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Catching Up, part one
Sep. 23rd, 2003 10:05 amSaturday: ( we got a couple of hermit crabs. )
They aren't cuddly pets. But they sure can be fun to watch.
They aren't cuddly pets. But they sure can be fun to watch.
Sep. 23rd, 2003
Catching up, part two
Sep. 23rd, 2003 10:08 amSunday: Ernest, June, Shannon, Joc and I had a musical get-together at Ernest and June's house, in Norris (about an hour from our house). It was a lot of fun. Shannon plays the mountain dulcimer, Joc normally plays saxophone but was fooling around on the pennywhistle, June plays autoharp (and normally sings, I think, but was getting over a cold) Ernest plays guitar and is learning the banjo and I mostly played mandolin, but guitar sometimes. Feather garnered a lot of admiration, but though Ernest tried him out, the transposing-in-your-head issue was enough of a stumbling block that I was the only one who played him with other instruments. Feather gets this reaction a lot. But everyone agrees he has a great sound and good action and a nice wide fingerboard.
Anyway, we did a rockin' version of This Land Is Your Land, and Cripple Creek (after which Shannon said (roughly) "we've just gotten as Appalachian as we're ever going to get," since that's a classic) and The Water Is Wide, and I tried out Lord Franklin on them, which everyone agreed was a beautiful song, but we just couldn't get it together as a group piece. Outside the picture window a blue jay and a cardinal came by at different times and Joc said it was a good sign that the birds came to our music instead of fleeing it. There was also a dark hummingbird with a yellow throat that didn't look like anything in my bird book.
Shannon and I talked about getting together sometime a little closer to our respective houses. I should e-mail her about that :-).
Anyway, we did a rockin' version of This Land Is Your Land, and Cripple Creek (after which Shannon said (roughly) "we've just gotten as Appalachian as we're ever going to get," since that's a classic) and The Water Is Wide, and I tried out Lord Franklin on them, which everyone agreed was a beautiful song, but we just couldn't get it together as a group piece. Outside the picture window a blue jay and a cardinal came by at different times and Joc said it was a good sign that the birds came to our music instead of fleeing it. There was also a dark hummingbird with a yellow throat that didn't look like anything in my bird book.
Shannon and I talked about getting together sometime a little closer to our respective houses. I should e-mail her about that :-).
Catching up part three
Sep. 23rd, 2003 10:12 amMonday: My back still hurts, and keeps talking me out of doing things. I did manage to get another load of tomatoes in the dryer, which is a good thing, as I don't want them going bad. The hermit crab book says they like little bits of fresh fruits and vegetables, so I tried them on a little slice of tomato, but as far as I can tell, they didn't eat any. Of course, they don't eat much. I got a little plant mister and sprayed Julian and Cassiodorus with a bit of warmed distilled water (the book says they need high humidity), and they were more active afterwards, walking around their terrarium and climbing on things.
Went to another firehouse jam session. I took the mandolin this time instead of the guitar, because there were so many guitars there last time, and I figured a bit more variety would be a good thing. Lots of songs I didn't know, of course, but I'm picking up a couple, and getting better at faking it, I think. One of the other mando players (I was the second to show up, and a third came in later in the evening) said I ought to be playing breaks (which I think means playing fancy solos while the singing drops out for a verse, which he (the other mando player) does extra-ordinarily well). I told him to give me a couple of weeks to learn the songs :-).
I came home with chord changes ringing in my ears again, and Kip and I took Julian and Cassiodorus out of their terrarium and let them explore the dining room under supervision. This convinced me that I need to sweep the dining room again; Cassiodorus in particular was covered with lint when we recovered him. I expected them to stay close to each other, but they wandered into separate corners of the room. Julian in particular stayed under things--the table, the chairs, while Cassiodorus tried to climb the walls. He could get a little purchase on the molding but couldn't go any farther. When we returned them to their cage, I looked at Kip and said in a hermit-crab voice (soft and squeaky, in case you were wondering) "you'll never believe it honey, I was kidnapped by aliens." Kip replied "yeah, and taken to a different plane."
Went to another firehouse jam session. I took the mandolin this time instead of the guitar, because there were so many guitars there last time, and I figured a bit more variety would be a good thing. Lots of songs I didn't know, of course, but I'm picking up a couple, and getting better at faking it, I think. One of the other mando players (I was the second to show up, and a third came in later in the evening) said I ought to be playing breaks (which I think means playing fancy solos while the singing drops out for a verse, which he (the other mando player) does extra-ordinarily well). I told him to give me a couple of weeks to learn the songs :-).
I came home with chord changes ringing in my ears again, and Kip and I took Julian and Cassiodorus out of their terrarium and let them explore the dining room under supervision. This convinced me that I need to sweep the dining room again; Cassiodorus in particular was covered with lint when we recovered him. I expected them to stay close to each other, but they wandered into separate corners of the room. Julian in particular stayed under things--the table, the chairs, while Cassiodorus tried to climb the walls. He could get a little purchase on the molding but couldn't go any farther. When we returned them to their cage, I looked at Kip and said in a hermit-crab voice (soft and squeaky, in case you were wondering) "you'll never believe it honey, I was kidnapped by aliens." Kip replied "yeah, and taken to a different plane."