Northern Roots

Saturday we went to the northern roots music festival in Brattleboro - a celebration of traditional music, especially with an Irish, Scottish influence. There were fiddlers, flutists, guitarists, singers, even a pipes player. The pipes player made his own instrument. One of the singers was our friend Robin Davis.

 

                      Robin Davis, Amanda Witman and Mia Bertelli

 

                        Dan Restivo on flute and Becky Tracy, fiddle

                                       Intermission

Eric McDonald and Will Woodson

Finale

Ellen had gone to Northern Roots all day, to workshops and a pub sing. I stayed home to keep an eye on the work Zac was doing outside while I started a major project - cleaning, weeding out stuff and re-organizing "downstairs," i. e., my study, what we call the workroom, the laundry area, the downstairs bathroom and the "sauna" which is a walk-in closet off the bathroom that was originally built to be a sauna, and is insulated and wired for a sauna heater, but was never finished off and completed as such. There is a lot of "stuff" crammed in there at present. There are two other closets downstairs. Both very full. It's all coming out, a lot of it is going to be disposed of. That will not get done till we get back from Boulder in March, but that's my plan. On Saturday I cleaned the north wall of my study -  which is mostly window, and started taking books off of shelves to sort into "keep" and "get rid off," and clean the shelves. Everything was covered with accumulated soot from the wood stove. It's a big job. I also cleared out the workroom floor so now you can actually walk into it! Yay! 

Sunday we drove over to Owl's Head, Maine, to visit Jim and Mary, in their new home, stopping at Bob's Clam Hut and When Pigs Fly Bakery as usual. Both were as crowded with tourists as we've ever seen them, even in summer! 

This Monday morning is sunny and mild. Today is Iowa Caucuses day! Go Bernie! And tonight the NC Tarheels play Louisville on the road. Louisville will be out for revenge for previous losses on their home court, and they are a very talented team. But UNC is #1 or #2 nationally (depending on what poll you consult), is undefeated in their conference (the ACC), and on a 12-game winning-streak. It should be quite a game! Go Heels!