Men in Skirts

I visited the Richmond Highland Games and Celtic Festival today. The weather was fab- a gusty breeze, bright sunshine, deep blue sky with a dotting of little cute clouds. Admission was not as free as the below mentioned Folk Festival, but it was too nice a day to sit in when there was Irish music to be heard.

This will be a picture heavy editorial, as pictures can only describe the scene well enough-- by the way, some of them do NOT wear anything beneath the kilt. I know this because of the wind, and try as I might I never captured a perfect kilt-in-the-wind shot. You'll have to take my word for it.



There were, of course, some colorful characters (other than the crazy girl trying to get a picture of wind-blown kilts):







I was vastly amused by this piper with his super authentic traditional Scottish water bottle holder. I'm pretty sure I saw one of the guys on Braveheart wearing one of these. (It doesn't take much to amuse me, really....)



And there were parades, of course....





And the main event, strong Scottish and Irish blooded lads throwing ridiculously heavy objects through the air. I really got into the "Weight Over Bar" competition (actual name of event-- describes EXACTLY what they were trying to do) and cheered loudly for the gargantuam "Big Country"-- a hairy fellow who heaved the 28 Ib weight over a bar 13 feet high. He tried to do 14 feet, but it just kept hitting the bar. The other one I watched was "Scottish Hammer Throwing"- the winner threw the 22 Ib weight 121 feet.





And yes, there was some good music to boot. And good kettle corn, but I didn't get a picture of myself pigging out on Kettle corn--you're out of luck on that one! There was a group from Scotland by the name of "Albannach"-- a pipe and drum band that broke a whole lot of stereotypes. They looked more like a heavy metal band when they took the stage, and the drum beat they sent through the crowd could be felt in the vibrations of the mud beneath your feet. They rocked. I own their CD now.



I'm gonna go listen to my CD now, and annoy the neighbors with crazy drum and piper tunes. I could love a man in a skirt, really, especially if he played a drum....

MEMEEEEEE!!!

My friends have completed another meme, which I must join! Thanks Ayzair and luckybob and scanime!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 6 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I think we're seeing who's the rarest. I think I win so far. :-)

Motivational Fun

oh, I have found the best toy ever.

I challenge all of you, elmstreeters, old friends, new friends, random lurkers, to make the best motivational poster ever.


Go make your own, better, smarter, motivational poster!

68th Annual National Folk Festival

Saturday I wandered downtown to the 68th Annual National Folk Festival in downtown Richmond. Yes, I broke the diet and ate a funnel cake. But other than that, I had a great time and listened to many fine musicians, including several National Heritage Fellowship holders. The following were the highlights:

Arrived at noon. Admission, free. Parking, $5.

Was rushing to see Boston Edge, but got waylaid at the first of 5 stages by an interesting sound. Listened to Le Vent Du Nord, a canadian folk band of Irish tradition who sing in their native french language. Yep, traditional Irish music, sung in French. By some very dynamic (and fine looking) young men. I liked greatly.

Wandered around for awhile and caught the end of the Hula Halau O' Lilinoe. My only comments included "I didn't know the chip N Dale dancers would be here!" and "okay, I need to find a Hawaiian Man." The girls were good dancers. But the guys were good dancers in loin clothes. Yeah loin clothes!

Caught a little bit of Jamesie and the Allstars with Blinky McIntosh playing a bit of scratch music from St Croix.

Caught a little bit of New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters playing a bit of blue grass from Virginia.

Watched a discussion and demonstration by the accordian players present at the festival (4 of them). I now know a bit about how they are built and what a "wet" verses "dry" accordian sound sounds like. Very cool to see different styles: Irish, New Orlean jazz, Texas, and French-Irish. Way cool.

Enjoyed the accordians so much I decided to go to the Fiddle discussion and demonstration too. The finale was 8 fiddle players playing a bluegrass song with two Altai singers adding a great throat tone harmony. Chills. AMS called during it. I'm not sure it transferred over the phone, but it was massively cool.

Wish I had gotten to see AltaiKAI earlier in the day. Apparently these visitors from central asia were something to see.

I stuck around for a second performance of Le Vent Du Nord. I HAD missed the first 15 minutes of their first performance, but I also figured I might not get another chance to see and hear them. And the lead guy's cute. I ended up joining the dancing in front and did some chaining with a line of people. THEN I discovered that the polka is really really easy to dance-- my chaining partner paired off with me and we polka'd to the next song. Then the 10 of us turned and did a little bow to the audience and sat down. Yep, danced a dance I've never danced in front of a crowd of about 80 or so people. I was shaking when I got back to my seat but it was oh so fun!

I wondered around, experienced the portapotty, and basically wasted time waiting for the 7:30pm show by Boston Edge.

Well worth the wait, this group includes Joe Derrane (one of the National Heritage Fellowship holders and best accordian player in the Irish tradition here in America), Seamus Connolly (won the Irish fiddle contest 10 years in a row-- don't know if he's a relation, but one can dream), and finally John McGann (great guitar player). They were incredible. While they were playing a couple got up and did some great dances in front of the stage and the combination, along with the chilly night, was....lovely.

I walked out with a small crowd and landed up walking all the way to my car with a nice couple. Their car was next to mine. Coincidences are fun, aren't they?

All in all a great day. The weather was beautiful. The funnel cake was great. The music blew me away. And I know that accordians can come in one row and up, and have reeds inside them. Yes, accordians are reed instruments. I was so wired that by the time I got home I was up until 4 am. At 2 am I decided the night was just going to be an "up" one, so I read, then played on the internet, and finally popped a movie into my laptop and fell asleep with Harry Potter running on my bedside table.

Today, I did sqwat. I'm gonna go pay bills before heading to bed. I think I've got clean clothes for tomorrow. I've got to set up my ASHA trip. But not tonight. Bills, then wander into bed.

My camera died, but if any of the pictures came out clear I'll post. Especially those Hawaiian men. I hope that one came out.

Note to Self...

Do not, under any circumstances,
hold group speech therapy,
consisting of four hyper 5th graders,
at the end of a long day,
right before the final bell rings...

especially when you have no therapy plan
and decide to just "wing it".

chaos.

just chaos.

I was so overwhelmed and tired, I even gave them stickers. For chaos. Dang. I'm screwed next week.

It'll be out all over the student population that all you have to do is have everyone stand up and walk around the room except for the one person who I have told to sit, then when I tell the next person to sit the first person should get up and walk around. And then they should all be asking random questions at the same time.

"when is it time to go?"
"is that candy?, Can i have some?"
"Doug didn't finish his sentence"
"my pit bull chased me off a cliff, do you have a pit bull?" *
"you don't act like a teacher, are you a teacher?"
"can I draw on the board?"
"can we go outside?"

That's how you get the speech therapist to give you stickers. Honestly, it's the only thing I got ALL of them to sit for.

Stickers.

Dinner, then a DVD, then bed. That's the plan.

* (actual question, with marker-drawn illustration, for real)

Just have to do it...

A:F6

Gotta love Hamsters...and babies!

I'm way to amused by this game Flight of the Hamsters. It's kid friendly and waaaaaayyyyy too amusing. Especially if you get the hamster into outer space. Then they fall really hard...

The week has gone better at school. I'm firmly "Ms. Kelly" as speech kids really can't figure out my last name (the teachers were having difficulty as well). Everyone is friendly. Apparently the last speech person wasn't very personable, so I'm a breath of fresh air because I'm not a dictator.

On a personal note, one best friend has survived the birthing process. Welcome to the world, Drew. Way to go AMS.

The other best friend is due early November, and she's been having practice contractions. Especially when big sister M***** blows raspberries on her mommy's belly. M*******, stop annoying your little brother. Nicolus, take your time. I think your mommy wants to wait a bit more since she has to move prior to your arrival due to nasty mean landlords who won't fix nasty bad mildew problems in their apartment.

I'm heading to church now, then coffee house, then hang out at the little park behind my apartment. I'll have wifi for the last two bits and I plan to beat my Hamster flying score of 225 ft. Share your scores so I can be motivated to waste MORE time doing this.

When is too early to start annoying new moms with calls????