An Amazing Concert

Saturday, after having Blaze's homeschool assessment done, we drove down to DeLand for a big steampunk concert at the historic Athens Theater. The Cog is Dead was filming a live concert video.



For this special occasion, they brought in some very talented friends to help out, Nathaniel Johnstone (formerly of Abney Park, now leader of his own band, The Nathaniel Johnstone Band),



Tempest,
(This was Tempest accompanying the Cog in Dead during their show at Dragon*Con last year)



Clockwork Knotwork,



and Phantasmagoria.



To get the audience all warmed up before the show, there was a costume contest. Five people were chosen to go up on stage and the winner was chosen by the enthusiasm of the crowd. Blaze didn't win, but he was one of the five.

The two pictures of him on stage were taken by Chris Bridges:





The show was absolutely amazing!

I didn't take my camera out of the car until after the show, but here are some pictures of people socializing afterwords.









Nathaniel Johnstone (in yet another poorly focused picture with Blaze) is one of the most talented and friendly musicians you could ever meet. He can play a wide variety of instruments and is full of infectious enthusiasm both on and off the stage.



Blaze and Daniel O'Ryan, one of the members of Clockwork Knotwork, admiring each other's backpacks. The Clockwork Knotwork one is actually a steampowered bagpipe.



This was the welcoming committee that met us as we stepped off the elevator at our hotel.



After being around such creative, talented, and colorful people at the Cog is Dead concert, they just seemed a bit flat.



On the way back to Tallahassee on Sunday, we made a brief stop in McIntosh, so I could take pictures of the cool little submarine that sits in front of McIntosh Village Antiques.

Display Shelves for Tea Cups and Tea Pots

On our way back from Minnesota, we stopped at the flee market in Cullman, Alabama, mostly so we could get out of the car and stretch our legs for awhile. I came away with this new piece of furniture.



It wasn't an attractive paint job and it turned out that the paint had been used to cover burn marks from candles and other damage. The paint had also been applied without removing previous varnish. The price was right, though.

This was the result of an entire can of spray-on Goof-Off brand paint remover and a lot of scraping:



This is the result of a larger can of paint-on paint remover, Klean-Strip.



The rest of the paint was removed with the help of extra strength spray-on Klean-Strip, which is scary stuff. It was burning my hands through a pair of vinyl gloves, so I replaced that pair with two new pairs, but it still burned my hands, even through the double thickness.

There was also a lot of sanding and rubbing with steel wool involved.

The "Warm Cherry" wood stain from Wood You (unfinished wood furniture) was left over from the dining room table.

I decided to put new knobs on the drawers, because the white porcelain knobs looked like they belonged in a bathroom.



After a week and a half of working on it, it was ready to go up on the wall today.

Moundville

DH worked at Moundville while he was working on his masters degree at the University of Alabama and he had often mentioned wanting to visit, so that was the final stop on our return trip from Minnesota.





The museum is small, but beautifully put together.















The mounds that the natives built are impressive. DH said that when he worked here, the building at the top of this mound was open to the public and contained a life-sized diorama, but the park had trouble with vandalism and it is no longer open.



It's quite a climb, but the view from the top is spectacular!










Blaze was very interested in earth lodges.



Close to the river there is a cluster of small houses with life-sized dioramas of daily life.












For more information about Moundville:
http://moundville.ua.edu/moundville/

Friday morning visit to the Como Zoo

We were about to leave Minneapolis Friday morning, when we passed the sign along the highway that warned that the exit for Como Zoo was coming up. It was a warmer, drier day than the day before, so DH decided we could make an impromptu stop.

Como Zoo is one of the free attractions around Minneapolis.



We seemed to have picked the day when every child in Minnesota visits the zoo.



My children, ex-husband, and I had visited the zoo 10 years ago, but I don't remember the crowds being so bad.



DH doesn't like crowds, so it didn't take him long to announce that he had had quite enough of other people's kids.



The conservatory was far quieter and prettier than the zoo.





Blaze and Grandmother:




We made only one more stop at the zoo after leaving the conservatory, but it was undoubtably the most disturbing.

The viewing room for this polar bear was so crowded that it was hard to move and something was very wrong with the bear. It was acting like it was having dry heaves and I was worried that it was having a seizure.

I remember being bothered by the behavior of the polar bear 10 years ago. The enclosure for the bears was smaller then and the polar bear was swimming back and forth, like pacing, in a tank that was too small for it's needs. This is quite likely that very same bear. The park has twin bears who are 20 years old and I can't imagine that their new enclosure could cure them of all the crazy caused by the smaller, less stimulating enclosure that they used to have. Any enclosure is probably too small and madness inducing to a polar bear. Como Zoo's own website says that "Polar bears have been known to swim for 100 miles in a single stretch". 



The website, also, states that they can smell a seal 20 miles away. That alone would cause insanity, I would think, because the seals are only a short walk away. Imagine living next door to a restaurant that is cooking delicious food all day. You can smell it. It makes your mouth water, but you are on house arrest and may never walk out the door. You will be fed by your captors, but it will never be the food that you crave. That will remain as a tantalizing smell that you can never act upon.

The Minneapolis Institute Of Art

We arrived in Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon (May 13), so that we could attend a dinner for the bride and groom's families at Pizza Luce in Downtown (excellent pizza, by the way). Then we had most of Thursday to entertain ourselves, until it was time for the wedding. My original plan was to go to Como Zoo on Thursday morning, but it was raining. Ula had suggested several free places to visit in Minneapolis, so we tried the next one on her list, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, instead.





This was a great place to spend a rainy day!







Benches with a tablet attached to each end, showing information about nearby displays, were scattered throughout the museum.



There is an impressive collection of Asian art.







Blaze and Grandmother looking at art together:





Then we went back to the hotel to prepare for the wedding.