Water Ways

In the last few weeks, Eben and I have had a couple of afternoons to go exploring. Again we discovered a rather large body of water within a few miles of our apartment, the Mystic Lakes.

Eben got two carbon fiber paddles last year for his birthday (they only weigh a few ounces) and for those of you who don't know canoe paddles, they're pretty killer!

The weather was beautiful, but it was REALLY windy. We found a passageway (in the center between the trees) to a protected area off the main lake.

When we got into the water, we were in Medford. There were lots of loud teenagers and huge families with approximately 50 children (give or take 40) all enjoying the weather and the water. Apparently when we crossed through the passageway we entered a real estate warp hole. Winchester also borders the lakes, and I have since learned that it is the wealthiest community in Massachusetts. Who knew?! Once we saw the houses and yards we knew we could no longer be in Medford! Of the 15 or so huge mansion/manors that we passed, only one had anyone outside enjoying their yard and view. It's just not fair. Eben thinks they were all at their summer homes. Ridiculous!

The swans liked it in the protected, quite section of the lake too.

The following week we took the car, the canoe, and Eben's bike to the Concord River. He dropped me and the canoe off, then drove the car a few miles down river, left the car, and biked back to me.
While waiting for his return, I practiced my steering 'skills' (I did a wonderful job while I was alone in the boat, but not so stellar once Eben joined me). I noticed a friend in the distance.

Upon closer inspection it was a heron doing a bit of fishing. We saw close to 20 herons on the river that day. Since the current was moving so slowly, there were lots of bugs and thus jumping fish. It made for an exciting paddle.

I was then checked out by a family of Canada geese. They were all ages and having a good time gobbling up bugs and algae. Eben joined me after locking up his bike, we took off down the river.

Lots of lotus flowers were blooming in boggy spots on the edges of the river. I love the bright yellow centers inside the pure while petals!

After reaching the car, we went to a local farm, got some sandwiches and headed to Walden Pond. We were able to get in a quick swim (the river was just too stagnant that day for swimming) before huge thunderstorms rolled in. It was a really lovely day and nice to actually get to spend some time together since we've both been so busy lately.

Folky

I attended my first folk festival at the end of June. Eben's parents invited me into another of their family traditions. They've been attending since 1984, and the festival itself has been happening for the last 28 years. I have to say, I was a bit skeptical that it would be my kind of scene, but I really loved it! It's called the Old Songs Festival and lasts from Friday to Sunday on a fair ground in Altamont in upstate New York.

This is one of Eben's favorite parts of Old Songs. It's called 'shape note singing' and it was a collection of the festival attendees gathered in an old sheep barn (the conductor stands in the middle) singing a 4 part harmony off sheet music where the notes were made of different shapes. Anyone that wanted to participate was welcome and it sounded unexpectedly amazing!

There was one main stage where the evening performances took place, but during the day, there were about 8 different stages with various performances occurring at the same time. Some of the stages had workshops where the artists taught about the roots of their music, instruments, and lyrics. Others were more hands on, where you could learn to play your own instrument in the old traditional ways of different regions. There was also some sort of traditional dance instruction happening all the time too. The music varied greatly from traditional Irish fiddle tunes, to American roots music, to Native American tribal songs, to folk chants from India and Pakistan to name a few.

This performance was a workshop on step dancing where each of the people demonstrated the differences in step dancing from Ireland, Cape Briton, Acadia and Appalachia. The dancing was one of my favorite workshops. The picture doesn't do any of them justice, but check out this video of April competing with her spoon playing husband and you'll see (although in person it was better) why I was so impressed!




This group, Galitcha, played traditional east Indian folk music. They were the most different of the groups there, and I really enjoyed their music, so much so that I bought their cd and have been waking up to it in my alarm clock.

And what kind of hippy fest would it be without politically charged social commentary?

Dinner Party

Last month to celebrate Michael's new job, Matt's acceptance to grad school, and to simply catch up, Eben, Rusmir, Matt, Michael and I gathered at our place to have a potluck dinner.

It was the perfect opportunity to debut my new mixer! I've been wanting to make a tart for a few years now, but was skeptical of my abilities with my old handheld mixer. I even got a fabulous new tart pan for Christmas this past year which I had yet to use.

I decided on a lime curd tart. While the shell baked, I zested the limes (and a little bit of my thumb).

After two rounds of baking; once with foil and rice in the middle, then followed by browning, the tart shell cooled and looked great! The recipe was for a pan with a 1" larger diameter, so it was a bit thick even though I didn't use all the dough.

Once shell was cool, I poured in the fresh lime curd and allowed it to cool once more. I added the raspberries later. I only did one half to give everyone the option of with or without fruit.

Matt and Rusmir waited on Michael's couch while we set the table for dinner.

We at in Michael's apartment since his table is much larger and my kitchen was a bit of a disaster. Dinner was very yummy! We had chicken bite appetizers (Michael), suddenly pasta salad (Rusmir), roasted chicken (Matt), panzanella (Eben), and a lime curd tart (me). My tart got rave reviews which is always nice when making something for the first time!