Your baby, Annmarie x

Europtimism is wasted on Europe :(

On By auntyamoIn Random RamblingsLeave a comment

Now before I get started let me make one thing clear. I think the Green Army are (as the

Who says I don’t adore the Green Army!

young folk would say) AMAZEBALLS. The stories of people who took the time and money (neither of which anyone has) to follow the team to Poland are fantastic.
I’ve never seen anything like last night! 1 nil, 2 nil, in my lady’s chamber nil….. the singing just got louder! They never stopped. At one stage I thought to mysef.. “WHY are the Spanish fans singing The Fields of Athenry?” I just couldn’t imagine that the Irish fans were still singing.
Unbelievable loyalty and commitment.

But really…. (and here’s where I might get in to trouble  – remember my opening statement now!)
Was no one just a LITTLE bit scarleh that the Irish just kept singing….?

I wonder if it’s time to concede that our Euro glory days are over – in every way.
I lived in the UK from 1999 to 2007 and I remember the disdain for most things Europe that was around. The impression I got was that Britons didn’t want Europe! They didn’t want the currency, the ‘Brussels bureaucrats’ and they didn’t want their money either.
I just laughed it off… What I was hearing from home was…we’ll take their money AND their currency thank you! We’ll have their grants and if the farmers have to reduce the production milk, butter n beef well they’ll just have to buck up their ideas and get on board or get out of the way!!!!

And I was all… YEAH!!! and while we’re at it… no dissing the Eurovision thanks very much… we haven’t won it as much as usual but Europe still loves us. The mention of Jonny Logan and Niamh Kavanagh still get us into the Eurovision VIP lounges. and anyway…. any group with a good fiddler can claim to be PRACTICALLY Irish!!!

Man alive are those days over!

And football….? well I know we throw our eyes to heaven and tut like disgruntled teenagers when the English mention 1966, but it’s recent enough to feel totally justified in using Italia ’90 to hope for glory days to come back again!

Isn’t it?

Now don’t get me wrong. I ‘m not agreeing with Roy Keane. (Heaven forefend the arrival of THAT day.) I don’t think we need to change our attitude to the fans and their making a celebration of it all no matter what! (remember my opening statement now!) But I think we the fans, need to change our attitude. (Don’t even get me started on the photo of the so called “HERO” and and Croatian boob!)

Can I suggest we need to change our attitude to the team? I think the team are very lucky not to have been BOO’d off the pitch! They don’t actually deserve the response they got last night. It was great to see on Twitter all the reposonses to the Irish fans singing. But it was mainly from Irish people. The non Irish were kinda bewildered at the reaction.

“Do they think Ireland are WINNING 4-0????”

“That’s what happens to the Irish after a week on the beer”

You know it actually kinda reminded me of my concerns about the Irish mindset when we voted Bertie back in, in the middle of a tribunal?!?!?!!?!!?!? Olé Olé Olé Olé Ber-teeeeee Ber-teeeee. But as I don’t vote (well not often and here’s why…) I have been told I have no right to comment on politics. #apparantly
It doesn’t matter anyway cos I know precious little about politics; or football. I claim limited knowledge of Euro-pop… But I am Irish and I think I recognise things I can be proud of.

And last night’s football match just didn’t do it for me!

Having said that I’m immensely proud of the Green Army…. remember my opening statement now!!

Remembering Joe Fitzgerald

On By auntyamoIn Getting to grips with God stuffLeave a comment

I wanted to share my memories of Joe Fitzgerald who today went to be with the Lord.

It’s nearly 19 years since I started to work in Switzers on Grafton St. (now Brown Thomas) and met Joe who was working there too. I worked in the hair salon and one of Joe’s many jobs was to hang the flags outside. So he would come through the salon, climb out the window on to the ledge and hang them out. Most mornings the guys I worked with gave him a hard time. “Here come’s Hallelujah!!!” “Look it’s Hallelujah Joe!!” Joe would smile and shout back, ‘Praise the Lord!’  Every so often he’d say, “One day you’ll say it and you’ll mean it!” 🙂

I was very wary of him, as my sister had just got interested this ‘religion stuff’ but I decided to check him out.

So I lied to him.

I asked him to tell me about his faith and pretended to be interested. Every so often we’d sit together in the canteen and he’d take his Bible out of his pocket and show me some Scriptures and explain things about God, Jesus and salvation. I was no more interested than the man on the moon. But he WAS fascinating to listen to.

Eventually, I didn’t know what it was at the time (conviction I suppose), but I felt I had to be honest with him and tell him that I wasn’t actually interested. I told him I only wanted to suss him out cos I was worried about my sister. I expected him to be angry! But he wasn’t. He was great! He asked me about my sister and her church and reassured me that her pastor was a good man of God. He told me that it was obvious to Him that God was after me and encouraged me to ‘give in to Him’!

And so I did after a while. Joe was a great help in those early days. He was very hard on me!!!! My lifestyle didn’t change as much as it should have in the first few months. I was saying the right things but he knew I wasn’t fully living out the faith I proclaimed. He saw through me 🙂 and like a good brother in Christ, encouraged me to live for Him.

I thank God for Joe’s influence on me and his willingness to put up with all my questions and arguments. I’m truly grateful for him spending his lunchtimes sorting me out… when he could have been relaxing. But it was no chore to him. He loved to talk about his Saviour.

Only later did I realise Joe loved to sing about him too!!!

Well the choir in Heaven has just been blessed with a great voice.

Thank you Jesus for Joe Fitz!

5 reasons why you should nominate me in Blog Awards Ireland

On By auntyamoIn Humour, Writing, Blogging etc3 Comments

1. Actually…. you probably shouldn’t  nominate me! (Reverse psychology… it’s yer only man!)
But seriously folks… there are better blogs, updated more, regularly by clevererer people! I am well aware that I’m chancing my arm here!

2. Ignoring no.1… You probably shouldn’t nominate me!
I’m not an expert on anything! I talk about God, food, music, my family, myself and numerous other random subjects that I’m not an authority on! This is no place to get useful information on anything!

3. Ignoring  no. 1 and no. 2… You probably shouldn’t nominate me!
Lots of bloggers seem to have great tips on how to get people to read your blog. I only have one and it’s totally bogus! Here it is anyway… put the list of priest’s names that Mrs Doyle said when she was guessing Fr. Todd Uncious’ name! I’m not kidding… since I added that post I’ve never been as popular!!!

4. Ignoring no. 1 and no. 2 and no. 3… You probably shouldn’t nominate me!
This is the first year of the new ‘Blog Awards Ireland’! These guys are trying to build a reputation that will stand them in the future! I’m hardly an ambassador for anything other than inane drivel!!! They won’t thank you for it….

5. Ignoring no. 1 and no. 2 and no. 3 and no.4… You probably shouldn’t nominate me!
I’ve nothing to wear to an awards bash! And really… can you see me getting up on stage and making a speech???? Come on now!!!

Well now! There’s five good reasons for nominating me 🙂

I’ve done my best to convince you! If I don’t win, it won’t be my fault!

No subject for one who ain’t a subject! #diamondjubilee

On By auntyamoIn Random RamblingsLeave a comment

I’m watching the Diamond Jubilee stuff on telly. Being married to one of QEII’s subjects, I have gotten used to listening to the Christmas day address. And over the years I’ve watched the Golden Jubilee, coverage the Queen’s mum’s funeral, Prince Charles 2nd wedding, Will and Kate’s wedding and now this!

It’s a long long time since Ireland had a King. And when the British monarchy assumed authority over Ireland we didn’t love him/her like the Britons do. To be honest I went from years of not knowing or caring about British monarchy, to the more recent years of just not getting it.

I don’t get it. I don’t get the pomp, the grandeur, the guys on the horses with the big hats, the carriages, the gilt edged everything, the ceremonies. I don’t hate it or resent it. I just don’t understand it. I suppose it is because I’ve never been a ‘subject’!

To be honest I got a bit jealous today. Not that I’d love to have a monarchy, or a queen. It’s just that on a day like today no one talks about how rubbish the government is, or how crap the Euro is. No one has mentioned how dismal the economic outlook is. I can’t imagine how much money was spent on this week’s festivities but no one is talking about that. And I bet in Prime Minister’s Questions next week it won’t be either. Even the weather which is atrocious and has been mentioned (ruining some of the planned events), refuses to put a dampener on this day.

Someone mentioned that our hopeful success in this years European championships might do the trick. But that depends on our performance, so it could go either way. The trials and tribulations of the British monarchy don’t often suggest a change of management. And no matter what… look at them. They love her!

Enjoy the celebrations my British friends n fam. And enjoy your extra day off; which I think is where my real jealousy stems from 😀

Anyway, I’m off to see if I can muster up the love for mini Michael D. Well he’s the nearest thing we have to ‘one who lives in the big house up the end of the mall…’

Voice-ing my opinion one last time; with thanks to the neff!

On By auntyamoIn Family, MusicLeave a comment

So I went dark for a bit, blog wise. But no one missed me, no one noticed, no one even caaaaaared! (I actually sang that bit!)

Although I didn’t blog, I certainly wasn’t silent. Anyone reading this who is connected with me on Facebook or Twitter is probably sick of me and is quite relieved I wasn’t blogging ASWELL!!!!!

Due to my eager (and excessive some would say) campaigning supporting my nephew’s efforts to win The Voice of Ireland, I’ve probably bugged some FB friends and Twitter followers. Or at the very least have been unsubscribed by a few… 🙂

I am sorry if I annoyed you. but if I did you probably don’t read my blog anymore either 😀 I’m sorry if you were irked, irritated, bored, throwing your eyes to heaven, wishing you’d never met me, hoping you’d never meet me again!

But I’m not one bit sorry I did it.

I’m monumentally proud of ALL my nieces and nephews. Just cos they’re alive really. They’re all different and I know some of them and their lives better than others; but they’re just fab. I have the great privilege of being able to be totally objective. Having no children of my own I don’t have anyone that I’m obliged to think better of 😀

Kevin Keeley (follow Kevin Keeley Music on Facebook, @keeley_kevin and @kevinkeeleyfans on Twitter… oh sorry; I’m doing it again!) Anyway… Kevin Keeley made it clear he was representing them all. He spoke about how his Grandad (my dad) encouraged us all to sing. Kevin made us proud to be from Tallaght, proud to be Keeleys, proud of the heritage that encourages us to love music. We sat glued to the telly, cheered when he sang and jumped up and down when he got through each round. It was electric. He brought so much fun and joy and laughs and near heart attacks to us all. And we loved every minute of it.

I could spend a few minutes talking about the stuff I didn’t like. The comments that hurt and annoyed, the votes that didn’t come, that decision that knocked him out…. but you won’t hear any of that from him – so you won’t hear it from me 🙂

Thanks so much Kevin – you made us proud and gave us a great reason to spend lots of time together. We’re so excited to see where this journey takes you next. We’re with you every step of the way.

Oh and in case and of you DIDN’T see any of his performances… here’s one for ya