Irish Eyes

Today was supposed to be an easy day - HAH! The Governor was down in DC and we didn't have anything scheduled until 3:30, and that was simply a bill signing in the outer office (that's the room outside the Gov's office where we have press conferences, bill signings, photo ops, etc). Well, I learned they scheduled for all the Grand Marshalls from all the St. Patrick Day Parades in NJ to receive Proclamations. March was the longest St. Patrick's Day ever with all the St. Paddy Day Parades - it was never ending. Anyway, I digress - they wanted photos of all the recipients. So, hey ho, lets go - so I went to the Statehouse and it was a madhouse - so many people were there for Legislative sessions - people who were supporting this bill but not supporting that bill and it's ST. PATRICK'S DAY TOMORROW - so every Irishman from the state was here also!

After the photo op I returned to my office and heard bagpipes - at first I thought I was hearing things but then it occurred to me that TOMORROW IS ST. PATRICK'S DAY. I grabbed my cameras and went running outside following the sweet sounds of bagpipes (actually, I've been to a lot of parades this month and I am so done with those blowpipes) and found these guys above warming up outside the Statehouse. I was pretty happy with what I found. So these guys are the real deal - straight from Ireland - they are the 4th West Brigade Pipe Band and they sounded really good. I made the above image and a couple of mates at the same time. I think it's time for a Guinness.