Festus 2015

We had our annual Festus gathering today and I guess we had to be quite brave to endure the cold winds. We have never had Festus this late in the year before but circumstances kind of dictated things – let us hope for a nice summers day in July or August next year…

This was the 10th anniversary and it is always good to meet friends and family. Most of the kids have been kind of born into it, so for them Festus is a natural thing, like Christmas. As for the Festus Trophy, I won it (again) and that means that I have to arrange Festus next year. Hopefully, I will have a place of my own in the countryside by then…

(My images)

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Property hunting

I checked out some property yesterday and I had to cross two straights by ferry to get there. The whole trip took about eight hours. Lovely sceneries, lots of interesting things to see on the way. As for the property, the nature that surrounded it is hard to beat, mountains in one direction and Lake Storsjön (The Great Lake) close by. In the end, it was not for me, but somebody could certainly knock down the old house (built in 1850) and put a new one in its place, and it would be pretty perfect. Too much of a project for me though, but it was nice to check it out.

(The three images in the middle was taken at the site)

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Annual Storsie Conference

I attended the annual Great Lake Monster (also known as Storsie) Conference tonight, and this year it was held in my home town Östersund (Jämtland County). The Conference is moved to hamlets and towns around Lake Storsjön (The Great Lake) and this was the first time I ever visited a meeting close to where I reside myself. I guess about 50 people turned up, we had about 10 witnesses telling their stories (I was one of them) and local media was there to cover the event – the journalist filmed a few interviews, I showcase one image here (bottom right) in which witness Anders Ek recalls his experience with something unusual in this lake when he was a kid (the story can be found on this blog). Photographs was on display and all in all it was a good night. Föreningen Storsjöodjuret (roughly translates to The Great Lake Monster Association) is doing a fine job.

The mystery lives on.

(My images)

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Rainbow – official bootlegs

Good news for Rainbow fans, as “Denver 1979” has been released on a double album (vinyl that is) and also as part of a box that also includes selections of shows from Long Island and Chicago from that trek. Three CD´s. Now this is clearly bootleg stuff that has been dusted off but at least it can be assumed that it has been sanctioned for official release by Ritchie Blackmore. So what you get is packages made by fans for fans – but the keyword here is fans. The overall sound quality is not top notch, but typical for the bootlegs of the time. So if you are aware of that, and can accept that, then this might be a pretty decent couple of releases for you.

Still… The trainspotter in me dislikes the fact that the cover shot of Blackmore on the Denver release is from the Deep Purple days (as early as 1972 in fact) and the CD box as well as the Long Island CD inside has shots from the “Difficult To Cure” era (1981) on the covers. Only Chicago is represented by a shot from the “Down To Earth” period.

So, good fun up to a point. Not bad, not great. Some extras inside the CD box makes it slightly more acceptable, like a faksimil of the official Tour Programme of the day.

(Thank you Kalle for letting me borrow these).

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Property hunting

Looked at property today about an hours drive away from Östersund (Jämtland County) and it was quite interesting. Just look at this stream below the land in question. I know one thing, I think I may have found out were I want to find a place. Small town in the vicinity, wonderful church overlooking a lake and mountains. Pretty much a postcard of Swedish countryside at its very best.

Good trip, in good company.

(My image)

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