Danny Boy...

The pipes, the pipes are calling...

I'm Now a Jim Malcolm Fan

There's not much to not like about Jim Malcom. He has a fantastic voice, plays a groovy guitar, looks good in a kilt, and has a fair-ish command of single malt whiskies that he is willing to share for the edification of the general public. According to Jim, it's really good if it has the word "glen" in the name.
You carry on Jim.
And if you are lucky enough to have Jim Malcolm play a gig in your area, you are a great blunderin' fool if you fail to attend.

Nancy the Smithy

Nancy had the chance to try her hand at the art of smithing. She forged a spork for us to eat spaghetti-Os. But Grover the blacksmith called it a paper knife. I think Nancy might be at the start of a brand new career. Or not.

Asian Hippies

Nancy's brother emailed us on her Talkie Toaster cell phone and called us "aging hippies." Because I don't hear all that well, I thought he said Asian hippies and I couldn't figure it out.
Anyway, here we are, just chillin' like aging hippies at Loch Merlin. I was also reading Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix, but I think the book is too far to my left to show up in the picture.
We also managed to go through about 10 bottles of wine between us over the course of the 3 day weekend. Hoo-ah!

The Scene

I thought I'd post a few pictures of the general layout of the place. It could, not inaccurately, be described as old-school hippie. The camp areas are pretty and the whole place is well laid-out. It almost seems to be set up so that you kind of flow happily from place to place.
I did not get a picture of my favorite outhouse.
Or of the port-o-potties.
I had this phobia of using the port-o-potties to 'do number 2' because of this idea that is stuck in my mind, that it will splash the nasty slush from the bottom up onto me. So I was grateful to find a real outhouse that worked a treat. The real outhouse was wooden and comfy and had cool (and there is no better word for it than cool) paintings inside it. I can't believe I failed to get a picture of it. And I didn't get a picture of the showers either and they were equally cool AND complete with hot water.

Haggis Puffs revealed

One of the hosts of the festival, Logan Sullivan (who, with his wife Donna, organized and ran the whole festival), was kind enough to let me photograph him with a haggis puff. Another mystery solved.
Oddly enough, they looked pretty much like I had imagined.

Haggis Puffs

A name to conjure with. Nancy and I spent a lot of time imagining what a haggis puff might look like. So I wasted no time in photographing a specimen.
Traditional haggis is a kind of sausage-ish Scottish dish made of sheep insides cooked inside the sheep's stomach. I have posted a couple of pictures of this.
But the festival was advertising haggis puffs. I was intrigued...

Men in Kilts

The festival was full of men in kilts, and let me tell you, it was not all good. But I enjoyed that part very, very much. It made me seriously think about hitting WAY more of this type of festival.

Archeoastronomy (Little Stone Henge)

The festival took place at a primitive campground near Dahlonega, GA that was complete with a swimming/fishing lake, functional stone henge, lots of men in kilts, and a healthy population of chiggers. Here you see me with the megaliths: posing, dancing, and pretending to be a sacrifice.

Starbridge Festival 2007

I just got back from the first annual Starbridge Celtic Music Festival and it was totally fun! My friend Nancy (with the red hair in all the pictures) hipped me to it. She is friends with the organisers so we had rock-star parking and felt like privileged insiders. I took too many pictures, but I'll try to only post a few of the best.
These first few are from our camp site.

Gilligan eats Blueberries II

Another little video of my dog proving once again that he is a freak of nature - but only the nicest kind of freak.

Gilligan eats Blueberries

To paraphrase my cousin Kayla, "Him like blueberries!"