Saturday Morning

This morning we went in search of a suitable birthday gift for Richard... he's been wanting a double bass (well, some of you may have heard me mention my own desire for getting a stand up bass!) We had a couple of possibilities, and chose to start with the one closest to home. What fun! We started the outing with a delicious breakfast at Slate's in Hallowell... very special... I highly recommend the boursin eggs benedict. These could be a new variation on an old favorite holiday breakfast at the Green household in the near future! Then, off to West Gardiner where we met a VERY interesting man, Jim, who had many, many instruments. He started with this bass you see here, and continued on with a fiddle, a mandolin, and a banjo. I think he would have kept going, but we really only wanted the bass. The deal was secured and we then had the tricky task of putting it in the car. We ended up putting it in the back seat, laying down with the neck extended up between the front seats so it was right between the two of us all the way home :) Before we left, Jim had one more thing to show us... a hot rod that he and some friends are building. I got to climb in and sit in this drag racing car! He even explained to me how to put the gears into reverse, hold the special button down, floor the gas pedal and then release the button which would pop the transmission into instant drive at 100,000 miles per hour (okay, that's an exaggeration), but essentially you take off like a rocket. Not that I can really remember exactly how to do it, but sitting in the car, being talked through all the steps, gave me enough information to imagine myself being hurtled down a drag strip. Richard spent the afternoon playing around with the bass, getting used to its size and sound. We're both going to enjoy this new addition to our family of instruments! The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent in North Yarmouth, first playing for the family dance, and then dancing to the tunes of the Contrapuntal Iguanas. Happy Birthday Richard.