All work and no play makes Jack and Joann a dull couple. So we worked on having fun at the Louisville NARFE Convention. Tuesday night at the convention was Kentucky Night. The local folks did a fine job of hosting and entertaining us. Kentucky Night began at 5:00 P.M. with a bourbon tasting by some local bourbon distilleries. In this photo you see an unidentified NARFE couple complete with NARFE convention bags sampling the Makers Mark bourbon. We got to keep the bourbon glasses as souvenirs. The locals must think NARFE folks really know how to hold their bourbon because they didn't serve any snacks with the bourbon. Not even a pretzel! Good thing most folks were not driving anywhere right after this sampling of about five bourbon whiskeys.
Joann and Jack knew they couldn't handle sampling five bourbons in a row so after just two they walked down the street to grab a bite of supper at a local Thai restaurant. After the very hot and spicy Thai food they then returned to the Galt House to sample another bourbon. In the picture above is the Stephen Foster singers from Bardstown, Kentucky who did a great job of singing Stephen Foster songs. Joann liked this very much and it reminded her of the junior high play she was in that was all about Stephen Foster and his songs. This group from Bardstown, Kentucky which is famous for the Georgian home that inspired the writing of the song, My Old Kentucky Home, ended their concert with a solemn rendition of that song. Anyone from Kentucky must stand for this singing of the song because it is the state song of Kentucky. The history professor from the University of Louisville noted that My Old Kentucky Home is also the most recognized and most popular of all the fifty state songs in the USA. This prof gave us a great history lesson on Louisville from its beginnings to the present time and he introduced all the performing acts that we watched. He noted that many years ago Louisville, Kentucky was known for having many pigs running loose in town. In fact Louisville rivaled its neighbor across the Ohio River, Cincinnati, Ohio for the title of Porkopolis Capitol of the United States. The things you learn when you listen to a history prof!
This prof claims that he is the authority on the history of pigs in Louisville! I don't know whether to believe that or not but he was very entertaining.
Here is the actor who portrayed Abraham Lincoln. He was very, very good and almost had the audience in tears over the trials and tribulations of Abe's life. He ended his performance with a reciting of the Gettysburg Address. The words came back to me because I remember having to memorize this famous speech my senior year in high school and of course I have heard it many times since.
This bluegrass band rounded out the Kentucky Night show. The man in black on the electric ukulele could really play the uke and the man in the white shirt could really sing and the other guitar player and the banjo player were no slouches either. You won't believe the name of this foursome: Hog Operation Bluegrass!Tomorrow I will try to post two short movie clips of the singing of My Old Kentucky Home by both the Bardstown Singers and Hog Operation Bluegrass.
Just want to add that since we have returned home our dear Louisville hosts, Leon and Helen, have emailed us from a friend's house to inform us that we got out of town just in time! Louisville, Kentucky along with most all of Ohio has been hit hard from the 70 mile an hour winds of Hurricane Ike. Leon and Helen are still without electrial power. Many trees in Ohio and Kentucky came down onto houses and power lines. Our thoughts and good wishes as well as prayers go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Ike.
Must add that I just read the Louisville Courier and learned that the havoc caused by Hurricane Ike has been compounded by the fact the Louisville is hosting the Ryder Cup this weekend and all the hotels are booked so that people without power have few options in Louisville if they don't have family or friends who can take them in for awhile. The news story I read said that power may not be restored for two weeks in some parts of Louisville.
Your friends in Louisville are suffering the same consequences of Ike as Ohio is. Yesterday Dayton was declared off limits. Most of the schools are still closed. Many factories and other businesses are closed. The roads are slowly being opened as we drove to Wal-Mart yesterday on I-70 at Englewood. Over 300,000 in this area are without power and power lines and being dragged down to the ground and poles are snapped by the weight of trees laying on them. My neighbor has three trees laying on the power line. The pole is snapped and I talked to him yesterday and he said the power company has been told but they are so far behind they didn't know when they would get here.
ReplyDeleteHalf of the shopping center here is closed because there is no power. The other half is open.
Our library lost its roof and I don't know about book damage.
My neighbors across the street are still without power. We gave the widow and her son dinner yesterday or shared it with them. They were grateful for that.
It is a grand mess that is taking a long time to get better and the power company doesn't seem to know how much longer things will be like this.
I like your photos of the event and the Lincoln fellow is out of focus when enlarged so I was not able to make him out. I don't think he is the one I have seen but may be.
The thing about pigs running loose was common. I have that one photo of a lady I knew who was a young girl feeding pigs in my hometown, Gordon. It was for sanitary reasons there as everyone had privies and sometimes the people staggering out of bars couldn't make it and did their business in the streets.
Patty and I worked all day yesterday cleaning up trash and limbs. Our cherry tree was ground up by the city so that is gone now.
Maybe we should consider bourbon for GD some day. What did you learn about the differences? Course with ours we would have to have snacks or bring sleeping bags to sleep in!!
ReplyDeleteJoann: Very nice photos of some fun groups and a great looking show.
ReplyDeleteWe had the high winds and 680,000 people are without power. Ohio has been declared to be in state of emergency becuse of the problems from the high wind.
Phoned my sister in Tipp City, Ohio and she told me that the city of Dayton and south of Dayton got more wind damage than where they are in Miami County. Her daughter who teaches for Kettering Schools is off because the schools are shut down because of power being out.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of all the damage.
ReplyDeleteBut it looks like you two know have to have a good time.