Weekend

Hmmm...It's been Wednesday morning since I've posted anything of real sense.

My week ended much the same way it started--staying busy at work with beginning of the semester issues and questions. Still working around the remaining tech problems in the library. The big event on Friday was a server upgrade for the library software. That happened much easier than I had been anticipating. Other than a few hours of downtime on Friday, there's no difference for how things are working in the library. We are still on an older version of the software (technically, an unsupported version). Going through a software upgrade or two in the coming months will be more disruptive.

Friday night, I went over to SS's house. Originally, we talked about watching a movie. Instead we went through my Ireland pictures, then looked through some of her scrapbooks, so I could begin thinking about how to scrapbook my Ireland trip.

Saturday, we had a clogging performance that was more than an hour away--at the Corn Festival in Shippensburg, PA. It turned into an almost all-day event. We met at the clogging barn at 8:15 to carpool up. When we arrived, the entertainment prior to us was going--a square dance demonstration. They were involving the audience, bringing in anyone that wanted to dance into a square and teaching them a few simple steps with a song. I got to do that for one song.

BRTC performed at 11:00. The stage wasn't ideally secure, but with a couple of easy stabilizations, it was better than a lot of stages. The performance went well enough. We had some very participative audience members--two people danced in the open area near the stage during two different songs. The big change in this performance for me was dancing center front the couples portion of "Peppermint Twist." Being one of the taller members of the group, I practically never dance on the front row and I'm not one of the traditional ones for dancing the couples part.

After our group was a country line dancing demonstration, again, open to participation. Just as we finished packing up, they played the "Cha Cha Slide," so most of the group jumped in to dance along.

Following the performance, the the group split by what time they wanted to go back. I stayed with the group heading back earlier--aiming to be back to VA around 2:00. The other group was staying until 5:00. The group leaving earlier made it far enough to find some lunch (corn-on-the-cob for me) and check out a few of the booths. We made it back to the clogging barn about 2:15. I think I fell asleep on the ride back.

Since I was out and didn't have any other plans, I took the opportunity to go to Michaels and pick up a scrapbook and paper to scrapbook my Ireland trip. I've got friends who have volunteered to share their special stencils, scissors, etc. Which is nice, because I have my doubts that I'll do this often enough to make those purchases worth-while.

Sunday afternoon was another performance, much more local--the Luckett's Fair. The fair seemed much bigger than it had in past years. I'm still not quite sure if it grew that much, or if the fact that I was forced to come in at a different point and walk through more of it just influenced my judgement. The Luckett's Fair, in the past, has had a very good stage. They had the same stage this year, but it had not been set up to be as level as it had been in the past. Several people caught their foot during the performance. I saw a couple of nails on stage that had apparently been pulled out of taps. I didn't lose any nails, but I did have on tap loosened. I'll have to remember to tap the nails back in when I'm at the barn on Tuesday. The traffic congestion to the fair was much worse than in past years. With only a couple of exceptions, nobody made our pre-performance meeting time. But everyone did make it and we were able to get started only a couple of minutes late.

After the performance, I spent a bit of time at the fair with JM and his son. The fire department was providing rides on the fire trucks. That was a lot of fun. People piled in the back on top of the hoses and the truck headed out of town for about a mile or so before turning around and heading back.

After the fair, I called D. She'd been trying to call me all week, just to chat. So we talked until my cell battery died.

I've got a busy week ahead--visiting six classes to talk about the library (five Research & Writing sections and Historical Research).