I feel like my weekend has started already, not because I've checked out of work, but because I'm starting to feel inordinately busy. September is always one of my busiest months, and this one is proving to be no exception ( Read more... )

Cape Breton Live is even better this week. And I didn't know that was possible! I really hope they let me play a sample on the radio to promote their show ( Read more... )

...informed ottery that the King of Togo was upset over the use of his country's name by the food chain Togo's and was suing them? She swears it was I who told her this, driving back from Evanston one day, but I don't recall this at all. If you are the culprit, please fess up the comments section of this post.

Thank you.

The temperature was absolutely perfect for sleeping last night. As a result, I had some of the most pleasant dreams in recent memory. I dreamed that Meg and I were in Cape Breton again, at the dance hall in Glencoe Mills. Buddy MacMaster was there on the fiddle. Chirps, a Chicago old-time fiddler, was there for some reason as well. I think I got up ( Read more... )

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy have started a new Internet radio show called Cape Breton Live where they feature live performances of Cape Breton music from all over the island. I took a listen to it today, and it is absolutely amazing! Recordings of Cape Breton music are usually quite excellent, but there is something about live performances ( Read more... )

An article on the Chicago Tribune web site today tells of Chicago aldermen who are pushing a citywide ban on the use of foie gras, citing the practice as inhumane. While that certainly sounds like it's true, do Chicago aldermen have nothing better to do? Where are their priorities here? If aldermen are truly concerned about animal rights, shouldn't ( Read more... )

I got this courtesy of Red Molly.

Read I Just Got Back From a FEMA Detainment Camp

Not that I'm advocating conspiracy theorists or anything. Just found the post interesting.

So, a busy weekend. ottery drove me up to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival. She got a bunch of natural dyes, and I got my first drop spindle and roving. My first attempt at spinning produced some really awful-looking thread, but eventually I think I figured it out a bit better. I did it, though. I wound two singles and plied them together, so now I ( Read more... )

...than waking up to the sound of a chainsaw and a tree-eating machine at 4 a.m. Apparently the tree next door decided to fall on a power line early this morning, knocking out the whole block. The tree people had to hack up said tree before the electric gnomes could scamper in to restore power. All the while, the fan in our bedroom was off, and it ( Read more... )

Types of characters to avoid in British Isle ballads