a bee sting and a bellyache

As you may have noticed Poe's right foot on his very first day of school was carefully wrapped in a striking red facecloth, not, as you would expect, a sturdy and highly practical shoe. The reason for this anomaly was that a few days beforehand Poe got stung by a bee, unfortunately he is allergic so we were all a little scared but all was well. His foot did swell up a lot, and was really, really sore, but unlike last time it did not lead to an anaphylactic rash, phew. We feel more confident at dealing with bee stings rather than being hugely fearful of them (for the time being) So that explains that.

Now to the bellyache. Saturday morning I rode up to Kombu to collect a few things and as I was wobbling past No. 5 Church St, which is right next to Kombu, and wobbling because my 'few things' turned into a lot of things, as they were giving away a lot of the fruit and veg that might not make it through the rest of the day, let alone Sunday til Monday. Where was I? Oh yes, as I was wobbling past No. 5, I spied a table of three bearded/moustached folk, they were talking about songwriting and had a whiff of bluegrass about them. Well being the cluey lass that I am, I put it all together and realised that these young men must be Bellyache Ben and the Steamgrass Boys, the band that we were going to see at No. 5, that very night. Needless to say I peddled back home and reported my findings to my lovely bearded, blue grassy fellow at home, he took the information in, he casually walked out of the lounge room and then casually walked back in "Do you mind if I go and have a chat with them", mind, ha, not in the slightest my love, off you go, be with your kind.
I was shocked and a little saddened when my love returned with barely 15 minutes past on the clock, weren't they there, I asked. Oh yes, they are coming over to record some songs now. What!!

The lounge room had mikes and leads pouring out of it in no time and then in much the same time, we had an audience, a band and a recording session. Bellyache Ben and the Steamgrass Boys were really fun, they had some really great catchy songs and an amazing murder ballad about Jimmy Govenor, they were also really excited to be jamming with Scott and recording a couple of their tunes in our lounge room.

Sorry about the poor filming, no excuse just poorly skilled. 

It was a really lovely impromptu thing to do. It made Scott and I remember House Concerts and how we would love to hold one and then furthered this by reigniting a dream of building a mini kind of barn in our backyard one day to record bands and accommodate them with a little loft room. Inspired hugely by the beautiful dvd that accompanies The Decemberists The King is Dead album which was recorded in a barn, if you have never seen it, try your best to get a copy, it will be worth your while.

And then finally to No. 5 Church St for the evening performance, again really fun, yep, good honest fun.
Oh and those of you in Sydney, did you know that these fine lads play every week at Madam Fling Flongs, yep, every week, they have a residency there, Wednesday night Hootenanny. Go check them out.