18th Century Ball, Tablet at Marshwood High (Eliot, ME) Craft Fair

On the 21st November, 2009, in Greenland, NH, the Greenland/Seacoast class, Boston branch, of the RSCDS (Royal Scottish Country Dance Society) held an 18th Century at the Parish House in Greenland, NH. The reference to 18th century is that many of the dances are from that time frame. Jacqueline and I had been interested for some time in learning SCD and are taking lessons. This event would mark the first time our rank-amatuer-ish-ness would be exposed to others outside our wee weekly group. Other SCDers from Brunswick (ME), Nashua (NH), Salem (NH or MA?) and Cambridge (MA) attended and, as you can see, there was a sizable group arrayed in a wide variety of costume. We had a grand time. Sorry, nae pics of myself; not that none exist but you lot will not be seeing them !!!

On December 5 we attended our first ever craft fair to sell J's Bluebell Butter Tablet, and it was a great success. We met many nice folks (vendors and customers) and everyone was very complimentary to the quality of Jacqueline's product, as well as the attractive packaging and presentation. Despite what some of the regulars told us was a thin crowd, in comparison to previous years, we sold about 30 pounds packaged in bars, bags, and boxes. Praise be to God !!! for that encouraging, and fun time together, and the great location where we would not be lost in the crowd of vendors. Sorry the picture seems a bit out of focus but the fluorescent lights were bothering me quite a bit that day, and I took the picture before the show officially opened.

Folk music, Tablet, Scottish country dancing

It's been a while since the last post. I had wanted to post right after seeing Malinky perform at a local folk club on Sept 30, but events happened, one day turned into three, then a week, etc. Finally, I've spent more than a week battling illness; fortunately it is not the dreaded H1N1 but it did knock me about quite a bit.

Anyway, my planned posts were about the show, tablet, and Scottish country dancing. So I will combine the three and go for it.

First up: Malinky. They performed in Rollinsford, NH a week after the Highland Games @ Loon Mt., in Lincoln, NH. I attended the show, Jacqueline was unable to and very disappointed that she missed such a brilliant performance. They performed many tunes from their Flower and Iron CD, and also performed, at request, The Wild Geese/Norland Wind. Here's a link to Youtube and that particular song, which is one of my favorites. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1kvSeiUGvg&feature=related

At the show I asked if they would be willing to taste-test, and approve or not, a batch of tablet that my wife made. She (we) hope to sell it in our area, and who knows where that will lead. Well they were willing to taste it and pronounced it very good. Here is a link to the front-page, and their endorsement of the product, with a picture, on our website.
http://www.bluebellbuttertabletofmaine.com/
http://www.bluebellbuttertabletofmaine.com/bbbt/endorsement.html

Finally, one of the things my wife and I wanted to do for a long time was learn to dance. We took ballroom lessons but the end result was not as we had hoped. Much of that is my "fault" as I am not a particularly good dance leader; what should be finesse most of the time devolves into my dragging her around the dance floor. Fortunately we decided to learn Scottish country dancing and a few weeks ago took our first lesson. It's great and we highly recommend it for the sheer fun of the group experience. I too found it to be more to my liking than ballroom style dancing; perhaps, probably, because of the Scottish blood flowing in my veins. Later this month the group will be holding an 18th century dance, complete with many folks wearing appropriate costume, and I plan on taking some pictures and posting them to the blog.

Meanwhile, slainte !!!!