This is your rambling reporter Avanutria with the latest information from the Grand Junction Highland Games and Celtic Festival!
Thursday 9/19/2002: I rolled into Salt Lake around 7:30 PM. Brian got his pipes back - I had borrowed them to get a new reed made in Boise - and was blissfully playing for a bit. Eventually we went out to get some dinner and came back to watch The Secret of Roan Inish, while polishing whistles. Two comments: It’s a good movie, and Brasso is very smelly.
Friday 9/20/2002: We dropped off my car at the mechanic for a tune up and went to run some last minute errands. Several hours and several hundred dollars later 
, my car was tuned up, the errands were completed, and we hopped into Brian’s car to hit the road. We arrived in Grand Junction around 6:30 or 7 PM. Mack was kind enough to put up signs for us:
Mack introduced us to his sisters who were visiting and making whistle cases, then showed us to his shop and left us with instructions to “grab a whistle and come play us something.” Well, it is very hard to choose one whistle in Mack’s shop, but we chose some PVC low F’s and treated them to a mostly accurate version of Lunasa’s Aibreann. Then Mack, Brian and I went off to the fairgrounds to help set up. Returning home, Mack’s wife Joan fed the poor starving gypsy whistlers and Mack pulled out his camera to document our levels of fatigue.
Saturday 9/21/2002: Brian treated us all to a demonstration of how to prepare a great kilt. It’s quite the operation. The living room was barely long enough.
Chef Joan made some of her world famous Frooooooooonch toast for breakfast. Yum! Since Tom couldn’t attend, Brian kindly ate his toast so it wouldn’t go to waste. What a guy!
We headed out to the fest around 8:30 AM.
Brian and I were scheduled to perform a 15 minute set at 10. Around 9:50 we started figuring out what to play. I think it went pretty well, the people seemed to like it and we got a bit of confidence. Good thing, too: there would be four more performances that day!
Brian bought a very cool blanket and a new kilt pin with his Scottish clan name, as well as a new kilt brooch that better matched his belt buckle. Nothing there had MY clan name on it, because mine is Irish and it was mostly Scots merchandise. I didn’t spend much on Saturday, though I did buy an Irish blessing plaque for a friend and a festival t-shirt.
Later in the morning, some other C&F folks arrived: Digger and Tomcat. I wonder if they liked my C&F shirt. We had fun comparing and playing each other’s whistles. I should have gotten a picture of Tomcat’s Whistle Britches case. I also should have gotten a group shot. My photographer instincts didn’t kick in until Sunday, apparently. Digger, Tomcat, and Mack joined us for some of the afternoon performances, so we had a larger variety of instruments on hand. We left the fest a little before 5 PM, to head back to Mack’s - and play with whistles, of course. Joan had made some chili (Grand Chili Mesa, anyone?) and we watched some of the video footage Mack had taken that day.
Saturday night: While Mack and Tomcat played with whistles at home, Brian and I went to the Adam’s Mark for an 8 PM ceilidh (or however you spell “dance” in Irish!) We got there a bit early so we found a spot on the grass and played a few tunes. It wasn’t long before a dancer came over and invited us to play over by them. They danced to O’Sullivan’s March and we traded compliments. Some people came by and asked Brian about pipes and me about whistle. I gave a brief and mildly successful tinwhistle lesson to one of the dancers. Eventually the ceilidh began but it was more of a recital than an audience participation thing. I thought the dancers were quite good. One of the highland pipers asked Brian about the uilleann pipes and he gave his own mildly successful lesson. I wandered off to watch the Calling of the Clans, which involved fire and big men in kilts shouting out their clan names. That was cool. One of the clansmen was funny: “We are Clan Campbell! We are the bravest! The strongest! The best looking and the greatest lovers in the world!!” (A lady from the audience then shouted, “Get me a Campbell!”) After the Calling was over and some singers went on stage, Brian and I ducked out for dinner. He was starting to get a headache, and my thinking was a bit fogged. In retrospect I think we were pretty dehydrated. By the time we were done at dinner we were thinking about skipping the session and going back to Mack’s. We went back to the Adam’s Mark to see if there was any real interest in a session, and there didn’t seem to be, so we went home. Brian went to bed and I stayed up with Mack and Tomcat a bit. They were rather pleased when I gave them some candy slide whistles. 
Sunday 9/22/2002: Tomcat had to catch a 6:45 AM plane out of town, so I got up at 5:15 to see him off. Brian gave a groggy goodbye as well and went back to sleep. Mack and Tomcat headed off but there was no going back to sleep for me. Mack got back around 6, and I accidentally gave him a fright by playing with my laser pointer on the hallway floor. Oops! We chatted for a few hours until Brian got up. Mack showed me a very nice kaleidoscope airplane model he has, and we had to be sure that Brian didn’t see it! When Brian got up we teased him about being groggy, but once he had had his coffee-and-ice-cream he perked up quite a bit.
Into the kilt again - need to get up early for that! Breakfast as Chez Hoover was pancakes and eggs, again top of the line. Brian and I needed to be on stage again at 10 so we headed off to the fairgrounds. We passed by the Chiff & Fipple Food Store and stopped off for a look.
We escaped with some of their Special Food!
Back on the road, we were behind a truck with an interesting bumper sticker.
Fortunately the owners were going to the fest too so we were able to introduce ourselves and apologize for taking pictures of them on the road. Patrick and Patricia of (Irish) Clan Cian were very nice and invited us to play at their booth whenever we liked, so we came back there often.
I spent more money Sunday: a fleece vest with a celtic knot embroidered on it. Brian worked a trade for his old brooch at one of the booths and I ended up with a printout of my Irish surname’s history and a golden celtic knot necklace.
I took more pictures of events on Sunday:
Sheep getting away from a sheepdog (and the little kids who chased the sheep away in the first place) and running amok
Highland Games. I wonder if Mack thought about making a whistle out of this…
Parade! Patrick and Patricia from Clan Cian, and Brian with the Irish tricolor.
Our last performance was at 1:30, after which we had to hit the road to get back to Salt Lake in time for an evening session there. On the way we spotted more evidence of the Crystal People’s influence:
All in all, a great time with great people! Thanks Mack!
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-10-03 01:00 ]