Celtic Thunder, My Midweek Pick Me Up!!!

I am in a Celtic Thunder Sorta mood:

Damian McGinty:



Keith Harkin sings his own song, "Lauren and I":



Paul Byrom (who has the voice that an Italian Opera would embrace):




And for my personal favorite, and the one I drool the most over...sighs....

Ryan Kelly:



That is one gorgeous Irishman!!

There is a Scotsman in the group, George Donaldson, who is the eldest of them, but I cannot find a video good enough to share George's talent, except maybe Caledonia or Ireland Calls, but I think I already put those up here somewhere...did I? I'll go check, and if I didn't, I will just have to show you the group singing together...has me drooling everytime!!

~Karol Lynn

Indepencence Day

Star Spangled Banner (all of the verses)

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming

.And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:'Tis the star-spangled banner!

Oh long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think of this as we celebrate our country's birthday...her battles, her craziness, and for all her faults, you can NEVER tell me that the United States Of America isn't the best place in the world!!

Also, today, I am giving thanks to God for the return of the Columbian hostages of six years! Three were American, and I am so happy that they have all come home, for it gives us hope for better solutions to terrorism and hate in the future!

Have a HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

~Karol Lynn