Joyful and Sad

What an eventful week-end. For the first time in too long a time I went to a music festival. The stay in England was too short and filled with friends I needed to see, and places of personal pilgrimage I needed to visit, to make time for either the Whitby folk festival or the Upton festival. My hunger to hear live music, other than that I try to make for myself, was satisfied by travelling over two-hundred miles to Edgewood, NM for the 7th Annual Wildlife West Music Festival. This is a delightful location just off Interstate 40 thirty or so miles east of Albuquerque.
I arrived in time to catch a local all female band Lady Fingers who played a relaxing eclectic set by no means all bluegrass. Quite a few local bands filled out the bill. Round the House from Tucson played traditional Irish tunes on the main stage at the amphitheatre. More bluegrass from The Badly Bent. And then the man who was the draw for me to attend this festival. A singer, songwriter and story-teller in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan . . . ; multi-instrumentalist, teacher, father, soon to be grandfather, folklorist and all round generous man John McCutcheon.

Kathy stayed home to be with Zoë our Siberian husky who was very ill

This picture is of her in her prime when she was about four years old. She died Sunday whilst I was gone and today we made arrangements for her cremation.