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[Piano v4] Chapter 8: Birthday
Here's chapter 8. Pace will probably slow down as I am entering the final leg of my semester.
Before my eyes stood a large gate with spikes, several conifers, and tall metal railings that stretched to the sides. A large and elegant mansion, surrounded by a courtyard full of flowerbeds, stood deep inside the gated area.
I checked the time on my handphone. Four in the afternoon. Exactly our agreed time.
The last time I had visited the Ebisawa household was in the middle of summer. And the courtyard back then looked vastly different from what it looked like now. "I guess the flowers aren't around since it's December"—I thought to myself, as I stared at the lonely grassland. The two sharp dobermans lying down on the turf suddenly sat up, and came dashing in my direction just as I was about to reach for the intercom on the pillar. I retreated in fear.
The two dogs lay down on the other side of the gate and stared at me intently. They didn't bark or flash their teeth. Do they actually remember me?
I timidly walked forward with that thought in mind, but they stood up again.
"U-Urm, I'm not a strange person." For some reason, I began explaining myself to the dogs. "I'm just here to celebrate her birthday. Honest."
The dog on the right cocked its head suspiciously—do they somehow understand what I'm saying? It looked like the dog on the left was observing me. Do I really look that suspicious? It was an incredibly grand mansion; and I heard that Mafuyu typically dressed like a real lady at home, so I came in my suit to match myself to her. I took two steps towards the gate and squat down before the dogs as they continued to watch me.
"Do I look weird in this?"
"Your clothes, no. But your actions, yes."
"Whoa!"
I sprang up in response to the sudden voice beside me.
Standing next to me was a lady in a fitting light-beige pantsuit. She had come through the side door without me realizing. I hadn't even heard the sound of her footsteps.
Short hair, crisp facial contours, and an icy gaze. The cute pair of dolphin earrings on her ears felt out of place, and did nothing to tone down her sharpness. She was Matsumura Hitomi, the butler of the Ebisawa family that oversaw everything.
"Artur and Fricsay are pretty smart. They can distinguish the different attires worn by you and me," said Miss Matsumura, as she looked at the two dogs. "But sadly, they cannot comprehend human speech. It is pointless to seek their opinions."
"Ah, no, it's nothing......" Someone saw that. She saw me. That was really embarrassing. "S-Sorry, I didn't know you would be receiving me."
"No, I came out because I saw a suspicious person at the side of the gate."
She was as straightforward as ever.
"Ah, urm, it's been a while."
I couldn't think of anything to say, so I stood up, dusted my knees and bowed. "Pardon me," said Miss Matsumura, as she walked swiftly towards me, stretching her arms out towards the collar of my coat. She adjusted my tie as I stood there flustered.
"Welcome. My mistress has been waiting for you."
Miss Matsumura opened the side door and walked into the courtyard while I was still rooted to the ground. She then patted the two dobermans on the head and said a few brief words, and the dogs obediently moved to the side of the flowerbed. After that, she finally granted me entry into the courtyard. That sequence of events seemed really abrupt. How very horrifying.
"Mistress is still in an exhausted state. She practiced the piano for a long time right after returning home from the audition yesterday,"
Said Miss Matsumura, who was walking three steps ahead of me. That statement made me flinch. I continued walking as I fixed my gaze on my palms.
The audition yesterday. The burning sensation of the bass was still stuck to my hands, and was enough to make my body tremble. The metallic smell of the microphones, and the damp atmosphere that had been created by our breaths, still lingered around me. We had separated after giving it our all in that short period of time—yet, she continued practicing the piano even after reaching home?
"I hope Mr. Hikawa will offer your assistance in getting her to rest—"
"Naomi!"
A clear voice, one that sounded like the melting of the morning snow of winter, came towards me. I lifted my head.
It was a dazzling sight, be it the warm, golden hair or the pure white dress. Even her sapphire-blue eyes were sparkling. Mafuyu's body was bathed in light as she came flying towards me.
But she stopped in her tracks when she noticed my unreserved gaze.
"...... What is wrong?"
She tilted her head and looked at herself shyly.
"Eh, ah, no......"
I couldn't possibly tell her I had been bewitched by her looks.
"...... I don't get to see you in this type of attire that often."
I hastily said those untruthful words. I had already seen Mafuyu in such elegant attire several times—on CD covers, in magazines and on TV. It was nothing new.
"Naomi is the one that is not in your typical attire."
Mafuyu tilted her head and took a good look at me from head to toe.
"It does not really suit you."
That was a huge blow. I almost slumped down onto the grass.
"Ah, s-sorry. Urm, you look much better than you did the time you attended Papa's concert."
"Mistress, you are not making it any better by saying that."
Miss Matsumura's words dealt the depressed me the critical blow.
"Mistress, it would be better if you were more careful with your words."
You're in no position to say that!
Stepping into the Ebisawa mansion for the very first time, I noticed that the interior design of the house wasn't as impressive as the outside of the house had suggested. I had expected the house to be covered with woolen carpets, fur as deep as the ankles, chandeliers larger than a table, or Victorian vases big enough for a child to hide inside. But the corridors and stairs were a huge letdown compared to what I had imagined in my mind. It felt like I was in a brand new art museum—a vast whiteness filled my eyes, and made me more and more restless. Additionally, the temperature indoors was almost as cold as the temperature outside.
Finally, I was led to a room that was about twice the size of a classroom, and filled with curtains and woolen carpets in warm colors. To my left was a grand piano with its lid raised, and on the walls was a classy sound system that would make even Tetsurou envious. The heater in the room had already been switched on, so I could finally remove my coat.
"...... Is this a music salon? Does your family frequently hold family concerts?"
"No, this is my practice room."
I almost dropped the present in my hands. That room alone was almost as big as my house.
While I was looking around the room in a fluster, Miss Matsumura swiftly took my coat from my hands and hung it on the wall. She then led me to a chair and motioned for me to sit. Next to the small, single-legged round desk was a stylish cream-colored tea table.
After Miss Matsumura left the room, Mafuyu sat down in the chair diagonally in front of me and said softly,
"...... Thank you...... for coming over today......"
"M-Mmm."
I wanted to say something cool, but I couldn't think of anything to say despite having contemplated my words for a solid five seconds with my fingers crossed.
It can't be helped. I brought up an uninteresting topic: yesterday's event.
"Were you okay yesterday? You couldn't even stand properly after the audition."
The audition was held at the scheduled venue, a club house; but unlike Bright, there was no smell of sweat. It was an avant-garde place, and was so spacious that my legs were wobbling slightly just from standing on the stage. The other bands leaned more towards disco-style music; and there were even dance groups auditioning as well. Naturally, we were one of the youngest groups there. As we were scheduled to hit the stage last, we had to listen to the high quality performances of the other groups as we trembled behind the stage.
Senpai, however, was completely unfazed. "We'll score a landslide victory if they factor in looks as well," said Senpai. How very confident of her. But when I saw how exhausted Mafuyu was at the end of our performance, my worry about whether we had passed the audition or not was thrown out the window.
"Urm, is the solo for <Happy Xmas> too long? Mafuyu was playing by yourself for a full minute, and it looked like you were breathless at the end of that......"
Mafuyu took a deep breath and shook her head immediately.
"...... I will work hard to last through the whole song."
No, please don't. A chill went down my spine as I recalled what Furukawa had said—the thing about the burden on her wrist, and how it was inconceivable for her to last through the whole performance.
"And I heard you practiced the piano after you returned home? Miss Matsumura—"
"That's because!" Mafuyu raised her voice to prevent me from saying anything further. "...... Because you were coming today. I would not skip my practice just because I was tired from the audition."
Me? What did she mean when she said it was because I was coming?
"Whatever! It is my birthday today, so stop talking about things like that!"
"Ah, s-sorry."
Right. Celebrating her birthday alone by ourselves is a rare occasion, so I'll have to get back on topic.
"Urm, congratulations...... How old are you?"
"Sixteen, of course."
Right. What sort of idiotic question am I asking her? Mafuyu quickly continued on, perhaps because she noticed how depressed I was.
"When is Naomi's birthday?"
"Fourth of April." I couldn't recall ever celebrating it together with anyone. In fact, there were even times I had forgotten my own birthday. After all, it did take place during the spring holidays.
"No one celebrates it together with you?"
"Hmm. Maybe when I was still little. My parents might've bought me a cake or something. But they split up before I was in elementary school."
"Ah...... s-sorry."
Mafuyu covered her mouth, and her expression became sullen. I quickly shook my hands.
"It's nothing, I don't mind. That's the way Tetsurou is anyway—it's like a joke to me now."
"Let's also celebrate Naomi's birthday together then."
"What are we celebrating here? A birthday that's eight months late......?" I laughed. Then again, I said something similar to Chiaki as well, and was scolded by her for that.
"...... We will celebrate Naomi being the same age as I am. Naomi was already sixteen when we first met, right?"
I shut my mouth and looked at Mafuyu's face.
The day we first met. Does she remember even the date? The spring holidays marked our beginning. And at the junkyard hidden between the mountains next to the sea, where time ground to a halt, Ravel's piano concerto had brought us together. And here we are now, with time flying by.
Our hearts were stirred up by the memories. As we lowered our heads shyly after briefly exchanging a glance, we were suddenly interrupted by knocks on the door.
"I am here with some snacks and tea."
It was Miss Matsumura. She pushed a tall, sculptured, two-level metal trolley into the room, and on the trolley, was a long teapot, a basket full of freshly baked madeleines and an overflowing amount of soufflés.
"Wow...... smells great."
"The slightly deformed madeleines on this side were made by Mistress."
"Hitomi!"
Mafuyu stood up with a teary expression on her face and quickly turned towards me with her face flushed red.
"I-it is because I have never once stepped into the kitchen!"
Yeah, since she's a professional pianist, it'd be troublesome if anything happened to her fingers.
"I could not stand to watch on any longer, so I made the remaining half of the madeleines and all the soufflés."
"Geez! Just go away, Hitomi! I will brew the tea!"
A blushing Mafuyu stood up and chased Miss Matsumura out of the room.
"Well then, I will be in the office on the first floor. Please scream if anything should happen. Mr. Hikawa is a man after all."
"Whatever! Get out now!"
The two of us were alone again. "Well, urm......" Mafuyu began serving me tea despite how flustered she was. I was incredibly nervous as well. In the basket were what was said to be a few madeleines made by Mafuyu. Indeed. Four out of eight of the madeleines had a rather peculiar shape to them.
"Urm, w-well, uhh, but......"
Mafuyu shook her hands in panic when she saw me grabbing one of the cakes she made.
"You do not have to deliberately choose that! Urm, I do wish for you to try it, but!"
"Don't worry, it's delicious. Really delicious."
Here I was, drinking afternoon tea with a dressed-up Mafuyu, in a rather out-of-this-world room (that was her's to boot)—how could anyone possibly remain calm in that situation? But having suffered that preemptive embarrassment earlier, I somehow managed to do just that. Moreover, I wasn't lying when I said the madeleines were delicious.
"I'm hopeless when it comes to desserts. And no one would eat them anyway, since Tetsurou's boozing all day."
"That is the only thing I know how to do. Hitomi just taught me today."
"The kitchen should be a mess......"
"It is not!"
No, sorry, I was just joking, really! Don't cry!
"You are really good at cooking, so you would never understand the feelings of those that are horrible at it."
Mumbled Mafuyu, as she took a huge bite of the soufflé. What does she mean by that?
"You want to learn how to cook? But nothing good would come of that, you know? All you would get is people ordering you around."
Mafuyu lifted her eyes to look at me. She nodded.
"...... Because Kyouko cannot cook."
"—Eh?"
My heart skipped a beat. Kagurazaka-senpai? Why did she bring her up?
"She can do just about everything, but she cannot cook. There is nothing else I can beat her at."
That means...... Wait, what does she mean by that? Beat her?
"Kyouko......" Mafuyu's face was burning red, and her voice rose all of a sudden. She whimpered and continued, "S-she should not be able to make desserts for you."
Eh? Ah, no, hold on. Mafuyu was staring at me with a serious look in her eyes. I swallowed the words that were at the edge of my mouth. Does Mafuyu know about that? About the things Kagurazaka-senpai had said to me.
If that's the case, I'll have to express myself properly to Mafuyu right now. With Mafuyu around, my feelings for Senpai—no wait, Mafuyu hasn't asked me anything about that yet, so it'd be weird if I just suddenly brought it up.
My brain was about to melt. And the question that came out of my mouth at a time like that, was something so incredibly natural and obvious, it sounded silly.
"...... But Mafuyu still has the piano, no?"
Mafuyu's eyes opened wide. She then directed her gaze at the teacups.
"But, if it is only the piano......"
"As long as I can listen to you play the piano. Ah, no, the madeleines are great too. Mmm."
Mafuyu glared at me as she pouted her lips, causing me to swallow the rest of my words down my throat along with some tea.
Did I say something to upset her? As I was stuffing my fifth madeleine into my mouth while still in a clueless state, Mafuyu stood up all of a sudden.
She wiped her hands carefully with a wet towel, then turned towards me.
"This is my birthday present for you."
"I will give it to you right now."
I froze on the spot, still holding the half-eaten madeleine in my hand; it looked as though I was posing for a CD cover. Mafuyu's white figure floated away from me. Her pure-white dress, as well as her long maroon hair, could be seen behind the gloomy piano that had its black wings spread out wide. It felt like time would stop forever. Mafuyu's sapphire-blue eyes were fixated on me.
"....... Because we had run out of time back then."
It felt like Mafuyu's voice had woken me up from a long dream.
"I will play anything Naomi wants to hear."
I didn't even notice the madeleine dropping into my teacup.
Mafuyu was about to play the piano for me. For me—and only me.
A present that she couldn't give me if I didn't come to her house—was she referring to this?
Crap. I was clueless about my situation. What expression do I have on my face? Am I about to stand up? Am I wearing a weird smile? A strange, warm sensation came gushing up from beneath my abdomen, making me feel uneasy. Calm down. I tried my hardest to force myself back into my chair.
"And the first piece will be?"
"U-Urm......."
My voice shrunk back inside me, so I cleared my throat. What should I do? Is any piece fine? Really? Then I should choose something she hasn't released in an album. If only an orchestra were here, then I could get her to play all of the Brandenburg concertos. Or perhaps I should have her play Mozart's <Piano Concerto No. 24> in C minor. No, that's not quite possible, but how about <Variations and Fugue on a Theme> by Handel? Is she good with the works from the early Romantic Era? Would the organ works by Bach be better? How about—
I came close to voicing my greedy desire a few times.
But only one answer remained in my mouth.
The first song I want Mafuyu to play for me has to be none other than this.
"...... Beethoven's Op. 81a."
Mafuyu flashed a faint smile when she heard my answer. But in the next instant, she turned to face the eighty-eight black and white keys and immersed her fingers, her wrists, her bones and her soul deep in that icy monochrome world.
Her eyelashes lowered, and her shoulders swayed. I couldn't help but stand up. I could see Mafuyu's slender fingers pressing down on the keys of the triad that symbolized goodbye.
Next came the whispers of the adagio.
Beethoven's Op. 81a. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E♭ major, also known as the <Les Adieux sonata>.
It was the first movement, and the friend had just left riding on the allegro. With the train disappearing in the morning mist, the footsteps sounded so clear, but were filled with an indescribable sadness at the same time.
Why hasn't Mafuyu recorded this song before? I remember her saying in a certain interview that this is her favorite piece out of all of Beethoven's pieces.
Is it because this is a song of goodbye? Does the story woven by Beethoven appear clearly before her eyes each time she plays this song, bringing her pain as a result? Or does she fear her fingers will stop before she can even reach the final movement?
The reasons didn't matter anymore.
Mafuyu was playing <Les Adieux sonata>. The emotional andante wandered about aimlessly amid the grey gloominess as it counted the number of days without its other half. And as it sought out the exit like a ray of light, the pitch gradually increased—then, was finally released. The left and right hands had been seeking each other out since the very beginning, and when their sounds clashed, they broke into a dance of happiness celebrating their reunion. What a clear and simple, yet powerful, harmony.
When I closed my eyes, it felt like the inside of my face was about to ignite.
Can the sound of the piano really be so intense that it feels like it could sear my skin, and yet, at the same time, be as sweet as an intoxicating rain of liquor? Strange. This isn't the familiar sound of the instrument I have heard thousands of times. Is this really the piano? Could it be the chirps of the magical bird that resulted from the painful caress of Mafuyu's fingers? I moved myself forward unconsciously, attracted by the luster of the black wing.
Mafuyu hammered the final chord of the E♭ major, and waited until the final sound permeated the air before lifting her fingers.
"...... Naomi?"
I jumped in surprise when she called my name. Somehow, I had ended up leaning on the side of the piano, my eyes fixed on the keys.
"...... Ah."
"Is there anything wrong? Do you not like it?"
I shook my head hard.
"How can that be? Just...... How do I put it? In any case, it was amazing. Urm......"
I couldn't speak. The music critic genes I had inherited were laid bare for Mafuyu to see.
"What will the next song be?"
"Urmm......" It felt like my heart was right next to my ear—I could hear it thumping away.
"W-What should I choose? I guess Bach would be the best. Well then, urm, <Partita No.2> in C minor."
Mafuyu nodded. Each time I uttered the title of a song, Mafuyu would delve back into that mysterious, pitch-black-and-ivory world. It was a little saddening, but the songs she wove there captivated me again and again, preventing me from escaping. It started off with a viscous question, and was followed by a confirmation in what felt like a repeated stampede on the frost and snow, then ended with a fugue that expanded outwards in the brilliant sky and beneath the water.
Ahh, that's—
It was that unique piano. I finally understood.
It was that piano. There was no mistake. During the fugue, I could hear the sound of the tides drifting in my direction, and the sound of the gentle breeze rustling the leaves. There was also the sound of the rusty bicycle wheel spinning in the air, and the drops of rain pattering on the door of the fridge.
<The Well-Tempered Clavier>, <The Art of Fugue>, <The Musical Offering> and <Goldberg Variations>. I could no longer differentiate which of those songs had been requested by me, and which of them had been played by Mafuyu on a whim.
Mafuyu, who had been playing the piano silently the entire time, finally rested her hands on her knees and exhaled a heated breath towards the ceiling. The drops of sweat on her face glistened in the light.
Her pose made it look like she was praying. I hesitated, wondering if I should call out to her.
Was it because of the exhaustion from those excessive practices? During the final stretches of her playing, it looked like Mafuyu was twisting her skinny body. It was painful to watch.
A light smile appeared at the edges of Mafuyu's mouth. She slowly fixed her gaze on my face.
"Hey, that piano."
Mafuyu's gaze blurred when I spoke, as though she were in a dream-like trance. She tilted her head slightly.
"Is that...... the piano at the junkyard?"
Mafuyu leaned towards me happily.
"You can tell just by listening?"
"Yeah, because......." It was impossible for those sounds to come from anything else. I had already heard it twice, and there was no way I would ever forget it.
But Mafuyu shook her head.
"...... That piano was Mama's."
I took in a deep breath.
"Hitomi secretly moved it to the villa for me, but Papa saw it when he came back to Japan, and threw it away in anger. But I still visited Mama's piano quite a number of times."
And that was how we had met. At the department store located between the valleys at the ends of the world.
"I could not go there often after I entered high school; and the piano could no longer be played anyway, because of the damages sustained from the rain. So in the end, I gave up. But Papa bought this piano for me not too long ago."
Ebichiri did?
"The way I press the keys is really similar to the way Mama did. Mama's piano had been custom made, with the keys being made really light, so Papa asked Yamaha to make an exact replica of her piano for me."
Mafuyu lovingly caressed the golden "Yamaha" label carved above the keys.
"I really do not understand what is going on in his head. He is the one that threw it away; yet, he ordered an exact copy to be made."
I thought I could understand it a little.
Perhaps he granted his forgiveness some time ago—not to his wife, who separated from him, but to himself.
"It is inconceivable. I never thought I would get it back."
The same piano as her mother. The item Mafuyu yearned to get back.
It was probably because it was Mafuyu's heartfelt desire.
"...... Magic exists there, you know?"
"Magic? What?"
Mafuyu locked her widened round eyes on me and asked me that seriously. I all of a sudden became shy.
"Urm, nothing."
"How can that possibly be? Explain it to me properly."
Mafuyu's eyes turned serious all of a sudden, and after she pressed me further, I was forced to tell her the truth—about the name I had secretly come up with for that junkyard.
"The Department Store of Hearts' Desires."
"...... Why did you name it that?"
"Why do you want to know......"
"Because it is a good name."
I couldn't help but turn my gaze away. I was happy she praised me, but sadly, the name had come from somewhere else.
"Have you ever heard of the novel <Norstrilia>?"
Mafuyu shook her head. Right. It's not a novel someone would typically come across.
"That name is the name of a special place in that novel. If you can find your heartfelt desire, that place will grant that desire for you, no matter what it is."
I had read the book when I was young, so I couldn't quite remember the details—just a few names here and there. But I did remember that it was a story about a youngster named Rod McBan, who had finally gotten his hands on a collectors postage stamp and returned home.
"Did you give it that name because you are always getting your spare parts from there?"
"Mmm, you're not wrong. I can fix almost anything as long as I make a trip to that place."
Mafuyu's eyes sparkled as she looked at me. I could almost hear the howl of the wind inside my memories.
"Well then, did you find it? Your real desire."
My heartfelt desire.
"...... I don't know."
"I have already found mine."
Mafuyu's desire?
Neither of us could ask the questions that should've followed after.
Because that was the place where we had met. But that fairy-tale way of thinking was purely wishful. Mafuyu's cheeks burned like the flames of a heater just from us briefly exchanging glances. If I had said something, perhaps the distance between Mafuyu's hands—whose fingers were gently resting on the keys—and my hands—that had wings sprouting from them—would've gradually become zero—
A shadow appeared on Mafuyu's face.
Are those eyes, that look like the deep sea, trying to tell me something? It felt like my heart was being squeezed by something when I was about to ask her a question, so I heaved a slow sigh instead.
"...... Well"—my dry sigh finally turned into speech—"I have a present...... I'd like to give you as well."
For a moment, I thought Mafuyu would burst into tears. But she just lowered her eyes and gently nodded her head instead. I almost apologized to her.
I grabbed the bag underneath my coat.
When I passed Mafuyu the wrapped present, I could see her watery eyes alternating between the ribbon and my hands.
"...... Can I open this?"
"Mmm. Urm, well, I'd like to explain the present a little as well."
Mafuyu shot me a surprised look, then untied the ribbon and removed the wrapping. Her eyes widened when she saw the crimson jacket of the record.
"Sorry about how worn out it is; I could only get my hands on one secondhand."
"It is okay...... I have never once listened to a full album of The Beatles."
"Do you have a player?"
Mafuyu nodded and led me to the sound system at the side of the room. She placed the round, black record on an old but solid player and lowered the needle.
Cheers and applause emanated from the speakers as we sat down on the sofa. Mafuyu placed the jacket of the album, which had a wildly colourful group image printed on it, on her knees. While looking at the jacket, she asked,
"Is this a live recording of a concert?"
"Nope. It's a studio recording."
The cheers were broken apart by the resolute beats and guitar riffs.
"Back then, The Beatles were already worldwide superstars. Everywhere they went, they were surrounded by ardent fans and chased around by the media. But because of all that attention, they gradually became weary of the thought of holding concerts."
Paul McCartney finally began singing, and started crooning about the fictitious story of the roots of their music.
"But they still loved performing live, which was expected since they were a rock band, so they created a fictitious band, and conceived a setting to record a live performance of that very band. And thus, this record was created."
—Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
A fictitious name entrusted with their dreams. It was the title of the album, as well as the title of the first and last track.
Mafuyu was sitting next to me silently, sinking her body into the sofa as she listened to Ringo Starr's voice, which had followed Paul's. The mic was then passed on to John Lennon. The brass section, the orchestra, the harpsichord, the sitar...... All the lively instruments that couldn't possibly be accommodated on a real stage, had appeared on that fictitious stage and inside that rock music.
I had left my seat only once—to flip the record over to the "B" side. But it didn't seem like Mafuyu had even noticed I had gotten up.
The live performance was about to end. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band had substituted their closing speech with a song, an impromptu performance. But sadly, it was about time for us to part......
The song ended. The thundering cheers gradually died down, and were quietly replaced by the strums of the guitar, and a piano that came in shortly after.
For some reason, I always tear up when it reaches this part. And to this very day, I still don't understand why the intro touches me so much.
Encore, <A Day in the Life>.
I felt the warmth of a body on the back of my hand.
It was Mafuyu's fingers. She was playing the same melody as the piano in the song.
After a while, the orchestra entered its final crescendo. All the instruments started playing from their lowest note to their highest note, and ignored the clashing and grazing of the disharmony. The piece kept climbing and scaling upwards in its search for the light, prying even the clouds apart—
Shatter.
The harmony of the simultaneous strikes of the three pianos created a buzzing echo, and the shattered fragments scattered across the surface of the sea.
Our hands folded together as we listened to the song's dying moments. Even though the sounds of the piano had been totally sucked up by the air, the record hadn't ended yet; I could clearly hear the sound of footsteps, and of a chair scraping against the floor.
Then, the silence was suddenly interrupted—not by a song or by our words, but by a rewinding sound. Mafuyu's hair flinched. She grabbed my hand tightly.
"...... W-What is this?"
A melody lingering on the brink of existence, with a few voices playing in reverse at the same time. The short verse repeated itself endlessly.
"Urm, this is called <Sgt Pepper's Inner Groove>. The inner groove of the record forms a repeating loop, so the record will continue playing if you don't stop the player."
Thank god the record player in Mafuyu's house is an older model—I secretly heaved a sigh of relief. I also silently thanked Tetsurou for finding another copy of the UK version of the vinyl record.
The records released by the US and Japan either ignored that feature, or just didn't repeat properly. And of course, in the CD version, the track simply faded away.
That was why it had to be the UK version of the vinyl record.
"Why did they design it like this?"
Asked Mafuyu, as she looked at the record uneasily.
It felt a little embarrassing to reply to her with an answer prepared in advance. No no, then what was the point of asking Tetsurou to find the record in the first place? I have to answer her properly.
My gaze fell onto the jacket of the album—onto John, who was carrying a horn and wearing a military band uniform. I chose the appropriate words slowly.
"Urm, it was probably a prank. The Beatles used to love teasing their audience. They were probably saying 'It's over,' but......"
I moved my eyes onto Mafuyu's tiny hand that was resting on top of mine.
"Perhaps they didn't actually want that fictitious concert to end. That's what I think anyway."
I could feel Mafuyu's large eyes fixating on my cheeks.
"That's why I chose to give Mafuyu this record for your birthday present."
The concert will never end if she doesn't lift the needle.
A dream that could never be fulfilled in reality.
When I was finished explaining, I snuck a peek at Mafuyu. Our eyes met; and both of us lowered our gaze shyly, onto our overlapping hands.
Mafuyu let out an inaudible shriek and stood up with her face flushed red. She hid her right hand—that was just on top of mine not too long ago—behind her back and shook her head as she stepped back.
"Sorry, urm......"
"I will switch the player off."
Mafuyu ran to the sound system, with the hem of her dress fluttering around her, and lifted the needle. <Inner Groove> came to a startling halt, destroying eternity. An awkward silence lingered between the two of us. Mafuyu slotted the record back in its jacket, then returned to the sofa with the album hugged in her chest. I felt a little uneasy. Did I make her happy?
"I thought...... I heard something just now."
"Well, I thought I heard an incredibly high-pitched sound prior to the repeating voices."
I was dumbfounded.
"...... R-Really? Well, you're not wrong."
That was one of their childish pranks. The Beatles had inserted a high-frequency tone that was supposed to only be audible to dogs right before the <Inner Groove>. She could hear that?
"Dogs? Why?"
"No idea. A joke of some sort, perhaps."
"Ah, perhaps because it is Constable Pepper's band? That might be the dog whistle that summons the police dog."
Mafuyu's voice sounded a little hoarse. She was looking at the album intently as she flipped it around. I see, that never occurred to me. No wait, he's a sergeant, not a constable, yeah?
"There's plenty of other fun stuff on the cover as well. You can even see Sergeant Pepper's arm badge and insignia. And there's also that fake beard."
When I pulled out the cover, a simple yet colourful print came into Mafuyu's view, and a child-like smile appeared on her face. She must be really happy, right?
After a while, Mafuyu slid the cover back in place and hugged the record tightly in her chest again.
"...... I will"
"I will listen to it again later. Over and over."
"Ah, oh, mmm."
"Thank you. I am happy, really happy. Really really happy."
"M-Mmm, I know."
Mafuyu hugged the record and sat down next to me.
She was even closer to me than before, with her shoulder touching mine. I couldn't shift the angle of my upper body.
Thank goodness, she looks elated. Having vacillated between nervousness and calm repeatedly, it felt like the bones in my body were about to shatter.
"Naomi, why......"
Mafuyu was murmuring next to my ears, so the only thing I could do was turn my face slightly towards her.
"Why do you always know what I want in an instant when it comes to music?"
I-is that right?
"But not understand the thing that I really desire?"
I can't look, or I'll get sucked in by her—despite thinking that, I still turned my head towards Mafuyu. I was immediately held captive by Mafuyu's deep-blue eyes, which were only about fifteen centimeters away from me.
What she really desires, huh.
Why? I knew that all I had to do was convert my answer into words, but I was unable to make a sound. I lacked the courage. It was just the end of the music, but yet, I couldn't breathe.
I only had to convert it into words.
But for some reason, Kagurazaka-senpai's words appeared in my mind at that very moment.
"This is what a confession of love means. What a scary thing it is."
"The rational fantasy people have about others is all gently taken away by love."
It felt horrible just imagining no longer being able to sit next to Mafuyu like I normally would, if I were to let it all out. Isn't that something really scary?
If I choose to remain silent, we can keep interacting with each other, like what we're doing right now. But if I confess, all that will be left between us, is blades.
Moreover, I haven't given Senpai a proper reply yet. She did say she didn't want to hear my answer, but that isn't the point. There was no way I could say the same thing to another girl without having replied to Senpai first. I just couldn't do it.
No, but I have to. Mafuyu's eyes were clouded over by a sorrowful expression. I don't want to see her wear that kind of expression anymore. I have to say it.
But just as I was about to open my mouth—
A shrill guitar riff came between Mafuyu and me. I sprang up in shock and accidentally flung Mafuyu's hand away. She prevented herself from falling by grabbing onto the sofa.
"Ah, s-sorry!"
It was my handphone. And the ringtone of the incoming call—<Revolution>—meant—
I remembered stuffing my phone into my coat pocket, so I rushed to the wall.
"Hi, young man. Sorry for interrupting, but I called you because I have something important to tell you. But then again, I would've made this call anyway."
On the other side of the phone was Kagurazaka-senpai musing away. I pressed my hand against the wall and lowered my head in dejection.
"Anything important?"
I could feel Mafuyu's eyes behind me. For some reason, I unconsciously turned my body to block my phone from her sight and lowered my voice.
"I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you prefer first?"
I let out a sigh. I had heard that question from her countless times since I first met her.
"Anything's fine. It should roughly be the same thing anyway."
Senpai went silent for a while. Did I manage to surprise her? Damn, this feels great.
"You are gradually metamorphosing into a man of my preferences. Why is that so? You'd be a regular suave guy if you lost that problem of your denseness. Stop making my heart skip a beat."
"No no, what are you talking about?" Mafuyu's right behind me! I doubt she can hear our conversation through the phone, but she does possess a pair of incredibly sharp ears!
"In any case, it's exactly as you said. We passed the auditions. I never expected the results to be out so soon. I hope it'll be the best Christmas Eve yet."
I adjusted my grip on the phone.
We passed the audition. The good and bad news.
"...... H-How's this......" I tried my best to hold on. "So what's the bad news?"
"Your voice is trembling. That's really cute as well," Senpai giggled. "Well then, please pass this message on to Comrade Ebisawa behind you: if you two step over the line today, that means I will have kissed young man as well, though indirectly. Please remember that."
"Kyouko~!" Mafuyu let out a furious shriek. It looked like she actually heard us. The call disconnected. Mafuyu hammered my back really hard; her face and ears were burning red. I was at my limit as well, so I couldn't look Mafuyu properly in the face.
Because of that, I ended up missing the chance to say those important words.
And that was my second mistake.
Posted by zgmfx09a at 12:59 PM
Labels: sayonara piano sonata, translations
thank you for your translate, you're doing great! and good luck with your semester :D
Can't wait for this series to be completely translated.
Delighted to see that you've kept up on it all this time.
One of my favorite light novels, and I thank you profusely for it.
addityo March 12, 2013 at 4:47 PM
awww senpaiii..
Sakurai Evsa March 12, 2013 at 8:02 PM
Senpai, What a timing...
that aside this chapter really give me such a goosebumps by virtually hear Mafuyu play...
what a blessing...
thank for the translation.
the second mistake huh.. com'n naomi.. tss.. anyway, thank you really for the translations!! and gudluck with the new sem.. XD
omfg Mafuyu is so cute! NAOMI JUST TELL HER D:
thanks for translating as always. i can't wait to see what happens next.
now it's a second mistake? what on earth is happening!? I don't get it >_<
and stupid Nao. If you just told her... gah. :P
thanks for the translation and good luck on the last terrifying parts of the sem. I'm going through it myself (thank God we're almost done) XD
LOL if Nao just confessed right now, it might have been the end of the story.. i want to prolong their suffering a little more muhahahaha.. XD badass kyouko FTW!
Jsyschan March 14, 2013 at 10:56 AM
Great chapter, though I can't help but relate to Nao in that I'm completely dense when it comes to this stuff...while I can understand why he hesitates, it's hard for me to understand what the girls are feeling. In this case, Mafuyu. I have a feeling about what she wants, but it's unclear until this volume and the encore pieces end. What does it mean? Am I a moron for this?
I have a feeling that mafuyu might leave or something. Since romance novels usually go that way. Who knows, they might miracuously meet up again in the after-story ( Card Captor Sakura days :3)
Dear Sensei, Surprise me!
Um do anyone know where I can read the chinese raws of this novel?
Hmmm, im kinda hoping it ends with them (Nao an Mafuyu) together and in After-Story they are/get married (prob wont happen, but i can hope)...
Looking forward to next chapter, keep up the good work!!!
Jonathan October 13, 2021 at 12:51 AM
Well what i thinking is Naomi denseness is ofc his bad side but it's not like he doing any mistake
Wait, actually there's many mistakes thanks to his denseness
But at least this is his "second" mistakes that he fully realizes


Christ the King participated in numerous projects to help people in the community in December 2015.
Gifts were collected for the Haven of Rest Toy Drive.
Angel Tree gifts were given to people served by the Twinsburg Community Hunger Center.
Devotional books were purchased for the teens at Oasis in Akron.
"Elves" from CtK helped over 100 Headstart students "shop" for family members at the December 17th Headstart Sharing Shop. The students also created a special craft.


text:
VIDEO: Workers fight off hammer-swinging thieves during smash-and-grab robbery at jewelry store
Updated: 11:51 AM EDT May 24, 2022
There are two important things that are vital in *** smash and grab the smash, which one of the four suspects accomplished breaking two display cases. But the grab was where they failed. They didn't get anything because the employees at Princess Bride diamonds in Huntington Beach fought back. You can see one employee race from behind *** computer to go after one guy. Then the woman from behind the counter gets in on the action, going after multiple thieves kicking one on the ground, then seemingly out of nowhere, *** third employee wields *** high top chair to fend them off. It's cool to see them fight back. That was awesome. Speaking of Princess Bride, David Clarke and Audrey Tate have *** special connection to this shop and we live across the way and David got our engagement ring from here, so we care *** lot about the staff and or just sad to see what happened. Did you recognize anybody in the video? Yeah, Dallas, the guy who was swinging the couple says the guy in the video was their engagement ring consultant. I mean we respected him already, but I thought that was so cool for him to, you know, fight them off like that
Four intruders armed with hammers attempted to rob a Southern California jewelry store but were blocked by employees who fought back.The Orange County Register reports four people dressed in black burst into Princess Bride Diamonds at noon on Sunday in a busy outdoor shopping mall in Huntington Beach and smashed a display case.Employees rushed forward and kicked at the intruders, and one used a chair to fend off the heist.The suspects fled and no major injuries were reported, Huntington Beach police said.An hour later, another smash and grab robbery occurred about 7 miles away at Don Roberto's Jewelry Store in Santa Ana, police said. In that incident, four thieves took $7,000 in jewelry.Three suspects were arrested in connection with the Santa Ana heist.It was not immediately clear whether the incidents in the two cities were connected.Jewelry stores in Orange County have been robbed recently with thieves using hammers to break open display cases, and at least 35 smash-and-grab robberies were reported in California between May 2021 and April 2022, said John Kennedy, president of the Jewelers' Security Alliance."That's way off the charts of being unusual," he told the paper. "It scares people in the industry."Watch the video above to learn more about this story.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Video above from KCAL via CNN) —
Four intruders armed with hammers attempted to rob a Southern California jewelry store but were blocked by employees who fought back.
The Orange County Register reports four people dressed in black burst into Princess Bride Diamonds at noon on Sunday in a busy outdoor shopping mall in Huntington Beach and smashed a display case.
Employees rushed forward and kicked at the intruders, and one used a chair to fend off the heist.
The suspects fled and no major injuries were reported, Huntington Beach police said.
An hour later, another smash and grab robbery occurred about 7 miles away at Don Roberto's Jewelry Store in Santa Ana, police said. In that incident, four thieves took $7,000 in jewelry.
Three suspects were arrested in connection with the Santa Ana heist.
It was not immediately clear whether the incidents in the two cities were connected.
Jewelry stores in Orange County have been robbed recently with thieves using hammers to break open display cases, and at least 35 smash-and-grab robberies were reported in California between May 2021 and April 2022, said John Kennedy, president of the Jewelers' Security Alliance.
"That's way off the charts of being unusual," he told the paper. "It scares people in the industry."
Watch the video above to learn more about this story.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Duffy's Tavern is an American comedy television series that was syndicated in 1954. It was an adaptation of the Duffy's Tavern radio program, with a total of 39 episodes.

Overview
The titular setting for the show was "a seedy bar and grille on New York's Third Avenue". The cast had Ed Gardner as Archie, Alan Reed as Finnegan, Pattee Chapman as Miss Duffy, Jimmy Conlin as Charlie, Veda Ann Borg as Peaches La Tour, and Herb Vigran as Second Story Jackson.

The radio version of Duffy's Tavern ended in 1952. When the TV version began two years later, Gardner's involvement was limited to acting. He said, "In radio, I was the producer and the director and half the time the writer and also Archie." The TV version had Hal Roach Jr. as producer and Harve Foster as director.

This program was the second effort to have a TV version of Duffy's Tavern. An earlier, hour-long version was filmed for showing as part of the All Star Revue series. It was never broadcast because the Revue was sponsored by a milk company, and the barroom setting conflicted with the company's image.

Production
Hal Roach Studios and Motion Pictures for Television joined forces to produce Duffy's Tavern for TV as the first series in "a master plan to produce high-quality series exclusively for syndication". It turned out to be the partnership's last effort in that regard, also. The joint venture lost money, some of which was recouped in 1956 when the package was sold to Guild Films.

Critical reception
Critic Jack Gould's review of Duffy's Tavern in The New York Times ended with "It is a poor show". Gould placed the blame for the show's lack of success on Gardner, describing his portrayal of Archie as "non-dimensional". Gardner, Gould wrote, forgot his lines and failed "to give the impression of thinking about what he is saying and believing in it" as an actor should.

Alex McNeil, in his book Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present, noted one difference between the TV and radio versions of the show: "The radio series had been as much a showcase for guest stars (such as Bing Crosby and Clifton Fadiman) as a situation comedy; the TV show was merely the latter".

Hal Erickson, in his book Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987, described the series as "woefully cookiecutter in design", noting that the radio version's appeal had been undermined by use of "TV-sitcom cliches". He added that the image of the tavern's interior fell short of that created by the radio version in the listener's imagination. Leo Mishkin, in a review in The Philadelphia Inquirer, expressed a similar opinion, ". . . this isn't the same Duffy's Tavern we had known for so many years on the radio. There isn't a single speck of sawdust on the floor. There doesn't seem to be any bar at all . . ."

References

1954 American television series debuts
1954 American television series endings
1950s American television series
Television shows set in New York City

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


A complete cast copper alloy barrel tap key (handle) of the post-Medieval to modern date, circa1700 - 1900. The key has an oval bow,circular-sectioned stem and hollow bit with triangular cross section.. The key has an even green patina and is in fine condition. Length of key: 55.72 mm. Width of bow 33.79 mm. Bit: 11.88 mm x 14.01 mm. Weight: 21 grams.


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text:
Anthony Antioch
Associate Tax
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
anthony.antioch@kirkland.com
Anthony Antioch is an associate at Kirkland & Ellis International LLP in London. He advises on the tax and structuring aspects of M&A, finance, restructurings, incentives and investment funds.
Prior to joining the Firm, Anthony was an associate at Linklaters in London. He is admitted as a solicitor in the UK and Australia and previously taught law at the Australian National University.
Representative matters since joining the Firm include advising:
creditors, debtors and shareholders on a number of debt restructurings and insolvencies, including Altera Infrastructure, Bartec, Bulsatcom, Casual Dining Group, Celsius Network, China Fishery Group, Debenhams, General Healthcare Group, Lebara, Lehman Brothers, Mothercare, Noble Group, PizzaExpress, Seadrill Partners, Selecta, Steinhoff International and Technicolor
the consortium of Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus, CPP Investments and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on the $7.3 billion sale of Inmarsat, a UK telecommunications group, to Viasat
Bain Capital on a number of transactions, including the €3 billion acquisition of Fedrigoni in partnership with BC Partners and the €3.4 billion joint takeover offer with Carlyle for Osram
BC Partners on a number of transactions, including its investment in Valtech, giving the digital services group a $1.4 billion value, and its sale of Elysium Healthcare to Ramsay Health Care
Blackstone on a number of transactions, including its acquisition of VFS Global, its £4.77 billion takeover of Merlin Entertainments, the £1.46 billion privatisation of Network Rail's commercial real estate portfolio, its €492 million acquisition of Industrial Securities Europe's logistics real estate portfolio, the $4.73 billion takeover of Signature Aviation, the acquisition of NGA Human Resources by Alight Solutions and the acquisition of Moonbug Entertainment by Candle Media
Brookfield Asset Management on a number of transactions, including its bid for the £4+ billion iQ student accommodation portfolio and its $360 million acquisition of Everise from Everstone
CPP Investments and its consortium partners on the acquisition of Galileo Global Education
Duff & Phelps and its subsidiary Prime Clerk on the acquisition of Lucid, a UK agency group
Genius Sports Group on its $1.5 billion de-SPAC combination with dMY Technology Group II
GTCR on a number of transactions, including the acquisition of Medelec by Resonetics, the $800 million acquisition of Surgical Specialties Corporation by Corza Health, the €350 million carve-out acquisition of TachoSil by Corza Health, the establishment of Corza Medical and the acquisition of Wells Fargo Asset Management in partnership with Reverence Capital Partners
HGGC on its sale of Selligent, a B2C marketing technology group headquartered in Belgium
Leif Höegh & Co and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners on the takeover of Höegh LNG
Montagu Private Equity on its carve-out acquisition of ESS and the merger with ParentPay
Pamplona Capital Management on its acquisition of Signature Foods, a Dutch food group
Peak Rock Capital on its acquisition of AMB, a film packaging group headquartered in Italy
Riskonnect, backed by TA Associates and Thoma Bravo, on the acquisition of Sword GRC
Summit Partners on its growth equity investments in Akeneo, LearnUpon and Red Points
Sun Capital Partners and Sun European Partners on a number of transactions, including the acquisition of Adler & Allan from LDC and the $475 million sale of Dreams to Tempur Sealy
TDR Capital on a number of transactions, including matters relating to its investments in Buffalo Grill, David Lloyd Leisure, EG Group, Keepmoat Homes, NKD Group and Stonegate
TPG Capital on its €330 million acquisition of the majority of the Témpore Properties REIT
Vista Equity Partners on a number of transactions, including the sale of Allocate Software alongside Hg Capital, the acquisition of Miles 33 by Naviga, the acquisition of SmartSpace Global by Four Winds Interactive (FWI) and the subsequent combination of FWI and Poppulo
Warburg Pincus on its sale of Accelya, a travel technology group headquartered in Spain
the consortium of Advent, Cinven and the RAG-Stiftung on the financing of the €17.2 billion acquisition of Thyssenkrupp Elevator, one of the largest ever European leveraged buyouts
Advent on the financing of a number of transactions, including its acquisition of Industria Chimica Emiliana (ICE) and ICE's subsequent acquisition of New Zealand Pharmaceuticals
Bain Capital on the financing of a number of transactions, including its acquisition of majority stakes in House of HR and Maesa and its investment in the Serie A football club Atalanta BC
BC Partners on the financing of a number of transactions, including its acquisition of majority stakes in Davies Group and Havea Group and the acquisition of Wind Hellas by United Group
Blackstone on the financing of a number of transactions, including its acquisitions of Bourne Leisure, Huws Gray and the NEC Group and the refinancing of a central London office property
Brookfield Asset Management on the financing of its acquisition of a portfolio of UK retail parks
GLP on the financing of a number of transactions, including more than €2 billion of real estate acquisitions across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and other countries
Alvarez & Marsal Capital, Blackstone Strategic Partners, Chorus Capital, IK Partners, Summit Partners, TDR Capital, Triton Partners and other sponsors on fund-level matters, including fundraisings, carried interest and co-investment planning, secondaries and fund finance
Linklaters LLP, London & Moscow, 2015–2018
2017, Admitted to Practice as a Solicitor of England and Wales
The Australian National UniversityLL.B.First Class Honours2014
The Australian National UniversityB.A., Political Science2014
27 September 2022 Press Release
Kirkland Advises Sani/Ikos Group on Strategic Partnership Agreement with GIC Valuing Business at €2.3 Billion
26 July 2022 Press Release Kirkland Advises Bain Capital Private Equity on €3 Billion Acquisition and Financing for Fedrigoni
08 June 2022 Press Release Kirkland Advises The Access Group on Europe's Largest Ever Unitranche Financing on Record
01 March 2022 Press Release Kirkland Represents TA-Backed Riskonnect on Acquisition of Sword GRC
08 November 2021 Press Release Kirkland Advises Inmarsat and its controlling consortium on $7.3 Billion combination with Viasat


I had a little situation, not a big deal, but I would like to know why it happened.
I recently bought a 2TB ADATA external HDD and I set it up as the "application instalation" destiny, but yesterday I bought Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS Store and when I tried to download it, the PS4 told me I didn't have enough space and that I had to clear at least 70GB when my internal hard drive has over 40GB. Not a big deal, I moved DOOM, which is like 78GB, to the ADATA HDD, but I still would like to know what happened.
Free up or move data on the internal HDD otherwise it will still cause you problems even with an external HDD connected. Try and keep around 100GB free on the internal HDD, currently I have around 160GB free on the internal and everything is running smoothly.


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Participants receive a certificate, one CEU, and a wallet card from Virginia Technical Institute for the class. There is a test and an assignment to complete.
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Use grounding devices where the possibility of stored energy or induction exists.


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ISUOG Safety Committee Position Statement on use of personal protective equipment and hazard mitigation in relation to SARS-CoV-2 for practitioners undertaking obstetric and gynecological ultrasound
Apr 3, 2020 ISUOG news
In view of the challenges of the current coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) has compiled the following expert-opinion-based guidance on safe use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how to reduce the hazard of SARS-CoV-2 infection for clinicians undertaking ultrasound examinations (physicians, sonographers and allied professionals).
Read the Safety Committee Position statement
Jan 11, 2021 ISUOG news
Thank you for making ISUOG's 30th anniversary webinar a great success!
Volunteer for the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG)
Jan 7, 2021 ISUOG news
January newsletter: A New Year's message from the ISUOG President
International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG)
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The QR Code Racket
October 28, 2011 by Jack Marshall
QR codes are the technology marketers' love and consumers' hate. They frequently show up in print, out-of-home, online, TV, and even in-game ads. The problem: Most people have no idea how or why they should use them.
That hasn't stopped advertisers, who make any number of excuses for the obvious shortcomings QR codes have. Awareness just needs to improve, QR code supporters say. The now-clunky interface will get better, they add. Once the content behind the code is compelling, just you wait. All these promises are starting to sound like pipe dreams of techno-fetishists.
"They're appealing from a marketer's point of view because they look hip and cool and they're the new thing. From a value standpoint, though, they're essentially just URLs. There's a disconnect between what marketers want to see and what's really there," said David Wachs, president of mobile marketing technology firm Cellit.
Wachs predicts use of the codes will begin to fade as marketers realize it's not worth dedicating time or ad real estate to them for the level of response they generate. Most advertisers would be better off using simple URLs, he suggested, which take up less space and are at least understood by most consumers.
Even agency execs — among whom the technology was once the talk of the town – are beginning to rethink their approaches to it, but they maintain there can be value behind the codes if implemented correctly. 360i is currently working on guidelines designed to educate its clients on good and bad uses, for example.
"They're usually not well thought out, and that's the biggest knock on them. If they were being run better, we wouldn't need as much of a debate. … They're being used in a slap-dash manner," said the agency's director of emerging platforms, David Berkowitz.
In spite of that, agencies maintain that the codes can prove successful for certain brands and marketers, provided they think through what value is being provided to the consumer. Product packaging, for example, provides the perfect opportunity to present consumers with product demos, recipes, and coupons.
"They're just so easy to create, and that's making the problem worse," Berkowitz said, explaining why the codes are now pasted all over out-of-home and print ads. "Marketers need to invest more in the strategy behind them," he added, highlighting the continued use of codes in mediums they simply aren't suited to, such as TV spots, which he described as "mind-bogglingly awful."
Wachs, meanwhile, argued that SMS-based response mechanisms do a better job of providing a similar functionality and also enable the capture of users' cellphone numbers for remarketing and CRM purposes. But your average SMS campaign isn't going to excite a creative dreaming of Cannes Lions. Berkowitz dubs fuddy-duddy SMS as "probably the most underutilized marketing channel there is," but cited the costs of implementing such a campaign.
The biggest problem QR codes face is consumer indifference, even confusion. Most smartphones don't carry code scanners preinstalled, and most users are disinclined to download one just to scan a code they've seen on an ad. Even those that do will probably only scan one or two codes before the novelty wears off, so stats from measurement companies such as ComScore suggesting millions of consumers are scanning away on a regular basis should be taken with a grain of salt.
And, yes, the numbers will inevitably increase particularly as carriers and OS developers move towards bundling the software with handsets. Yet Berkowitz and Wachs agreed that adoption could continue to lag in spite of that trend. In fact, it might never happen on a grand scale.
"It might get easier to scan these codes, but, really, what's the benefit?" Wachs said, adding, "The gimmick factor is soon going to dissipate." Berkowitz agreed, stating, "It has to get really, really easy for this to become more of a mainstream technology."


text:
One Piece Unveils Orochi's Terrifying Power Growth
Warning!!! Spoiler Alert!!!
Photo Credit: Google
One Piece, one of the longest-running establishments with both manga and anime adaptation of the manga has been up for more than 20 years and the success of the series grew constantly.
Eiichiro Oda's legendary manga is one of the fans favorite and has received their support since the beginning from the series and as of now with more than 900 chapters up, as always the story brings a lot of dangerous occasions and the third act of One Piece's Wano Country arc has made an unexpected alternate route with a significant flashback fleshing out the historical backdrop of the world all in all.
Enumerating how Kozuki Oden went with both Whitebeard and Gold Roger's team, the most recent hardly any chapter of the arrangement uncovered that Wano wound up a lot of more awful off in his nonappearance. With Oden authoritatively making his arrival to the Wano Country, it's here he finds that the Shogun has been Orochi this whole time. Along these lines the nation has fallen into way more regrettable situation than previously.
On chapter 968 of the One Piece manga Oden is compelled to return home in the wake of going through years voyaging, and in spite of him being around Orochi keeps on developing in political force. When Oden is around to act, it's past the point of no return for him to really have an outstanding effect without harming everyone around him.
After coming back to Wano in the same, Oden finds that the individuals despite everything bolster him because of crafted by his significant other Toki in the time he's been away. In any case, he before long finds that his dad had sat back he was away, and Orochi took over as successor. The story's been curved too as Oden just considered him to be a bum who continually requested cash, however as indicated by the individuals, Orochi resembled a sibling to him.
Processing plants are starting to spring up over the area, and individuals are compelled to work in them for pennies. Yet, regardless of who attempts to battle him, on account of the sponsorship of Kaido, they are immediately overpowered and slaughtered. Because of the dangers on Toki's life, Oden's vassals are nailed down from acting as well. In any case, when Oden attempts to make a move himself, he perceives how dangerous and powerful Orochi truly is.
The most recent chapter of the manga which is the 969th one was released on January 27th and it shows Oden attempting to assault Orochi yet is immediately hindered by the intensity of the Barrier Fruit. This has been a long play by their adversary Kurozumi Clan, and Oden is constrained into non-activity himself in case Orochi release his political and Kaido sponsored power on his friends and family. Orochi figured out how to crawl his direction so profound into Wano's center, when Oden can take care of it ,he certainly can't. All Oden can do is watch as it's everything demolished gradually.
Photo Credit: Toei Animation
One Piece is a Japanese manga arrangement composed and showed by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 22, 1997, and has been gathered into 95 tankōbon volumes. The story follows the undertakings of Monkey D. Luffy, a kid whose body picked up the properties of elastic after accidentally eating a Devil Fruit. With his group of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy investigates the Grand Line looking for the world's definitive fortune known as "One Piece" so as to turn into the following King of the Pirates.
The manga generated a media establishment, having been adjusted into a celebration film created by Production I.G, and an anime arrangement delivered by Toei Animation, which started broadcasting in Japan in 1999. Furthermore, Toei has created fourteen energized include films, one unique video movement and thirteen TV specials. A few organizations have created different kinds of promoting and media, for example, an exchanging game and various computer games. The manga arrangement was authorized for an English language discharge in North America and the United Kingdom by Viz Media and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. The anime arrangement was authorized by 4Kids Entertainment for an English-language discharge in North America in 2004, preceding the permit was dropped and consequently obtained by Funimation in 2007.
One Piece has gotten acclaim for its narrating, workmanship, portrayal, and amusingness. A few volumes of the manga have broken distributing records, including the most elevated starting print run of any book in Japan. The official site for Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga declared that the manga has set the Guinness World Record for the most duplicates distributed for a similar comic book arrangement by a solitary writer. As of January 2020, the manga had more than 462 million duplicates available for use in 43 nations around the world, making it the top-rated manga arrangement ever. It turned into the top of the line manga for the eleventh sequential year in 2018. One Piece is one of the most elevated earning media establishments ever, evaluated to have produced more than $21 billion in all-out establishment income, from the manga, anime, movies, games, and product.
"(c) Eiichiro Oda, Shueisha / "One Piece" Production Committee"
one piece chapter 968
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When Lori George stepped down as the girls volleyball coach at Cimarron High School after the 2009 season, she wasn't sure when, or if, she would return to the sidelines to coach her favorite sport.
She had resigned as the Lady Bluejays' coach in order to return to school to work on her degree. Little did she realize that a year later she would be right back on the court with her team, and that it would serve to be one of the most memorable seasons in school history.
The Lady Bluejays compiled an impressive 36-4 record, won the Hi-Plains League championship, ending a long reign by Southwestern Heights, and reached the finals of the Class 3A sub-state tournament before falling to eventual third-place state finisher Phillipsburg, 25-12, 23-25, 25-23.
For her team's successful run, George was voted The Telegram's Area Volleyball Coach of the Year for 2011.
"I'm so fortunate because I just love these girls so much," George said of her team, which was led by six seniors, including All-Area selection Lindsay Wehkamp. "They're so wonderful, and they stepped up and were tremendous leaders. They're a very competitive group, and they push each other to a whole other level."
George said her team had a combination of senior experience and a talented group of sophomores that blended well.
"The sophomores stepped up with them (seniors), and I couldn't have asked for a better team," George said.
What the Lady Bluejays' coach liked about her team was its versatility.
"I had six girls who could play the whole court," George said. "They could hit, they could dig, they could block and they could return. They're really just a group of great athletes."
George said it had been difficult to put aside the season-ending loss to Phillipsburg.
"That last match is always the most difficult, but when you feel like you were right there and had the opportunity to win and go to state, it just leaves an empty feeling," George said.
"But now that some time has gone by, I've just come to appreciate the great season, the girls and how hard they worked and what we accomplished. It was great to get back and coach these girls because I had been around them for years."


text:
Older versions of IE are now at risk
Nearly 370M IE users have just 6 weeks to upgrade
IE takes another beating, keeps on retreating
Microsoft: Upgrade to IE11 even if you dump our browser
Components embedded in the OS won't receive patches unless users have the newest IE on their PC
By Gregg Keizer
Senior Reporter, Computerworld |
Users of the Internet Explorer (IE) browser should update to the newest edition for their operating system -- in most cases, that means IE11 -- even if they've discarded the browser for a rival, Microsoft said.
On Tuesday, Microsoft served up the final security updates for most users of editions prior to IE11, making good on a pledge that it would pull the patch plug on its older browsers.
In August 2014, Microsoft abruptly announced that support for IE9 would continue after Jan. 12, 2016, only for those running Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and for IE10 only on Windows Server 2012. Everyone else had to be on IE11 or Windows 10's Edge to continue to receive security updates and technical support.
Executing that order, Microsoft on Tuesday issued a final public security update -- dubbed MS16-001 -- for IE8, and those running IE9 and IE10 on all but the OS exceptions. The update patched a critical vulnerability in the VBScript (Visual Basic Script) rendering engine packaged with those versions of IE. (The same bug also affected IE7, but was patched separately with MS16-003.)
ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: What if Windows went open source tomorrow?
But even if Windows users have ditched IE for an alternate browser -- like Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox or Opera Software's Opera -- they should still migrate to the newest-possible IE, and keep updating the browser, said Pat Altimore, a Microsoft senior software developer consultant.
That's because of the decision Microsoft made decades ago to tightly intertwine IE and Windows, a move that triggered a long antitrust case in which a federal judge threatened to force the company's breakup.
"There are many components that constitute the [IE] browser. Most of the components are part of the operating system," Altimore wrote in a Jan. 8 post to the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) blog.
Applications other than Microsoft's IE can, and do, call on those components to display HTML or execute scripts. "If you aren't upgraded to the current version of IE, you won't be able to apply the current security updates. This could result in some Windows components not being serviced. To ensure applications using components are fully patched, update to the latest version of IE and apply future cumulative IE updates," Altimore said.
Altimore's advice applied to nearly half of all Windows users: According to Internet metrics vendor Net Applications, 47% of Windows users last month ran a browser that wasn't IE to reach the Web. And the percentage of Windows users who rely on an IE alternative has surged in the last 12 months. Faced with a shutoff of IE security updates, approximately 172 million have instead switched browsers, most of them to Chrome.
This story, "Microsoft: Upgrade to IE11 even if you dump our browser" was originally published by Computerworld.
Senior Reporter Gregg Keizer covers Windows, Office, Apple/enterprise, web browsers and web apps for Computerworld.


As summer draws to a close and kids around the country go back to school, turn to this roster of quick-cooking meals to help make the transition as painless as possible.
Breakfast for dinner is a surefire, kid-friendly way to get dinner on the table quickly. Take your standard-issue pancakes to the next level with this version's roasted-strawberry syrup.
Our veggie burger puts all others to shame, plain and simple. It's a mix of zucchini and corn, completely gluten-free, and utterly delicious.
Sure, you can make beautiful wood-fired pizzas at home—but that's for the weekend. Weeknights were made for French bread pizza, and our at-home upgrade of the store-bought, freezer-aisle stuff is sure to make the whole family happy.
It doesn't get much easier than cacio e pepe, the classic Roman pasta dish that's big on flavor, but short on ingredients and prep time. All you need for this kid-friendly meal is pasta, grated Pecorino Romano, and a good amount of black pepper.
You'll need to start the brining process the night before, but it's the end of the week and everyone deserves a batch of crunchy, golden brown chicken fingers so the extra effort is worth it. New to deep-frying? We've got all the tips you need right here.


text:
João Silva: Presentation of photography legend
15 October 2018 (6 PM)
The legend of the reportage photography and The New York Times photographer João Silva will visit Prague in October to participate in the Czech Press Photo 2018 jury meeting. Not only will he be a member of our photo jury but will immediately present his work at the Czech Photo Center. We invite both visitors who are interested in reportage photography and professionals. It is also possible to register for a portfolio review, which will be with one or more representatives of Czech jurors. The registration fee for the portfolio review is 500 CZK and the capacity is limited to the first 10 registered candidates.
REGISTRATION - PREZENTATION REGISTRATION - PORTFOLIO REVIEW
Event: João Silva - Presentation of photography legend
Time: 15 October 2018 (18:00)
Entrance fee: 80/40 CZK registration is obligatory REGISTRATION
for the PORTFOLIO REVIEW please register HERE
João Silva: Massoud
Joao Silva interprets war realities to the wide public:
The first jury of the Czech Press Photo 2018, which we will introduce - João Silva. He started making pictures professionally in 1989 and launched his career as an independent photographer for the Johannesburg Herald. Under the mentorship of Ulli Michel, in 1991 he became an external photographer of the Reuters news agency in Johannesburg. In the mid-1990s he worked at the Associated Press. In 1996 he began working externally for The New York Times, two years later he became a regular member of the editorial board. He has documented, for example, the end of Apartheid, and has also dealt with the fate of Iraqi Shiites after the American occupation.
He is also one of the members of The Bang Bang Club, an elite group of four war photographers: Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva, whose photographs capture the last bloody days of white domination in South Africa. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their work. Based on The Bang Bang Club, a film of the same name was made in 2010.
Joao, while reporting in Afghanistan in the first-line, stepped on the mine and lost both lower limbs. On that day they went along with a dog handler whose dog did not find that fatal mine. It became fatal for Silva, and he was thrown into the air by explosion. His colleagues immediately took him to the safe zone. Even when Silva was operating, he tried to shoot and document everything during his own surgery. During his long recovery he has not succumbed to his fate and was grateful for being alive. He often talks about the tragic fate of his colleagues who have not returned from the war.
The author continues his mission by documenting the environment of the war zone, Joao wants to be a mediator between the public and the reality of the battlefield. The camera allows him to record the most intimate moments of people in life danger. Yet is called a war photographer, but as a journalist he feels obliged to focus on raising social issues.
More about the photographer on his websites: João Silva


CHANGUINOLA, Panama – Rain clouds regularly settle atop the 1800-meter (5900-foot) summits of the Cordillera de Talamanca, the mountain spine that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean in Panama's Bocas del Toro province. When the mist clears, the full measure of the blue sea, powerful rivers, and splendid forests full of toucans and cacao trees is visible and stunning.
In the five centuries since Christopher Columbus alighted on the beaches of Bocas del Toro in 1502, western Panama's water-rich tropical bounty has enticed outsiders, built financial fortunes, and led to periodic and fierce popular resistance. In 1899, for instance, American growers tore down tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest and planted the trees that produced the Chiquita-brand bananas that are still shipped from the port at Almirante. From time to time, including a violent confrontation with government security forces in 2010 that left one person dead, Chiquita's unionized workers organized big disturbances and determined strikes over wages and working conditions.
That same stubborn spirit, widespread across this province of 126,000 residents, still animates the region. It stirs a decade-long battle in the Changuinola River watershed driven by the construction of hydropower projects and by Panama's shifting views about energy production, economic growth, social fairness, and the value of its prodigious wild forests and water resources. No other Central American country is reckoning with these often-conflicting features of national life with as much consideration and consequence as Panama.
"This is an exciting period for this country," said Osvaldo Jordan, a 43-year-old biologist and political scientist educated in the United States who leads the Alliance for Conservation and Development, a human rights organization in Panama City.
For many of Bocas del Toro's indigenous citizens the definition does not include big hydropower projects.
Since 2003, the tiny Naso indigenous community has fought to a standstill construction of the 33-megawatt Bonyic dam on the Teribe River, a tributary of the Changuinola. The project, undertaken by Hidro-Teribe, a subsidiary of Colombian public utilities company Empresas Publicas de Medellín, also is opposed by Panamanian and Costa Rican environmental organizations because of its proximity to La Amistad International Park. The 401,000-hectare (1,550 square miles) park spans the Costa Rica-Panama border, protects countless species of tropical plants and wildlife, and is the largest nature reserve in Central America.
Not far away, Ngobe villagers are organizing to halt construction of Changuinola II, a 213-megawatt, $US 1.1 billion dam that Panama has approved in a bend of the Changuinola where the free-flowing river cuts between high cliffs of white limestone. Norberto Odebrecht, a Brazilian company, gained government permission this month to build the project, which indigenous villagers say they intend to stop.
Both resistance campaigns are informed by the consequences to the river and native villages from building the $US 630 million, 223-megawatt Changuinola I dam. The AES Corporation, a Virginia-based global energy developer, opened the dam and its power station in 2011 after four years of construction that generated active protests and long blockades of construction routes. The dissent attracted international attention and a rebuke from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission before it was put down by national security forces, which beat protestors bloody.
Neither AES executives nor Panama government authorities responded to phone and email requests for interviews for this article. In published reports and prior interviews with Panama reporters, dam developers and regulators insist that they are building projects according to high standards of environmental protection and with regard to fairly compensating families forced to move.
The dam developers also note that they are performing a national service. Panama, they say, needs the power. And water-powered electricity prevents millions of tons of climate-changing carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere that otherwise would be produced from the same levels of oil- and coal-fired electrical generating capacity. Government statistics indicate that the carbon savings from the Changuinola I dam alone amounts to over 600,000 metric tons a year, or approximately the level of carbon pollution produced by a coal-fired fossil thermal power plant of similar size.
A Clear Choice for Energy?
Like the other civic campaigns around Panama that oppose new dams, the protests define in clear terms the powerful and conflicting values that Panama now faces as it generates more electricity for its rapidly growing economy.
What's not so clear is whether the dam protests and blockades represent an advance or a retreat. Panama has supported its galloping economic growth – an average increase in GDP of 10 percent annually since 2000 – with surging electrical generating capacity. Last year Panama's utilities generated just over 2,500 megawatts of generating capacity, double the electrical capacity that Panama generated at the turn of the century, according to the Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP), the country's public services agency.
Two-thirds of the capacity is generated from Panama's 31 existing hydroelectric power projects. Fifty-four other hydro projects are proposed and 12 are under construction. Since 2005, Panama has added an average of 100 megawatts of generating capacity annually from water power. One easily discernible result is that Panama's air is clear.
The restiveness over new dams, though, is producing a shift in Panama's energy development strategy. Solar and wind plants are planned. A new 55-megawatt wind farm, Panama's first, is under construction in Penonome, on the Pacific coast near Santiago.
The Panama government's biggest thought, though, is to rely much more on fossil fuels. Influenced by new reserves of natural gas and available and cheap exported coal from the United States, Panama last year issued what it calls "tenders" to encourage private developers to compete for permitting authority to build 700 megawatts of generating capacity from thermal power.
The plan would increase by 80 percent Panama's thermal generating capacity, which with the exception of a single 120-megawatt coal-fired plant near Colon is entirely fueled by oil. Builders of coal, fuel oil, propane, and natural gas-fired power stations have all indicated their interest in Panama's tender.
Jose A. Morales, the principal of Admiral LPG Services, Inc., which designs power plants fueled by liquefied natural gas, just secured financing to build a $US 90 million terminal near Colon to receive ships, and store and distribute propane. The terminal sits on a parcel of land big enough to site 900 megawatts of cleaner-than-oil electrical generating stations, or more than enough to meet the nation's new thermal generating goal.
Thousands of indigenous villagers certainly support a shift away from new hydroelectric development. Enlisting the nation's steep slopes and big rivers to generate power has produced such revulsion in indigenous communities that Panama's government is responding.
President Juan Carlos Varela, who was elected in May 2014, is more sympathetic to the villagers' views than his predecessor, Ricardo Martinelli. Earlier this month Varela halted construction of the 28.4 megawatt Barro Blanco dam, on the Pacific coast east of David, and dispatched his government's High Level Committee, an executive branch office that analyzes the views of indigenous communities, to tour the region and convene a negotiating session.
Barro Blanco dam, under construction since 2008 by GENISA, a Honduran company, has been the scene of blockades and protests so ferocious that four indigenous people died in clashes with security forces in 2012 and 2013. The High Level Committee, led by Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, issued a statement to reporters that explained the government's interest.
The goal, the vice president added, is to develop a forum for dialogue between the government, the community, and business.
The currents of change swirling around Panama's hydropower sector have come swiftly for a nation that has been converting water to electricity since the United States built the country's first hydropower generating station, the 24-megawatt Gatun dam that began operating at the Panama Canal in 1913.
In the 1970s, Panama's military dictatorship led by General Omar Torrijos sought to build much bigger dams. In 1976, the 260-megawatt Bayano dam and power station in central Panama flooded 90,650 hectares (350 square miles) of Emberá and Kuna tribal rainforest, starting a 40-year-long slide in the villagers health and economic and social well being, according to government and international human rights organization studies.
Torrijos and his successors also launched construction of the 300-megawatt, 322-foot-tall Fortuna dam in Chiriqui Province, in western Panama, which was completed in 1984 and later expanded.
The consequences to the tribes and the natural landscape in central and western Panama prompted rebukes from university researchers, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, an investigative and negotiating unit of the Organization of American States. The government ignored the criticism, much of it leveled against the weak oversight of the concession process, which the government uses to grant permission to build dams, and the skirting of rules that require public hearings and agreements from indigenous tribes prior to starting construction.
Village experiences with both projects prompted Panama's first violent clashes over big dams when Torrijos proposed in 1973 the 200-megawatt Tabasará I dam on Rio Tabasará. In 2000, following years of strife, Panama's Supreme Court suspended the project after villagers blocked Panama's national highway.
In 2008, the Tabasará dam evolved into the smaller Barro Blanco dam, and the active protests and blockades resumed.
There is good reason, say villagers, to fight big dams. Like the irreplaceable damage caused by an earthquake or big fire, the projects permanently alter their lives..
On a quiet morning in January, Tomas Villagro and Bernardino Morales perch on the narrow seats of a dugout canoe that makes its way upstream on the Changuinola River. Morales' home was inundated by the Changuinola I dam, a formidable curtain of concrete 99 meters tall (325 feet) and 600 meters long (1,969 feet. Although the AES Corporation compensated them for their losses, money hasn't replaced a sense of torment so deep he says it feels like grief.
Through an interpreter the two men describe the new dwellings set on hillsides above the reservoir that house the 1,000 people who were forced to move from the river's edge. "There aren't many that have electricity," says Morales.
The water is full of debris from rotting vegetation. Clumps of dead trees rise like fractured bones from the lake's surface. As the canoe makes its way upstream, propelled by a small outboard motor, its presence stirs birdcalls in the jungle. Perhaps 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the dam, the lake's slack water ends and the free-flowing current of the river begins. Edgewater grasses are nearly 6 meters (20 feet) tall and impenetrable stands of teak, guaruba, oak, and yellow tree flank the whitewater that churns through high limestone cliffs.
Another half-kilometer draws the canoe to a bend shadowed by high ridges, a narrowing in the river that is the site of the proposed Changuinola II dam. The place is spellbinding in its green and wild vertical beauty. The river is clean enough to drink. The sound of churning water bounces around the valley.


The pick of the domaine's own production, this stunning wine comes from 76 year old vines. However, in 2016 two-thirds of the vineyard has been pulled up, so production levels will be tiny over the coming few years. The 2015 is reticent at the moment, but you can feel the power and potential here: there's concentration, intensity and power all in reserve.This wine is limited to one case per customer. If you wish to purchase more, please give us a call.


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Bell X1's frontman will perform at several locations in Ireland throughout October and November, with special guest Maria Kelly.
The singer made the announcement on his Facebook page this morning, saying that he'll be performing "NEW material as well as songs from the Bell X1 & Printer Clips catalogue."
Maria Kelly is a Mayo-born atmospheric indie-folk singer who has supported the likes of KT Tunstall, James Vincent McMorrow and Wyvern Lingo.
We're looking forward to hearing what the pair have in store for us.


Beautiful bright valentines pull our attention in all the stores. Hallmark cards, Jared's and Kay Jewelers, and all the sweet delicacies tempt us on television. But there are innovative options. At our place beautiful music sweeps through the house, Mozart and Beethoven, Strauss waltzes, John Denver and his guitar, and our favorite hymns sung by George Beverly Shea and Jim Nabors, Sandi Patti and Amy Grant. Charles gave me a new Bose acoustic wave system as a valentine. We hadn't been able to play CD's for ages and I'm having such a good time! It's so beautiful! And now I'm in a quandary. What, oh what, can I give him that will halfway express my feeling?
I would write him a poem, but I can only write a poem if, as someone wisely said, the poem "bites me on the leg." This year, so far, I've had no bites. I would bake him a huge cake but he's watching his cholesterol and that would be an awful lot of cholesterol to watch. I could give him a new tool, his favorite of gifts, but he'd have to help me pick it out and by the time we finished the transaction it would be as far from a valentine as the mountains from the sea.
These words are so familiar and precious to me partly because they were a vital part of Charles' and my wedding vows in 1965. Perhaps you said these words, too, as you and your spouse-to-be lit one big candle from two smaller ones.
She also said that young folks are not determined enough these days that their marriages will work. "If it doesn't work" should never enter one's head, she believed. She'd be the first to admit that building a strong marriage is not easy. She was eighteen and my dad thirty-six when they married. Raising ten children and caring for an aging spouse whose health was deteriorating was sometimes very difficult. More than difficult!
Whether making yeast bread, simmering roasts, or building relationships, Mamma would say they all take a lot of time and effort. Commitment means not giving up. "I do" means putting your all into making a marriage work. "You can count on me," means you'll be who you are in the right place at the right time, fully trustworthy.
Your people shall be my people, and your God my God…" This is the real key, Mamma would say. When God is part of the commitment then you'll have His encouragement and His muscle behind you to push you up the difficult slopes and hold your hand in the rocky places.
Back to that valentine. Do you have yours ready? Of course a card with the very right words is really perfect. Or maybe an extravagant home-cooked dinner? Maybe just a simple home-cooked dinner? Maybe a salad at Zaxby's or a night out at his favorite restaurant, like the Cairo City Grille? A letter, handwritten in red? I'm thinking….maybe a pair of new boots for my hardworking man. Every step he'd take would be blessed!
We'll keep thinking, won't we? We have a few days yet.
Lord, I pray for sturdy healthy marriages in America, among Your people, that we may again be the strong nation You desire us to be. Help us as we call on You and give us patience to take time in our relationships, in all our relationships. And, Lord, because I know You care so intimately for us in our daily struggles, please light an idea bulb for me so I'll know the very best thing to give my very precious valentine. Amen.


Special release for Easter 2017! We've picked out these beautiful designs to celebrate one of our favourite holidays. We hope you love them just as much as we do!
The clean but quirky designs in our Eggcellent Easter Collection are delightfully noticeable but easily wearable with any outfit your child may be sporting that day. All the other mums will be asking where you got them!