Rowan's Round of Days

Saturday Rachael and I headed over to a community event called Spirit Festival in a local park. There was a stage with a variety of local bands and a large tent full of Aboriginal artists. I bought a few handicrafts and I bought a book called Kick the Tin by Doris Kartinyeri about her childhood as one of the Stolen Generation. She said she has written three children's books since and is working on a new book. I don't expect Kick the Tin to be an easy read, but at least I have met Ms. Kartinyeri and know that her current reality is a better one. Rachael & I sat and listened to bands for awhile but there was no shade and we wandered back to the mall to grocery shop.

We needed to shop for a "picnic" because the flyer for the Spiral Dance concert said to "byo picnic tea". Of course it also said Strap on your faerie wings, douse yourself with glitter and come join Spiral Dance to celebrate the Summer Solstice which is why I was most likely the only delegate to the Parliament with wings in my suitcase. This gig was one of the things I was most looking forward to about my Australian trip and it did no disappoint!

Spiral Dance are just amazing on CD but watching them play and the interplay between them is a delight. Adrienne told the audience that we were there and she brought loads of the local Pagan folk by to introduce us. So we were surrounded by friendly people who took us to their hearts. If we had accepted all the drinks we were offered we'd have been smashed indeed. (I was drinking "Aussie cider" which was a fairly nice brand and about the 5th cider I've tried here.) In between chatting, dancing and listening to the amazing band we enjoyed our picnic of cheeses, olives, crackers and lemon sponge dessert.

We had decided to leave a bit early but our taxi didn't show up in any kind of reasonable time so we did stay to the end and some friendly locals drove us back to our hotel. I'm hoping Ang & Darren are coming by in about an hour to help finish up the cider we have in our fridge. No way we can drink it all before our flight in the morning.

This morning we slept in (having gotten to bed about 1am) and then got up and went to the Chinatown street here in Adelaide and had a feast with most of the band and significant others. Nick wasn't there because he had gotten an offer of work which would give him three days paid leave if he worked that Sunday. I told him he'd've been daft to refuse the windfall just to eat with us. Spiral Dance is made up of an amazing group of people. Well, as you might imagine given that they've been making fantastic music together since 1992. They were so warm and friendly to us, going out of their way at every turhn to be nice.

They are playing at the Florida Pagan Gathering at Beltaine (US Beltaine) and I admit that I'm considering hitting on rubibees and other friends to see if I can join their camp at FPG. It would mean I'm going to Texas in early April and then to Florida three weeks later which might be a bit much. But seeing my East Coast friends AND Spiral Dance is awfully tempting!

Last night mdlbear and flower_cat and I went up to Felton to Don Quixote's for Janis Ian in concert. Oh Wow. I have owned her albums for over 30 years but had never seen her in concert. She is a wonderful entertainer and a superb musician. Oh Wow. She did a mix of new and old music interspersed with tales of her life. Don Quixote's was totally full with a very responsive audience. (I suspect Ms. Ian though too responsive at times *LOL*) I bought two albums, Folk is the New Black and Billie's Bones and a concert DVD. I stayed up past my bedtime, but luckily Steve did the driving. I'm not totally wiped this morning. But even if I was... it was soooooo worth it. Oh Wow.

Saturday night, despite a fairly rocky day, I took my box of tissues in hand (yes, the whole box) and went off with mr_kurt to Mountain View for dinner (which I didn't really eat because, well, I can't taste anything) and then the wonderful concert at East-West Books put on by Sharon & Winter. There were about 25-30 people there and it was just so great to hear Sharon doing work from Song of the Sea and her old acoustic album, Incantation which is one of my all time favorite albums. I requested a song she doesn't do anymore (Lord Fenugreek) and she said she's had several requests so she'll have to relearn it. *grin* I said Incantation is one of the 10-12 albums I'd have to have if marooned on a desert island. Which makes me wonder what the other 10-11 would be.

In no particular order...
Sally Oldfield, Water Bearer
Donovan, Sutras
Oracle, Pool of Dreams
Heart, Dreamboat Annie
Lisa Thiel, Invocation of the Graces
John Renbourn Group, probably A Maid in Bedlam
Janice Ian, either Aftertones or Between the Lines
Joanne Shenandoah, Matriarch
Something by Steeleye Span - I'm having trouble deciding!

Huh, that's all that springs to mind. There are surely rock (Alchemy VII maybe) and cajun/zydeco (Chanterelle probably) and bellydance music (say something by Hossam Ramsey or Saroyan's Oriental Bouquet). And I can always take more folk music - Dick Gaughan, Emerald Rose, Planxty, Loreena McKennitt, Laura Powers, Michelle Mays, etc. but no particular album leaps out as a must-have.

It is interesting how ballad oriented I remain. I've often said I like music I can sing along with. This list bears that out. *grin*

This morning Kurt and Arthur and I went out and found the "Jupiter" cache of the NorCal Solar System series so I could leave a space man travel bug there. I had been holding him too long waiting to get to this cache. We also found Ganymede and Shoemaker-Levy and a couple of others. I'm up to 78 caches.

This totally wiped me out and I've slept the rest of the day away. I didn't sleep all that well last night, being still into convulsive coughing fits. I did manage to do laundry (well, I need to go move it along) and to cook the lamb for my curry on Tuesday. But I must say this afternoon has been utterly unproductive. I do plan to go to work tomorrow. I think I have a packet of antiseptic wipes in my office from the last time I was sick. I hope I don't give this to anyone else. It is bloody miserable.

I went on Freecycle just a bit ago to list my wormies on offer ... but someone this morning had posted a "wanted" red worms, so I wrote zir and asked if they wanted them and the bin as well. I am just not feeling up to having dependents at the moment. I hope zir calls since it would be nice to know they went to someone who was actually *looking* for wormies.