Folklife Festival -- Wales after Run

The National Mall is a place I run

The Lawn and the trees, the gravel and the sun

Then one day when I was running like a missile

I came to a halt, I ran into the Festival

Running from the Pentagon and stopping at the Mall

Was happy to see my Welsh friends, all having a ball

Despite all the sun and heat

I got to meet the Welsh boatmaker sanding a boom and cleat

Trefor Owen, world-famous clog maker, sawing dense, Welsh sycamore

My Trefor is the last, fulltime professional clog maker in Wales

He makes it by hand with leather, wood and nails

He first takes sycamore and carves it till its right

That's why Welsh clog dancers can prance all night

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch -- The 2nd Longest town name in the world with 58 letters.

This is the 2nd longest name in the world

With 58 letters, I can barely keep it unfurled

If I try to speak it I get my tongue all in a twirl

I’m glad it’s a village I would hate to name a baby boy or girl

Iona McLaggan, a former English teacher, has been a blacksmith for the last 20 years.   

Here she is making wrought iron for ornamental fencing.

Steve and friend showing off the Welsh ale and Stella Artois at the local pub.  It was here where I ate a Glamorgan vegetarian sausage made of molds, bread, cheese, onion, mustard and egg to form the links.

John Glennydd plays the pibgorn, a reed instrument from Wales.

In the last 20 years, there has been a revival in piping.  The pibgorn is a mouthblown hornpipe, having a parallel bore, six finger holes and a thumb hole.

Las Americas: Un Mundo Musical (The Americas: A Musical World)

Even got a chance to see the Currulao: Las Cantadoras del Pacifico, a Colombian band.  Currulao is an African-derived music from the Pacific coast of southern Colombia.

By the time this was done, I had my full and ready to return back to work.  I would back, though for the evening concert, and yes, another evening run.