The English Stash

My spouse went to England in late January for a business trip, and since I couldn't go too, I sent him on a mission to hunt down and bring back some fun stuff. What you see above is what he brought back: Maltezers (you need to see the YouTube commercials for these), Jelly Babies (just like on Doctor Who), Fruit Sherberts (a very intense hard candy with a soft center), Mystery Sweets, milk and dark chocolate covered Digestives (very very good!), some stuffed animals from Harrods, and assorted candies we still haven't tried yet.
While he was there, my spouse hooked up with the local Morris side, the Chippenham Town Morris Men. He even danced with them (he's the one in the vivid blue sweater that stands out like a beacon): Vandals of Hammerwich by The Chippenham Morris Men. There are slight, but noticable style differences between how our American side does it and how the Chippenham side does it.

Poet Shirt with Lucet Cord

I finally finished the poet shirt I was making for my spouse Chris, as part of his Morris Dance kit. This was the shirt I was making a lucet cord for, which I posted about earlier.

Next, I'll be making my daughter a poet shirt for her kit, and maroon britches for both. Then I should be able to get a picture of the whole kit. This is different from the normal white shirt and white pants they usually wear. The white poet shirt and maroon britches kit will have a more Renaissance fair look to it and will probably be used at the Colorado Medieval Festival in June if we dance there.

My May Day Hat

May is still a long time away, but the sale on spring garlands at Michael's inspired me to get my hat all ready for May Day. On May Day, the Maroon Bells Morris dancers dance the sun up and the following weekend they dance all around town. I'll be wearing my hat while playing for the dancers. The picture above has my daughter wearing it so I could take a picture. She looks better in it than I do. :-)

Wait, Wait... We're Not Dead Yet!

National Public Radio made fun of Morris dancing January 10th, the same day we danced out at a very well attended local event. Even though they made fun of our style of dance, we couldn't help but laugh until our sides hurt. Follow this link to another blog post which contains the link to the episode of "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me".

A French Feast in Denver

There will be a 14th century French Feast in Denver on January 10th, 2009. More details here.

Give Us Some Morris!

Today's Rocky Mountain News mentions us in their Weekend Roundup which lists events to go to this weekend. The Maroon Bells Morris and Breathless in Berthoud Border Morris will be at the Solabration this Saturday. The best part is the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance at the very end.

New Dolls from Nifty Knits

I just received some genuine English morris dancers from Nifty Knits in the UK. She knitted up two little morris dancers to match my two full sized, living, breathing, stick whacking, hankie waving, bell clad morris dancers - Chris and Emily. The doll's baldrics even have a tiny version of the Maroon Bells Morris badge with the Maroon Bells mountains on it. I love the beard on the one that looks like Chris.


If you're at all curious about morris dancing, we have a website for the Maroon Bells Morris here.

And if you'd like a little morris dancer of your own, or another cool knitted item, Nifty Knits can be found here.

Breathless In Berthoud Border Morris Ale

In the end of August this year, our local Border Morris Team, Breathless in Berthoud, celebrated their 5th anniversary. For those who may not have heard of it, Morris Dancing is a very old English folk dance that was old even in Shakespeare's time, and it involves clashing sticks, waving hankies and wearing bells. Border Morris comes from the area around the border between England and Wales. It tends to be more wild and energetic that other Morris dance styles and the dancers often wear colorful rags.
An "Ale" is what Morris dancers call a party where various teams (called "sides") get together to dance and drink beer. Lots of beer. At this Ale, we had our two local teams - Breathless of Berthoud Border Morris out of Berthoud, Colorado, who put on the Ale and Maroon Bells from Denver. Visiting teams were Prairie Waves from Omaha, Nebraska, Morton Bay Figs from San Diego, California, and Blackthorn Morris from St. Louis, Missouri.
I first heard about Morris dancing from my father, who danced it as a youth back in the 1930's in England. When I finally saw it for the first time here in Colorado, I finally understood what the heck he had been talking about. Since my legs don't work very well, I can't dance, but my spouse and younger daughter both dance for the Maroon Bells. I've just recently started playing for them as a musician.
I've including some videos from the Ale so you can get an idea of what a Morris party looks like.
Here we are in Oscar Blues in Lyons, Colorado, drinking beer and dancing. This dance is a Molly dance - usually done to someone singing acapella. This is Raggle Taggle Gypsy:

Here, all the teams are dancing "The Idiot" in the park across from Oscar Blues:

And here they are dancing "Donkey Riding":

More information on Breathless in Berthoud can be found here.

Irish Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado

Fort Collins, Colorado had their first annual Irish festival this past weekend, August 2 and 3, and we were there dancing and playing music. I played for the Maroon Bells Morris and will probably play for Breathless Border Morris in the future, once I get the tunes memorized. The weather was hot - 100 F, and I was miserable in the heat. But the dances went pretty well and we were asked to come back next year. Both teams are recruiting new members, so if you are interested in joining, let me know and I'll pass your name onto our Squire.

I'm a One Eyed Cyclops Today

Oh joy. Somehow I managed to scratch my cornea, so my eye is patched to keep me from blinking and constantly irritating it. It makes viewing the monitor somewhat difficult for some reason. I think my patched left eye was better than my right so things are rather blurry.

What fun! I get to wear this patch while playing for a bunch of dancers in a public place tonight. As if playing the accordion with Morris dancers wasn't embarrassing enough.