Coming to Cumming

On Saturday, February 2nd, I will emcee a special presentation of the Mountain Music & Medicine Show at the Cumming Playhouse in Cumming, Georgia. The performance coincides with Groundhog Day, which I assure you will not hurt the music in the slightest.

A Hunting Story

I had an uncle who emigrated here from Scotland. He liked to relate how he once caught a wild haggis on the moors of Ben Nevis. He was on a fishing trip for tree trout and was having no luck, having only caught a few cullen skinks, when he spotted the haggis in a cairngorm.

Thinking quickly, he threw his fishing net over some overhanging grampians and trapped it. It thrashed about mightily and nearly tore the net apart. Calmly, Uncle loaded his rifle with clapshot. He aimed carefully, fired, and hit the creature dead-on.

This only angered the haggis. Though mortally wounded, it ripped the netting apart and made for my uncle! Looking around, my uncle spotted some heavy stovies on the ground nearby. He picked up two, threw them hard at the creature, and knocked it senseless. Before it could awaken, Uncle finished the job by beating it to death with a cranachan.

My uncle did that out of necessity. Today, with canned food and ice boxes readily available, we need not resort to such desperate acts to survive, and I am glad of it.

Food for thought.

Copyright © 2013 Laurie J. Anderson. All rights reserved.

Frivolous Law

In the state of New York it is illegal for citizens to greet each other by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers.” I am glad to know that the lawmakers there believe citizens should not waste time on frivolous activities.

Exhausted

I just returned from another Mountain Music & Medicine Show up in Dahlonega, after hauling my mule Bleb through the mountains of north Georgia. I know that a mule is supposed to do the hauling, but Bleb took fright when a heavy tree branch fell suddenly across our path.

I cleared away the branch but he was taken with a case of the vapors. It lasted until he got back to his stall at home. If I didn't know better I'd think he just didn't want to carry a wagon full of heavy merchandise up to the mountains and back again. I know I wouldn't.

The show went well and I'm mighty glad to be home. Even with Wizard Water^© to help, a mule is not a light creature.