Celtic Festival - Grass Valley, CA

For years, I've wanted to attend the Celtic Festival in Grass Valley. But for one excuse or another, it's never happened -- until this past weekend. The weather was warm (tipping at about 88 degrees), but the atmosphere was rightfully soaked with everything Celtic. Heck, even taking a leak I felt underdressed without a kilt:

The Festival had many attractions including horses, sheep, and these amazing highland dogs. Sorry, but I haven't a clue about their breed, but lemme tell you, they're frakkin' tall. These pups were just under a year old. At that rate, they'll be as tall as the ponies in no time:

There's a "living history" area where all the goofy people dress in their period costumes just like at a Renaissance fair. It's not really my bag, but the people-watching is top-notch. The women with their boobs cinched up to their necks, and the men walking around in leather and yielding weapons of mass destruction, aka their penis extensions. Great viewing fun! Here's a court of some sort having some kind of lunch (the details really are lost on me):

Mainly, I came for the music. And the festival performers didn't disappoint. We stayed for most of the afternoon and saw a few bands like Hanz Araki & The Might Few and a local group, The String Sisters. I really enjoyed these folks from Chico called Ha'Penny Bridge Band. A big heavy on the Irish jig, but worth me buying one of their CDs.

My favorite group of the day was the Paul McKenna Band from Glasgow, Scotland. They were charismatic, professional, and a whompin' stompin' good time (at least that's the impression I got with all the drunk people left of stage, dancing a step I've never seen before in my life):

Louvre Museum "Junk"

When I view art, I like to take my time and let it evoke some sort of reaction or emotion from me. What's the artist trying to say? Do I even like the picture or sculpture or dirty cardboard cutout? But in the Louvre in Paris, the crowds were insane. It didn't make for a conducive environment to really take in the art. The scrum in front of the Mona Lisa is a good example. Check it out:

So I guess I could have entertained myself by mocking tourists, or knocking a few down (guilty on both counts), but my time in the Louvre turned much more productive. Our mission? Take as many pictures of exposed "junk" and giggle like a 13-year-old. Check out a few of our snaps.

SHAVEN Junk:

GROUP TWISTED Junk:

OLD MAN Junk:

TINY Junk:

GRATUITOUS CLOSE-UP Junk:

CREEPY ALABASTER ANGEL Junk:

ROMAN Junk:

The Killers "Runaways"

The Killers are back with a terrific new song. I'm looking forward to the new album due out in September. Brandon Flowers' vocals have always had an urgency to them. When he sings it's as if he's saying "Listen to me or I'll explode". Don't let Brandon explode. Listen:

View from Esther's Guesthouse

Back home, every morning that I am able to drag my ass out of bed I am reminded about our stay in Esther's Guesthouse in Gimmelwald, Switzerland. It was vacation, of course, and I'd wake ready for the day with a little help from Mother Nature. How? Glad you asked. I'd pull a chair over to directly underneath the skylight, open it, and peer out and breath in the fresh air and take in the glorious view. Doing all of this while in the buff helped too. Here's Esther's place. We were on the top floor. We were the 3 windows on the top in the front.

Here's our room from the inside:

This is the view from our room from the front of the building:

 

View #1 looking out of the skylight

(try not to imagine me naked taking this picture):

View #2 looking outside the skylight
(already okay, go ahead and think of me nude while taking this picture too):

Die Toten Hosen „Tage wie diese"

Quite possibly the most popular and successful bands in the German speaking world. They've been around for 30+ years and are still rocking and relavent. Mainly a punk band (out of Düsseldorf), they changed gears and have a smash hit on their hands with this song. I love it. I love it even more when I can understand the lyrics. Here is the gist of the song:

"I’ve waited weeks for this day and I’m dancing on the asphalt with joy as if it were a rhythm, as if it were a song that keeps luring me through the streets on my way to you, to pick you up, as we had agreed: at the same time, the same place as last time.  

"On days like these, you wish it would never end. On days like these, we still have all the time in the world. I wish it would never end."

Great band. Great song. Fun-ass video.

Knorr Souvenir Soups

Nothing says "souvenir" like Cup-a-soup, right? Well, I think it does. Not only will my mom be overjoyed with the soups that I bought, she'll get a giggle (I hope) that I bought one in every country I visited. You see, here in the states, we like to "add water, then microwave" our instant soups. In Europe, they still have a kettle on and like to add hot water to packaged soups. My mom likes the later. Hmm, I wonder what the TSA thought as they rummaged though my luggage when the saw these soup packages? Must have thought they were narcotics. Here is the bulk of my souvenirs, from Ireland no less:

I checked the label. Yep, this asparagus beauty is made is Switzerland. I can year the Alpine veg yodelling now:

Technically not a Knorr brand (okay, not at all Knorr, but it's what I could find), this gem is from France. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of veg.

Leave it to the Germans to make a cream soup out of potatoes. I'm betting this will be the favorite.

Everyone Pays

Truer words were never written in permanent signage!