Rocking in the Long Room

Well, I can honestly say that I doubt The Long Room in Busta House has ever seen anything like that before, it truly rocked, wonder if the ghost enjoyed it. It was fabulous right from the start, I can't even remember what he started with, but a lot of songs were the old one's that you knew and the other's had same style which I love! He is such a showman, he really could have been a stand-up comic, he was hilarious in an unassuming way and the stories about Nicola the air stewardess and the Golden Coach had me almost in tears I laughed so much. But back to the music, he has the kind of voice that makes you feel all warm and cosey, and sometimes makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, which is just what you want. Mind you it was all a bit surreal, being in the Long Room on a Wednesday night listening to this man (have to call him that although he looked like a boy, so young) with an amazing voice. He obviously takes his music very seriously as you could see by his face, but simply couldn't stop smiling once he had finished. The other man in the photo was Zach, his pal, who also played and was really good and had the most unusual moustache, with the curly ends, think he must use a lot of wax/mousse/hairspray?
So by the end (it went so fast) it was getting pretty warm and Josh and Zach finished with 'California', which really was the kind of song that felt like someone had wrapped you in a big, warm cosey blanket, well that's what I felt like, a perfect end to a perfect night, oh and everyone even got a cuddle on the way out, he wis joost luffley!
Come back very soon boys!! Now I'm away to listen to my signed CD.

Josh Ritter at Busta House?

Oh my god, I have just managed to get 2 tickets for Josh Ritter in the Long Room at Busta House tomorrow night!! I can't beleive it! When I saw it advertised in the Shetland Times, at first I couldn't remember where I had heard his name, then the song came back to me, 'Snow is Gone', heard some time ago on Radio 2 whilst having a shower late one night. Then I forgot about it as the Craft Fair took over my mind, and when I did remember to phone all the ticket's had gone, I think there had only been about 50 in the first place (the Long Room is quite small). Then on Radio Shetland tonight at the very end it said there were 2 tickets available and I thought, 'will I phone?' then I remebered what big Sis always says, just do it, you never know what's going to happen tommorow, so I phoned and I got them. Me and Minty are heading up to Brae tomorrow night to enjoy some fantastic music.

the last minute.........

Doing my usual, I am sitting here desperately trying to finish off my 2005/2006 Accounts, so I can get them to the accountant in time.
Is this a female thing?, a Ritch thing?, or is it just me leaving it till the last minute as usual?, I think it's probably the third one, just me. Is there anyway you can change this?, I know I have said it before but if you give me a month to do something I will always do it in the last few days and get there just in time. I work better when I have far too much to do, I tend to get bored when I don't have much on.
One year I decided to be 'organised', and got all my Burra Bear orders finished well in time, I did all my Christmas shopping in time I even ended up helping Big Sis to do her last minute things because she was having a 'last minute' year. But after all that, quite frankly I was completely bored and pissed off as I had nothing to do, so I said never again, and this year will see me quite happily rushing around da Toon a few days before Christmas, in the rain, trying to find presents and wading through all the folk in Somerfield buying up all the food you think you have to buy at Christmas and end up throwing away a week later from a fridge which is groaning under the strain, but that's what it's all about, much as we like to moan, it wouldn't be the same and, god help me, I LIKE IT THAT WAY.

Maybe I should start a campaign to KEEP CHRISTMAS CRAZY, although I think we can usually mnanage that quite well on our own!

Annider party

It was brother-in-law Colin 'o' Semblister's 'BIG 40' party last night in the Aith Hall, we dunna do thing's by halves when we have a party! There was over 300 folk invited, the night started with a little jamming session on the fiddle etc, all Colin's family are very musical, plus he is part of the 'Red Vans', so they were all there too. After everyone had arrived and been given their free drink at the door (just like a wedding except Colin didna have a suit on), we went straight into the Auction, this was to raise money for both the local CAT scanner appeal and 'Mind your Head'. The Auction included some weird and wonderful items, hand made fishing weights, 3kg of fresh mussels, a fresh lamb (in bits), spaarl puddings, still no sure what is actually in these, and then there were the compulsory Fair Isle Thong x 2, Fair Isle Footstool, Peerie oolets, and we also had a Cashmere Poncho (one of Mam's last one's), an oil painting again by Mam, and a garden bench made by Colin, then there was the slave auction, 4 handsome men auctioned themselves for the day. The Auction raised £2600, the most expensive item was the Garden Bench which went for £230, and was bought by, Me!, I got a bit carried away, may have had something to do with the red wine!! I think I made a good choice though, the Fair Isle Thong went for £75!
The supper followed the Auction and then straight into the disco. I left at about 12.30am, and speaking to little Sister this morning, she said they only got to bed at 6am, but a good night was had by all, so far the total raised stands at £3500 and they are still counting!

it's all go

Having sorted out everything from the Craft Fair and had a committee meeting to disect it, I'm all go for Christmas orders.

I wrote up my order board, and having reached the bottom I think I need a bigger board!! This is when I start to panic, and think, 'should I really have promised all those Burra Bears for Christmas?', but hey, I do this every year, so in a few days the panic will be over and I will settle down to working a full week instead of a few half days like normal!

Daughter is looking for a job, so I wrote up an amusing CV and have sent it to a few places, main points 'is handy with a hoover, Mr Sheen and Mr Muscle!', thought that might get a few responses. I did put in the serious points, like what she is interested in and the fact that she can work a sewing machine, glue gun, guillotine and laminator. I remember when I worked in the Toon and you would get these young eens coming in the shop with a dour face saying 'do you hae any jobs goin?', not really the best way to find employment, then you would get the nicely written letters, showing that someone had taken the time to think about what they wanted, it really did make all the difference.

Take note...............

peerie oolets on show

peerie oolets

peerie oolets - ooie bears for your bosie

Our annual Craft Fair was this past weekend. We hold this every year in November to showcase all the Shetland Arts & Crafts Association members, including our associate members as well as the full members (for full members see www.shetlandartsandcrafts.co.uk). This year there were over 50 exhibitors, with some new startups.

I even managed to come up with a new product! It's only taken me about 5 years. After constantly being asked for a 'peerie bear', I did it, and 'peerie oolets' were born. I did my uusual and left it till the last minute, so the weekend before the craft fair I was madly trying to come up with a peerie bear which was practical to make from felted fair isle. Peerie oolets are nothing like the style of the Burra Bear, being more a flat bear you can cuddle to you, and more aimed at bairns, although I did sell quite a few to adults, as one man said when I asked if he was giving his 'oolet' away as a gift, he looked at me, took the 'oolet' out of the bag and said, 'no, I am definately keeping him for myself', with a big grin on his face.

I came up with 2 sizes, 'peerie oolet' and 'peerie mootie oolet'. The word peerie in Shetland spaek means small, mootie meaning very small and the word 'oolet' according to the Shetland dictionary means brat, which would be right as I remember when we were peerie and Mam was annoyed with us, she would shout, 'you peerie oolets!'. I also thought the name might spark a Shetland craze, as the Bratz dolls did throughout Britain. And judging by my weekend sales you never know.

Anyhow, by Sunday night at 5pm (when the craft fair ended) my feet were ready to go home, having been in the Clickimin Centre since 8am on Friday morning, being part of the committee means having to come in early to set up the hall for all the exhibitors, this includes marking out the floor (my thighs are in agony from all the bending), sorting out screens (we never have enough), putting out tables and chairs, and then the fun begins at 2pm when exhibitors arrive to set up, and we realise that someone hasn't been given enough, tables, chairs, screens, and so it goes on. But in the end everything worked out ok, and we look forward to next year.

I hope this doesn't mean I have to come up with another new product?

Technology

I have been up to my ears in leads, phones and computers. Having updated our broadband connection to make it faster (don't know if it really makes any difference up here), we were given a second phone line with another number, so we can receive free outgoing evening and weekend calls, which is fine, if not a bit confusing trying to remember what phone to use after 6pm. So I decided I would update the other phones in the house and I had to get a set with extension's so I could have one out in the shed for when I'm working, which I found, no problem, and even got them at a 'good price'. I bought the phones on Friday and managed to get them out of the box on Monday, ready to get them all plugged in then I read the instructions, 'leave to charge for 16 hours', so they had to sit another day. Yesterday I got them all plugged in and got the old one's unplugged and untangled, now I just have to learn how to work the bloody things, buttons in the wrong place, address book, ringer melody, volume............... bored? maybe tomorrow.
Talking to a friend the other day who was having problems with her Email, we were saying, bairns noo adays dunna keen they're born! we were reminiscing about when we were 'peerie', and we didn't have any MP3, ipods etc, we had to wait for the charts to come on Radio One on a Sunday night and get the tape recorder ready to record our music for the next week, and you couldn't just go away and leave it, you had to stay there so you could quickly turn the cassette over when side one finished, so as not to miss any music, and if you didn't have a radio/cassette player you had to place the radio next to the other stereo that did have a tape recorder and hold a microphone next to the speaker and then make sure that no body spoke while the recording was going on otherwise it would pick up their voice's, god, imagine? and this was all done on a machine the size of a bloody fish box!, none of your portable chewing gum packet size contraptions, and we both agreed, they don't know they're born!

Think this means your getting old, when you talk about the younger generation and reminisce about your past, ahh those were the days!!