Exhausted…

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Literally.

The last five days have been fantastic, fun, elating, overwhelming and exhausting. What am I talking about? Oh yeah… The Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival.  Every year, we help with the festival. We do Lights and Sound, and a thousand other little bits and pieces. 🙂 Plus we get to hear some of the best Celtic musicians in the world. This year’s theme was Celtic and All That Jazz!

I realized yesterday at the last concert that I didn’t take a single picture. We were just crazy busy. So, Instead of pictures, I will do my best to paint with words. Keep in mind too, that there were other concerts going on that we didn’t work as well as workshops and classes in all sorts of instruments.

Wednesday. The Festival did outreach to the schools. Dancing, music and storytelling. That evening, there was a pot luck in La Veta with many of the festival musicians and workers. It was a blast.

Thursday. First real day of the festival. I didn’t get to help with any of this as I had a school board meeting in the afternoon/evening. Dan and Doug were up in Cuchara, and La Veta most of the day. That evening there was the “Taste of things to come” Ceilidh in Gardner. Dan said it was fantastic.

Friday. My first full day. Wow. We were all over the place providing sound. Best part was at UpTop. We have a free concert up there where all sorts of musicians play. It was cold and it rained/snowed on us, but the music was wonderful.

After that, we drove down to Walsenburg for the 6th Street Hooley. Once again, a free concert outside. Only real issue was the wind! 50mph gusts at times made things difficult. People still had a good time though.

After that, the main concert… The Tannahill Weavers. It was great. Wonderful. Funny and just pure magic. Ah….

Saturday. Busy once more getting sound to various venues. We got to listen to Duncan Wickel, a jazz violinist. Then we were off to get ready for a Celtic Mix of Mairtin De Cogain and the Macdonald sisters, Cassie and Maggie. Following that was a Scottish Dance workshop.

Then we drove up to the Timbers in Cuchara and set up for Leslie Anne Harrison and Frederic Pouille, Folk Ragout. It was a very nice little concert. When we were done, it was a quick trip to Walsenburg and the evening concert at the Fox.

This concert was Irish to the Core. John Doyle, Duncan Wickel, Robbie O’Connell, Adam Agee, Jon Sousa, Sean McComiskey and Ashley Davis. Oh My what a concert. Doyle and Wickel amazed us. Ashley sang sweetly. Robbie charmed us and when they all played, our breath went away. The building shook with the applause. The encore was just as amazing. All I could think of when it was all done was a line out of Much Ado About Nothing where Benedict says…  “Is is not strange that sheeps’ guts should hale souls out of men’s bodies?”

Sunday. Up EARLY. We were in La Veta at the 4H barn by 7:30am. Why? Well, it was an oatcake and tea breakfast with the Tannahill Weavers. I made and served tea. Jack Yule made oatcakes. Yummm! So, for 90 minutes, we ate, drank and listened. They talked about how the Tannahill Weavers evolved and played a bit.

Then we had Cassie and Maggie giving a demo on step dancing. After that we headed off to the La Veta Inn to do sound for Robbie O’Connell. He is a nephew of the Clancy Brothers. He gave a talk about them and his involvement in the music that really started the modern revival of Irish Music. It was wonderful.

Last, but not least… The final concert…  Celtic and All That Jazz. First up were Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman. Next was Park Stickney and friends. This year I got to know Park just a little. He is a fantastic musician and a very impish and funny man. I love his warped sense of humor. He also managed something that no other harper has done. I really like his music. To be honest, before harps have always been sort of “Oh, that’s nice.” Park’s playing was so wonderful that I bought a CD. 🙂

The concert was finished off with the Tannies playing Just One More (last) Chorus with everyone singing. It was a good end to a fantastic week.

When we were done, we fed my mom’s cat. (who we’ve been babysitting all week as well) Then we had dinner and crawled into bed by 8:30pm. I think it will take a week to recover. 🙂

Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival!!!

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Yes, it is that time of year again. Bagpipes, harps and drums echo in the mountains and towns of Huerfano County. The festival is one of our favourite events. It is also a very hectic time for all of us. Dan and I do lights and sound as well as anything else Barbara Yule has in mind for us.

Dan was off early to pick u sound equipment. Today the festival musicians and performers are in our schools. 🙂 So, Dan will be setting up various venues in Peakview and John Mall. Tonight is the artists pot luck up in La Veta.

Unfortunately,  I will miss the Ceilidh up in Gardner for the first time in years. I have a regional school board meeting up in Pueblo. sigh… pout… However, I am the only member of my board going and so I can’t miss it.

I’ll be posting pictures of the festival. Hope if you’re close enough that you can come and visit. There are some free events that are wonderful. Friday from noon until 2:30pm, there is a free concert up on old La Veta Pass and another one from 3:45 till 5pm, there is a street concert, downtown Walsenburg.

Plus, there are free harp, whistle, and drum classes on various days. In the evenings are the concerts with The Tannahill Weavers, John Doyle, Duncan Wickel & Friends, and many others. I hope you come visit. If you do, stop by the sound and lights and say hello.

Rain, Glorious Rain!!!

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Yesterday was hot. The breezes were light and it was just miserable. We saw a few smoke plumes on the East peak, but they were up so high, that we figured that the firefighters would just let them burn to treeline. One of those areas you just can’t see a human trying to walk or climb to to put out a fire. 

So, I ran some errands and settled down to work on gear for Battlemoor. 🙂 Dan and I discussed a design for a gambeson for him. He has finally decided that he will get back into fighting trim, with a goal being to become a marshal. (the referee for combat) It did help that a cracked rib that had bothered him for nearly 4 years finally stopped hurting last September. I’m working on embroidering my clothes. I also have a caftan coat to rework. 

But back to last night… After a Mach 30 hangout where we are planning an October event, I went out to the Wendy House to write. For about 45 minutes, I watched the dry lightning dance across the sky and hoped that it wouldn’t start another fire. And then the miracle… a sniff of moisture. 🙂 

The lightning storm got bad enough that I shut down my computer. Then the rain started. Heavy soaking rain! 🙂 We watched the lightning storm for over 3 hours and enjoyed the rain even though my dog was going nuts. Brandy doesn’t like thunder or lightning. 

This morning, we were treated to lovely soaked soil. 🙂 So much better than the sand box it had been yesterday. I’m hoping that the rain soaked the fire as well. It was a glorious rain.

A Snowy Tuesday

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It’s been a while since I felt like writing. On January 18th, after some of the most bitter temperatures in a while, I headed to Cheyenne. It had been 39 Very Long Days since I’d seen Dan. I swear that the travel fairies were with me as I literally flew up I-25. It is usually a 4.5 hour trip and I made it in just under 4 hours. 🙂 It was so good to be together again.

We had a computer client in Denver on Saturday. When we got back, we packed up all of Dan’s stuff and came home on Sunday afternoon. He will continue to look for work, but that will be done from here, instead of Cheyenne. Neither one of us liked being apart.

This last week has been hectic. Meetings, rearranging the house once more to accommodate the offices to the front porch where it is warm, and dinner with my parents. In that Dan missed Christmas dinner, he got to pick what he wanted for dinner. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon. Mom made oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips for dessert.

Friday we had a Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival meeting. We are planning for the 9th Festival. It looks like it will be very good.

 

On Sunday we had a birthday party with a group we are a part of called Mach30. It was fun.  Monday was interesting. Dan got an offer to build some electrical parts for a local WISP. It is exciting and should actually net us some income. We had a school district meeting as well that lasted until nearly 8pm.

Today we were suppose to go visit Morgan in La Junta. It was going to be a quick trip as I had yet another school board meeting tonight. Well, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow with more falling. Right now I think we have had about 6-7 inches. The wind has settled down, but the snow is still falling. We stayed home and I canceled the meeting. My parents didn’t go to Pueblo either. They got about 25 miles up the road and turned back. About 30 minutes ago I took some pictures. We are snugged up in the Guest house keeping warm by the woodstove. 🙂

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Supersonic September

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This month has rushed by. We started with Battlemoor and will end with the Spanish Peaks Celtic Music Festival In between, we have had birthdays a plenty. Morgan’s, Dan’s, Mom and Dad’s. And, since we got paid, there were new glasses for Dan and Morgan, new shoes for Dan and new tires for the truck. Then it was back to the daily grind of house work, computers and cleaning.

I thought I’d get a breather in there. Wrong. Day after his birthday, Dan felt ill. By Monday night, he was in bed. I won’t share the gory details, but he was not a happy camper. Oh, and he passed out/fell at one point. One moment he was fine, next… out. So, he spent most of the next day in bed and has been making a slow recovery ever since. Why? Well, when he fell, he smacked his hip and cracked a rib. We knew about the hip right away… Can’t miss it if it hurts to sit. And yes, plenty of bad jokes were made about cracks… However, it wasn’t until he actually began to feel better, and stopped hurting everywhere, that he realized he’d cracked a rib.

Now of course, it’s the beginning of the music festival. Dan is up in Gardner today with some of the musicians at the school. Tonight is a pot luck which I need to make a cake or something for and Thursday night is The Taste of Things to Come, the first concert. It is going to be a really good festival this year.

Oh, and on top of that, we are 1) cleaning house to do the plumbing-don’t faint, 2) cleaning house because it’s time to get ready for winter, and 3) Natalie is coming to visit October 1st!!!!!  I’m sorry that she’ll be here when it is all chaotic, but we haven’t seen her in nearly 6 years. (bounce! bounce! bounce!)

After mid-October, when I think I’ll get some time to sew, we’ll see what else crops up.

Battlemoor III, Plums and too much going on

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August ran us over and we crashed in the Middle Ages. Aka… Battlemoor III. I barely got all of my sewing done in time to head out on a Wednesday to camp. Originally, Dan was not going to stay the whole time. He’d planned to work and then come out in the evenings. Serendipity swung her mighty fairy dust wand and Poof! Things changed. Dan got off of work a little late and didn’t have to go back on Thursday. He got his class work done and realized he might actually have a chance to take some time off. Not like we needed it or anything.

Wednesday as we sat up camp after sundown, we got to know a few of our fellow campers in Artisan’s Lane. Then we slept for the first time in ages with no real schedule for us in the morning. Ahhhhh!

We woke at dawn and started getting ready for the day. I worked on the potters wheels and the pottery tent. Dan started running errands. Then he discovered that there was no ice truck this year. So, he started running ice in from First Choice, our local grocery store. At least two trips a day. He gave free ice to the Troll gate, Chirgeons, the watch and to the parties.

I had a lot of fun working with the pottery and the fiber tent. It was the first time I’d thrown on a potter’s wheel in about 8 years. I didn’t do to bad, but I realize I will have to build up my hand strength for next year. I made a couple of hand built pieces as well. One was a small rose. It was about the only piece of mine that made it through the firing. We did do a kiln fire and realized that we need better air control next year. At least there was enough pottery to award some to the king and queen. 🙂

I got a lucet this year and learned how to make cord. 🙂 Dan bought me presents too. A torque, shears, a small knife, shoes, hair pins, a shuttle and the lucet. 🙂 I’ll post pictures below.

I think that camping with the Artisan’s Lane group was the best thing we did. I really enjoyed the company and the way it all worked. We all pitched in with cooking and cleaning up.

Once we got home, we were thrown into the craziness of ‘life’. I picked 50 pounds of plums off of my mom’s tree. Since then I have made plum jelly, syrup, jam, butter and chutney. Oh and cake and cobbler. Yummm!

We also have been to visit Morgan at least two times. Once on her 16th birthday. We took her out to eat, gave her a prezzie Dan picked up for her at Battlemoor III and gave her some money. She is really adjusting to college well. While she may be the youngest person on campus, she is on par with many of her fellow students mentally. For others, she is the adult supervision. LOL!

Wednesday, it rained almost all day long and oh was it COLD! I pulled blankets out of boxes and threw quilts on the bed. Today we got a clear glimpse of the Spanish Peaks. There was snow on the tops and the Trincheras were white! Brrrr!!!!

Last night we drove to Pueblo and had dinner at Bingo Burger. 🙂 It was Dan’s birthday treat to himself. We went to Barnes and Nobel for a while and then came home. Tomorrow we are heading out to pick her up, and then we are going to Pueblo. She and Dan need new glasses. Maybe, just maybe we will eat at Bingo Burger again. 🙂

Oh, and week after next is the Spanish Peaks Celtic Music Festival!

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Meetings and concerts and printers Oh My!

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April has been a busy month. Lots of school board meetings and plenty of long nights. Yesterday was a prime example of life around here.

7:am- Arrive at the bus garage to meet Dawn Olson our superintendent and head for Colorado Springs for a Professional Learning Committee meeting.

9:00am to 3pm- PLC meeting with teachers, superintendents, board members from 11 districts, and CDE. Lunch included.

3:15-4:25- Drive home from Colorado Springs

4:30-5:20pm- Attended Jeanne Wilkins retirement party at Peakview School.

5:30pm- 8:15pm- Board workshop with David Benson and Iris Williams. Lots of good work towards becoming good board members. Dinner included

8:30pm – 9:30pm- Watched and listened to the last half of the Outside Track Celtic Concert at the Fox Theater.

9:45pm-10:30pm- home, relax and go to bed!

And today, Lots of pictures of Dan’s latest project. He built a 3D printer. A RepRap. To say that he’s pleased is an understatement. He still needs to work on some of the firmware and await the arrival of the plastic.

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Life, Family and the Celtic Music Festival

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My life has been on hold.

My family declared me missing.

Why?

Well, because this last weekend and part of last week was the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival.  This year, Dan was the stage manager. Oh boy… What this translates into is that he had to make sure things got done. Mostly to do with sound and lights. This year’s theme was “From the Appalachians to the Rockies”. This festival was also special in that our daughter Morgan got a scholarship to attend the entire festival. The caveat is that she has to write a scholarly paper about the music/culture as it migrated from Scotland and Ireland to Appalachia.

Things started winding up on Wednesday. (ie, things got busy!) Dan was hunting equipment and doing his best to be in three places at once. Thursday afternoon, we had to be in Cuchara at the Dog Bar by 1pm for a “Ceilidh at the Dog Bar”. It was a smattering of the musicians giving everyone a sample of what was to come. Funny part is that one of the bands called the Old Blind Dogs got lost. So, we were making jokes about the Blind Dogs needing a seeing eye dog (guide) to get to the Dog Bar.

Then it was down to Gardner for  a “Taste of things to Come”. This was a ceilidh with the musicians playing teasers. The best part of this event is always Jack Yule. He and his wife Barbara are the reason we have this lovely event. His dry Scots sense of humor makes us all giggle. Lovely time! Of course, I baked two carob mayonnaise cakes for the potluck performers dinner. 🙂 The concert was great and we got home late. On the way back, a car ahead of us looked ‘wrong’. There were no tail lights. Brakes, but no tail lights. So, we followed them all the way back (27 miles) to make sure that no one hit them from behind. When we got to the junction, we pulled up beside them and told them why we had followed them. They were very grateful. Later on, I found out that she was one of the festival harp teachers, Nancy Bick Clark. She was very sweet and so happy that we’d done that. How could we not. Taking care of people is one of those things we do during the festival.

Friday… Free picnic at Uptop. We had a ceilidh which was fantastic. When we got there a piper was playing. I thought it would be our friend Jim Conley. No, it was a young man dressed in 1800’s cowboy gear with full claymore, plaid, knife and sixshooter. Wow! Later on, we found that this young man could dance a jig…with spurs on and sing. Wow!

The concert was great, but… we had to pack up all the gear and get to La Veta for a performance called Wickedly Funny Songs and Tales. We were a little late, but it went fine. Once we pulled our equipment for the second time that day, we had to head to Walsenburg for the big evening concert. “Scotland Meets Appalachia”. This was the Old Blind Dogs and David Coe. The Dogs had a new fiddler with them named Claire Mann. She was great. Dan ran the lights for this concert and it went very well.  Once again, we got home Very late. (see Jaye, Dan and Morgan. see Jaye, Dan and Morgan fall asleep 5 minutes after they got home…)

Saturday was crazy in it’s own way. We spent most of it running around La Veta making sure that sound was available wherever it was needed. Our biggest afternoon event was a concert and demonstration of harp and fiddle. David Coe played fiddle and Aine Minogue played harp. We were at the Methodist church in La Veta. It was called, “They met Here: Irish Harp and Appalachian Fiddle”. I knew that they had played together once before about three years ago, but honestly worried that the mix would be like chalk and cheese. That fear lasted about 6 notes. It was a beautiful concert and discussion.

The concert that night at the Fox in Walsenburg was “From County Clare to Appalachia”, with Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill performing. I’d heard them twice on Thursday and was really looking forward to this performance. It started out with two Appalachian fiddlers, Cleek Schrey  and Stephanie Coleman. Cleek does the flat foot dancing or clogging. Really cool. They play so well. Then… Oh My Gods!!! How do you describe a fiddle that starts out slow and then works to a beat so rapidly that you can barely tap your foot that fast? Take the time to look up Martin and Dennis on YouTube. Amazing. Simply Amazing. The crowd wept, shouted, clapped and acted more like a rock concert audience than a bunch of Celtic music lovers. Three or four standing ovations. After they played, the four of them played. It was magical. Simply magical. Afterwards, home, bed and ZZZ’s. Oh, and we remembered to eat dinner!

Sunday. Sunday was “How many places can we be at once day”. We split the sound system three different directions at one point. We had a Dulcimer class with Wilson and McKee. Then we had a demonstration/talk/performance on Gailic Songs by Margaret Bennett. Once again in the Methodist church. I got to run the sound for that one as Dan had to set up for the ceilidh in the park. A bit nervous, but I’ve been learning to run the sound board. Margaret is amazing. Another one worth hearing. Her voice… oh my. Once that was finished, I headed to the park where the last concert of the festival was being held in the park.

Now, David Enke, who usually does a lot of the sound work for the festival had another engagement, so Dan got to run the concert. David’s equipment and Dan’s brain. 🙂 It started out with Roger Landis and David Coe. Everything was going well and then there was a change over. All the fiddlers got up on stage, joining Roger and David.  Martin, Claire, Cleek, Stephanie, Arlene Patterson and then Dennis and the rest of the Old Blind Dogs. Of course everyone was trying to plug in or find a mike and all the careful layout that David and Dan had done went away. Dan was now flying/mixing by the seat of his pants. Then there was another break and all the singers from the festival got up on stage. Ed Miller, Jennie McAvoy, Robbie O’Connell, Margaret Bennett and a choir of singers who’d been learning songs for the last three days joined in. Add to that a couple of fiddlers and I think there were nearly 30 people on stage. And yes, they too were looking for mikes or pick ups. Aieee!!!! Dan was sweating! Yes, he had no idea of who was where. However, he managed. He managed beautifully! 🙂 The sound for the whole concert was great! And no, it isn’t just my opinion. Loads of people commented on how well it went and he even had someone buy him a beer. 🙂

After that concert we packed all of David’s stuff up and stowed it and then went to the after festival ceilidh. Dan got his beer, we relaxed and after an hour or so, we packed the last of our equipment up and went home. By now it was nearly 8pm. We ate dinner and were in bed by 9:15pm. Gad it had been a long weekend of 14-16 hour days. Lots of wonderful music. Tons of things to do and lots of friends to visit with or meet. It was a great festival.

Now to get back to ‘normal’. Yawn… Still exhausted.

Oh, and Chas, In answer to your question… Yes. I went to the festival. Did you?

A wet but relative warm day

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At least in comparison to the rest of the week! It’s 43 degrees and the 6-8 inches of snow we got last night is melting so fast that the streets are flooding. We still have no water, but we hope to have that solved soon. Just have to wait until it thaws.

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These are a series of pics out the front and back door. If you look carefully, you can see the river of snowmelt running in front of the truck. There are snow plumes coming off the Spanish Peaks and a lot of snow in the back yard. We watched the city plow the slush and water out of the way for probably an hour. At least we will have a clear spot to park my Dad’s truck. We are borrowing it to take Dan to Colorado Springs in the very early am. He is flying to DC for a Workforce Conference.