Rock City Shamrock Festival

Yesterday my publisher, Jim Johnston of Celtic Cat Publishing, and I traveled to the Shamrock Irish Festival at Rock City to sell books. Unfortunately, the wet, cool weather kept many people away, but Jim and I had a good time anyway. The festival was held in the outdoor pavilion which explains why we stayed cold all day. The outside temperature was 44. The inside temperature was the same unless you sat right next to the large stone fireplace, the only source of heat in the room. Plastic hung over every window, but it did little to keep out the bone biting cold.

I started out wearing two sweaters but finally added a thick coat on top. To keep warm Jim and I sipped cappuccinos, and ate lamb stew and corned beef and cabbage. We also tried one of the Irish beers. The only way to really stay warm was to stand in front of the fireplace, but unfortunately, all the other vendors and bands were standing there, too, so it was hard to squeeze in.

Among the bands was a Scottish band, the Chattanooga Pipe Band. Between the drums and the pipes, there was no danger of falling asleep when they played. It was mesmerizing to listen to and watch them in their black and red outfits with their red plaid kilts. I have decided I want bagpipes at my funeral. They make such a mournful sound.

We also heard the Molly McQuires, an Irish band that sang sassy Irish folk songs and other tunes and got the crowd singing and dancing. We didn't have much luck selling books yesterday, but Jim was invited to read some of his stirring poetry from his wonderful book, "Exile, Poems from an Irish immigrant." Hearing Jim read was the highlight of my day.