Reunions, Weddings and Festivals

I’m still running to and from work everyday, rain and shine. I have to tell you that I prefer the rainy days because the temp is right. I hate running in the heat. Blah. So, 30 more miles this week and it’s getting easier and more enjoyable. I’m a good runner if I’m distracted. I go nuts if there’s nothing to think about. I guess that’s why the iPod came in handy back in the old days. Maybe I’ll dig out the 1st Edition Shuffle and take it for a spin again. My boys jeer me as ‘old school’ – my 11 year old, Jonathan, just bought an iPhone with his gig money. I am old school.

Oh yes, there have been gigs. Many, many summer gigs for Chris and Jon…and the larger band, Slow Cooking Cover. The kids are hot and there’s lots of buzz around. Here are a few pics from the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival. They played, under perfect conditions, last Sunday afternoon at the Lunenburg Bandstand. It was great, really great stuff. Here are some random pics from the day:

The drummer’s dad has posted some great little videos on Facebook. Sign up as my "Facebook Friend" and you can link through to see if you like. Next gig is September 12th at the Mug and Anchor Pub in Mahone Bay.

As a duo, Chris and Jon have been doing very well…playing out 3 or 4 times a week. They got home one night at 4:30am…with their mother of course. They’d been out at an after-hours party (post Folk Harbour Festival) playing their little butts off. The real music shows up at the after-hour parties dudes. I’m just saying. Some of the pics above show C & J playing for MacKinnon Dance - a group of talented Highland Dancers.

Yeah, and Victoria and I attended a cool wedding at Hubbard’s Barn. There’s a weekly Farmer’s Market held here and the odd special event. The grounds are beautiful. At any rate, it was a Scottish wedding ad Eilidh (the bride and pronounced A-lee) is as Scottish as they come. She’s Jon’s fiddle teacher and a real doll. The groom is Chris’ teacher – Paul Buchanan. He’s also their band coach and truly one of the nicest guys around. Together, they make beautiful music with Flat Fifth and as a duo. We’ve all become good friends. Eilidh’s brother is Ruaridh Campbell…(pronounced rury or rory) (his website) He’s over the top incredible. When he and his sister…and the rest of the Scots jumped in it was free-wheeling, crazed joy for me. So, here are a few wedding pics and random pics of men in kilts and musicians going for it. What amazing fun - even the Scottish country dancing was nuts. Loved it all.


Lastly, an update on V’s family reunion. Big fun as always. Here are a few pics. Yes, there was more music. It’s non-stop guys.
Take care.

Slow Cooking Cover

Chris & John play as a duo all the time. Lately, they've been playing with a bunch of other kids in a band called "Slow Cooking Cover". They are ages 11 - 14. The drummer's dad posted a video on Facebook - I'm adding the link here. Hope it connects you. You may need to copy and paste to your browser.

These kids are smooth. Jon (11) plays bass, Claire (11) sings, Matt (11) on drums, Daniel on the Gretch Bigsby is 13 and Chris on lead is 14.

This comes from their set at The Mahone Bay Classic Boat Festival:

SLOW COOKING COVER

Have a great week.

Progress

I'm going to finish out another week of running to and from work. I can definitely feel a difference over last week - an improvement. I'm stronger, more fluid and more confident. Some cool stuff is happening - one of the guys at work shakes my hand every morning when I arrive. He tells me that I'm inspiring him to run again. There's nothing much better than being a positive inspiration. So, I feel great for all kinds of reasons.

It has been tougher this week in some respects. It's been hot and humid on the south shore of Nova Scotia. By hot, I mean 30 C or 86 F. It doesn't often get much hotter than that in these parts. It also poured buckets the other morning...it caused me to laugh a few times - not that there's anything particularly funny about running in a downpour.

I've got a busy weekend - the kids play The Mahone Bay Classic Boat Festival twice tomorrow (Friday) with "Slow Cooking Cover" and as the Cusack Boys. Saturday, we're off to V's annual family reunion in New Brunswick. Wow. Lots of driving and fun. I'll sprinkle in a few photos when we're back.

Take care.

Say Say Say

Local gals nail it.



Life is good here.

Turn Of Events

Running Miles This Week: 30.

Huh? Robb is running? Yeah...it's true.

There has been a shift to be sure. I've quit whining and started running to and from work. It's about 5K each way so that gives me 50K for the week or 30 miles.

My legs feel the worst. I thought my breathing would suffer but it's my legs that trouble me most - primarily the quads that area stiff. They mainly bother me on the stairs.

This is part of a personal challenge - a deal I've made with myself to run to work 30days in a row and it's worked out pretty well. There's a shower at the office and I keep some clothes there. What more does a guy need?

Frankly, I've been pretty low about not running and it feels good to commit to this and get back out there. Cool and wet this week. It's raining right now and 62 F or 16 C. Perfect running weather.

I'm back baby. I'm back.

Joy

Running miles this week: 0. I have put in a few miles on the beach this week - draggy, introspective miles on the beach. There's no easy way to tell you this. Truth is, Nova Scotia has more coastline than California and the really cool thing is, nobody lives here. Well, they live here but you don't trip over them and you never ever pay. It's all free. Drive right on the beach in some places.

Life is real good. Hey, come visit sometime.

Life In Pictures

Running miles this week: 0 miles. Zip...I got nothing going. Maybe next week.

Words are great but today I'll post photos as they sum up a lot of things.

Just a few random shots...there's the picnic table at the LaHave River Yacht Club...the Goldfinch with the red eyeball, Chris and Jon with "Slow Cooking Cover" at the Yacht Club...and Chris and Jon on the Halifax waterfront - later joined by a blues harp player (a walk on...haha). Oh, and there's one of Chris holding the body of his guitar. He's at the sanding stage. Solid cherry - it will sound amazingly rich. He's working on the neck now (mahogany). This is life in Nova Scotia.