Tonight, Maria and I did something we really needed to do: we went dancing to the music of a terrific Blue Grass group called Big Stone Gap at Browns Walloomsac Taproom And Brewery in Hoosick Falls N.Y.

Our friend Mandy Meyer-Hill invited us to join her and listen to her partner Dave, who plays Bass in the band, which he started. During the day, Dave is an Occupational Therapist working the dementia patients.

Brown’s is a beautiful, open and airy restaurant and taproom set in a beautifully restored mill on the Waloomsac River.

We didn’t plan on dancing (I had breaded calamari and a lamb burger and some Ginger Cider. Maria had a bean burger. The food was great).

The music was so good that I startled myself by asking Maria to dance.

She put on quite a show, I saw a bunch of belly dancing moves, she was dancing so well that when my legs gave out a woman came up and said “I want to dance with her!,” and did.

I got a short video of Maria dancing – it was impressive and wonderful.

We’ve both been working hard and under pressure, dancing tonight with great company and good food and a wonderful band snapped us back to life.

We don’t often get to hear music that good in  the country in such a bright and lively place with good friends. Brown’s is about 12 miles away from us.

We went to Brown’s straight from calling the Bingo game at the Mansion.  It was an adjustment.

I couldn’t help it, I asked a happily surprised Maria if we could dance and we did, and she showed off a lot of her belly dancing moves as well as her legs, which have been dancing weekly for several years.

Later, she said she was delighted and amazed that I wanted to dance, perhaps I’ve become too much of a stuff pot.

In my other life, I used to dance to Blue Grass music all the time and go to fiddle contests all over the Northeast, especially in Vermont and during my time in Texas. I wasn’t fast or agile, but I did remember a bit of the Texas Two-Step.

We couldn’t stop talking about what a great time we had, and we reminded each other than relaxing is important, and dancing is liberating. Maria stole the show though, come and see.

This might be a weekly thing.

I need to dance more.