Pirate Ball!

The latest English Country Dancing ball fell on official "Talk Like A Pirate" Day, so a pirate theme it was! It was almost alarming to see how easily pirate outfits were pulled out of the closet! Dad even wore his eye patch! (Originally purchased for the more tame activity of exercising the eye.)

A variety of period accessories showed up, including a captain's parrot! (Well, parakeet...)


Krista carried two knives; dangerous girl!

Dad, Mom, Daniel and Janna circle up.


Kathrina looked quite stunning as well!

We made a watermelon ship complete with a skull and crossbones flag drawn by Krista. I think I'm a bit worried about our seeming affinity for pirates!

~ Janna Rae

Late nights with a thesaurus

Setting: Our entire family is sitting around the dining room table editing the liner notes for our upcoming CD.

Sarah: I think we've already used that word to many times, why don't see if you can find an alternate in the thesaurus, Kathrina.

Kathrina: Listen! I found the perfect thing for our thank you list. "Fond thanks to all of the bandits, bruisers, criminals, crooks, dealers, desperadoes, goons, hit persons, hoods, hoodlums, hooligans, mobsters, pushers, robbers, ruffians and thugs for supporting our music". How do you like that?

Laughter ripples around the room.

Dad: If we had those folks for fans, we'd sell a million copies!

Kathrina: sarcastically It is more like we'd have a million copies stolen.

Yes, it was a rather late at night.

~ Janna Rae

In Sunshine or In Rain...

Labor Day weekend I played at the wettest outdoor wedding I've seen yet! I now fully understand my own requirement for overhead cover at an outdoor wedding! The wedding took place in the beautiful rose gardens of Washington Park.

The wedding was pushed an hour and a half later, in hopes of the rain letting up, but it was still raining steady when the bridal procession began. Umbrellas had been ordered in case the weather proved bad, but they had been accidentally delivered to the reception sight. Emergency umbrella purchases were made at the Rose Garden store.

The bride and her maidens looked gorgeous carrying a bouquet of red roses in one hand, and a black umbrella with a red rose on it in the other.


Most of the wedding party was from Canada, and they kept wondering if this was normal weather for around here!

I was happily under cover the whole time!

It stopped raining right about the time the wedding ended, leaving a beautiful rain-washed garden of roses. It had been years since I had toured the Washington Park Rose Gardens, so Sarah and I had a lovely time walking around after the wedding.

The garden had the most lovely climbing roses and lamp posts. Sarah and I enjoyed trying to capture some of the beauty in photos.

The Use of a Trophy

As winner if the Northwest Regional Highland Games Harp competition, I got to take home (among other things) the perpetual trophy: a quaich, or Scottish whisky bowl. Traditionally this bowl is filled with whisky, then passed around the table to create a welcoming atmosphere for guests. Now, I don't necessarily oppose alcohol in moderation, but fulfilling my role as charming hostess by passing around a silver bowl of whisky is not something I can imagine myself doing; so I had to come up with a better plan for the bowl. Looking at all the gorgeous flowers in our garden gave me an idea. I rather think it is an improvement - and the pleasure of looking at flowers lasts longer than any drink!



Below is a video of the second song I played; it is my own arrangement of a popular Scottish fiddle tune called Hector the Hero. The bagpipe noise at the games wasn't as bad as it sounds - the camera microphone really picked it up!

Christmas CD: Mixing!

We are now immersed in the process of mixing. Mixing is about listening critically, making adjustments, and listening again. You know its detailed when we spend two hours doing this on a four-minute song. :) You can see what the process is about by reading Sarah's post on the subject when we mixed Journey Through the Highlands.

Sometimes during this phase a little more recording is necessary. It was decided that I should add a harmony part on one verse of "O Sing a Song of Bethlehem", and I was given a week's notice in order to prepare. Yesterday when I recorded it, Terry decided that I should also add the part on the second verse. I'd never sung the second verse before, and didn't even know the words, however I did it in two takes!

Krista got to record a hurdy gurdy part on "Pat-a-Pan"!. Here she is playing the wonderful renaissance instrument.

Onward to the release!

~Kathrina