Mill of Kintail

The Mill of Kintail is a great location for a class field trip. The last time I was out here was two years ago nearly to the day (click here). They essentially run two sessions, one focuses on the stream and the other on the forests and meadows. We were slotted for the stream study in the morning which meant that our class would have first crack at finding crayfish, dragonfly nymphs, blood worms, and salamanders.


My team consisted of four kids (one of which was my daughter) and two mommies. We had a great time and the fact that we had perfect weather and no bugs didn't hurt any either. Here are some of the photos from the day...





Oh, and if that's not enough this is also the home of the museum for Dr. James Naismith the inventor of basketball in 1891. Yeah, how cool is that?

Colin Linden at the Black Sheep

Last night I headed out with Mikey and Rick to soak in yet another amazing night of music at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, QC. This time it was Colin Linden hitting the stage. Colin is a very very busy man, on and off stage. He's played/collaborated with a long list of respected musicians over the years: Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Bruce Cockburn, Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing, Colin James, Sam Butler & The Blind Boys Of Alabama, T Bone Burnett, Paul Reddick, Merle Haggard, Keb' Mo', Lucinda Williams, Kathleen Edwards, Jane Siberry, and David Wilcox.

Saturday Colin hit the stage running and didn't stop until the the lights came back on at the end of the show. This man smokes on guitar and he is more than capable at the mic as he blended one song into the next switching with ease from country blues to ballad to rock and back to blues. Roll it all together with yet another guitar talent in the opening act (Joe Grass) and you have a recipe for a very entertaining night.


I can't say enough about this venue. I swear every time I've been here in the audience the artist of the night has made a comment saying how they absolutely love playing the Black Sheep. And why the hell not? Paul Symes has it all in Le Mouton Noir - a sweet location beside the Gatineau River - and if you're timing is right you'll catch the Wakefield Steam Train rolling by (when did it get back up and running?), a great sound system, an excellent selection of beverages (including some micro brews), a cozy intimate setting complete with a friendly dog that likes to roam from table to table, and most important of all, Paul has an amazing network of musicians that absolutely love to make the extra side trip. Thank you Paul.


Me and Colin Linden

Snake catcher

Sara explains how she caught the water snake.

Snake hunting at Charleston Lake

Late last week the kids and I decided to head out to Charleston Lake on Saturday for a one-nighter with the tent while mom went out to a stag with some of her co-workers. Come Friday night the weather forecast was still holding up so I loaded the canoe on the van and threw in some camping gear. By 8:30 Saturday morning we were on the road with only one quick stop at the grocery store for some last second essentials - toothpaste, hotdog buns, toilet paper, and Double Stuff Fudgee-Os (which by the way are only available in Canada - izn't dat veird?).

We arrived in good time and quickly scoured the campground's available sites. Weighing all the pros and cons (size, privacy, level ground for the tent, proximity to the field, comfort station and beach) we settled on site 203.



The rest of the weekend was spent searching for snakes and frogs, paddling around the nearby islands, building sand castles, more snake hunting, campfire tales, and cozy cuddling in the tent (it dropped down to 10°C, eh). We had an awesome trip. Oh and yes, we did catch a couple of snakes... well technically Sara did all the catching. One northern water snake as it slithered in the water along the shoreline and one garter snake as it huddled in the back of the vending machine for warmth.






Bring on summer.

St. Pat's Airband 2009

Last year Sara's group won the school Airband competition with Bay City Roller's "Saturday Night". This year (insert drum roll here) her group won yet again, this time with the song "Funkytown" by Lips Inc from the movie Shrek 2.



Emma's trio won the Fancy Footwork award with the song "Mamma Mia" by Abba.

Two of the judges were actually DJs from the local radio station 106.9 Virgin Radio (formerly The Bear). Talk about big time.


NOTE: After watching some of the old videos I have no doubt that these kids would have still went home with the prize had the actual bands themselves entered the contest.

MTN Jam boots

GOV'T MULE: Warren Haynes, MULE with John Medeski, Mule with Karl Denson
It doesn't take long before the tapers throw up their shows for the world to download. Here are the GOV'T MULE shows from Friday and Saturday nights - a total of 6 hours of music. Enjoy.

Gov't Mule May 29, 2009 Mountain Jam V Hunter Mountain Ski Area Hunter, NY Official May 29, 2009 recording available for purchase from mule.net. Or the free bittorrent taped/transfered by Rob Clarke available here. disc 1 (set 1): 01. Kind Of Bird 02. Game Face 03. I Believe To My Soul 04. Banks Of The Deep End 05. I Think You Know What I Mean> 06. When The Levee Breaks> 07. I Think You Know What I Mean 08. Slackjaw Jezebel 09. Thorazine Shuffle disc 2 (set 2): 01. Lucky 02. Trane>3rd Stone Jam>Eternity's Breath Jam> 03. St. Stephen Jam> 04. Larger Than Life> 05. If 6 Were 9> 06. Larger Than Life> 07. Empty Pages> 08. Drums> 09. Drums/Bass >3rd Stone Jam * disc 3 (set 2 cont>): 01. Brighter Days> 02. Like Flies 03. Mule>Who Do You Love>Superstitious>Mule 04. crowd/tuning 05. Cortez The Killer # * w/George Porter Jr. # w/Josh and Clark from Tea Leaf Green

Gov't Mule May 30, 2009 Mountain Jam V Hunter Mountain Ski Area Hunter, NY Official May 30, 2009 recording available for purchase from mule.net. Or the free bittorrent taped/transfered by Rob Clarke available here. disc 1 (set 1): 01. Bad Little Doggie > 02. Brand New Angel 03. About To Rage > 04. Streamline Woman 05. When Doves Cry >Beautifully Broken >WDC >BB 06. Patchwork Quilt 07. Have Mercy On The Criminal 08. Scomule * 09. Goin' Out West > 10. Bang A Gong > 11. Goin' Out West disc 2 (set 2): 01. Morning Dew 02. When The Music's Over 03. All Along The Watchtower > # 04. Devil Likes It Slow > # disc 3 (set 2 cont.): 01. Drum Solo > 02. I'm A Ram > 03. Blindman In The Dark > # & 04. crowd/Warren Banter 05. Long As I Can See The Light * With John Medeski On Keyboard # With Karl Denson On Saxaphone & contains Ain't No Sunshine, Whole Lotta Love teases

Other Mountain Jam V recordings available for download...
Umphrey's McGee
Gomez
The Derek Trucks Band
Jackie Greene
Tea Leaf Green
...and many more

Cheers to all the bootleggers and tapers out there! Living way up here in Canada these boots are often the closest we can get to "being" there.

Mountain Jam Festival V

Mountain Jam Festival V
Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge
Catskills, NY
Google map
Festival schedule

This year my buddy Steve and I decided to check out a spring time music festival. Our options were, Summer Camp, Bonnaroo, or Mountain Jam, and after looking at locations and line-ups we settled on Mountain Jam hands down. Located only 6 1/2 hours from Ottawa in the heart of the Catskills it was by far the nearest to home and with the addition of a 3rd night of music to help celebrate The Allman Brothers Band 40th anniversary it was a done deal.

Included in this year's 30 band line-up for Mountain Jam was Umphrey's McGee, The Derek Trucks Band, Gomez, Gene Ween Band, Tea Leaf Green, Richie Havens, John Medeski, Marco Benevento Trio, Alberta Cross, and Michael Franti & Spearhead. And of course the hosts of the event, Gov't Mule, would be playing two shows at 3 hours a night.

Our trip started Thursday night as we figured we'd be too pumped to sleep a few hours as originally planned. We wolfed down a couple of slices of Panormous pizza with my family and then packed up and left. By 7:30 we'd crossed the border and were greeted by a slow moving beaver as it made its way across the highway. (And I thought all beavers were Canadian, eh.)

We made it as far as Utica before deciding to jump off the toll road and catch the end of the band opening up the Saranac Thursday concert series. As luck would have it though the gig had just ended so we stretched legs while I had a pint with the local university kids. Back on the road we took a more direct route to our evening's destination - the Cobleskill Wal-Mart Superstore. Yep, you heard right. Tonight we would be sleeping in the glow of a Wal-Mart parking lot.

The next morning we were rested (but still pumped) as we loaded up with food and beverages before driving the last hour to Hunter, NY. The sun was out (it poured on and off our entire trip so far) and the scenery was breathtaking. Welcome to the Catskills.

Zoom zoom zoom we were through the gates to the Hunter Mountain Ski Lodge and parking up in our VIP section. Ahhh, VIP. Our decision to purchase VIP tickets was definitely the right call (cheers to Mic on that one). We had prime parking, an excellent camping area, VIP only showers, loads of free food, cheap beer, our own lounge area on the concert hillside, and best of all our own front row center stage viewing area. Sweet.

Though we'd both packed for rain, the weekend weather proved to be stupendous - sunny and warm during the day and cool at nights. Overall the event itself was extremely well set up. Security was present at all times (including some troopers), people were happy and friendly, plenty of food options, and the location was... well in the Catskills. All that said, I've only ever been to one other weekend music festival, moe.down, and in comparison moe.down was definitely more rustic. Add showers and flush toilets and any camping festival scene starts to feel like a 5-star.

Here are a few of the photos from Mountain Jam.

[Left to Right: Alberta Cross, Porter, Baptiste, Stoltz, Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule), Gomez, The Gene Ween Band, Richie Havens, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Umphrey's McGee, Jake Cinninger and Warren Haynes, The Allman Brothers Band (Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks), Haynes and Trucks, Warren Haynes]



The last photo deserves a short story... Friday night between Gov't Mule sets Steve and I got separated. Not a problem. Later that evening around 3am Steve came back to the tent and woke me with some crazy story about stumbling across Warren Haynes on a golf cart, stopping the cart, and getting a picture of himself with Warren. I nearly burnt my retina out staring at the pic in a foggy stuper. It was true and I missed the whole encounter. Damn.

The next night Steve packed it in early and I wandered the grounds checking out the late shows. Around 2:30am I was making my way back to the tent when I spotted this guy walking alone up the stairs from the lodge. Sure enough it was Warren and there was no way he was getting past me without a photo. As a side note, I was so surprised by the chance meeting that I started rambling like a freakin' school girl. I think I used the word "awesome" about 20 times.


And yes, when I got back to the tent I immediately woke Steve to show off my new pic. Awesome.