A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
This is a week slam full of music. So far the slate includes another Bring Your Own Instrument, a slow Celtic learner’s jam, a rehearsal with a choral group, and another jam session for Scottish music. Today I discovered yet another Irish music group and decided on the spur of the moment to add them to my already jammed jam session schedule.
On Black Friday most people go buy excessively large TVs and other electronics. I wound up with something else – a velcro cast boot. This all goes back to our trip to Oregon at the end of October. Laura tripped over a curb and banged up her knees and elbow. Hers was the most obvious and dramatic injury, but apparently I’d done something more subtle and long-lasting.
I wanted a challenge. I got a challenge. On Sunday I attended the monthly Irish Jam Session at the Littlefield Celtic Center in Mount Vernon. I found myself in the midst of some incredible traditional musicians and I also found myself struggling to keep up. Even so, it was a blast.
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Laura and I like classic films and we especially like it when we have the opportunity to see these films on the big screen. Our first experience was back in 1991 when we were able to see Casablanca in a theater in Tucson. In just the past couple of months I’ve seen The Princess Bride and the original Blade Runner in the theater. So when we saw that the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo was showing at the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon, we had to attend.
I’ve been on the hunt for something in the Pacific Northwest almost as elusive as Sasquatch. I’ve been searching for some good Southern BBQ. We’re talking pulled-pork goodness with the right seasonings and sauces, served up on a bun with appropriate side dishes. It’s an expensive endeavor, but I think I may have found evidence that this cryptofood does, in fact, exist up here.
The Skagit River Valley sits along one of the major West Coast routes for migratory birds. Every fall and spring thousands of birds pass through the area, some taking up residence for the winter from Canada and Alaska. Over the past several weeks we’ve been enjoying quite the avian floor show and have made several bird watching trips.
I’m constantly looking for new performance opportunities. Sunday a week ago I had two choices. I could go to a Scottish Music Jam Session at the Littlefield Celtic Center in Mount Vernon, or do Shape Note Singing. It looked like there were more opportunities for Celtic music than Shape Note, so I made the trek to Langley that Sunday. This past Sunday I headed up to the Bellingham Folk School to take part in a Celtic session.
Duff McDaniel loves oysters. After an initial repulsion when I was younger, I’d had a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. In recent years I have developed a liking for them, though, so when Duff suggested that we take part in the Oyster Party at Slough Food in Edison, it sounded like a great idea.
I’ve been searching for music groups with which I can participate while here in Washington. I haven’t found a drum circle or musician’s circle like some of the ones in Upstate South Carolina, but I’ve been having fun with the Bring Your Own Guitar group. Finally I found a Shape Note Singing. I knew I had to check it out.
Ah, Halloween, when the children of Bow Edison Elementary School parade past the bars and saloons of Edison and denizens of the town throw stuff at them. Actually, it’s a great annual tradition, one which Laura and I HAD to attend.