Home again

So we're back from North Carolina and the Highland Games, and had a LOVELY time. Days full of music. Men in kilts, wearing them to varying degrees of success. Nonstop pipes, also being played to varying degrees of success. Clanning with the Armstrongs, MacFarlans, and MacDonalds. Grandfather Mountain is a beautiful, mystical place, especially in the early morning. The stones seem like ancient creatures creeping through the mist and the slanting half-light; you lose all sense of time, and then, all of sudden...you see Mel Gibson (aka William Wallace) emerging from the forest primeval...oh darn, it's just one of those dadgum Pictish drummer guys from Albannach. Ah weel.

We had a great time visiting with Scottish friends Jim and Susie Malcolm and Alabama friends Jil Chambliss and Scooter Muse of the band Henri's Notions. They were at the Games as two-thirds of the Ed Miller Trio. Ed is a transplanted Scot living in Texas, and an absolute hoot to be around. We all enjoyed a wonderful cookout Saturday night thrown by Cindy and Dave Parker at their Parkview Lodge cabins. What an evening! Nights like that, you get to hear musicians go off in directions you wouldn't ever imagine - Jim Malcolm singing Hank Williams - the boy can yodel, let me tell ya! His wife Susie just sat there with an amazed look on her face and said, "I've NEVER EVER heard him do that!". And that night, Jim and Susie's kids were introduced to the joys of kettle corn, s'mores, and the "Corndog Song."

What???

You don't know the CORNDOG SONG???

Buy me a corndog and put ketchup on it,
Buy me a corndog, and get you one too!

I love them corndogs, they are so deelicious,

So buy me a corndog, and get you one too!

Consider yerself enlightened. Guaranteed to drive any parent crazy on a long car trip.

It was a lovely time in North Carolina, and then it was on to Georgia for the Starbridge Celtic Festival. What a beautiful place Starbridge Sanctuary is, about an hour above Atlanta. My sister Joy lives not too far away either, so we stayed with her for the weekend and then we all trekked to Murrayville on Saturday. The festival was small, and set in a perfect jewel of a meadow beside a lake.

We met up again with Jim and Susie and the kids, and also had sweet friend Ruth from Lawrenceville, GA with us. This is pretty much how we spent our day and were happy to do so:

Jim was the headliner for the festival, so of course he spent most of the day fishing.

We girls, however, were far more clever in our pursuits:

The evening ended with Jim's set, couples waltzing in the grass to "Ae Fond Kiss", and a full moon rising over the meadow. A grand time all in all. Now we're back home, back to the old grind...but with lots of sweet memories to look back on.
More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/celtsong/

Heading for the hills...back in a bit.

We're leaving in a few days to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, one of my favorite places on earth. I am always renewed spiritually and mentally by the place; the ancientness, the sheer loveliness, no matter what the season. Someday I shall live there.
We are also going to be attending the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, and meeting up with sweet friends from Scotland, Jim and Susie Malcolm. Jim is a very talented traditional singer/songwriter - check out his music.

We've rented a little stone cottage at the foot of Beech Mountain near Banner Elk, NC - with a "hot tub on the back porch, where you may rest, unwind, and listen to the babbling brook..." according to the leasing agent. I shall be doing just that at every opportunity. In between taking pictures.

In the meantime, make sure you take advantage of the bounty of the season, and have some corn and 'maters.

Absolutely delicious tomatoes courtesy of dear friend Tim, the Tomato King. We fried up the corn in some bacon - oh my. It was good. Add a little splash of milk at the end, it makes it nice and creamy.

So I'll be back in a week or so with lots of tales to tell, I'm sure. God bless and keep you all, and make sure you take a vacation of some sort this summer or at least do something you love. You NEED it!