So sad to see it end

This is the last day at Augusta. I can't believe this magical week is over. We just finished the student concert, and the last, rousing, rocking song to be sung? Country Roads, Take Me Home. Not to be believed--you'd have to hear it with the Irish musicians providing the music. What a sound!

I'll be heading home tomorrow to catch up on mail, laundry, and all the mundane things of life. Larry tells me there's a bushel of tomatoes and one of cucumbers waiting on me, but I am hoping he gave them away because I will need to get ready for storytelling in Pittsburgh next weekend. Whew! This has been a busy summer. After The Three Rivers Storytelling Festival life should slow down a bit. I hope some tomatoes and cucumbers can wait on that.

There is another event I'm looking forward to--granddaughter Jordan will be performing with the oldtime/bluegrass/country band called Hillbreed on August 13th at the Alpine Theatre in Ripley. It's exciting to see her getting back into singing, after taking about a two-year break to get married, go to school and have her little daughter. If you're in the area, I hope you can come and enjoy. Hillbreed is a fun group to see perform.

The library here at Davis and Elkins is getting ready to close, so that's all for now. I will try to post some photos, etc when I get home tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the drive goes well--one tire on my car keeps losing air, so I've been running into town every day to keep it pumped up. Fix-a-Flat, here I come!

At Augusta

I've found there is a little free time in the mornings to check in online while I'm at Augusta Heritage so I thought I'd share a bit about the workshops.

As some of you know, I am at the Augusta Heritage Irish Week Workshops at Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, WV. There are many different classes offered from dancing to stone masonry and stone carving and calligraphy, tin whistle, fiddle, harp, bodhran, guitar, tenor banjo, Irish songs and performance, concertina, and much more. The teachers are from many places--Canada, Ireland, England, and all over the US. Their resumes are impressive, and most have international reputations. I am amazed to find myself in such company.

My teacher for Irish songs and performance is Robbie O'Connell and I am learning a lot this week--about singing and preparing songs for performance, about Irish history and singing, about the songs themselves. One aspect of these workshops that is invaluable it that we can record almost anything we hear, with the exception of the evening concerts. In class, I am recording almost the entire time because Robbie says so many things in the course of singing a song or instructing us that I will miss something very good if I turn off the recorder.

My granddaughter Cassidy is taking guitar. Although Irish music isn't her choice of music, she is learning a lot from her excellent instructor, Dáithí Sproule.

In the evenings there is a singing circle in a location with perfect acoustics. Anyone can come and sing whatever they like, and we can record whatever interests us. Needless to say, my recorder is on almost all evening as one great song after another is shared around the circle. I will have many ideas for new songs to add to my repertoire at the end of the week.

I had a surprise yesterday. Each afternoon after  lunch the instructors give a concert with a theme. Yesterday's theme was Songs, so it was a performance by the instructors who sing, where the other concerts had been both instrumental music and singing. I was enjoying listening when the MC, Jim Flanagan, approached me and asked me if I'd like to sing something for the audience. I was astounded to be asked, but of course I wanted to sing. I sang the Jean Ritchie ballad, West Virginia Mine Disaster, one of my favorites. I am still amazed at being asked to perform.

Granddaughter Cassidy  has been singing each evening as well, and many people have commented on her beautiful voice. Her song choices are country or alternative rock, I suppose you'd call it, well suited to her voice. Last night she sang a Johnny Cash song and another country song a cappella. She usually accompanies herself on guitar.

A family group from Mingo county, WV joined the circle last night. Their harmonies on old ballads and gospel songs was haunting, riveting. I hope to hear them again tonight, and to get to know more about this unique group. If I can find anything about them online, I will share it because I know many readers here will be as entranced by their singing as I was. The family recently moved to Davis, WV, not too far from Elkins.

This week has been a lot of late nights and early mornings. Five or six hours of sleep is about the average but I don't want to miss anything. I will have photos and more to share later as this week of singing and music continues.

Peaches

The peach trees didn't do as well this year, but the peaches we did get were a good size. The trees seemed to be loaded earlier; perhaps those late frosts in early May damaged the fruit and it dropped.

Still we had about a bushel; by the time they were ripe though, many had spoiled. I am not sure why since they were hand-picked and stored in the cellar a few days to ripen.

The few I had left to work with weren't enough to make a full canner load so I decided to freeze them instead. I peeled and cut them up, added some sugar and bagged for the freezer.

We did keep one bowl full out, however, for dessert. Those peaches were just too good fresh. There are a lot of good recipes for cooking with peaches, and I hope to try a few out later this year. Cobbler is our standby, of course, but I'd like to try some new ideas this year. Like peach salsa, maybe, or rosemary chicken and peaches. My latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens included a lot of tempting recipes; you can find them and others on the BHG website.

Do you have a good peach recipe to share? I'd like to hear about it.

Wordless Wednesday: Circles and Lines

(Photos taken by granddaughter Grace last week--she made the muffins herself, blueberry and "surprise muffins")

Night of the Mask

Last year at Berdyne's Store, I bought a couple of masks thinking that I might use them in programming. I have not used them yet, but when the grandkids found them, well, let's just say the masks have been well used.

Kate was first. I was surprised at how realistic these masks are, particularly around the eyes. Kate aged about 15 years in front of my eyes, becoming a gypsy woman with a flirty smile.

Clayton liked the gendarme hat (I suppose that's what it is--can anyone tell me what it really is?). Poor guy, it aged him too but not in a good way!

Kate lived up to her role though, and so did Clayton.

Grace decided she liked my fan from the Glenville folk festival as a mask...

but Kate helped her into the gypsy mask, and...

voila! A sassy-faced gypsy emerged.

I thought about buying more masks when we were at Berdyne's the other day. I think I need to go back and see what else is there. The kids convinced me; next summer's programs will have to have a few stories with masks. It's just too much fun to see how the masks change both their faces and their personalities.

Wild Life and Farm Life

Granddaughter Grace roamed the farm with my camera the other day while I was working on peaches. Here are some of the things she found interesting enough to photograph:

Billy BB (for Bad Butt) the Rooster struts his stuff in the chicken yard. Originally named Trampoline Man because he was found on Derek's trampoline one morning, he's taken to trying to flog any small people who enter the coop. The grandchildren love to collect eggs so his ornery new habit is a problem. Our solution is to arm them with a bucket of water which he does NOT like. He goes around fairly soaked when the grandkids are here. I believe I'll be looking for a new, nicer rooster in the future.

In the turkey pen, the turkeys are growing like crazy. They are now about 2 months old and are already half-grown.

Unlike the rooster, these hens (they are supposed to be all hens and so far that seems to be holding true) are calm and tame. Except: they hate going back in their house at night. Every night Larry goes down and has to catch each one and put it in the pen. We've never had this problem before with turkeys. These girls are just stubborn. But pretty, in their turkey-ish way.

Grace was able to catch some good photos of one type of butterfly currently inhabiting the flowerbeds. This year it is not at all unusual to see five different kinds of butterflies at one time on the flowers. This one, we believe is the Great Spangled Fritillary. These butterflies have no claw on their front feet and are called "brush-footed butterflies. If you enlarge Grace's photo you can kind of see the fuzzy front feet on this one. We also have Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Zebra Swallowtail, Black Swallowtails and Sulfur butterflies (those small active yellow ones that are so hard to photograph).

I believe the reason we have so many swallowtails is because of the coneflowers which they seem to love, and the abundance of Queen Anne's Lace in the meadow. This is one of their favorite foods.

For a long time, I thought these were Monarch butterflies, but closer inspection with my sister Theresa a few weeks ago identified the Great Spangled Fritillary. Monarchs, it seems, disdain our ridge and prefer the lower ground along the creeks.

On the Road Again: Elkins and Augusta Heritage Irish/Celtic Week

Leaving today for Elkins to spend a week learning ballads, Irish singing and who knows what else? I'll still be posting while I'm away, catching up with all the great photos from the past week.

See you soon!

The Last of Summer Reading Programs

This week was the end of my summer reading performances at libraries, and also the end of the Stories at the River's Edge summer programs. A few pictures of this week's programs:

At West Union, we told stories at the Lions Club building to about 50 children and adults. Here raccoon tells his story once again. This puppet is such a ham! He loves an audience, that's for sure.

Raccoon was joined this summer by Pirate, who helped me tell the story of Jean LaFitte the Gulf of Mexico pirate who helped the US win the Battle of New Orleans, and whose gold is supposedly still hidden in the bayous and swamps of Louisiana. My father often told us about the ghost ships of Jean LaFitte; apparently the pirate isn't resting easy and still comes in search of his gold.

The West Union library is housed in a former opera house and librarian Cathy Ash makes optimum use of the space available to her. Programs at West Union are always well attended. It's a pleasure to see some of the same children from past years, growing up and getting taller than I am.

Raccoon is getting in trouble at Center Point Library! This small, very rural library is really a community center, and the programs usually attract a diverse age range; everyone participates and has a good time.

Later we all got moving with the song "A Sailor Went to Sea." Can you do the oooo-wash-y-wash?

At Moundsville Library, the last sand dollar necklace crafts were made. One little guy, the son of one of my online friends, actually bit the sand dollar, thinking, I suppose, that it was a cookie!

The kids worked hard on their necklaces and I was glad to see the last of the beads being used up. Vicki and Susan at the Moundsville Library made me so welcome. Thank you, ladies!

I was thrilled to meet fellow blogger and friend Jessica of Country Whispers, who came with her daughter Katie for the program. What a pleasure it was to finally meet her in person. And she is just as nice in the flesh as she is online. I wish I had thought to get a picture of us together, but I was so busy getting the program going and finished that I did not even think of it. Next time, Jessica!

So summer reading wraps up. Next week I'll be gone all week to Elkins, WV to learn all about Irish ballads and how to sing them, I hope.

Tomorrow, though, I will be working hard to make pickles of the latest batch of cucumbers and salsa from the very ripe tomatoes I haven't yet had time to deal with.  What if more ripen while I'm gone? I hope friends and family enjoy them!

When the Grandkids Get the Camera

(I wanted to post these yesterday but our internet access was having problems. So here is my "Wordless Wednesday, slightly late. These photos were taken by one of my granddaughters when we visited the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia last Saturday. The murals are on a floodwall that protects the town. The statue is of General Lewis, I believe, who fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant. Click on the photos to make them larger.)

A Busy Week Ahead

I'm on vacation this week, and it started with a bang: daughter-in-law Jen and her girls came Thursday night, and since it was Jen's birthday, we all went out to dinner to celebrate. I had to work and Friday night was a bit quiet as Jennifer went out with friends and two of her three daughters stayed with their oldest sister. Saturday we started with breakfast at the Downtowner, then home to be here in time for our oldest son to arrive with his two children who will be here for a week. He stayed long enough for a game of golf with Jennifer; the rest of us took off for Hillbilly Hotdogs in Lesage, WV, an experience that most of our guests had not yet had. Clayton and Ally were up to the challenge:

and Katie even sang the "Hillbilly Hotdog Song" to win a free ice cream for Poppa Larry.

We also stopped off in Point Pleasant to see the Mothman statue and enjoy the riverwalk. Funniest thing--a wedding on the riverwalk and a young boy, a member of the wedding party, who answered the call of nature, baring his behind to all of us while the rest of the wedding party was having its pictures taken. Too funny. The kids enjoyed the mural and took pretty interesting photos, like this one of Cassidy "kissing" one of the braves depicted in a battle scene. 

Sunday morning started with pancakes for all and then most of the crowd left to celebrate Jordan's birthday with a cookout. I went to the store to pick up a few supplies for this week's programs and upcoming meals, then spent the afternoon planning and rehearsing and leaning up the house. We made dill pickles in the evening, and finished off with the firepit and conversation on the porch with our grandchildren.

Monday was a busy day--up and out by 10 am with our whole crew for my storytelling performances at Sistersville Library and Pleasants County Library. (You can see some great photos here.)

It's no small thing to get 10 or 11 people out the door and on the road that early, especially when they were

coming from three different houses, but we managed. Here my raccoon puppet works his magic,

and Michaela's reaction to his antics:

The storytelling went very well and we squeezed in a trip on the Sistersville ferry and lunch at a neat riverfront restaurant across from Sistersville in Fly, Ohio. At home, some left for another birthday dinner for Jordan (it was her 21st so you know how that is!) and the rest of us relaxed here by the firepit. We did get to see Derek briefly--he'd just returned from training in Kansas.

There is nothing quite like a trip on the ferry, especially when there is a barge coming along the river too.

Today continued to be busy. Breakfast was light but lunch was amazing. Jen wanted to try making some fish tacos she'd seen on a Rachel Ray show and I wanted to try making corn and basil cakes I'd seen on Noble Pig's blog. We have so many vegetables coming in right now, so most of the ingredients were on hand--corn, basil, onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, etc. Jennifer made pico de gallo first with peppers, onions, tomatoes and cilantro. It was very colorful because we had purple, green and yellow peppers and red, striped and yellow tomatoes on hand. Then she grilled the fish (orange roughy), minced it up, and put it in tacos with grated muenster cheese and the pico de gallo. She served it with sour cream and salsa.




The corn and basil cakes were delicious and deliciously simple, my kind of food. While Jen and Jordan cooked the tacos, Kate, Grace and I made these cakes, Ally sliced and arranged cucumbers, Jaime sliced tomatoes and Larry prepared the sun tea and watermelon chunks. It was a meal to remember, not just for flavor but for the camaraderie of many hands at work.

Jaime and her two children, Jen and Ally had to leave after lunch. The rest of us cleaned up, talked, the kids made glass bead suncatchers and I started yet another batch of pickles. The six pints we made Sunday were already down to one pint; this family does love dill pickles! So tonight Grace and I made another 12 pints.


Now there is only Larry, me and four grandchildren who will be here the rest of the week. It's different now when they come because they are all getting older--these four are 12-16 years old. Larry is teaching some of them to drive a stickshift and the tractor. Tonight they're working with my string figure books, re-learning the figures they used to know. One is learning to play my dulcimer. There is no television here to entertain them so it's really different for this electronically minded generation. So far so good. Tomorrow Larry and Clayton will put new exhaust on my car, I hope, so it stops sounding like a tractor. I am not sure right now what the girls and I will get into, but I know I have peppers to chop for the freezer and a bushel of peaches to think about at least.

For the rest of the week, there is storytelling to do on Thursday and Friday and Saturday granddaughter Cassie and I will be getting ready for our week at the Augusta Heritage Irish Week. We'll take everyone else home on our way on Sunday.

If the rest of the week is as interesting as the last few days, we'll all end up with new tales to tell.

Otis and Clyde

What poor Otis has to put up with as surrogate daddy for the new kitten Clyde. Maybe it's payback for his annoying ways as a puppy?

It starts quietly enough. Otis and Jeb are sleeping comfortably when the kitten decides to join them. It's not long before Clyde discovers the big chew toy right beside him--Otis' leg. Otis objects, but only mildly.

Kitten and big poppa

Sometimes the kitten just needs to be taught who is boss and Otis will pin him down,

but not for long.

Friends at Last

I was beginning to despair of my two cats ever becoming friends. The new kitten was rowdy and playful and Charley wanted nothing to do with him. Honestly I was afraid she would hurt him, she was so mean. It didn't phase Clyde at all, though. He continued to stalk her, pouncng until she'd kick his butt so thoroughly he'd back off for a bit to lick his wounds and rethink strategy.

Otis never minded about Clyde. Clyde could chew Otis' tail to his heart's content. He chewed Otis' legs like chicken bones, chewed his ears like rags.

Otis let the kitten do as he pleased, only sitting on him now and again to get a break.

Then we noticed a slow change in Charley. She was curious, getting closer and closer and even...playing! with Clyde.

At last, Otis can get a break. Poor worn out guy.

Ah! Friends at last!