Well, I know it's time to take a break from my computer when I pick up my fiddle and find myself wondering if it will have a different interface or if it will just have to open in Classic :-) Luckily, I had such a break. Yesterday I drove up to Gold Country (over towards Yosemite area) to visit the Fletchers and a lot of Quena's family, who have all been working on a new home movie set in the Gold Rush era. They've been filming all week, and the clips I got to see were awesome. Jac plays the notorious poet-bandit Black Jack, who is staying at Miz. Evie's Grub and Flop House, under the name of Slim. Charlie and John Wesley play Billy Bob and Bob Billy, two miners who eventually capture Slim. They are absolutely hilarious in their enormous fake beards and old miner voices. Caroline, Catherine and Sarah play Caroline, Clementine and Nataline, and they're all pretty adorable, too. Then there's an evil banker, an arthritic, banjo-playing grandmother, a couple drunks and Cass explaining in Spanish how California is part of Mexico. And probably a lot of other stuff I didn't get to see.

This morning we filmed a few more scenes and Quena did the stunt riding for Jac (a Pony-Express rider). Then a bunch more people came over and we had the barn dance. Stump Tail Dog played for it, and we just did a few very simple contradances and waltzes, since most people there hadn't ever done anything like it before. Plus, since we were actually in a barn, the conditions were less than ideal, so it's just as well we kept it simple. My legs are pretty sore, just from a few dances. After the dancing, Tia Louie and I played some tunes with the band which got recorded for the sound track. Hopefully the mandolin doesn't come out too loud on that, though, since Oldtime isn't at all my style and I was learning most of the tunes on the spot. Oh, and we had a nice picnic, too (the rain last night had us worried but it was a gorgeous day today). So much fun was had by all.

I'm dying to see the whole movie, but apparently Cass is the designated editor and she's not going to have time to put it all together until the summer after next. Argh. Must have patience. But I got a few photos (I finally remembered to bring my camera somewhere again). Unfortunately, I didn't get any of the actually dancing, since I was always in it and we were being filmed, so I didn't really want to have another camera showing. But I got a few other good pictures.