A Damp Musical Adventure

Again this fall, Handy Man and I ventured south to the Museum of Appalachia's Homecoming in Tennessee.  This time we brought Tish and SuZQ along.  I seem to recall some bits of sunshine that fought the gray woolly skies for a tiny shaft to shoot a few rays through, but it was rare.  Mostly, it was mud and drizzle, but manageable.  We enjoyed it.
We stopped in Corbin to have lunch with a beloved cousin, our quilter  Debbee.  And she had such a lovely surprise. A toasty warm quilt for each of us.
 If predictions of another bitterly cold winter  are true, this bad boy will be a constant companion.  I love it!

If you've never been to this festival, it is kind of hard to explain.  The rain interrupted the the flow of musicians rather drastically on Friday, but folks were braver on Saturday and Sunday.  Anywhoo, this guy, John Rice Irwin. travelled all over Appalachia, taking anything anyone would part with, including an entire post office, multiple cabins, a sawmill, etc.
 He has them set around (cabins and such) in a green hilly area,  kind of like a little village, with a couple of big buildings that hold the small treasures. In addition to musical groups, there are folks making beans and cider over open fires, demonstrating weaving, spinning, cedar shingle making, and on and on.

You might discover that one of the treasures was donated by your Dad's brother- weird.

A donkey, mule, a few sheep, goats, chickens and ducks are thrown in for a little farming community ambiance.
So, there  are scheduled groups who appear on three stages, but in fine weather, there is some little group picking around every corner you turn from five year olds to 80 year olds.

This is a Dad and his four boys.  Many groups are families.

 This is Cowboy Copas' daughter.  If he had lived he'd be nearly one hundred, so she's pushing eighty.
Then, the autoharp and dulcimer society, might be camping out at your very own hotel and spend the after hours serenading you in the lobby.

Or you might go to the local Golden Girls restaurant, and a whole group of musicians on guitar, Dobro, violin, bass, mandolin and banjo, again the youngest and quite accomplished eleven year old fiddler, to the seventy something grandpa, set up right beside you and  provide entertainment for another hour.

This very place is the very reason I came to own both a guitar and a dulcimer that I still can't play Mary Had a Little Lamb on.  Ahem, well, maybe next year.

And, as always, grateful to go, grateful to return safely, grateful for the nephew who tends my critters whilst I'm away.  Thank you Lord!