New experiences seem to jazz me up. I’ve just gotten off a three day weekend and had some good ones.

Bob and I went t the Takoma Park Independence Day Parade. What a wide range of participants! There were the usual politicians, public service personnel and veterans, the school kids and day care providers. There were also musicians (the steel drum players, the dc motors band, and even a Christian rock band).

There were dancers from Bolivia, the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Their costumes were crazy with color, and the V. I. Carnival troupe was simply over the top (think Carmen Miranda on steroids). Other floats/marchers dealt with local political issues such as the upcoming referendum on having slots in Maryland. While some of the marchers made their opinions known in a straight-forward way, others used satire and hyperbole.

“Bring casinos to Takoma Park,” they said. Their float included a pickup truck decorated as a casino, with little kids playing poker looking like little gamblers. There was a gangster representing the criminal element, and also an Elvis impersonator. (Actually, having Elvis could be considered a motive FOR a casino.) There were Shriners in their fezzes, some with custom clear plastic fez protectors because rain was predicted. (Only a sprinkle or two actually came down, thank goodness.)

There was even a float for a conspiracy theory that on 9/11, the World Trade Center Buildings were actually brought down by controlled demolition. Only in Takoma Park would you find such a diverse yet entertaining group marching together. After the parade, we went to the gazebo in the center of the old town to hear Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer performing for the kids. Then, we went to the new location of HMT on Westmoreland Avenue.

On Sunday, we saw the movie, “Get Smart” which was funny but not remarkable. I rarely see new movies in a theater, so that aspect of the outing was remarkable. We went to a Thai Restaurant in Silver Spring after the show. The food was good, but they were so efficient, we were out of there in 30 minutes. So much for lingering over dinner.

On Sunday, we went downtown to the National Mall for the last day of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, to hear Marcia Ball. She plays a rocking blues boogie woogie swing kind of music. We danced to two numbers, but it was just too hot. We listened to the rest of the set from the bleachers.We only visited a little bit of the Bhutan exhibit. It was fascinating, but we didn’t have enough time. I could only remark on what a beautiful country it was, and that it seemed that their art only used the most brilliant colors.

That’s it for now. I’m looking forward to taking a little trip to WV in August. I wish it could be a long trip, but I don’t know if I can be spared from work that long. I’ll have to figure out how much I care about that.

For more photos from the weekend, check out my flickr site: http://flickr.com/photos/tackyjulie/

Every year, I go down to Charlottesville for a weekend camping in the woods with 200 or so of my friends. We play music, dance, eat, drink, and best of all, laugh. If I didn’t have this party to go to, how would I measure the quality of my life? This is the best, the place where I feel most welcome. Even if the rest of my life isn’t quite this grand, it’s important to know that the possibility is there.

This is the twenty-second year in a row I’ve done this. Bob has come with me the last three years, and it’s so wonderful that he gets it, too. Now that he’s got the hang of the ukulele, he was even jamming with us. Who knows how good he will be next year?

I haven’t been playing that much this year, but somehow, my fingers got themselves in gear and I played my banjo faster than I have ever played it. Thanks to Sheila for inviting me into that jam. It was a ride of a lifetime. I’m still popping ibuprofen for my shoulder.

Paul and Susan are my camping buddies. At first, it was just Paul and I. I don’t even remember when I first met Paul. We like to camp together at parties and festivals like this. He used to always bring the women he was dating to this event. If they didn’t get it, then he didn’t see a future for them. Susan took to it like a duck to water the first time he brought her. Not long after that, they became engaged. I really enjoy her company. The best thing is that when Bob came along, he fit in perfectly. So, now we are two married couples that share a campsite. It feels so warm and welcoming.

Hugh and Anastasia show me how to have a good time. Their campsite is always filled with people, food, instruments, and toys. We held the second annual Ukulele Summit there. We shared charts and tunes and tips for playing. Hugh got out his steel guitar, and we sounded really Hawaiian! Anastasia sang, and Steve sang and backed us up on guitar, too. Steve invented the “capon,” which is a capo with a small rubber chicken on it. It’s definitely a tacky treasure, and I’m going to enter it into the Tacky Treasures Road Show for him.

We’re on the banks of a river, and a walk down the rocky shore is always a treat. People are swimming, fishing, and building cairns with the river rocks. I found a tree where a pair of downy woodpeckers are building a nest hole. It was amazing to watch them work, and I was happy to be able to share what I found with Bob.

This was the thirty-fifth year in a row that this party has been held. There are only three organized events connected with it: silly skits on Friday night, at the end of which they sing the theme song of the party; tee shirt and raffle ticket sales on Saturday morning, to raise money to defray costs; and the raffle on Saturday night. Everyone is happy for the winners. I’m happy for all of us.

See my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tackyjulie/sets/72157605129657095/

Bob and I are big Jeopardy! fans. Many times, contestants are quizzed on their knowledge of U.S. state symbols. Since Bob has only lived in Maryland for about a half a year, he didn’t know Maryland’s state symbols. He later went to the Maryland State Archives web site to bone up on his adopted state.

The state crustacean of Maryland is the blue crab. The state dog is the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. The state boat is the skipjack. There’s also the oriole, the black-eyed Susan, and even a state dinosaur, Astrodon johnstoni. All of these have a connection to Maryland or to the region.

And then Bob reminded me of something that makes me sore: the state folk dance is square dancing. It’s not mountain square dancing which I have enjoyed, but the highly structured Modern Western Square Dance (MWSD), a recreation club activity that dates back to the 1920s at the earliest. I’m not sore because it wasn’t my kind of square dance that became the state folk dance, even though I think it’s more inclusive and more genuinely a folk dance; I don’t think any dance should get that honor. Having a government agency determine a state folk dance is the antithesis of the folk process, but the sponsors of the bill didn’t see this irony at all. These so-called square dancers weren’t interested in finding the most representative folk dance for Maryland, they just wanted the “honor” for themselves.

At the time the legislation was being debated, in 1994, I dealt with it by writing a well-researched article for the Old-Time Herald explaining exactly what they were trying to do, and why I thought it was a terrible idea. If you read the article, you will find that it didn’t just happen in Maryland. And before their state-by-state campaign, the MWSD-ers tried and failed to have square dance declared the national folk dance.

My one consolation is that I believe the presence of my article on the Internet has made it available to congressional researchers every time they (the Modern Western Square Dance organizations) sucker some Congressman into sponsoring this legislation. It is usually referred to a committee right away and never do-si-dos its way out. After all, the U.S. Congress has more important things to do. After more than two hundred years of existence, this country has only a handful of national symbols: the flag, the Great Seal, the national anthem, the bald eagle, and the American rose. I think Congress is afraid of opening the flood gates to all kinds of “national” designations.

I’d like to see a Jeopardy! game with “state folk dance” as the category. As nearly every state legislature now has been hoodwinked into making square dance their state folk dance, what better way to show the stupidity of their decisions.