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Sunday, September 19, 2010

ETH weekend at jim thorpe

hubby and i are back from a nice weekend in jim thorpe.  our favorite band enter the haggis were playing at the mauch chunk opera house.  we got tix months ago and only learned last month that the drummer james was leaving the band to go to school to be an air traffic controller.  so we feel absolutely blessed that we were able to be at his last show.

we decided to stay over at a hotel since the show was late at night, and we didn't want to get home in the middle of the night.  jim thorpe is only an hour and a half from our house, but who wants to get home at 2AM?

we puttered around the area and visited country junction - that killed about 30 minutes.  same crap, same farting gorilla.  got some noodles and candy.  visited a lovely winery and had a wine tasting and took some bottles home.  drove back to jim thorpe and had a very early supper of fish and chips at molly maguire's (it was too hot for fish and chips, but shepherds pie would have been worse and way heavier). walked around town and visited our favorite shops - mauch chunk 5 &10, the emporium of curious goods (got a new set of fortune teller cards, a card for reading palms, cards with the kiddos names on them, sage for burning and black salt to scatter outside the house, and a glass evil eye to hang on the door).  we missed the treasure shop, i always go in there for all things irish, and for saint medals - it was closed by the time we got there.  bought old cute buttons in a shop (really wanted some pickles but the tourists were in the way!)  found a yarn shop, ironically behind the opera house, called hooked on yarn.  very nice shop in an old home and i got 2 skeins of coral jil eaton.

ETH was excellent.  we were 4 rows back and about 10 feet from the stage.  a lot of people were in the pit in the front but we had no trouble seeing the band.  sadly i had a migraine during the show, otherwise i would have been dancing in the aisles too.

band played our old favorites plus songs of their last album.  they did 2 sets which was an awesome treat.  for the encore, the audience serenaded james to "leaving on a jet plane" (how appropriate!) and the rest of the guys changed into black shorts and t-shirts, james' "uniform" (along with a leather jacket.  the guy wears shorts both winter and summer.  hardy canadian boy!)  the encore was bittersweet.  we were so lucky to be there.

hopefully we'll see haggis at celtic fling next year.  can't wait to meet the new drummer, bruce!

and now to the picture portion of this blog.  my apologies on the fuzzy or goofy pics.  snapped them with my iPhone and it's hard to get good shots when people are moving around.  most of these were taken in high def.

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the boy sending us off


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me and hubby in a cute little park overlooking the town


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there's always a yarn shop in town!  the house was really cute inside too - i love old homes.


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me knitting in the park by the train station, killing time until the concert


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the start of ETH, sitting on a huge lump of coal


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ETH's van


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the inside of the opera house, looking up on stage from where we're sitting


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ETH


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a true haggis head.  i wonder how the guy even saw in that mask?  the haggis heads were in rare form last night.  dancing, singing along.  hubby and i are poser haggis heads, i guess...


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james on drums, brian on fiddle


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a good shot of the band


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james setting up for the second set


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brian on fiddle


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trevor on guitar


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mark on bass


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james drumming on trevor's guitar during "congress" - my favorite!


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james' curtain call.  we were pretty verklempt


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my apologies for such a fuzzy shot - humble james


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the guys in james' "uniform"


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final jam.  that's a really good shot of all the guys


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brian and mark (on bass)


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craig (on bagpipes) and trevor (on guitar)


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james' drum solo


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final jam



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last curtain call


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looking down on "little switzerland".  my pap's family was from lansford, which isn't far from JT, which might be why i'm so compelled to return to this lovely area.


good luck, james "seamus" campbell, on embarking on a new chapter in your life.

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