Picture Sunday

Hello, end of weekenders, and welcome to yet another round of Picture Sunday.

Yep, it's already Sunday night. It was an activity-filled weekend.

It all started on Friday, when - our little town was plagued by three renegade, gun-totin', policeman shootin', bank robbin' thugs. All day we had to sit in our office with the doors locked, and town looked like a western ghost town. As of Friday evening, they hadn't been caught. So I got the hell out of there.

Well, I had plans to get the hell out of there anyway. Because I had a date with the Hackensaw Boys!

October marks my 2-year anniversary of becoming a Hackensaw Boys fan, so it's only fitting I'd go see them this month. The total of concerts now stands at (I think, it's easy to lose count) 14, and this past Friday it was back to the tiny but teeming town of Floyd, Virginia, to the Sun Music Hall.

And it was a very special occasion, because in tow would be The Nephew. I've been trying to get Taylor out to see the Hackensaw Boys since I first discovered them, and something's always been in his way. Graduation, 21-year old age requirement, prior engagement. In his thank-you note to me after graduation, he ended things with, "I promise to go see the Hackensaw Boys with you this year." And here was his chance.

He was coming along with his friend Paul, and was to meet me in Floyd. I got there about 45 minutes early. I waited. I waited some more, right outside the venue so they'd see me when they drove through town. (The Sun Music Hall neither looks like a music hall nor has any identifying signs on it.) I waited until the doors opened and people were streaming in. Finally, I decided to go on in, and keep checking back at the door for them.

Once inside, I saw Justin (Salvage Hackensaw) and Ward (Cousin Spits Hackensaw), exchanged pleasantries, met a few other nice people, had a couple of glasses of wine, and, well, waited. I kept going back to the door, through the door and outside (I snuck, it was forbidden), and no Nephew or Paul. I cussed. I declared them both dead men to all I met. I finally decided that was it, I had no nephew anymore, and went to the front of the stage.

And for a brief moment, I actually forgot all about them. Because the Hackensaw Boys came onstage and began working the magic that is their music.


















They sounded great, looked great, and there I was, dancing like a woman possessed. When about two songs into things, I got a surprise hug from behind, turned around, and it was Taylor and his friend Paul.

























Seems they had a bit of a Thomas, WV Moment (remember that blog?) when they decided to use Mapquest to get directions to Floyd. (I offered to have them follow me, but they declined.) They got hopelessly lost, but stuck at it and finally found the hall. All was now perfect. Nephew behind me, Hackensaws in front of me. I really don't see how it could get much better.

Plantain Hackensaw is still playing banjo with the band (and got his own song to sing Friday), there were a couple of new songs in the set, and the boys seemed to be of good spirit. Then again, Floyd is the moonshine capital of the state, and as we were standing outside, a man walked into the hall actually carrying a mason jar of moonshine. Not hidden or anything, just toting it inside.

I told Mr Nephew to follow me during the encore, so he could get close enough when the Boys made their foray into the audience for the last few numbers. You know, Salvage Hackensaw is a kind soul. Or else he must really like Sherman. Last time around, in Morgantown, he got Sherman up on the stage with them. This time he waited until they were out in the audience to let Sherman hang with the band.

























This was probably my favorite shot of the night. Baby J & Ferd during "Sales Tax Blues" out on the floor.

























And how about Mahlon and Plantain Hackensaw during "Poor Thing?"




















And finally, Spits and Baby J.




















I think Taylor and his buddy really enoyed the show. (The word "awesome" was thrown around more than once.) Afterwards, I got to introduce them to Spits, Ferd, and Salvage. I was hoping I could introduce Salvage and The Nephew, so they could have a meeting of the drummer's minds. And low and behold, Spits went to Radford University, where Tay goes now. So they had lots of talk about.

A great, great time, but soon enough it was time to start back home. I arrived back home to my renegade thug-infested town. It was almost 2 am. The building beside my house is now abandoned. I was smart. I drove past my house into town, found a police car (several of them, actually), and rolled down my window to ask them if, "The bad people had been caught." They said they hadn't, but didn't think they were in the area anymore. I still explained I was a woman alone, and asked for an escort to my house. Not only did I get one, but three policemen came inside with me, looked through every room, and even looked through my closets. Good thing the house was relatively clean.

Then it was back up the mountain on Saturday for Oktoberfest. I was so sore from dancing all night I don't know how I made it through, but I did.

I mentioned my sore ankles to Taylor on the phone Saturday, and he mentioned his sore knee. "Sore knee?" I asked. "Yes. Stomping," he replied. So maybe he really did have a good time.

I'm telling you now, blogees, Oktoberfest is absolutely kicking my ass this year, but there's only one more weekend to go. Maybe after that I can get back to halfway decent recipes du jour. But I went for one tonight. Let's chalk it up to lack of time, energy, and ingredients. I tried, though. (By the way, the DeepFatFriar has given me a couple of good ideas, which I want to try when I have more time to devote to them. And if you have ideas, by all means, send them in.)

This week's recipe features Good Luck Baby Lily. See, she's too small to go swimming in the ocean, or even the creek in my back yard. So we have to make her a little swimming hole. And though the recipe should be from the "Better Luck Next Time" file at cardland, it's not, it's from the "Grab and Straw & Cracker" file, please say hello to the Protein Pond.






















This recipe came about because some weeks ago I decided to buy some organic peanut butter. I'm not so fond of peanut butter as a rule, so I thought maybe the organic kind my tickle my fancy. Boy, was I wrong. After the interminable stirring, I spooned some out. It looked like mud. It tasted like mud. And I knew that the rest of the jar would make it into a recipe du jour one day. And so it did. I made a pond bed from it, and added some Crystal Sky Nectar protein drink (aka Blue Crapius) to the middle of it. Then decided to float a rubber duck in it. Lily's sunning by the pond there, and Melf just couldn't help himself, and popped into the picture at the last minute. Elves are like that, you know.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* My update is that today I'm even more sore than I was yesterday. I'm the walking dead. No, I'm not the walking dead, because I'm so sore I can't walk. I'm the limping dead.
* Lord, I really am losing it. The recipe du jour card is crooked. I apologize.