Fifer’s Web site — on the Web since 1995!

Williamsburg Grand Illumination

The holidays have been pretty uneventful, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. ;-) Really, the highlight of the season for me, was getting to play at the Colonial Williamsburg “Grand Illumination” December 7th and 8th with MCV. (Click the photo to the left to see more pictures!)

Also, our Christmas CD came out! This was exciting as it’s the first (published) recording I’ve been on.

Thistle Quilt in the making

January and February tend to be the “slow” time of year where I don’t do much except sit around the house quilting and watching t.v. at night. Pictured left is a photo of the quilt I’ve been working on (off and on) for the last 3 years or so (note that it’s not finished). Click on the photo to see other shots of the quilt and close-ups of the quilting (from the back only, as it doesn’t stand out much against the pattern on the white cloth in the front).

For those who quilt, I wouldn’t recommend using white calico with white printing on it. It may seem like a good idea at the time, but the quilting really gets lost in the pattern, and it’s a pain in the neck to get the needle through the rubber/ink/printing. I don’t think the pattern I used for quilting worked out too great either - the celtic birds/knots in the St. Andrew’s X bars were a little too close together and busy to pick up much detail, and the knot-work ivy in the corners is “all over the place” and dizzying to follow. If anything, I think the thistles came out the best. But, it’s fun to do, and I’m a perfectionist who’s only an amateur quilter. ;-) Perhaps the quilting patterns would work better if I machine-quilted or quilted everything in between to make them stand out, but as soon as that 4th quarter and the borders are done, I’m through with this sucker! :-) I’m binding it off and finishing it! I’m already getting antsy to start another quilt, but as I have a nasty tendency to start projects I don’t finish, I’m forcing myself to suck it up and finish this one first.

This is an original pattern I designed, but personally, I’m cheap and believe quilting is a tradition and an art-form meant to be shared with anyone who’s interested. So if anyone wants me to publish a free pattern for this thistle quilt on my web site somewhere, I’ll be happy to - just email me if you’re interested, so I know if it’s worth the time to consolidate the info and write a web page. (Click on the quilt photo to see more pictures!)

Updated January 14, 2004

New thistle quilt pattern downloads (the contents are all text and graphics files which should work on any platform that has an internet browser. I just gave you the option of decompression for each system):

Readme.txt
thistlepattern.zip - (Windows)
thistlepattern.sit - (Macintosh)
thistlepattern.tar - (Unix)

Completed Thistle Quilt

For anyone who’s been following the “thistle quilt” saga, I’m now finally finished with it. (Click on the quilt photo to see more pictures!) I don’t know if it’s show-quality, but I think maybe I’ll try entering it in a few contests this summer just for kicks.

In other news, MCV kicked off the season with 2 St. Patrick’s Day parades in Newport, RI, and Scituate, MA. Newport was interesting, as they had us marching on cobblestone streets, and required many miles of walking back to the beginning afterwards. Scituate was fun, as it’s in a very scenic little harbor-town that looks like something out of a Massachusetts tour-book.

I’ve also revamped the Feadán Or Pipe Band’s web site. I still have a few things to do on it, but it’s now “live.” Please stop by and pay a visit.

Lexington, MA

I decided a while ago that I’d like to climb Mt. Washington this summer. Don’t laugh, I’m serious! I figure 5 years ago, I couldn’t even climb my own steps without getting winded (I’ve since lost about 75 lbs...) so carpe diem! In all this fervor, I decided I should probably work up to it, as I’ve never hiked a mountain before in my life. ;-)

So, I started out (relatively) small and hiked Pack Monadnack (1,300 ft. elevation gain) on Saturday. (April 19). Once I got to the top and saw signs pointing to woods and rocks and a trail with yellow triangles, it occurred to me that a hiking trail was indeed a hiking trail, and not the paved road I in fact climbed up to the summit on. (Duh.) Owell... it got me to the top. I took the trail down. There’s nothing that makes you feel out of shape quite like meeting an older gentleman and his 3 or 4 year old grandson coming up the trail (near the top) and they don’t even look winded. ;-) But, I made it to the bottom without incident, and other than basic muscle-soreness, didn’t feel too bad. I tell people “I wanted to climb a mountain before I was over the hill.”

Sunday I didn’t feel too bad either. I celebrated my 28th birthday and Easter (Sunday) by taking the dog for a ride around Lake Winnipesaukee. It was still frozen over, even though the weather has been warming up.

Well, I guess as of my birthday, my warranty expired, though, because on Monday (21st) I was feeling good, until after the first parade in Concord. Then my knee started acting up, and didn’t get any better after marching a second parade in Lexington that afternoon. ;-) But, overall it was a fun day, and we had lots of people to play for.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was... wet. We marched through Newton, waded through Andover, and swam through Medford. I only have picts from the first 2, as our esteemed photographer opted to sit in the car through Medford, and let the rest of us get wet so he could laugh at us.

I’ve taken up the never ending quest to be fit (again). It’s usually about this time of year that I get off my butt and work out a bit. I usually give up about July or August when I’d rather spend my free time outside than in the gym. This year, it’s aerobic treadmill/stair-master and weight-training. I found this cool site: http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html. Unfortunately, even though everywhere it says women will not look like she-hulk if they lift unless they’re genetically predisposed, I seem to be genetically predisposed to be an Amazon, no matter what. So, if I didn’t intimidate guys at 5’10” to start with, packing on some muscle will surely send them screaming. ;-) On the plus (minus?) side, I’ve already lost 4.5 lbs in the last 2 weeks. And since I’d been exercising and drinking my water before that anyway, I’m not all that convinced that it’s “just water weight.” So yay me!

Mount Washington Summit

In the Navy

Two major events have passed since I last updated this page in early June. The first- I hiked Mt. Washington! It took me 6.5 hours... but I did it, and surprisingly, I didn’t hurt afterwards. Imagine climbing the Empire State Building 3.5 times using crooked stairs with a 16” rise to them! Ugh. Wow. It still seems unreal that I did that, but I’ve got the pictures to prove it!

The other event was my survival of MCV “boot-camp,” aka “the Boston Harborfest.” A shout out to my “partner in pain” Matt Gelinas, as we were the only 2 idiots in the corps to do every single event, 6 days running. (That, and he’s the only person in the corps who admits to reading this web page on a semi-regular basis).

We did the Harborfest opening ceremonies, a shin-dig at the Paul Revere House, a “sunset parade” at the Charlestown Navy Yard in front of the USS Constitution, 2 parades on the 4th, roves all Saturday and Sunday (94 degrees in the full wool uniforms both days), and a concert at Old City Hall on Sunday night.

Highlights included getting my picture taken with a Royal Navy Admiral and US Navy Captain (how often do you get that opportunity?), playing our fife quartet for 500+ people (and not falling off the stage in the process), and being a 4th of July “tourist attraction” (you get stopped on the street so people can take their picture with you).

Lobstah

Well, I’ve officially lived out here in New England for a year now. I got my one-year anniversary pen from work and everything! For anyone who wonders, I’m a “Web Content Specialist” - i.e. professional web designer. I’m almost hesitant to admit this, due to the perpetual state of chaos and my general dissatisfaction in this site. But, of course the last thing on my mind most days is updating my own site. To see a few others I’ve done that I’m a bit more proud of, check out the Feadán Or Pipeband web site, or the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums web site.

There are too many things I’ve done in the past year to reiterate here, but needless to say, packing up everything and moving here was the best thing I could’ve ever done. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m able to meet my potential, and the opportunities to grow as a person are far greater than previous opportunities.

Williamsburg Grand Illumination

Santa’s skipping me this year...

I just got back from doing the annual pilgrimage to Colonial Williamsburg with the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums, and I’ll tell you, this year was awesome! Between the huge crowd we played for on the palace green, dinner at the King’s Arms Tavern and our first (sold out!) concert in our “On Christmas Day” concert series, my experiences with MCV just keep getting better.

Among other things, I’ve also been keeping busy with 4 classes during the fall semester at the University of Massachusetts, and am finishing up finals now. I’ve also been working on music stand covers for our concerts, working on the Christmas music with MCV, traveling quite a bit and somehow have managed to go to work and do my laundry about once a week, too. It keeps me out of trouble... usually (see picture to the right).