A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
NOTE: I’m still catching up. This post was from a couple of weeks ago.
It has been a week full of music. There was Irish music Monday night, guitar and ukulele Wednesday night, more Celtic music Thursday night, a rehearsal with the Samish Island Singers Saturday morning, and finally a Scottish music session Sunday afternoon at Littlefield Celtic Center. This last session was loads of fun and I’m glad I headed on down to Mount Vernon to see what Scottish music is all about.
NOTE: I seem to be having a hard time keeping up with the blog lately. Got lots of posts in the hopper, but for some reason I’m not getting them done. I’ll see if I can catch up. Usual excuses – holidays, etc., etc.
December 1 marks three months since we arrived on the island. We have seen lots and done lots, but we haven’t accomplished anywhere near what we had hoped. Things tend to get in the way. I thought I’d give a quick update of the journey so far.
If it seems that most of my posts recently have been about music there are a couple of good reasons for that. I’ve been unable to get out and about to explore with my injured foot and the weather has been downright crappy for weeks. Apart from the music there just didn’t seem to be anything much blog-worthy.
That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been writing. I’ve been using Day One to keep a brief daily journal, often with just a photo to remind me of something and no text. I’ll pull a few things from that journal for this update. At the very least, it will give readers a break from all of the music stuff. Sort of. I’ve got another music-related post in the hopper ready after this one. But until then, here are some miscellaneous thoughts and happenings.
It had already been a week of music. Monday night was the Irish Music Session at Honey Moon Mead in Bellingham and Wednesday was another meeting of Bring Your Own Instrument. Thursday night I headed back to Bellingham for more Celtic music with the Slug Jam.
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.