Southern Maryland Celtic Festival
On Saturday we participated in a dance demonstration at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, with tamnonlinear and five other dancers from our Wednesday night group. We had perfect demo weather -- a little cool and overcast, but no rain. The dancing went well, and a few other dancers who had been in the audience said that we had looked really good. While we were there we ran into someone who used to dance with us. I believe she is now taking a belly dance or swing dance class on Wednesdays, so we don't see her anymore except when we run into her at local Celtic events. Sadly, we did not manage to see dglenn while we were there.
After the demo we did a little shopping. We walked by the booth for R.E. Piland, where Rob, the owner and designer, immediately recognized me as someone who had previously purchased some of his pieces. I admitted as such, although I wasn't wearing one of them at the time, and in fact the necklace that I'd worn for the demo had embarrassingly turned my neck green. He suggested that I should buy another one and, well, I suppose I am suggestible. I chose a sterling silver Mariner's Cross with an amethyst.
I like to wear pendants on fairly short chains, because longer necklaces tend to swing around too much when I'm dancing. The pendants were on 18" rolo chains with medium-sized links, but I asked if I could have a shorter one. The lady helping me seemed somewhat dubious about the idea of putting the pendant on a shorter chain. "I would never even think of wearing such a short chain," she said, "because I have a fat neck." At first she could only find box chains, which I don't particularly like, so I asked her to keep looking. As she was searching, she commented that she wasn't sure that the pendant would work on a more delicate style chain, due to the size and weight of the piece. Eventually she found some 16" rolo chains, with much smaller links than the original chain paired with the pendant, and I decided that I liked it. She apologized again for not having very many choices for short chains, adding that "Most people don't want the short chains, because everyone has fat necks." Haha.
We talked Tamnonlinear into joining us for dinner, and randomly stopped at Sakura Steak House. As we were waiting for a table, we realized that we knew one of the other people waiting to be seated, a former dancer and current member of the City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums. We chatted with him for a while until the other members of his party arrived, and we were seated soon after that.
Our chef made the typical Japanese steakhouse jokes and did many of the usual tricks, but he did a good job with them. He tried to interact with the people at the table and didn't get much response, so he kept joking about how nobody could understand his English, but I think he was actually right about that! He had asked, just after he arrived, if it was anyone's birthday, and nobody answered, but a few minutes later one of the parties at the table indicated that they were there for a birthday (the daughter, Danielle). Of course, the chef had everyone sing happy birthday to the girl, and by then most everyone had forgotten her name, if they even heard her say it in the first place, as she had said it rather softly.
Later in the meal, Tamnonlinear impressed everyone by guessing that the chef was a native of Borneo, based on his hint that his country had orangutans. He said, "Indonesia" as he left the table, though, so perhaps he had hoped to elicit that as the answer to his question. Apparently the island of Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. I had no idea. I should learn more geography.
It had been ages since we'd been to a Japanese steakhouse, and the last experience had been somewhat lacking. I enjoyed the food at Sakura very much, and I even managed to eat my entire meal! Dancing must make me hungry. It struck me as rather odd that chicken livers were an appetizer option, in place of the traditional shrimp. They were interesting to try (sweetie ordered them), but I prefer the shrimp. We may have to try another location closer to where we live, sometime.
After the demo we did a little shopping. We walked by the booth for R.E. Piland, where Rob, the owner and designer, immediately recognized me as someone who had previously purchased some of his pieces. I admitted as such, although I wasn't wearing one of them at the time, and in fact the necklace that I'd worn for the demo had embarrassingly turned my neck green. He suggested that I should buy another one and, well, I suppose I am suggestible. I chose a sterling silver Mariner's Cross with an amethyst.
I like to wear pendants on fairly short chains, because longer necklaces tend to swing around too much when I'm dancing. The pendants were on 18" rolo chains with medium-sized links, but I asked if I could have a shorter one. The lady helping me seemed somewhat dubious about the idea of putting the pendant on a shorter chain. "I would never even think of wearing such a short chain," she said, "because I have a fat neck." At first she could only find box chains, which I don't particularly like, so I asked her to keep looking. As she was searching, she commented that she wasn't sure that the pendant would work on a more delicate style chain, due to the size and weight of the piece. Eventually she found some 16" rolo chains, with much smaller links than the original chain paired with the pendant, and I decided that I liked it. She apologized again for not having very many choices for short chains, adding that "Most people don't want the short chains, because everyone has fat necks." Haha.
We talked Tamnonlinear into joining us for dinner, and randomly stopped at Sakura Steak House. As we were waiting for a table, we realized that we knew one of the other people waiting to be seated, a former dancer and current member of the City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums. We chatted with him for a while until the other members of his party arrived, and we were seated soon after that.
Our chef made the typical Japanese steakhouse jokes and did many of the usual tricks, but he did a good job with them. He tried to interact with the people at the table and didn't get much response, so he kept joking about how nobody could understand his English, but I think he was actually right about that! He had asked, just after he arrived, if it was anyone's birthday, and nobody answered, but a few minutes later one of the parties at the table indicated that they were there for a birthday (the daughter, Danielle). Of course, the chef had everyone sing happy birthday to the girl, and by then most everyone had forgotten her name, if they even heard her say it in the first place, as she had said it rather softly.
Later in the meal, Tamnonlinear impressed everyone by guessing that the chef was a native of Borneo, based on his hint that his country had orangutans. He said, "Indonesia" as he left the table, though, so perhaps he had hoped to elicit that as the answer to his question. Apparently the island of Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. I had no idea. I should learn more geography.
It had been ages since we'd been to a Japanese steakhouse, and the last experience had been somewhat lacking. I enjoyed the food at Sakura very much, and I even managed to eat my entire meal! Dancing must make me hungry. It struck me as rather odd that chicken livers were an appetizer option, in place of the traditional shrimp. They were interesting to try (sweetie ordered them), but I prefer the shrimp. We may have to try another location closer to where we live, sometime.