Part II
(You can read Part I here.)
Even though the Arctic air has gone away, we still have thirteen days left in the month of February, and once those red & pink decorations come down, whadda we got? Nothin’! Not ’til the green of St. Patrick’s day, anyway, and even then it’s still not spring.
Not in the great state of Minnesota, anyway.
Here we have to wait ’til May.
So I’ll continue with this “How We Cope” series, since it’s been a while since I’ve done a review and I owe you a couple good links or two.
This CD
The kids’ favorite song is “Mahna Mahna” and the reason I know this is that I’ve heard it 3,481 times since we checked out this CD.
(I found it at our library. Love our library.)
MY personal favorite, however, is “The Hoppity Song” by John Ondrasik, because if that song doesn’t make you forget all those dirt-encrusted snow drifts…
Nothin’–and I do mean nothin’–will.
(You can give all the songs a listen here.)
Another CD on our shelf right now is The Essential Chieftains
We actually checked this out on the feast of St. Brigid. I made Guinness beef stew and Irish soda bread. The girls dressed in green and oh, how they danced.
(This, too, is how we cope. We listen to music; we dance like fools.)
Now then. I’m thinking you already know about The Chieftains. If you don’t, (are you really saying that you don’t?), I give you permission to leave this blog and never come back ’til you’ve heard all their stuff.
Actually, good luck with that. They’ve released a ton of stuff. But do go–I mean it!–and check out some of their music from the library. Go! Go! Go!
I tell you, it almost always starts with a trip to the library.
Especially at the end of winter.
Coming up soon: The Snow Fort of Forts. (I’d better hurry, though. It’s melting fast.)
I second the vote for The Chieftains! Another favorite way to listen to them is to create a Chieftains channel on pandora.com – it's free, it introduces you to similar groups at the same time, and you can still listen to it when a blizzard blocks off the route to the library!
Our favorite Irish CD from the library is The Rough Guide to Irish Music. We also love our library and our awesome librarians! Recently found out that you and I have a mutual friend in common, Darlene S., formerly of Holy Family, now living in my hometown of Delano. Small world. Glad to hear that we are not the only homeschooling family trying to cope with this long, cold winter. The February "crazies" came early this year!!
If you like The Chieftains, you may also enjoy The High Kings. Their version of Rocky Road to Dublin is one of my favorites (and it's fun to dance to). 🙂
Such a fun blog! My first time visiting. I'm a MN homeschooling mom as well. But I'm not from here, south Louisiana couldn't prepare a person for winter in MN … well … NEVER! But great articles. Very light and uplifting!
Enjoy the thaw while it lasts! Coping in much the same way an hour north.
Love the Chieftains! I have a few of their CD's . . . I second the Pandora streaming . . . good stuff and always makes me want to dance (and I can't dance to save my skin).