Christmas

Well, Christmas is just about over for me. I have just a couple of presents left to get and I'll be done. I have made most of my family Christmas stockings for gifts this year. I've got one more left to finish, but that should not take very much longer. Above is a grand picture of all the stockings so far this year.

Apple Cider

Well, My first attempt at making cider was less than successful. The results ranged from tolerable to horrible, depending on the bottle. It was strange to have such a wide variation between bottles from the same batch, but what can I say. I have managed to drink most of it, more or less, although I think the last few bottles may just get dumped.

I have just bottled a second batch. (yes, hope springs eternal) I started the fermentation on Sunday, so I knew I'd be bottling about this time. I didn't use any fresh apples, just fresh apple juice and some apple concentrate. I couldn't find any high acid concentrate (granny smith type) so I had to settle for regular old concentrate. I tasted some right out of the fermentor and it was OK. I'll let you know in a couple of days how this batch goes.

Hercules Mulligan and DL Token

Last Friday night, the Marquise and I went out to the 'Nog to see Hercules Mulligan during their monthly performance out there. It was good to see them out at full strength! All four of them were out, Julie, Mike, Dave and Chris. Julie on the fiddle and the concertina was great. Actually, I think I liked the concertina a little better than the fiddle. It provided a little "depth" to the 3 or 4 songs she played that was not quite there with the fiddle. Mike did a great job on the banjo, which is usually the case. I'm not sure I've seen him with a bad night. Chris and Dave seemed to enjoy the company up there and were a little more relaxed than the last couple of times I've seen them. It'll be fun to hear them once they have had some more time playing together.

The big surprise of the night was DL Token. They were the "headliners" for the evening. Normally the Marquise and I leave after the Celtic band has done their set. For some reason, we stayed around to hear these guys. I think we were both interested to see what was coming. During their set-up, I only saw the two guys with their guitars. I thought that was a little strange considering the second band of the evening is usually a good sized band (usually 4 or 5) and usually has a full drum set. The Marquise and I were wondering how these 2 guitarists were going to stack up. Well, about 5 minutes before the band was supposed to start in comes a third member with (not sure of the name) lap? drum. A single drum you hold between your knees and play with your hands. Whatever that is called, he had one and he could flat out play it! I kept looking over there because I was expecting at least 2 drums, if not more, for the rhythms he was creating. The 2 guitarists were equally as talented as the drummer. The 3 of them produced a sound that most larger bands can't even match. I think the Marquise and I have found another favourite local band! Our musical dance card is gonna get real full at this rate!

Braces

I haven't updated y'all on my Great Braces adventure in, oh a year or so, I guess. Well, everything that has happened since the last post has been pretty much as expected; I go to the Orthodontist, she changes out the wires to a larger gauge, adds a stronger band, I go home with teeth that hurt. As soon as my teeth get used to the new stuff, I go back and start all over again. But, there is good news and not so good news. The good news is that I have the final wire placed on my lower teeth and the gap in my upper teeth is almost closed (of course, this is the gap that the Orthodontist caused, but who's keeping score?). I'm on the final stretch now! The bad news is that the final wire on my lower teeth feels like it could be used to construct a high-rise! And, if that were not bad enough, I now have rubber bands on the braces to pull the upper teeth back. There is one on each side, stretching from the upper jaw to the lower. It's gonna be interesting to see if I can talk on the phone tomorrow!

Oh, BTW, I changed the color of the band on my upper teeth. It used to be silver, it is now a dark blue. Yippee!

Knitting and Crocheting

It has been awhile since I updated y'all on my latest projects.

Currently I have 2 projects going on right now. A baby blanket for a co-worker's daughter and a pair of kilt hose for myself. The baby blanket is a lace pattern and I am using leftovers from previous projects. It is really amazing how much of a "stash" one accumulates progressing from one project to another. I get half a skein here, a ball there of various yarns left over from completed projects (not to mention the occasional just gotta have it purchase) and the next thing I know, I am almost overrun with yarn! I have odds and ends in drawers, on shelves and in bags. So I have passed a "Rule": for every project with new yarn, I have to complete a project with yarn from my stash. We'll see how long this Rule lasts.

My second project is a pair of kilt hose for myself. This is gonna be interesting. Not only is it the first pair of knitted socks, it is also my first pair of knitted kilt hose. The main difference between kilt hose and socks is that I have to keep in mind that the hose have to come up and over my calves (which are much bigger than my ankles...is there a joke in there?). So along with being much longer, they have to be fitted. And, of course, I am doing this sans pattern. I don't need no bloody pattern! (Yes Virginia, there is some testosterone in Ricky.) I wonder how many times I will have to start over? Anyone wanna place a bet?

Oh, almost forgot. The Marquise and I went to Yarns, Etc this afternoon to visit with Hannah. Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for Hannah) she was fairly busy. Usually at least one or two other customers in the store, so we actually did not get a whole lot of time to visit. We did pick out a really interesting yarn for a scarf for the Marquise. It is still out in the truck, so I'll post the particulars about it later. (I know, this kinda blows the Rule, but it's for her Christmas present... thats a good reason, right? Right?)

Final Update

OK Folks, here is the final update on my Great Celtoberfest extravaganza.....

The final event of the month was Great Big Sea at the Fletcher Auditorium on 29 Oct. I knew that GBS had a devoted following, but I did not expect an almost sell out crowd. Especially on a Wednesday night. The concert was fantastic. GBS put on a lively and extremely entertaining show. Normally, I am not a big fan of the "talk" section of any concert, however, that night was an exception. There were a some good stories, one or two hilarious stories and a whole slew of one-liners. They played most of the current CD, Fortune's Favour, and a bunch of their favorites. Most of which I had actually heard before (Which is pretty good since I only heard about them, oh, about 8 - 9 months ago.). There were a couple of songs in there that I had not heard before, but the rest of the crowd knew them so I'll have to go look them up.

The only down side to the night was the venue. Fletcher auditorium is a wonderful facility; however, it is not the best place for this type of band. It is really, REALLY, hard to dance when you only have the space right in front of your seat. It is really hard NOT to dance to GBS. Do you see the problem? There was a lot of modified white-boy dancing going on there that night. Very humorous, except if you were one of those white boys trying to dance.

Just to recap.... band - perfect, vocals - supreme, acoustics/sound - wonderful, dance room - sucked.

Sorry for the delay

Sorry for the delay folks, but I've been busy at work and under the weather. I've had a cold for about 2 weeks now and it is getting really annoying. Every time I think I'm just about over it, it migrates somewhere else and starts all over again. So far it has gone from my chest to my head and is now stuck somewhere in between!

But, here are the updates from my Celtoberfest celebration.

The My Three Kilts extravaganza weekend was great. They were at Tir Na Nog on Friday night. There was an unusually large crowd that night. Usually the place is about 1/4 full on Fridays, but, the place was easily 1/2 to 3/4 full. Not only were there a lot of folks, but everyone was in a good mood and quite a few were aware of the appropriate crowd responses! It always makes things so much more fun when the crowd gets into it. The boys did a good job entertaining everyone. There was one song there where I'm pretty sure they were all playing at different speeds. It was quite humorous.
The following night, Saturday, the Marquise and I went out to the great metropolis that is Elroy, NC to see the Kilts on there home turf, The Nutless Hound. The Nutless Hound is a private establishment (actually, it's Shane's converted garage) that has all the facilities of some of the best bars around. There is a flat screen TV, a really nice bar, beer taps, a liquor shelf to die for, I believe I saw a dart board somewhere and a stage for the Kilts to play on. I have heard quite a bit about the place, but didn't quite imagine it correctly. The place is phenomenal. There was food, alcohol and friends (new and old) everywhere. The Guys did a great job on their show that night, especially considering how much some of them had to drink before the show! I was impressed.

(I hope I get this right) I was told I had to give a shout out to the best Godfather around, Nick (Nicky? I was tired and it was loud when this discussion occurred). Will has got it made.