These curtains are soothing if you are red-green colorblind...

robrohr — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:57:00 GMT

I just got back from a week of fiddling up in the Great White North, or more accurately, the Great Sandy Nord. I attended for the first time the first annual Camp Violon Trad Quebec, where the likes of Andre Brunet, Stephanie Lepine, Martine Billette and Eric Beaudry crammed notes into our skulls by the shovelful. Because there were so many tunes to learn, there was absolutely no time to have any fun.

The individuals in this photo, despite appearances are NOT having a grand old time at a Mardi Gras evening on Tuesday. This is simply a display of the tremendous acting skills of the students at this camp. From left to right, you will find the following serious individuals pretending to be having a heck-uv-a time.

- Carol D. - English teacher and schoolmarm at a private school in southern Vermont
- Joan F. - Law enforcement officer at an institute of higher education in central Illinois
- Donna M. - Research Librarian for a large municipal library in Canada
- Doug L. - High school science teacher in central Vermont
- Rob R. (no relation) - Computer programmer for a large state university in northwestern Vermont

Though the preparatory materials indicated that there would be a Mardi Gras evening, I would like to point out that I came completely unprepared, not knowing what such would entail. I suspected I would sit in the corner, ready to be entertained by the outlandish outfits and antics of the less repressed. Then I walked through the lounge near the entrance to my sleeping quarters. A chorus of angels began singing one of those songs from the Little Mermaid. A silver spear of light pierced the windows, and through my tears of joy, I saw... the curtains. Sheer beauty, I tell you. Other than the color choice, the pattern and the drape. At that moment, I knew I would come to the party as Carmen Miranda (Really? No idea? Check her out on youtube). We had the fruit technology and duct tape in the kitchen, we had the appropriate swathes of material. How could I possibly go wrong? Oh yeah. No frikkin' time. So a few safety pins from the basket on the sink in the (ehem, women's) rest room, an excursion up the wall to liberate a few yards of material, and there you have it: a colourblind Scotsman. I was asked what was holding up my kilt, but I believe the appropriate question is, "Whet's hauldin' her doon, aye?"

I was kilt clad throughout dinner and the subsequent improv show (similar to who's line is it anyway, only with fiddles and a language barrier). The next morning, the only indication of these curtains had gone for a bit of a road trip was a few wrinkles where I had been "settin' ma' wee hiney on the carrick*." You can see some of the curtain hanging loops below my left fist. By midnight, these curtains were back on the rod where they belonged, and only this photo to remind us of the rollicking good times that occurred on Tuesday evening at the first ever Camp Violon Trad Quebec.

* Yes, I know that Carrick is constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons between 1614 and 1800, and thus this statement makes no sense, but I was in the middle of an improv and a carrick sounds like something a fake Scotsman might sit upon, especially if he has a certain red-green color differentiation issues.

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Szekeres, 2008

robrohr.org : quebec

These curtains are soothing if you are red-green colorblind...