What a busy and HOT weekend!!

We started out on Saturday with an afternoon at our local winery with The Big Guy's brother and sister-in-law and a few hundred of our "closest friends." There was a Jimmy Buffett tribute band playing, great food available, a cool breeze under the trees (Okay, a breeze moving WARM air but it was MOVING.) and, oh yeah, WINE!!!!


It was a good day for the first "UNOFFICIAL" day of summer!

I was up early on Sunday as we really did still have to make a choice between parties but, in either case, I needed to whip up a dessert to take with. We ended up heading to Harrisburg, PA for the Treasurer's Picnic, an annual party held by the Blues Society of PA. It's a bout a 2 hour drive for us, each, way, but well worth the trip. Let me tell you, these folks can PARTY !!!

They put on a huge spread of food that lasts all day from about noon to 7:30 p.m. They start with appetizers and nibbles for an hour or so and then put out a huge buffet. The grill and smoker goes all day and there are tons of salads and sides. Everybody who comes brings a dessert. They have loads of water, sodas and even a self-serve beer truck!


. . . And there's LOTS of great LIVE music!!! We had 7 full bands, each playing a 45 min to an hour long set and then 6 acoustic acts who did about 1/2 hour sets in between the bands. ALL were of the highest quality and totally enjoyable. One of the high points this time came with The Don Johnson Project. this is a great party/dance band and they really get everybody moving. This time, they had a real musical phenom with them. A young guy named A.J. who plays a mean guitar and he's only about 11 or 12 years old!!! (He's the guy in the red shirt, way to the right in the picture.) Look out, Eric Clapton!!

This is a great bunch of folks who really know how to have a great time! Unfortunately, since it is a long trip for us, we usually only get to about 4 or 5 events they do each year. Most happen in and around Harrisburg or Allentown. (Yes, we DO have a local blues society and we belong to that, too. They just aren't as much fun!)

I felt bad because we had to choose between parties. The other was just down the road from our house but we do see most of those folks every week or so. Still, we hated to miss that get-together. We just couldn't do both.

Yesterday, we only had to trek right next door but it was an all-day event. Again, great food, fantastic company and good day was had by all!!

I was pleased to find my little sailor style onesie also made it into, not one, but TWO, different Etsy treasuries over the weekend!! Katie at ktimages did it first, on Saturday, in a treasury showing how we wear our Red, White and Blue and, then, Tracy of Lucky 1724 featured it in her Stars and Stripes treasury yesterday. Be sure to check these out as Red, White and blue is still in style and we'll all be looking to show our patriotism again on July 4th!!

I think it's the backside on this one that garners most of the attention!

I miss South Carolina!!

I told (warned) you I'd share more about our recent trip:

The weather here has been gray, damp and cool for the most part. I guess I got spoiled last week with the sunshine and warmth in South Carolina. It was unusually warm when we left home heading South and I was genuinely shocked to come home to snow after a week.
Saturday was really gray and threatening around here although the sun finally did come out in the late afternoon. (By then, we'd already decided to simply stay home for the day.) I let my mind wander to the great day we had last Saturday (in SC). It was 76 degrees and super sunny. We actually went to an outdoor festival!!! In February!!! We took lawn chairs and settled in to listen to some acoustic blues - outside - in the sun. It felt fantastic to us winter worn souls!

The event was the monthly open house at the Hagood Mill Historic Site in Pickens, South Carolina. It's an actual working grist mill. It was used commercially well into the 60s. Now, they run the mill once a month, actually grinding such things as corn meal, flour and even grits so they can show the public how mills worked in their day. They have quite a few stones (used to grind) on display and explain how the stones could be changed for different types of grain. Our friend bought a bag of true, fresh grits. You know, the kind that have to cook for a long while, not the instant most of us are familiar with these days.

There was an impromptu gathering of musicians under a tree. It worked sort of like an acoustic folk jam-session. Each time we went by, different folks were playing with the group. They were quite enjoyable. There were two talented ladies trading off on the bass (stand up) throughout the afternoon.

There were also demonstrations of spinning, hearth cooking, chair caning, leather tooling, blacksmithing and more. There is a working cotton gin on the property but was not being demonstrated that day. There were some ladies demonstrating old fashioned needle arts, too. An actual still sits on the property but is simply set up to perform as an educational exhibit. (We were hoping for samples to wash down the hearth-baked cornbread they were serving.)



There was an acoustic blues duo playing on a porch with an audience gathered round on the lawn. At the close of their performance time, one of the musicians was to conduct a harmonica workshop. He decided the weather was too great to waste by teaching indoors so he went in and asked the participant s to join all of us on the lawn. I was surprised to see about 14 folks come out to learn to play the mouth organ - even more surprised at how many were of the female persuasion. I'm not trying to be discriminatory. You simply don't come across many women palying the harmonica. We enjoyed watching this group and almost wished we had instruments to work with. (Our friend's dad had played and she has his old, good quality instrument at home but no one in the household knows how to play. She wished she had known.)

There were about 10 crafters selling their wares. I actually bought two pairs of leather earrings. The lady selling these is just beginning to "play" with her husband's leather scraps (He does large leather pieces) and they are quite basic but I've always liked the unique. The price was unbelievable, too!! I paid $1 for the first pair and $2 for the second!!!

There were two other jewelry makers present who did beautiful pieces using true gemstones and silver and gold components. Unfortunately, I feel these folks are going to suffer at fairs and festivals this year as the cost of their metals has risen so much they will no longer be able to produce wares that are "spontaneous" purchase prices. One had some fantastic hammered silver pieces but they were pried appropriately for what they were. This was considerably more than we planned to spend at such an event.

****Since 1996, the mill has operated, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month from 10 a.m.-4p.m. These monthly "corn grinding" days have become mini-festivals of traditional arts, folklife and music. More than 25 regular demonstrators share their skills with the public. If you're in the area on one of these days, stop on by for a good time.

All in all, we had a great day in the sun - good music, interesting sights and, best of all, time spent with people we love.

O.K.,, I can't always pick 'em!!

Another busy weekend! (So, what else is new?)

Lately, we've been making a big night of it on Fridays. This is unusual for us. Normally, we're settled in the house by about 8 p.m. on Friday evenings. I think I like this new wild lifestyle!!

So, after that late night on Friday, Saturday dawned a gorgeous day. The temps had moderated back into the mid 80s (We came close to 100 degrees on Friday!) and the humidity was low (a rarity around here). The sun was shining and there was just the slightest breeze blowing. It was just too beautiful to stay home all day. Of course, we both had a bit of trouble waking up and getting moving in the morning!! (That'll teach us to "trip the light fantastic" on Friday night!)

After a bit of discussion, we decided to head to Spring Grove, PA for a day of music at the first annual Roosterpalooza. The event was a fund raiser for breast cancer awareness and was headlined by two bands we were familiar with - Tom Larsen, known for his hard rocking blues, and Kashmir, a Led Zepplin tribute band. We were not familiar with any of the other groups listed on the flier. Altogether there were 18 or 19 bands involved.

The band that was playing when we arrived was Headshot and did some great covers of some good solid rock. They sounded good and we were quite pleased.

The park was a fantastic venue with a nice pavilion with a solid concrete stage and wiring which made set-up easy for the bands. There were plenty of picnic tables, both in the pavilion and spread around the lawns which were well shaded by some humongous oak trees.



The bands changed every hour. We had missed the first two completely as we did get a slow start. The next band came on and was the epitome of an 80's hair band. They call themselves Grind (not THE Grind, but they did pattern themselves after them.) While not our choice in music, they performed it well with lots of loud screaming and a truly choreographed stage performance. They were extremely high energy and made quite a few leaps from the stage. They then proceeded to traipse around the table tops between our food and drinks.




The lead singer liked pouring a bottle of water over his head and then flopping his hair at folks as he trotted among the crowd. (This I could have done without. We had several things on our table we'd have preferred to keep dry.)

Well, my tolerance for this sort of performance runs to an hour or two (at most). The Big Guy can appreciate it for about four songs or so. We were glad to see their time run out.

Or so we thought.

Turns out the next four bands were all trying to be wild hair bands from the 80s. Most did their thing fairly well but screamed lyrics quickly became screeched lyrics. We moved a little further from the stage area. We eventually discovered the acoustic stage and did enjoy some of the music there for a while.

Turns out the bands we actually knew and wanted to see, were the last two to play. We had a long trip home and ended up leaving before Tom took the stage at all.

On the up side, it was a beautiful day with fantastic scenery. We met and chatted with quite a few really nice folks. The food vendors were excellent and very reasonably priced. While we found out coolers were allowed into the event, we never bothered walking back to the car to get ours. Beverages were cheap enough. There were REAL bathrooms, well stocked with paper goods and soap and with running water (always a plus in my book!)


There were a few crafters present but I don't think any sold very much. I know one sold absolutely nothing. She had a variety of items for sale, ranging from fabric dolls and animals with colorful yarn hair, potholders, aprons and fabric purses as well as quite a bit of crocheted merchandise.I felt bad for her as her work was great and reasonably priced but it just wasn't that kind of crowd. She did close early and packed it in.

I did see a jeweler sell a number of inexpensive earrings and pendants. I was not close enough to the others to see how their sales were going but I did not see folks carrying any of the merchandise around. The tattoo artist (real tats, not airbrushed) and body piercing stand did do fairly well.

Oh well, I can't pick a winning experience EVERY time out!! (No offense to you readers who do enjoy this style of music, please. It just wasn't our style. My age must be showing.)

I figured I'd have trouble selling The Big Guy on another "new event" today, so we simply went to breakfast and then came home to watch the football game. At least the Ravens won!

Hope y'all had a good one.

Perfect Night for a Concert by the Sea

Today was absolutely beautiful!!! The temps moderated to a normal range of the mid 80s and the humidity was reasonable. The sun was shining and there was just the slightest breeze. We knew the concert in the Park would be great as we're quite familiar with the band, Big Cam & the Lifters.I knew it would be a great day. Our saucer magnolia tree that normally blooms once in the early Spring is blooming again!!! Most years the blossoms burst forth over the course of two, maybe three, days in April, only to be hit by wind or cold rain or just very cold temps the next day or two and we only get 3 days to a week of beauty out of it. Thank goodness it is a pretty green tree for most of the year. Every year, we find two to three stray blooms from time to time in the off-season but nothing very interesting.
This year, the tree was gorgeous for about a whole week in April. (I think I posted a few pics back then.) Cold days appeared and the blossoms died off as usual. Well, lo and behold, after weeks of triple digit temps and very dry conditions, it is suddenly in bloom again. At least a third of the tree is in full bloom and there are still dozens of buds ready to open! This is so unusual that we've had neighbors calling to ask what we did to get it to bloom again!! (Absolutely nothing!)

So after an afternoon of enjoying my tree and my yard (It was actually comfortable to sit outside.), we headed off to the park by the marina for the concert. We always make a picnic of it so we go a little early. We were shocked at the crowd already gathered when we got there. It was the largest audience this year. I believe there had to be at least 1000 folks there!!
We always sit with the same people - a couple we've known for over 30 years. The Big Guy and I were both friends with these great folks since before we were a couple. Luckily, they had gotten there a little earlier and staked out our front and center location.
The band was fantastic, as usual and they really got the crowd on their feet. Couples of all ages took the floor (er, "the grass"). The view of the river and bay (they merge at this point) was beautiful tonight and there were plenty of sailboats floating by. What a night ! this is what summer is all about in these parts!

Where did the weekend go?

Another busy weekend has simply whizzed by as we quickly approach the end of July and what I consider the "downside" of summer.
Although the sweltering record temperatures of this summer of 2010 have been a bit much, summer remains my favorite season. It depresses me to think it's speeding by so quickly. So, I desperately try to squeeze more into each day - to get "it all" done. All those things that are summer to me - outdoor music and festivals, walks on the boardwalk, enjoying the smells and sounds of the beach, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes,just sitting along the shoreline enjoying the long days and evenings, and so much more.
We did our best to do it all this weekend. Friday evening found us at the park above the marina listening to a band we've been trying to catch up with for over two years, Bottle of Blues. Believe me, they did not disappoint us!! The heat was stifling in our front yard as we left for the concert but in the park along the river only a few miles away, a gentle breeze blew and we were actually comfortable. What a beautiful evening!!! As the full moon rose and reflected on the water, it was absolutely mesmerizing.
The same band was also playing at another outdoor event on Saturday and we had planned to see them again for a longer show but the morning dawned with miserable, sickening heat and humidity. The heat index reached 110 in the afternoon. It did not seem healthy to be out in it if given a choice. We didn't venture out until late evening when we met friends for dinner at a restaurant in the local casino. It turned into a very late night for us. The temp had actually cooled to a very sticky 86 by 2:30 a.m. It is extremely rare for us to be out that late these days!!

Obviously, we didn't get a very early start on Sunday. Instead of going out for our usual weekend breakfast outing, we did lunch. (It actually turned out to be an early dinner as we never did eat another meal that day.) We had planned to catch some outdoor music again in the afternoon but by the time we finished eating, it was actually too late to go! Instead we made a grocery run and stopped at a local farm for produce which pretty much shot the rest of the day. The Big Guy's regular crowd shuffled in for their weekly pinochle game soon thereafter.

Suddenly, the weekend was over!!!

Hope you had a good one.

A Perfect July Day !!!!

Music!! Music!! Music!! Summertime heat and fantastic food at a terrific venue = Great Day!!We headed for Westminster, Maryland today to the Summertime Festival at the Carroll County Farm Museum. This use to be known as the Surf & Turf Festival and featured lots of seafood, beef and other tantalizing treats. Last year, they decided to expand the image a bit and changed the name to encourage more family participation.

In addition to great food, the event is known for some of the best music in the region. Today was no exception. They featured three bands, all of which gave super performances.

Big Cam and the Lifters, the first on today's lineup has been around this end of the world for over 30 years and we've followed them for about the last 22 years. They're known for everything from Doo Wop up through 60's rock and roll with a few 70s thrown in. Their lead singer (a man who helped form the original Del Vikings but was shipped overseas just weeks before their first recording session thanks to the draft), passed away in September. They are still extremely good but just not quite what they were in the past. I believe they're experiencing some adjustment pains and I see them regaining their edge in the near future.


Poison Whiskey followed them giving a rocking, driving performance of solid rock hits from the 70s and 80s. This is, in my opinion, one of the best the Mid-Atlantic has to offer and we've heard most. All we could say was "Wow!!" They made you forget you were sitting outdoors in 95+ heat.




Bringing up the rear was Never Never, yet another of the best bands in the Baltimore area. They're known for their Led Zeppelin covers and they do them almost better than Zeppelin! We stayed through to the last note and enjoyed every minute of it. (Originally, we'd planned to leave early to catch up with some family and friends at another music event being held at one of the local wineries this evening but we were just enjoying this one way too much to leave!)






Along with the terrific entertainment and tasty food choices, this is a beautiful venue. Easy close parking , real bathrooms, lots of shade trees and picnic tables and so much more. The event featured lots of activities for the kids, a small craft sale area, a huge classic car show, a burger grilling contest, corn cannons, a politicians' crab picking contest and lots more. We just sat back and enjoyed the music, some food and a fantastic breeze under the trees.



***Oh, yeah, one more fashion rule based on another day of observing festival folks. If the top of your tube top is only about an inch or so above your elbow joint and you are NOT baring more of your breasts than is generally acceptable, you're a bit too old and droopy for a braless tube top, no matter how good the rest of your figure is !! Also, if you're wearing a tube top and dancing vigorously, you should check it's positioning occasionally! Just sayin'.



What a fantastic summer day!!!

Beautiful music by the bay...

What a fantastic night for a concert in the park!!

The Sons of Pirates played lots of Jimmy Buffett, Eagles,

Badfinger and Beatles tunes, and much more. This is looking from the Western Shore of Maryland
at the Eastern Shore. Those are sailboat masts sticking up
in the background. There was something for everybody in the crowd!

Kipona - A Celebration of Sparkling Water

Bright and early on Saturday morning, we set off for the Kipona Celebration in Harrisburg, PA. This annual three-day event takes place in downtown Harrisburg along the shores of the Susquehanna River. The festival is billed as "Kipona - A celebration of sparkling water." This huge event offers something for just about everyone.

Watching the boat races on the river in Harrisburg on Labor Day weekend was a long-time family tradition for us for quite a few years but we have had other plans for the last 7 years so this was like a homecoming for us. (Although neither of us has ever called Harrisburg "home.") The cigar boats have been replaced by dragon boats since we've been there and, unfortuantely, the dragon boat races were cancelled this year. It was apparently a last minute cancellation as they were still listed in both the printed programs and on the website.

Even without the boat races, it was a beautiful day on the river. The sun was out, a light gentle breeze blew all day and the temps hovered at about 80 degrees with fairly low humidity. Literally thousands of folks joined us in the park. We set our chairs up at the top of the river bank near the food stands and a short distance from one of the stages so we could sit and watch the river traffic, listen to music and munch on some goodies.

The boat of choice on this part of the river seems to be a rather small flat-bottomed pontoon style, generally seating 5-8 people. A number of them anchored just off the bulkhead to listen to the music. This was the first time I ever witnessed water skiing done from the back of a pontoon boat. I'd never seen one that could produce that kind of speed. (We, on the lower end of the river, have deeper, rougher water and you see very few pontoon style boats. In our end of the pond, we need longer keels and deeper draws for balance.)

At one end of the festival, one of the local grocery chains sponsored the Pennsylvania State Chili Cook-Off. In addition to the official competition, there was a salsa contest, a people's choice chili sampling for charity, a jalepeno pepper eating contest, a "hands-free" chili eating contest and a hot wing eating contest. There was also some music and entertainment on that stage. I'll admit, we never hiked all the way down to that end of the fair! (this festival runs for about 1 1/2 miles along the banks of the river and also has activities across the river on City Island.

There was a children's area featuring special entertainment, theater productions, games, crafts, and rides. Since we didn't have any munchkins with us, we also didn't venure into that area.

We did check out the many food booths. (I mean, they have LOTS of food there!) We sat near the stage that featured rock and alternative rock bands. I highly recommend a young rock band called The Milwaukees who played Saturday afternoon. They were followed by another rock/alternative band known as Knotfal. We also enjoyed them very much. We wanted to stay for the featured entertainer, The Sauce Boss - Bill Wharton, who plays fantastic slide guitar blues and also cooks a huge pot of gumbo on stage while performing and shares it with the audience at the conclusion of the show, but we needed to get on the road home as we had a long trip ahead of us.

Over 100 performances on 4 stages are scheduled throughout the weekend. One of the stages in the main festival area features folk music, salsa, classical music and Dixieland jazz. There is also a large presence of local Native Americans at this event ("Kipona" is an Indian word meaning Sparkling Water.) There is a Pow Wow conducted out on City Island and a ceremonial procession begins on the downtown side of the pedestrian bridge with the Indians dance stepping across the bridge to open the Pow Wow. There are Indian musicians playing at the main festival area and some dance demonstrations by the Aztecs and the Iroquois, such as the Candy Dance, Fire Dance and the Hoop Dance. There is also Intertribal dancing at the Pow Wow. The Wacongo Dance Company is also scheduled to perform authentic ancestral songs, drumming and dances of Central Africa.

Sunday's schedule featured a Bass Masters' "Bass Classic," canoe races and evening fireworks, one of the largest displays in the area. A soccer tournament will take place on Monday.

At one end of the festival, The Greater Harrisburg Arts Council presents the annual PSECU Artfest featuring over 150 juried artists from across the country. While the Kipona Festival is a free event, the craft show does have a minimal admission fee which does not seem to deter the crowd. The Big Guy chose to stay sitting along the river and listening to the music while I hiked through the craft show. (I'll tell you much more about this part in my Working the Shows Wednesday feature.) The show, itself, probably stretches out to about a half mile in length so he really wasn't up to the heavy duty walking. My legs are aching today. I must say, this was the highest quality craft show I have attended in several years. There was absolutely no buy/sell merchandise and just about every exhibitor had something new and different to look at. I spent about 2 hours walking the show and could have stayed much longer admiring the work and chatting with the artists and crafters. By the time one walks to and from the garage area, around the festival for a few hours and then adds in the craft show, you've covered a few miles.


One of the festival features that we have never done is walk the pedestrian bridge across to City Park. Unfortunately, it's a long walk and there is no shuttle back once you're over on the island. (I start hearing the tune about the guy who boards the subway and never returns when I consider that walk!) There is , however, a continual heavy flow of foot traffic there throughout the entire event. (There is a vehicle bridge further down and there are parking areas on the island.)

Today, we took it easy at an annual, very laid back, family and friends cookout. (Thank goodness, my legs need time to recover from all that hiking yesterday!!)

Here's hoping y'all are having a great weekend. Take care and have fun !!!

A very LATE Sunday post!! (Sorry.)

Okay, we were back on schedule on Sunday arriving at the Heritage Fair by noon for the first musical act of the day.
The weather was fantastic all weekend, hovering in the very low 80s and breezy during the day and actually dropping down to some chilly temps after dark. Today was no exception with a bright blue sky and white fluffy clouds. We would normally expect temps in the mid 90s with high humidity this time of year. (The last time I participated in the craft portion of this event, the temps hovered between 98 and 105 degrees for the ENTIRE weekend!)





Fins (a local beach rock group)
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The crafts section:
I took time today to wander through the craft section and talk with some of the crafters there. Until last year, the crafts were all in a very large tent at the back corner of the fair - sort of the forgotten stepchild syndrome. Last year, they did away with the large tent and moved the crafts to the front of the fair right next to the entrance gate. Crafters used their own individual canopies. This was a good move. The crafts were closer to the main events and easily accessible to shoppers. (In past years, it was often not worth the hike back to buy something after thinking about it for awhile.)

They kept the crafts at the front this year and expanded on the number of spaces a bit. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of buy/sell mixed in. (There is a Commercial Row elsewhere at the fair for resale items.) When I did this show a few years back, it was juried. Apparently it is no longer a juried event or they don’t care just who “handmade” the items. Much of this was made in China, Ecuador and Mexico.

There were some good quality crafts available in some categories and I will discuss those and highlight one of those unique displays in Wednesday’s Working the Shows post. The good news is, those I spoke with were having a good weekend and were selling well. They were also happy to be close enough to the hub of activity to hear the entertainment these days.

---------------

Great music:

The Blues Brothers even stopped by!!!

Sundays at this event usually feature some of the better local and regional entertainers throughout the day and today was no exception. The featured act of the evening was Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees. He put on a great show tonight, bringing back many memories for those of us that actually watched The Monkees the first time around on TV. Micky played to a huge crowd and introduced his sister Koko to the crowd. Koko sings with the band and was even a backup singer on some of the original Monkee's albums.



A GREAT time was had by all!!




Micky Dolenz and band.
I hope your weekend finished up on a good note, too!! (Don't forget to check in on Wednesday for more about the crafts there today.)