party | Apothecary Shed

30th Annual Oopstock (Felst) Music Party

August 28, 2023

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30 years? How did that happen?

Here’s what we looked like ten years ago.

Summer Solstice 2023

July 14, 2023

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What you gonna do? It rained. It was July 4th weekend. People are bone tired.

Have a party! It was a good one.

Thank goodness for Alec and Eli and Markus and Aubrey. Many hands makes slightly less work. Romey and I can use all the help we can get.

Don’t let his easy smile fool you, this man is serious about his parties!

The list.

Aubrey brought the Messerhead Memorial Salmon Dinner.

And then the time arrived.

Where’s Maybe?

Last minute instrument shells added to the bonfire. Makes art. This has become a really fun tradition.

Even Maybeline got into the act, chewing up her own personal frog.

The culprit.

We knew what to expect from the weather this year so we set up the tables near the barn. That was very helpful when the deluge came.

We retired to the barn for about an hour before the second and third waves of people showed up.

Old men make muscles.

Richie gets wild.

After the rain delay it was back to the tables.

And then the lighting (around 8:15).

It was just a smidge humid.

There was music in the barn.

This year we wound things up around 2am. Getting old I guess. LOL.

We will do it again. Thanks to all who came to the 2023 summer solstice.

Iulie Turns Five

July 14, 2023

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Sometimes you turn five.

Three generations.

Of course there was cake, decorated by O.

The present pile was impressive.

Yo Turns 65

June 17, 2023

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Nothing quite like staying with dear friends in Leuven. Yo and Caroline are excellent hosts. This visit was made even more fun by including a 65th birthday party for Yo.

Here are some pictures from my visit.

I even managed to sneak into the circus on Friday evening. An incredible show focused on lighting matches, making pizzas, and spinning plates.

The cast of two and the poor “volunteers” who were pulled from the audience.

Leuven.

There was dancing in the kitchen.

And there were homemade cakes.

We even got to try out some mixology for the party.

Rosemary grappa lemonade…let’s call it the “yo-yo 65.”

The birthday king presides.

The actual power behind the throne is slightly capricious.

The site of the party is the back garden with lots of veggie plants. Delicious food was about as “locally sourced” as you can get. There were fresh snap peas and strawberries. So healthy and so delicious.

This gorgeous cake was my favorite. Banana cheesecake. Yum.

There was some dancing in wooden clogs yo some truly bad fiddle sawing.

We walked several miles together all using the house as a base of operations.

And we visited the English books at FNAC to compare notes.

All in all about as much fun as you can have in Leuven!

Easton Wedding

May 25, 2023

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Here are some pictures from Maybelline’s first road trip. She missed Romey who was watching Taylor Swift in Boston with 85,000 of her closest friends.

Adolfo and Katie were married in a Quaker meeting house from 1684 and celebrated on the Claggett farm. Many Chileans were present.

Rhine and I drive up from Virginia with Maybe navigating. Lunch time beckons even on the road.

Maybelline was the star of lunch. This little girl loved the puppy.

When we arrived, Maybelline explored the farm and met lots of people.

Two chicken nuggets and their leader.

At 92, Rain is in great health and limber enough to pat the puppy way down by her feet. Goals.

A puppy of the human variety loved riling up Maybe (sometimes too much, but that’s how it is with puppies be they human or dog).

Yours truly over the puppy. This was a familiar site over the weekend. Maybelline careened all over, and then crashed under the chair.

The reception on the farm was gorgeous. Table 6 dominated the proceedings from our corner of insignificance.

The tequila ran dry.

The 11 year old puppy was well spoken and well dressed.

But he was still 11.

Dancing until 2am. Great party, even with some rain.

Cooking Up a Fancy New Year 2023

January 10, 2023

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This year we rang in the New Year with delicious food and an intimate two person party.

Nine hour Burgundy Mushrooms are absolutely delicious! But they do really take nine hours. Six hours of simmering with a lid on and three more with the lid off. The new Mauviel christmas pot (my best present by far) was perfect for the job.

We also roasted a chicken and veggies in the new pink pot using one of Romey’s recipes. Likewise delicious.

This was “first dinner.” The coup de grace was still to come.

Mr Skaggs paid a visit while the cooking proceeded and we had a couple of Seelbach cocktails (take care of the time warp!). We’re pretty sure that’s why we accidentally fell asleep before midnight. LOL.

This was a fancy pants Seelbach iteration with veuve clicquot champagne and blanton’s bourbon. Absolutely fantastic.

And then it was time to cook up blinis for the caviar. We went to the “gold plated groceries” store for the fixins. Crème fraîche for the win. So delicious.

Incidentally, these were fried to perfection in another new pan.

This special meal called for a vintage bottle of pink veuve clicqot.

We attempted to watch Fight Club (which I had never seen) , but we fell asleep just before the end (and just before midnight). We blame the Seelbachs.

The leftover champagne and blinis made a great first breakfast of 2023.

Happy New Year to all.

Winter Solstice 2022: Warm Friends on a Cold Night

December 18, 2022

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It all started at 3pm for me (with the perfunctory “lighting of the barrel”). Just making sure there was a heat source for people who arrived before the big bonfire lighting.

The sky was gorgeous.

And soon there were solstice attendees and tiki torches.

We lit the fire shortly after 5pm when it finally got dark enough. There were LOTS of people here for the lighting. It was a good one.

The fire had a huge core (that is still burning late the next day).

Meanwhile up at the barn there was terrible Christmas music, lots of food, and a great sense of camaraderie.

The homemade eggnog (recipe here) made things a little blurry. Delicious.

The space between the barn and the bonfire is always magical. This year, the lasers were particularly remarkable.

And the highlight of the evening for me. Music with Clark and Gina. Yes please. This is how we turn the sun.

We wrapped things up around midnight with the last of the hearty attendees, leaving a large pack of 20 somethings to deal with the skunk!

Moonshine loved it.

And he says, now that everything is cleaned up, lets do it again!

Thanks to all who came. Magical.

Music in Madison with Ritt and Wilder

October 17, 2022

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We had so much fun playing for the Hinge release in Virginia and in North Carolina that we did it again!

First things first, though, the violin must be transformed into tip top shape. Thank goodness Josh Henry, my esteemed bow guy, also doubles as a violin guy.

And then we were ready for some action!

Sound check in the street.

Load in and a fabulous bar. Real drinks and intimate music. Yes please.

The opener.

Ritt and Wilder pre-fiddle.

It was pretty fun watching, but way more fun playing!

We rocked the house.

And the best part other than performing? Visiting the Wilder Dietz School of Music! Walking for hours in Madison (one of the prettiest university towns in the US). Spending quality time with the extended family of Ritt and Vic.

Monarch Crysalys

My seatmate on the way home was a dog.

Lets do it all again!

Get Hinge here.

Porchfest in Bridgeport

August 28, 2022

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Lets play music in Connecticut. The Greyhounds welcome you to the house.

But first a dip in the pool.

And then it’s off to the porch.

George, gig one of three…

Sound check

And then another dip in another pool, between gigs.

Gig the next.

All we’re missing is the drummer. George, gig three…

Summer Solstice 2022

June 21, 2022

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We’ll start in the middle, with a video of the lighting of the summer solstice bonfire of 2022. The weather was absolutely perfect and the crowd friendly and warm. Every year the size of the fire seems to come as a surprise.

This year the weather was so cool that a dip in the river was not in the cards.

Rewinding a day, Aubrey provided another great iteration of the smoked salmon Messerhead feast helping to set the FOOD stage. Speaking of FOOD, Chef Michael was down from Chicago with Astro. That means we were spoiled rotten on the food front for days on end.

Salmon feast table

Any solstice that starts with caviar is destined for greatness.

Before.

Prepping for late night tacos

It seems that Chef Michael can’t cook for less than 700. But that’s OK. We just need to make the solstice party seven times bigger. Pork shoulder in the firepit by the shrine.

We had a mid-day break to tour Eli’s fantastic art show at the Barns of Rose Hill. The show continues through July 2nd.

Then it was time for the pre-game Negroni.

And we were officially underway. Esther and Cora presided over the opening.

The sufferin bastard made an appearance

After an outstanding potluck feast, replete with fresh flowers, it was time for one quick song (thanks guitar week fellers) and FIRE.

By far the cutest thing at this solstice iteration was the jumping of the gun by Brantley the marshmallow boy. The fire was still a bit young. But that did not deter Brantley.