Weekend stuff
mia_mcdavid and I planned to make Sunday our big day at the St. Paul Irish Fair. However, I had to go there on Saturday as well--I had volunteered for a shift that day at the Gaeltacht Minnesota table. It was a good time, with good company, but it was rather intense and looking back it took a lot out of me.
When I got home two of our old friends from Chicagoland I had arrived. R I had met in 1969, and his wife D in 1975. In the late 1970's they had introduced us to Playford dancing. They were going home (Grand Rapids, MI) from South Dakota, where they had been working on a Lakota reservation with a church group. Mia made a very nice dinner, but the day caught up with me before dessert. I had to go to bed and missed the rest of the evening.
Sunday we had a large, leisurely breakfast before our friends hit the road. After that Mia, James, and I went down to the Irish Fair. It was a rainy day but that did not stop the fun. We learned a little sean-nós dancing and talked afterwards with the teacher about how its place in the history of Irish Dance.
We enjoyed looking at the various dealers but did not buy anything. Stillwater Kilts had a booth there and I got to see what their Irish National Tartan kilts looked. Quite nice--I might buy one at some point, but not this summer. We had a light lunch (potato soup), saw a demo of spinning linen, and looked at some of the other cultural activities.
We then watched some dancing for a while before going off to Liam Clancy's concert. This started well, but had to be cancelled on account of the rain. After a while we split up. I went to hear some of my fellow students from Gaeltacht Minnesota sing, then we reconnected and went home, thankful for the chance to change into dry clothes.
A low-key evening....We napped for a while, then I cooked a pasta dinner based on various leftovers in the refrigerator. We had some good things in there and it came out quite well. Afterwards we cleaned up and watched Iron Chef, and are now settling down for the night.
When I got home two of our old friends from Chicagoland I had arrived. R I had met in 1969, and his wife D in 1975. In the late 1970's they had introduced us to Playford dancing. They were going home (Grand Rapids, MI) from South Dakota, where they had been working on a Lakota reservation with a church group. Mia made a very nice dinner, but the day caught up with me before dessert. I had to go to bed and missed the rest of the evening.
Sunday we had a large, leisurely breakfast before our friends hit the road. After that Mia, James, and I went down to the Irish Fair. It was a rainy day but that did not stop the fun. We learned a little sean-nós dancing and talked afterwards with the teacher about how its place in the history of Irish Dance.
We enjoyed looking at the various dealers but did not buy anything. Stillwater Kilts had a booth there and I got to see what their Irish National Tartan kilts looked. Quite nice--I might buy one at some point, but not this summer. We had a light lunch (potato soup), saw a demo of spinning linen, and looked at some of the other cultural activities.
We then watched some dancing for a while before going off to Liam Clancy's concert. This started well, but had to be cancelled on account of the rain. After a while we split up. I went to hear some of my fellow students from Gaeltacht Minnesota sing, then we reconnected and went home, thankful for the chance to change into dry clothes.
A low-key evening....We napped for a while, then I cooked a pasta dinner based on various leftovers in the refrigerator. We had some good things in there and it came out quite well. Afterwards we cleaned up and watched Iron Chef, and are now settling down for the night.