That’d help iffen I knew where General Butler State Park was. But I don’t. My brother’s somewhere around Stinking Creek (kind of south-ish, not far from Cumberland Gap and Cumberland Falls, south of Berea). Too bad you didn’t get to pet the baby goats–they’re adorable, and so soft!
Sorry about the bounce castle thing. They shoulda let you in. Bounce castles just aren’t as much fun if Rue’s not in there bouncin’ around! Just one piece of advice–before you go bouncin’ around, remember to put some undies on under your kilt! Otherwise, you might cause elderly women to swoon (and maybe some youngerly women, too–I’d probably swoon if I saw you bouncin’ around in a kilt!).
Love the photos, Taters! Looks like you all had a great time. Yay for DopeFests!
I glazed 6 of my pottery things on Saturday - they should be all fired and everything by now. I’ve got 3 more to get done next Sat, then class is done till fall. At least for me. Summer is for sailing, not pottery class.
Sat evening we went to hubby’s boss’ place for a cookout thing. It was meh, but I did get to taste deep fried turkey for the first time, and that was quite yummy. Sunday was my sister’s 50th b-day party and I attended because she’s my sister. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that. After the party, my mom and my cousin loaded my van with plants that they were sharing with me. And I gave my cousin a mess o’ iris. Mom will get her iris on Weds when she comes down here to give me garden suggestions.
We had rain on Sat and Sun, but at night both times, so that was good.
I’ve never been to a Scottish Festival, but I’ve been to some Polish Festivals, back when they used to have them in Baltimore. My family was quite involved in the Polish community in the old days. Not so much any more - such is life.
And that’s all I’ve got to share. I’m heading out to mess in my garden for a while. I will be avoiding the poison patch. Oh yes I will…
When you’re there, make sure you check out the Elvendrums show. They are great. You won’t get to see my Elf, though. He has retired from the band because of his back.
Well, since Rue lives just up the road from me, I shouldn’t be surprised that the MacDay clan spent Saturday in Ellen Cherry’s very hometown! Home of the Scottish festival! They started the festival after I’d pretty much outgrown my hometown, so I haven’t been to many. But how fun to come to the Straight Dope and read all about an event where I grew up (Teeny Tiny Town, Ky.)
And, I think I know where Stinking Creek is. I’ve heard of just about every town in Kentucky. (Except, I hadn’t heard of Climax, Ky. Another producer here at work was telling me about that one just a while ago. I hope Climax and Stinking Creek aren’t near one another. I’d think the one would just kill any Climax that happened to occur nearby. )
So while the DeDays weren’t having a downpour, we WERE having one, here, while I was trying to be hostess to the Amazing Sacrament Blow-Out 2005. My older son received his First Communion on Saturday, and my younger son was Baptised. So, it was a big ole Catholic kinda day. Which was downpoured upon. Or, as I like to say, The Heavens Opened. At least it was a good day for it!
Oh, and … I don’t want to bring back a thread from the dead over in Cafe, so I’ll just thank Shibb here for being such a sweetie and calling me hotter than Shania Twain! It’s nowhere near true, of course, but he’s a doll for saying it! :o
Oh again! I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Swampfest pictures!! Thanks, Taters! You all looked like you had a wonderful time!
Rue, the rain metaphor was good, as good as “A cow pissin’ on a flat, red, river rock.” either way, a lota rain… Glad that wasn’t yours.
If anyone is interested in more Swampfest pictures, I posted some in the Swampfest Debriefing post #18.
Now I must go buy books and drugs (Not that kind, silly. Albuterol, I’m wheezing today, boring.)
My brother’s in Walker (you get a gold star if you’ve heard of it!). Not much there besides the post office and lots of hollers. According to Mapquest, it’s about 2 hours away from Climax. He’s right beside Stinking Creek. My mom and I went to visit him, and we almost got stuck there when it rained and the creek got a little too high. We made it out just in time, before the road was under water. Very exciting! Stinking Creek doesn’t really stink–it’s much nicer than it sounds.
Something strange I noticed, driving around the back roads–a lot of people had chicken wire bins in their yards filled with soda cans. Why? Are they saving them up to recycle? Or is it a fashion statement?
It was forecasted to rain where I was (Boston! Whee!), but it turns out it didn’t. I had a marvelous weekend away with my cousins. Girls’ night at my sister’s on Friday - 7 of us in the kitchen eating Thai food & lots of sweets, talking for 6 hours straight - while BIL hid away in the bedroom (wasn’t feeling well), and 2 small children were distracted in their bedroom with a Winnie the Pooh DVD. All good stuff.
Saturday was split between a small barbecue/fund-raiser for a church near my sister, and time spent at my cousin’s place. Saw Fever Pitch - eh.
Sunday I walked a 5K with my cousins. Well, actually, my one cousin ran it - 25 minutes, which is really good. I walked it with my other cousin - 45 minutes - not quite as good. Then we had breakfast for lunch at the Foster’s Street Diner, so of course I had to get a t-shirt from there. Played some cards with cousins after that, then went to Friendly’s for ice cream. Was good and only had the three-scoop sundae. Hah!
Now I’m back. Why do I have to be back? But then again - we watched some baseball on Saturday & Sunday, so we are going to try and get tickets to a game in September!
My cousins are Scottish on their dad’s side and do all that bagpipe and kilt and tossing stuff, but they have ruined, *ruined * the romance for me. Typical gross boy cousins can do terrible things with a kilt and bagpipes.
So yesterday I decided I’ve had entirely enough birthdays and will now start rolling back the odometer. What flavor cake should I serve at my un-birthday luncheon? Grape was not successful and I don’t think kiwi would actually taste like anything. Pistachio? Mango? Recommend me some surprising cake flavors.
Swampy, didja get a Seattle Underground squeezy light with a genuine drawing of a rat on it keychain? Because that’s what I got. I keep it next to my Liberace Museum squeezy light with a genuine drawing of a grand piano on it keychain (it’s faaaaa-bulous). Also, did you look up through the glass squares in the sidewalk and try to see people’s undies as they walked by? Yeah me neither, that glass is pretty crusty.
Ashes, Ashes,Swampy will have answer for himself next week as he doesn’t have 'puter access this week. However, I don’t think he did get that key chain. He did get the book, Sons of the Profits though. It actually sounds very interesting and I’ll probably pick it up sometime.
Yeah, we all stood under the crusty, purplish light grate. Didja notice how drippy and smelly it was underground? It smelled a lot like pee and I kept thinking those dripping pipes were dripping pee so I tried to avoid drippy spots at all costs, 'cause I didn’t want to smell like pee!
Actually, surprisingly enough, there are 25 square blocks of underground in Seattle, but the tour only covers 3 blocks. Good thing, because that alone took an hour and a half.
Rain. Yes we had some on Saturday. Lots, as a matter of fact. It was very rainy first thing, cleared up quite nicely so that containers could be planted, then rained some more so that I couldn’t really do any actual gardening other than capturing a few stray weeds. So I went shopping instead, although I didn’t buy much more than groceries.
Yesterday was planting day at church and mostly sunny. We share a garden with the church next door and plant whatever anyone donates. So we had a colorful mix of marigolds, pink petunias, red salvia and a few other assorted annuals. Most of the people planting were in the 3 1/2 - 12 year old range, but each kid worked with a grown-up, so it was a really productive group. We were done at least an hour earlier than I’d feared. I got to guide the littlest gardener, a cheerful little girl who - despite clearly being a very girly little girl - was fascinated by bugs. There was an amazing number of little creepy crawleys; apparently I tend to ignore them. Despite all the bug admiration pauses, she planted about 10 flowers while I weeded around her. Everyone wanted to know when we would be planting next…
Sounds like Swampfest was the success it was sure to be. Thanks for sharing pictures, Taters and picunurse!
I think there’s some Scottish hiding in the non-Mexican 1/2 of me. I know it’s mostly Irish and German, but I’m pretty sure Scotland was in there somewhere too. I’ll have to go back and find the family tree Grandma put together. My favorite music as a child was anything heavy on the bagpipes. Maybe it was the residual Scot genes? Can’t remember when I stopped being fascinated by the pipes.
Hmmmm…I’m sure I’ve missed something important; I’ll come back later.
Well, I posted about my weekend in the old MMP so I won’t repeat that.
My mom had a cardiac catheterization today and they didn’t find any blockages. She does have high blood pressure now so they put her on medication for that. Hopefully she will be okay to go home tomorrow.
I made a pseudo-gumbo for dinner tonight, completely off the cuff. Not my shirt cuffs because I didn’t have on a long sleeve shirt. No, I just made it up on the fly. Not a real fly because that would be icky. Anyway, I sauteed some onions, carrots and garlic with some cut up turkey smoked sausage. Then I set that aside and made a roux. I added some vegetable broth and let it thicken. I didn’t have any cajun seasoning so I added a teensy bit of red pepper, paprika, white pepper, parsley and a couple other spices. I threw in a few frozen lima beans (not usually in gumbo but I didn’t have okra or any other veggies that seemed right, since they’re kinda southern I thought they would work). I simmered that for a bit and added back the onion and sausage mixture. I chopped up a bit of tomato, threw in some fresh spinach. Let that simmer a bit, then I threw some shrimp in last. Instead of putting it over rice, I made some couscous and served it over that, it was actually pretty good.
I liked the swampy pictures, made me wish I could have joined in… One year. I have never been to the AllJoinedUp United States (we went to Hawaii a couple of years ago.)
Here’s something to boggle your minds - they have the Kanto Highland games here in Japan! I can think of nothing more bizarre. Sometimes living here is like being Down The Rabbit Hole.
Our weekend was boring - it was FREEZING. Spring just will not get a move on and get here. It was about 3 degrees and raining most of the time. In one pause on Saturday afternoon when it wildly rose to about 7 degrees I did get out all the rest of the weeds from my lawn to be. Just now I can’t rake and level because the ground is too wet. Grrr. At this rate it will be June before I can sow the flipping seed.
Wile E, I’m glad your mom’s okay. High blood pressure’s pretty easy to deal with, so I hope that’s all it is. The gumbo sounds yummy! I had leftover Chinese tonight (beef and broccoli).
Thanks for the heads-up, TheFaerie! I will definitely check 'em out.
The Kid is a tape wench this year for Seelie Court at Bristol. That’s her actual job title: Tape Wench. Which is funny because Seelie Court’s previous tape wenches were both male, and they don’t sell tapes anyway, they sell CDs. Anyhoo, Seelie is a special guest at the St. Louis faire this weekend, so they’re giving her a little trial run for the main season.
As mentioned, her bodice don’t fit no more ( :eek: ) and I thought I was gonna have to dig through the pattern box and the fabric, which is in my studio, which is impossible to get into because of all the remodeling - everything that isn’t where it belongs is in the studio! Plus also I hate sewing, even if I CAN do it. It’s fiddly and I have not been in the mood for fiddly stuff. Then I got a brainstorm and went to the thrift stores. I figured I could find a nice vest and do a quickie conversion into a makeshift bodice. But there were no nice vests in her size, so I browsed the racks a bit looking for inspiration, and suddenly an actual idea smacked me right upside the head! I bought one of those jumper-dresses that buttons up the front (you know the kind I’m talking about? Think Laura Ashley - high waisted, full skirt, sleeveless to wear over a turtleneck or whatever.) This one was in a pretty plaid in shades of green and tan and blue. I brought it home, clipped the buttons off, turned the front seams back about an inch, slipped some boning in the top part, and added some eyelets - et voila! - it’s an Irish overdress! She already has a long chemise, so it worked perfectly. She looks MAAAAAAHVELOUS, darling, and I am about to break my own arm from patting myself on the back.
(It worked so well that I similarly converted a jumper-dress of my own - now I have an Irish overdress too! Wheeeee! Yay me!)
Your walls and paintwork are the same colour scheme as our toilet. (I can’t call it a bathroom, I’m a BRIT and it would be the world’s teeniest bath, even smaller than a half bath - which half would you wash, anyway???)
)