Shelburne Grange

Today offers an opportunity to break away from the world of academia and focus on music! Richard, Kathie and I will head over to the Bouffy Quimby hall in Turner to play some music as part of a grangers luncheon (or that's our understanding, sometimes these functions are entirely different than what we expect). We'll play a nice collection of jigs and reels with a few slower tunes mixed in for good measure. If you want to know more about grange, check out their website. http://www.nationalgrange.org/about/mission.htm

The Grange provides opportunities for individuals and families to develop to their highest potential in order to build stronger communities and states, as well as a stronger nation through: FELLOWSHIP, SERVICE, and LEGISLATION
My parents and grandparents were members Grange and I have to admit I don't know much about what they did or why they chose to be grangers. Maybe I'll gain some insight today.

Shelburne Grange is the name of a contradance written by David Kaynor.

Snowflake Hornpipe

Here's a photo of the most beautiful dance hall in the state of Maine! A wonderful wood floor that responds to every step and balance, a stage for band and caller, great acoustics thanks to some lovely design and it's not that far from wherever you are! This is the Forster Memorial Building in Strong. We invite you to visit it on Leap Day next month as we continue to help build community there through music and dance.

In other fast breaking news, I finished writing a paper today and must say, it's a LOT OF WORK to come up with a few words to express a thought! The idea is that the more writing I do over the next few months, the better at it I'll become and the easier it will be to produce something that is really good. This is a good start.

Snowflake Hornpipe comes from the New England Fiddler's Repertoire.

Lonesome Fiddle Blues

Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing. Where have all the flowers gone? Long time ago. Where have all the flowers gone? Girls have picked them every one. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

We're wondering where the community dancers have gone? Long time since we've seen them around. We had a good turnout last summer at the dances we did around the area and folks seemed to have a genuinely good time. This winter is not as successful, for us or some other people who have been working hard to promote contradancing at the community level.

Two community dances were scheduled here in our home town. Flyers were put out, an ad was placed in the folk newsletter, a notice was published in the community newsletter and a request was made to note it in the school's weekly letter to parents as well as the community newspaper. No one showed at the first dance and only two people showed for the second dance (they stayed long enough to listen to us play a couple of sets for them). Tonight we went to Strong to help an organizer with her dance and she had one dancer show up who was not part of her family. Another organizer is going to run her dance two more months and then she's giving up. It's disappointing. I wonder what community means to people, and I have to rethink what it means to me personally.

Any ideas?

We had a number of folks say they knew about the dances, and quite a few who said they'd be there. It's possible the weather wasn't perfect, or the darkness of early evening encouraged them to stay hunkered down in their homes, or maybe they caught a cold or had a last minute change in their schedule. I get that things happen, we make those choices ourselves sometimes and end up staying home rather than going out... I do understand. Still, it's hard to believe there is NO ONE in these communities who wants to bring their children, or neighbors, or parents, or anyone out for a few hours of community interaction once a month or so, to a place that is CLOSE to their home, for $5 or less per person.

We've talked about more advertising, more bells and whistles like making the dance part of another activity so people are already out, and those things are true. But the bottom line is, in my mind, what is community and what does it take to get neighbors out to see each other? Even if you aren't a dancer, it's a pretty good deal to go out and listen in on some great music.

There, that's my soap box speech for the evening!

Seriously, if you have ideas, please send them along. The up side of our evenings out have been some great "live" practices in some wonderful locations.

If for some reason you read this and think you'd like to support your local community dances, there are still a couple more opportunities before they totally disappear from the small town venue. February 16 there is a dance scheduled in Fairfield Center at the Grange, it's on the main road just outside of Waterville so it's definitely accessible to many folks around here. The other opportunity is on Leap Day, February 29 in Strong at the Forster Memorial Building right in town. Strong is just a short drive north of Farmington and it has just about the most beautiful dance hall we've seen anywhere! Check it out before this venue also shuts down due to lack of interest. Need more information? Email us or post a comment!

Lonesome Fiddle Blues can be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Midwinter Waltz

My screen saver scrolls through my photographs and this one popped up and caught my eye this morning, I thought I'd share it.The photo was taken when Richard and I lived in Augusta and walked along the Kennebec Rail Trail. The trail was convenient for us to use and gave us a nice two-mile walk away from the city streets. A lot has changed since our early days of marriage nearly three years ago, I'd say all of it for the better as we learn more about one another.

It is mid-winter here in Maine and though we are somewhat limited in our overnight excursions (we must keep the wood fires burning to keep the house warm) we are happy not to have to purchase heating oil. We also have the benefit of the sun when it shines brightly, it warms our spaces thanks to efficient design elements throughout the house.

Even as conversation begins to turn toward spring and which seed catalogs have been received, it's nice to just look out the window and take in the beauty of the season- a fresh dusting of snow on the evergreens, tracks where deer have come foraging near the porch, and the pinkish early morning light peeking through the gray branches of leafless trees.

Midwinter Waltz comes from the Waltz Book (first and un-numbered volume).

Reading Reel

Reading will be my new pasttime as I dive into my new life as a full time college student. I begin classes tomorrow and I'm so excited! I'm really fortunate to have the support of my entire family in this new venture. It's all fun & games today as I look forward to the adventure, but I'm sure once the reality sinks in and the homework piles up and the reading assignments are looming over me I'm going to be begging them to encourage me! I've actually been reading some of my textbooks to get into the routine of reading more regularly. Typically I read when I go to bed, and that lasts about 3 pages if I'm lucky, before I fall asleep. My recent trip to the San Francisco area gave me opportunity to read for hours at a time (think airport, flight time, early mornings when I was still on EST and the rest of the house is PST). Expect posts to be few and far between as I settle into the changes.
Reading Reel is a contradance written by Ted Sanella.

Close Friends

This afternoon found these fiddlers sharing their home with family and close friends as we celebrated the engagement of Erin and Bryan. Thanks to Jen for helping with all the preparations yesterday, and to all the kids and Avery for final touches in presenting everything today. We enjoyed bright sunshine, good foods, great conversation and company throughout the afternoon. The Patriot's football game this afternoon only added to the excitement as we all kept an eye & ear to the television to stay in tune with their performance... they will definitely be at the Super Bowl this year!
Close Friends is a dance that keeps everyone in close contact with their neighbors as well as their partners... kind of like our party this afternoon that engaged current and not-so-current relatives as well as friends from over the years... reminds us that relationships are about the people and experiences shared rather than the technical on-paper connections we sometimes associate with people.
Close Friends was written by Simone Verheyen.

Kitchen Stomp

Most of my day was spent in the kitchen, or around the kitchen but I did manage to play a few tunes in between my chopping, boiling, mixing and cooking chores. I've been working on tunes from Larry Unger's Reckless Reel and finding a lot of tunes that I like playing. Nice way to spend a Saturday... fixing meals, tending to my family, playing music... lovely mid-January activities.
Kitchen Stomp is a great contradance that we really like.

Family Contra

What a beautiful day it is here! Weather forecast had been for a messy storm, but it's definitely over now and the sky is blue, blue, blue with lots of sunshine! We're happy for the clearing travel conditions as Bryan and Erin are flying to Maine for what has evolved into a weekend of celebrating their engagement. We'll be having a party on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 for all of you readers who haven't received a formal invitation, please COME ON OVER. This is very last minute and I'll be honest, I've not had enough time to prepare properly so it's a totally thrown together affair :) Still, it should be a pile of fun, we'll have lots of great food and time for all of you to meet Erin and welcome her into the family! Jen, Toby and Avery will be here this weekend too, I know you've all heard me say it before, but I just LOVE having everyone come home and be together!
In other family news, we are welcoming a new little one... I heard from Kathie last night that Sam and Jes are proud parents of a healthy little boy named Weston, born yesterday late afternoon.
Families in our neighborhood of Wayne and surrounding areas are encouraged to get out this evening for a Community Dance at the Ladd Recreation Center for lots of fun dancing circles, longways sets and contras. Live music with the fiddlehedz, and Richard Green calling as well as refreshments and plenty of conversation with your friends and neighbors should be a fun way to spend an affordable Friday evening close to home.
Family Contra is one of the fun dances we may do tonight, it's been a favorite at many of the community dances at which we've participated, either as callers, musicians or sometimes just as dancers! Come on out and try it tonight if you can.

My Own Home Waltz

Back home after a long but fairly uneventful day of flying. On the last flight of the day, from Phoenix to Manchester NH, we had a flight attendant who kept us all laughing. As he did the pre-flight safety speech (which no one really listens to completely) he got to the part about the oxygen mask and said to watch for the butter containers to drop down, to go ahead and use it yourself first because you KNOW the person next to you wasn't paying attention anyway, and to go ahead and breath whatever oxygen was being rationed... When we got to Manchester and were taxiing to the terminal, he reminded us that we were to leave our seat belts fastened until the PILOT informed us we could release them, then once the plane stopped he said "ready, set, GET OFF THE PLANE" and honestly I don't think I heard one single person unbuckle their belt before he said that :) Lots of other little things throughout the flight but you get the idea... It's nice to be back home, now to get ready for this coming weekend!
My Own Home Waltz comes from one of the Waltz Books, I think the first volume.

Shuffling Back

This morning was spent playing tunes and hanging out while Bryan and Erin were at work. Then this afternoon B and I took the dog out to Briones State Park and hiked a couple of miles. A trip to the bookstore this evening while Erin is at her photography class and a good night's sleep before an early rise tomorrow will complete my visit here in Pleasant Hill CA. It's been a great visit!
Shuffling Back comes from the Portland Collection Volume Two.

Morrison's Jig

This afternoon we went into San Francisco planning to take the boat out to Alcatraz. Not on Sunday afternoon we found out, the last boat leaves at 2:00pm and we were later than that. Not a problem, there are so many other things to see and do in the city. There are lots of street performers, my favorite today were the Morris Dancers. We stopped long enough to get a few photos.

There are Morris troupes in Maine and New England, and though it is not surprising to find them away from home, it was certainly a pleasant treat for me. I love the music and the choreography using sticks, swords, bells and handkerchiefs. We had a nice lunch and then went up to Golden Gate Park where we were again too late for our planned activity of going up in the de Young tower to view the city. Before coming out to California, I'd decided that I didn't really care if I went out touring around, my main focus was to spend a few days with Bryan, meet Erin and her family, and relax. The trip into the city was fun today, even more so as we kept modifying the plan, the best part was spending the time with Bryan and Erin :)

Test

I'm working on some new post settings, bear with me and enjoy the photos!

Engaged!

Congratulations to Bryan and Erin on their engagement which took place Friday evening.

Merriweather

The sun broke through the morning clouds to give way to a beautiful afternoon. We drove north to Napa valley for wine tasting at several vineyards. I love doing this, it's such a fun way to try some new labels, often finding something unexpected that broadens my limited knowledge and appreciation of wine. My preference is red over white, and full bodied dry over light & sweet. We were not disappointed with the offerings, and our little group of four (Bryan, Erin, E's mom Judy, and myself) made for a lovely day. We brought along our lunch and ate out in the sunshine, a nice change from the clouds and showers most recently experienced here in California. As you can see in the photo, it's a winter landscape with minimal foliage but still warm enough that the grass is green and there are flowers in bloom.

This evening we stayed in, ate pizza and watched Sideways, a great film that takes place in the California wine country.

Merriweather comes from the Portland Collection.

High Clouds

This photograph taken from the plane does not capture the beauty and wonder of the skyscape above 10,000 feet but I like the image anyway, so I thought I'd share it!

High Clouds is a waltz from the Waltz Book, Volume 1.

Road to California

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... Wahooo. I'm looking forward to seeing B and meeting Erin and her family, and walking around in sandals instead of snow boots, haha...
Road to California comes from the Portland Collection Volume One.

Boys of Blue Hill

Last night found us hanging out with the boys and girls of Blue Hill where we went to call a contradance... one of our best nights to date. Winter in Maine can offer some treacherous travel, but roads were clear and the drive went by quickly as we practiced some calling, listened to NPR, and ate our dinner which we brought along. Typically we're in a rush and at the last minute, as we're leaving the house, we realize we're gonna be hungry, which we almost always are, and we end up picking something up on the way. Much better prepared this time! Bananas, roast beef sandwiches and plenty of water!
Our dance program worked for most of the first half of the evening, we'd planned more dances than we had time to do before the break~ that's so much easier to deal with than scrambling for another dance out of the box of cards! The second "half" went just as well. The band was Oakum Bay String Band and they were awesome... very accomodating and helpful to this still-fairly-new-to-the-calling-scene duo. The hall is really nice, a beautiful old Greek revival building nestled right downtown. We both found it a great benefit to share the calling... it gave us time to do a little dancing ourselves, and afforded a bit of down time to take notes for one another. We remembered to record most of this dance so we'll be able to critique our performance later this morning.
Originally we planned to spend the night in Blue Hill with dance organizers, but the weather and trip had been so uneventful and we were so energized by the dance we decided to head home and fill the wood stove. What we didn't realize is that it had started lightly snowing and that it might take a while to get back. Keeping each other alert was easy though, we spent almost the entire drive talking about the dance... what was our favorite one to call, which ones did the dancers seem to love, which ones we might want to not do again, that sort of thing.
Back in Wayne we found the house still fairly warm, enough coals in the stove to get a nice fire going, and happy we were going to be in our own little house this morning!
Boys of Blue Hill is a lovely hornpipe you can find in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

String Theory

Our string of colored lights is a festive welcome~ a happy transition into our home from wherever we might have been... It's especially lovely this time of year with the twinkling lights peeping out from under the branches of new snow! My theory is that a string of brightly colored lights can dispell many a dark & brooding thought :)

String Theory is a winding jig in the key of Gm!

Pretty Peggy

As we consider dances to put into a contradance program, we somehow have to envision how the figures work and where the dancers progress. Until now, we've been dancing with air-partners, pretending there are others among us as we do the moves to music we find on the internet. Interesting, and pretty useful.

One of the knick-knacky Christmas toys we pull out every year is a Christmas tree version of Hi-Q. Hmmm, an idea formed in our contradancing minds... What if we had a "Dance Floor" with peg people that we could move around as a dance progressed? Richard made such a board and some pegs that he wrapped with different colored tape... it worked out pretty well, but it wasn't big enough to choreograph a square dance or anything very long. Back to the drawing board! What he came up with was this design!

Now we each have a mini dance floor and a set of dancers!
Pretty Peggy is a tune from the Portland Collection, a lively jig in the key of A.

Down the Back Lane

A little review of some highlights of 2008. What fun to look back over the year and remember all the fun we've had!
January~ Callers Workshops, painting the living room & bedroom, multiple trips to the airport with Bryan, ocular mgraine, and Richard's tip to Florida

February~ "Thirty Secrets", Give Kids a Smile, electric blanket, frozen pipes, sound system

March~ DECDF, efforts toward being more green, fiddlehedz played at the Cohen Center and for the Oyster Supper, Avery's monkey birthday, changing the clock

April~ Fiddle Workshop with Greg Boardman, fiddlehedz played for Kingfield contradance, San Francisco trip, owl lecture with Avery at LL Bean, jam group played at Cohen Center and for Turner contradance, raking the yard

May~ greenhouse seedlings planted, Relay For Life Fiddler's Marathon, garlic is up, preparing the garden for planting

June~ fiddlehedz play at Cohen Center, contradance at Ladd Center, swimming at the dam, contradance at Ladd Center, Maine Fiddle Camp weekend, kittens join our household, new computer, planting the garden

July~ New Fiddle from Somerset Violins, lessons with Elaine, Beat Greens play in Manchester NH, fiddlehedz concert in Mt Vernon, calling at Wescustogo, my Jubilee officially begins, Boreal Tordu in concert, fiddlehedz 4th of July concert in Winthrop, Beat Greens contradance in Washington ME,

August~ last day at Club-E, short gig at Wayne Fair due to lightening, week-long Maine Fiddle Camp, double header with Richard and fiddlehedz at Vienna contradance and me at Wescustogo calling with Maggie, Avery tries out the little fiddle, garden harvest coming in, sister spa afternoon, saris and square roundabouts, Indian wedding in New Jersey with American wedding in Massachusetts, bat in the house

September~ words to live by FORM & FUNCTION, PERSONAL EXCELLENCE, JOY IN LIVING, RESPONSIBILITY, family gathering, Bryan visits from California, shingling the roof, riding the train to see Wicked with my sisters, making ice cream at Tubby's, working at Apple Shed Bakery, washing windows at the lake, clearing the slash in the back yard, technical difficulty with camera, Richard takes wetlands class at UMO, wash fabric in anticipation of quilting, Beat Greens contradance in Farmington,

October~ acceptance letter received from UMF, apple Harvest, Avery's carrot costume, trick-or-treat in Hampden

November~ Physical Therapy, walk-about, lightning rounds, Strong contradance, Thanksgiving

December~ fiddlehedz holiday gig at Norlands, Beat Greens in Farmington, fiddlehedz contadance at Fairfield Center, snow-snow-snow, snowshoe trek around the property, quilts-quilts-quilts

Down the Back Lane is a tune from our binder of collected sheet music. I think we may have gotten it at Ashokan from Sarah Blair.

White Petticoat

This sort of looks like a lacey white petticoat... if you squint your eyes a little bit! Actually, the photo was taken from our greenhouse looking out into the south yard. The angle of the windows catches the snow and allows it to build up, making interesting patterns on the glass.

Snow is piling up here, and it's snowing again today. We have a fairly long road that we must keep clear, in addition to our driveway which is big enough for lots of jammers to park on Tuesday nights. Our plow guy is not as prompt or conscientious as last year, and Richard has managed to shovel everything out twice now before the plow guy gets here. Yesterday we went out and shoveled together. It didn't take very long, and it was good exercise. My method has four segments... 1) using the shovel as a push-scoop clear a path down the middle of the road or bisecting the driveway 2) again using the shovel as a push-scoop, work from the center of one area and push the snow toward the outside margin (in the driveway for example, push from the center toward the side) 3) shovel the show at the outer margin up and over the bank and 4) look at the beautiful snow on the trees, listen to chickadees, experience the cool air on my cheeks. I interject segment 4 whenever possible. Breaking the job up like this makes it easier to feel accomplishment and working together of course makes everything more joyful! Looks like we'll be going out to shovel again today if the plow guy doesn't come.

I'm making a pot of chili today with home-baked kidney beans. Usually we just use a can of beans, but here we have a bag of beans handy so we're doing it the old-fashioned way. We also have tomatoes we canned from our garden. Cornbread (made with real white southern cornmeal from Richard's mom) will round out the meal.

It's been nice having this week off from the bakery... time to update our fiddlehedz.org web site, work on the DEFFA newsletter, make soups and cook beans, and generally hang out together with no schedule other than dancing and playing music. Last night was the North Whitefield dance with Calliope playing music and Chrissy Fowler calling. We had a lot of fun participating from the floor and seeing lots of friends.

White Petticoat comes from the Portland Collection Volume Two. It's a really cool jig, but is still a hard tune for me to play. Not a problem, there are so many others from which to choose!

Beneficial Tradition (continued even more)

Avery's Garden Quilt

SK's Garden Quilt

I think one reason my family has so many beneficial traditions is because we are, as a group, very creative and very do-it-yourself minded. We don't mind hard work, we're able to figure things out on our own, we're determined and goal oriented. Individually we each have our own particular interests and talents which we seem to carry with us over the years, even as we try out something new. Hope you've liked seeing these quilts!

Beneficial Tradition (continued)

Bennett's Scrappy Rail Fence

Toby's Scrappy Stars

More quilt photos... blogger didn't like me uploading too many at a time so I'm splitting them up into several posts.

Beneficial traditions, to me, are those things that are passed from generation to generation, having some usefulness in the process as well as the final result. Doing things together, having stories & memories attached to the doing, and having an end result are all pieces the activity. Some of my families food-centered beneficial traditions are: Date Balls & Needhams, Date Filled Sugar Cookies, Porcupine Meatballs, Grammie Randall's Pork Pie. My family has a history of spinning wool, knitting mittens, making quilts. New traditions evolve over the years as we try out new crafts and activities, always sharing them with other members of the family.

Beneficial Tradition

Geese in the Cabin, made for Bryan & Erin

9-Patch Variation for Jen & Jason

As promised, here are some photos of this year's Christmas projects. This holiday season was filled with gifts from our hearts and hands. Quilts are a time honored tradition and take on many shapes, colors and forms. My personal motto is "Form and Function" whether it's a quilt or any other activity. Quilts fit perfectly into this mind set. I've made some wall hangings and decorative pieces over time, but have much more fun creating something that will be lovingly used.

Beneficial Tradition is not a tune, but a triplet dance written by Al Olson.

Snow on Valafield

This morning found me on my way north to spend the day with Avery while his mom & dad went to work. We played with the new train set, made puzzles, read stories and played Candy Land... and then decided we'd like to go outside and get some fresh air. A said he'd like to shovel, so we each got a shovel and started moving snow! I got the idea to shovel a circular path for him to walk on, which was pretty fun. I continued to make more loopy paths and soon Max (the dog) joined in the fun by running through the pathways! I think all the outside activity tired Avery out though because after lunch and a couple more stories, he asked if we might lie down for a nap! Great idea! We later finished up the day with Tinker Toys airplane projects, more stories and drawing, and some play time with the trains again. It was a wonderful day!

Snow on Valafield comes from the Portland Collection.

Breaking Up Christmas

We broke up the day into a few activities. First order of business in our household is to check out the stockings to see what goodies were left for us... while coffee is being made of course! Once we all have a hot cup of java, we open gifts under the tree, spend some time hanging out and talking and then I get busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Traditionally we have Eggs Benedict with Holiday (Hollandaise) Sauce, we continued the tradition today.

We gathered the remaining gifts and went off to our respective next stops... SK to her mom's... Richard, Toby and I to Jen & Jason's. The traveling today was great... warm and clear so no trouble driving up the interstate.

Once at Jen's, we got to see Avery's new train set... Santa's elves made an amazing train table for the train to be set up on... looks just like the ones in the bookstores! We had quite a bit of fun playing with that. Then it was time to open MORE GIFTS... these were from Bryan and Erin. They did a good job keeping to a theme with A's presents... bananas and MONKEYS... wind up monkey, puppet monkey, bathtime monkey, and banana bath products! Next, you guessed it, time for a BATH to try out the fun products. Avery smelled like banana taffy candy by the time he was done! We had a little lunch, colored with markers and used John Deere stickers and then it was time for us to head home. Toby went back home too.

The rest of our afternoon and evening involve settling down at our computers, relaxing and reflecting on all the fun we've had this month as we've used our creative talents and energies to celebrate this season of giving and sharing. Hope you all had a joyous and relatively stress free holiday!

Avery with his new collection of MONKEYS!

Breaking Up Christmas is from the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Christmas Day Ida Moarnin'

Merry Christmas to all...

photos and holiday greetings to be posted later today... until then, may you all have a wonderful holly-day!

Christmas Day Ida Moarnin' comees from the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Snowshoer's Reel

Lots o' snow out there! It looks like a good old fashioned winter for us here in Maine thanks to multiple storms this month. I'm taking a short break from the holiday preparations to get outside and enjoy the bright sunshine, crisp (but not cold) air and get some play time in by walking around on snowshoes through the woods! Then it'll be kitchen time for this elf!

Snowshoer's Reel comes from the New England Fiddler's Repertoire.

Make a Little Boat

Well, maybe not a boat, but we're spending today making some great stuff! And who knows, maybe we really ARE making a boat, hahaha... Only a few more days 'til you find out...

Make a Little Boat is in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Tis the Gift to Be Simple

Not many posts lately... I've been quite busy getting ready for the Christmas holiday... Earlier this year we made a choice to live a bit simpler, spend less, and DO more rather than purchase more... It's been six months of getting back to basics, and the holiday season is no different... We're making just about everything, and having a really good time in the process... It feels so good to put our efforts into some really nice gifts... So, very few blog updates because of course, we can't TALK about or SHOW what we've been up to!

We're promoting to those around us also spend less this year... Fuel oil and gasoline prices are high, which in turn creates higher prices on everything else... And, let's face it, we don't really NEED anything other than to have our family and friends around us... For anyone wondering how to gift their loved ones without running up the old credit card with unnecessary purchases or gas station charges? Bake something special, it could be a favorite treat or something as easy and tasty as Chex party mix... A gift certificate for services like shoveling (if you're anywhere near us here in Maine) or childcare for an afternoon or evening... Write a poem, frame a photo, sew something or make a useful crafty item... There are lots of possibilities and honestly, it IS THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS...

Tis the Gift to Be Simple can be found in the New England Fiddler's Repertoire...

Off To California

A bit premature perhaps, but I'm thrilled to be looking forward to a trip to California in January... Last time Richard and I were on our way home from CA, we were offered the opportunity to change flights and be rewarded with Southwest Airline vouchers, which we have not yet cashed in. We've had some January gigs that have fallen through, leaving some time open before I start classes at UM Farmington, and somehow it's all working out that I can fly out to see Bryan, and meet his new girl and her family... Can you way WHAHOOOOO?

Off To California is a tune from the Fakebook.

Magpie

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything here... so much to tell and so little time :) Thanksgiving was well celebrated as the family gathered at Deb and Arnie's new home... Betty, our pie maker, was out of town unexpectedly, but had done all the prep work before she left so all I needed to do was fill the shells and bake... Here is a lovely squash pie! Thanks to all who contributed their baking efforts, and especially for gathering young and old.

Work at the bakery continues to be good and though the paycheck is not huge, the benefits of being close to home, using less gasoline, working with wonderful women, and learning more about the finer techniques of baking and business have great value.

The Christmas holiday approaches and that creates busyness right now... I am picking and choosing those activities that are joyful and letting go of some of the other things that are just plain silly work to me right now.

Magpie is a tune from the Portland Collection volume two, and can also be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Brilliancy Medley

The DownEast Country Dance Festival held a benefit dance in Bowdoinham to raise money for the festival to be held in the spring. There were three different bands, and a variety of callers, making for lots of energy and fun. The turnout was great!
Organizers planned a medley, and invited Richard and me to call along with four other callers... a huge success and great experience. We appreciate the support and encouragement we are getting in the dance & calling community!
Brilliancy Medley can be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Jersey Lightning

We've been doing "Lightning Rounds" lately as part of our fiddle practice... starting with a tune and playing it a couple times through, then calling out the next tune and going right into it. We continue on as long as we can think of tunes, and remember how they get started. It's a lot of fun, increases thinking capacity, and it's amazing how many tunes we really do know without reading music or having the book open in front of us "just in case". Richard and I do this at home from time to time and we did it at a practice last night. The tricky thing for the guitar or bass player is to know the chord progressions, and to have the chord announced along with the name of the tune when calling the changes.
Jersey Lightning comes from Portland Collection volume two.

Chaos in Room 6

This is not the name of a tune, but the name of a contra dance. I liked the name because it reflects my mood today. I feel like I'm in Room 6 and it's full of CHAOS, maybe the bad kind of CHAOS like the antagonists on GET SMART, and maybe I'm Agent 99... you know, the girl who's with the program and trying to hold it together, for herself anyway, while things are going crazy around her. It's just been one of those couple-of-days :) I've been fiddling my way through it though, and the music makes sense to me... thanks Kathie for a great waltz session this afternoon, and thanks Paul for staying with me this evening when other stuff was falling apart. So, all CHAOS aside, it's nice to have something great like fiddling to fall back on, and it's great to have friends to play with.
Chaos in Room 6 is a quadruple (that's right, quadruple) progression dance that I have not yet called, but think it would be a hoot with the right crowd... people moving all over the place!

All the leaves are brown...

... and the sky is gray...

Remember that Mama's & Papa's song? I think of it this time of year even though I'm NOT in California :) Almost all our leaves are down, thanks to some heavy rains and winds recently. We have most of the front and one side yard raked, and most of the other chores outside are finished... we're ready for winter when it gets here!

Kathy and I played waltzes this afternoon, enjoying that we both had the time to hang out during the day and just go through some books of tunes. We found quite a few that we both like, as well as some that we weren't sure of yet. Now to get Richard's input! The three of us have been having a good time playing and practicing together... I love that we're so close and we can get an hour of practice in without it involving a lot of traveling for anyone. That's about it for this Monday!

Happy Birthday!

If you see Richard today, wish him a Happy Birthday! This has been a great year... Richard is developing a fine calling style, has learned to play the double bass, performs at contradances in two different bands (fiddlehedz and Beat Greens), continues on his quest to become a Soil Scientist by taking a course at Orono, and all the while manages to be a fine husband, grampah, dad, son, brother, friend and many other things.

My wish for the coming year? More adventure with family, music, contradance, and life!

Look for Richard calling at Bowdoinham next weekend, in Belfast in November, and performing as caller & musician in Farmington, Fairfield and Wayne over the next few months!

Chronosynclastic Infidibula

Hmmm, any idea what that means? It's a tune from the Reckless Reel...

Also, Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad :)

Also also, Welcome Home Jen!

Hairy Dogleaf

When I was leaving my fiddle lesson this afternoon, I noticed that one of the two horses in the pasture had a blanket covering him. I guess this was still on my mind, and decided to research the subject a bit. Apparently, horse blankets come in a variety of weights depending on when it'll be used and needed by the horse, mostly it isn't recommended as a common practice. Horses, like dogs and probably other animals, have different types of hair... an under/inner coat of hair that keeps the creature warm and an outer coat that repels water and the elements. Unless there isn't enough hair, or the hair has been cut, most horses don't need a blanket.

I remember when Max (Jen's dog), got his usual summer haircut (he's a lab/chow with long hair) and the vet reprimanded Jen for cutting Max's hair saying something like he wouldn't have as much protection from the elements. Guess it holds true for horses too!

Lucky for us humans that we don't have to be as concerned with the length of our hair, though I have to think that even if we NEVER cut our hair in our entire life, we'd probably still like to wear a hat in the winter :)

Hairy Dogleaf can be found in the Portland Collection ,volume two.

Gracie

I got this tune, "Gracie" from a friend and it's a great tune. I love how it sounds, and I love how my fingers feel as I'm playing it. Some tunes are like that, they play like I'm slicing butter that is just the right temperature and consistency... not too soft, and not so hard they crumble when you go to work it. Anyway, Gracie is like that. The thing is, it was given to me without chords. It did have a key signature of one flat... and it had a few notes that were to be played #... and it had the feel of another reel, Julia Delaney... which is also has a key signature of one flat. Julia Delaney is in the key of Dm, so I had this idea that we could use the same chords when playing Gracie... it worked! The thing is, there are things in life that aren't totally obvious and we have to find the similarities, things we recognize, and then make some assumptions in the way we decide we're going to go forward. I love forward progress, and I love being able to make some basic assumptions based on past experience and knowledge and, as my uncle says, "Drop the blade and go".

Gracie was written by a friend of a friend.

Rolling Off a Log

I spent part of this afternoon working on a new pie crust recipe... one that would be flaky and tasty, roll out nicely, and brown up perfectly. I'm pretty happy with this one. I made this apple pie, which I'm hoping tastes good (a little different filling than I usually make). And I also made the cinnamon (dark) and orange (lighter) rolls like my mom used to make when we were little kids. She'd make them out of the leftover pie dough. At the Apple Shed, they make these out of fresh pie dough, and they sell better than hotcakes! That's where I got the idea that I wanted to try them... you may remember that Avery and I tried making some last weekend, and though they were tasty they weren't anything like the ones at the bakery. Actually these that I made today aren't as big, but they are as tasty I think. Now to work on the size! My goal is to get them right for this coming weekend~ Jen and Avery are spending the night on Friday so we can get an early start on shopping on Saturday and I want to be able to have these cinnamon rolls as a special breakfast treat for Avery!

Rolling Off A Log comes from the New England Fiddler's Repertoire.

Porcupine Reel

This porcupine has been hanging around our yard for a while now, usually in the compost pile. With the garden being done for the season, I thought I'd throw some apple peels and old carrots into the garden, planning to till them in with leaves (soon). Not much scrap left after ol' Mr Sharp Whiskers got done munching away! This photo was taken a week or so ago. Since then we've been raking leaves, putting some into the garden to till in and compost over the winter. The following is from an article about building your own compost mixture.

Almost any organic material is suitable for a compost pile. The pile needs a proper ratio of carbon-rich materials, or "browns," and nitrogen-rich materials, or "greens." Among the brown materials are dried leaves, straw, and wood chips. Nitrogen materials are fresh or green, such as grass clippings and kitchen scraps.
Mixing certain types of materials or changing the proportions can make a difference in the rate of decomposition. Achieving the best mix is more an art gained through experience than an exact science. The ideal ratio approaches 25 parts browns to 1 part greens.

We definitely have plenty of "browns" with the leaves in the yard. More kitchen scraps will help with the "green" component. Keeping things mixed in is important too, helping in the decomposition process. With some planning, hard work, and maybe a bit of luck, we'll have some nicely enriched soil for next year's garden!
Porcupine Reel is a tune collected over the years.

Mary (Merry) Walker

I've been thinking about doing a walk-about, just taking a nice long walk around the neighborhood. Years ago I went trekking, and I've been on day hikes, so taking a nice long walk seemed reasonable. This afternoon was perfect... cool temperatures and bright sunshine, and a bit of a breeze. I walked for about 2 hours (maybe a little less) and covered about 6.5 miles or so... managing to go from our house over to the stretch of road between my sisters and my folks. I had a nice, fairly short visit with everyone before Kathie gave me a ride home (gets dark early here now). It felt good to just be out walking, and it's amazing the things you see when you're not whizzing by in a vehicle! And in spite of my hesitancy in going out for long walks because I don't want to take the time, it certainly took less time to do this walk than it would have taken to drive to a State Park and back. My suggestion? Just Do It :)

Mary Walker can be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Baker's Favorite

Avery and I made some of these classic cinnamon roll treats this afternoon, and ours looked very much like this picture I found. The ones we make at the Apple Shed are actually much bigger, but I need to work on my recipe at home to get them just right. Still, it was a good first attempt today and Avery had a good time mixing up the cinnamon and sugar 'til it was just right, and then sprinkling it over the dough. We served them up nice and hot with some Edy's vanilla bean ice cream on the side, mmmm... just the thing on a cold rainy November afternoon. Baker's Favorite comes from the Reckless Reel, and I'm guessing it refers to Elke Baker rather than someone in the kitchen covered with sugar and flour!

Give Me Your Hand

So, I've been having some discomfort in my hands and forearms for a few weeks now. I saw my physician last week, and she prescribed an anti-inflammatory and a visit to a physical therapist that I went to see today. Though I'm still not sure exactly what's going on, I have some direction in working to manage the situation using stretching exercises to re-build muscle tone in my forearms and to strengthen my hands. It's been difficult to think that my activities might be limited, and has given me new motivation for LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST while the livin' is good! A little wake up call :)

Give Me Your Hand comes from the Waltz Book, volume two.

Simplicity Contra

We started out this morning with a trip to our local community recreation center to meet with the new director of activities. We'd proposed doing a contradance, either as a one-shot-deal or as a regularly scheduled event and apparently there's interest in that happening... whahooo! This is just what we were hoping would happen.

Early this year we took a caller's workshop, and have been seeking (and accepting) opportunities to call dances. We've organized and presented some community contradances, have called at some regular series dances in the area, and continue to try out dances here at home. We'd decided that this year we would use any chance we could get to gain experience and confidence, regardless of the financial impact, and that we would hopefully have some sort of regular thing to do next year. Not a bad plan. We've had varying levels of success, mostly very positive, and we've learned a lot... enough so that we put together some proposals in the hopes that we'd generate some fairly regular gigs.

So, this community center could be the start of a dream come true. The director is interested in having a weekly learning session which would essentially be an easy family style dance, and a monthly community dance. The weekly dance would be attended by sign up and would be more of a regular beginner session and possibly a specialty workshop. The monthly community dance would be offered at "Family Friendly" and affordable hours & rates, encouraging participation at all ages and levels of experience. The weekly sessions would hopefully build confidence and interest to make the monthly dance something everyone would look forward to.

We also have had interest from some adult education programs in the area, and our idea here is to offer a four-week session where we'd focus on some history & basic figures the first weeks, ending in a final contradance at the fourth session. Seems like there's interest here too, at least on the organizer level... we'll see how many people are interested in signing up. It's possible that this would also be an avenue for developing area-wide interest in contra style folk dancing, which would include some New England squares, circles, longways sets, triplets and even some of the old-time "chestnuts" called in the old-style way which is to call and play at the same time. It's pretty exciting to be bringing this kind of community activity back into the limelight, and we're appreciative of all the lessons, coaching and experience we've had this year. I'd also like to mention that we've had great support from our fellow musicians as we endeavor to put these programs together, it's great to have made such good friends. The key to all of these dances is to keep things interesting and also fairly simple and easy, so that everyone has a good time and gets to enjoy dancing. Keep your fingers crossed for us as we continue to do what we love, close to home!

In other news today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! We enjoyed visiting, sharing a gift of homemade applesauce, and having lunch together (thanks mom for delicious corn chowder and homemade bread).

Simplicity Contra is actually a contradance written by Dan Pearl.

Orange Cape...

... in the shape of a carrot! That's what Avery dressed up as this Halloween, check out their blog for photos. It was fun to share in the festivities this afternoon and evening... reading a book about pumpkins (compliments of a woman I work with), dressing up to go trick-or-treating (Avery suggested "Gram, go home and get yow costume and come right back, okay?"), walking to houses in the neighborhood and hearing Avery's well rehearsed "Trick or Treat" and then his "Thank You". When some folks were talking about other neighbors who'd just had a baby the day before, Avery chimed in "We're getting one too!" which amazes me because he's just so conversational and understands so much.

Real life adventure before we headed out, another bat at the Richard household. Yes, that's right, a Halloween Bat made a brief appearance before being ushered out into the night.

Once we got back home from collecting treats, Avery had just as much fun handing out candy and pretzels "to the children". He cracks me up!

When I got home I found out that we hadn't had any children come to our house, which is not surprising considering where we live and that we don't really know many children close by. Glad I ventured out and got a little taste of the magic of the holiday!

Orange Cape can be found in Here's to Every Country Dancer.

Gravel Walk

The fall flowers are compliments of Jen, Jason and Avery... the pumpkin has a couple of cousins inside the house. We opted for pie pumpkins instead of jack-o-lantern style pumpkins this year. Not having any little children living at home, we didn't feel the need to carve but still like having the illusion of decorating for fall. Nice thing about setting pie pumpkins around is that they can be cut up, cooked, and saved for pies for Thanksgiving, which is exactly what will happen to ours. These pie pumpkins are a deeper orange too, and I like that. The white flowers are definitely a nice contrast, especially against the crushed rock.

The leaves are really just about gone from the trees, having been blown away and rained upon last weekend. Temperatures finally dipped down into the 20's, frost covered the windshields of the vehicles and the lawn, and it's feeling (and looking) like fall. Time to start thinking about hunkering down and settling in for the winter! I mean, only think about it, no need to take drastic action yet! We had a nice fire in the woodstove this morning, kept it burning for a few hours until the sun started heating up the house.

Gravel Walk comes from the Portland Collection (first, also known as the un-numbered volume).

Woodchopper's Reel

Avery has decided he wants to be a carrot for Halloween this year. Jen put on her thinking cap and got her creative juices flowing and created this adorable costume for him to wear. It's hard to know just how much A understands, and how much of what he talks about is compiled of stories he's repeating but he seems ready to don his carrot attire, get his bag and go door-to-door to query "Trick or Treat?" Uncle Bryan has been waiting for this photo, and I think everyone else will enjoy it too!

It's that time again, when all the season's firewood gets stacked and stored in preparation for the cold weather ahead of us. We filled the porch, and also got a couple of stacks of firewood in the room off the kitchen as well as filled the living room storage area. It's nice not to have needed much of it yet, but it does seem pretty strange to be at the end of October and the temperatures still so mild.

Avery has decided he wants to be a carrot for Halloween this year. Jen put on her thinking cap and got her creative juices flowing and created this adorable costume for him to wear. It's hard to know just how much A understands, and how much of what he talks about is compiled of stories he's repeating but he seems ready to don his carrot attire, get his bag and go door-to-door to query "Trick or Treat?"

Saturday we went to Bar Harbor to call for their regular contradance. It's the first time we've done this together and we had a good time. The band was great, the crowd had a great time, and we felt like we'd done a nice job selecting dances that were appropriate for the evening. We were fortunate to have been invited to spend the night, made new friends, and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with them before heading back home. We're hoping to reciprocate in the near future, our hosts are interested in going out to the Skye Theater in Carthage... quite a distance from Bar Harbor, so we offered that they might like to have dinner with us at our house, go to a concert and then they'd stay here in Wayne before heading back the next day. We like the idea of trading off like this, it makes for the opportunity of conversation and friendship as well as saving everyone involved the additional cost of a hotel. We wonder if it might be possible to trade hosting with others, even from out of state. Anyone out there have experience with this idea?

Woodchopper's Reel is a standard fiddle tune that can be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook.

Harvest Home Hornpipe

Seasonal fare that is hearty and healthy! This dessert is easy to make, and filled with good stuff like apples, walnuts and dates. The base is a crumb mixture of walnuts and dates, pressed down and refrigerated. Apples are thinly sliced and cooked on the stovetop with honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ground cloves with apple juice. Once apples are cooked, they are placed on top of the crust. The remaining juice gets cooked down into a syrup and then drizzled over the top of the whole thing. Mmmmm. I used Cortlands for this dish.

Harvest Home Hornpipe comes from Twin Fiddling... it's essentially the same tune as Harvest Home which can be found in the Fakebook.

Spy

L-R: Red Delicious, Cortland, MacIntosh, Northern Spy, our own variety, Empire

Apples, Apples, Apples!

It's nearing the end of harvest season at the orchard and business is slowing down a little. Still lots of folks stopping in to pick, or to get baked goods but not nearly the rush that was seen early this month.

Sunday morning we went and picked a couple bags of apples. We sampled the different varieties, next test will be to bake them into some tasty treats and see which varieties lend themselves that way. The varieties we got were MacIntosh, Cortland, Empire, Red Delicious, Northern Spy, and an unnamed variety from our own back yard that looks like a yellow delicious.

I read an interesting article about eating foods that are in season rather than eating from the non-seasonal-always-there-on-the-shelf items available at the grocery store. The article suggests that seasonal foods such as spring greens, summer produce, fall root vegetables and meat for the winter are healthier and more natural for our bodies. One of this season's offerings are apples of course, so there's no need to feel bad about eating them, in any shape or form!

Spy is a tune from the Reckless Reel.

Fantastic Reel

Fantastic News at Our House! I received my acceptance letter from UMF today! I just about cried with joy and excitement when I opened the envelope and read the news... so it's official... I'll be attending classes full time starting in January... not that far away.
We went out to dinner to celebrate, and had a nice meal at the Chuck Wagon in Livermore Falls. Katie came to visit, so she went along with us... we tried out a new cocktail, which we never did really find out the name, but it has Malibu, pineapple juice and cranberry juice... yummy and fruity but not overly sweet.
Fantastic Reel comes from the Portland Collection Volume Two.

Fiddle Hill Jig

Photo of Ralph Page
On Thursday afternoons I drive out to Canaan to study fiddle with Elaine Malkin. It's about an hours drive each way, and the lesson is about an hour (sometimes more) so it's a pretty good investment of time as well as money, but I look forward to it every week. Some weeks I get a lot of practice in, sometimes I barely feel like I should go present myself 'cause I'm SURE it shows when I haven't put the time in at home... but I am committed to improvement, and especially to learn the old style of New England fiddling that is so important to contradance. I'm learning so much, not just about playing the music, but about the dance too.

Contradance has many aspects that work together to create an evening of fun. The musicians work together to learn tunes that are well phrased, so the dancers can hear/feel when the next moves should be executed. Well phrased music also makes it easier for the caller to be on time. The caller chooses dances that are appropriate for the crowd (beginners, mixed level, experienced). The dancers work together to carry out the callers instructions, letting the music guide them as they dance. The caller and the musicians work together to choose tunes that help tell the story of the dance (light & bouncy, or dark and driving, or smooth and flowing for example). There's usually a sound person who is mixing the musicians and the caller... and making adjustments as the hall fills with more dancers or the temperature changes, or as different instruments are brought into the mix. And there are organizers who oversee the evening, collect the money, greet newcomers and in general keep order midst the chaos. These are all the basics.

History has it that many years ago, musicians were also the callers... each musician in a band would have a few dances they liked to call, and they'd take turns. Much different than todays dances where the musicians keep their seats and the caller has charge of the evening. I'm on a journey to learn the craft of calling while playing. I take every opportunity to play at a dance and I also call when possible. When I first started calling, I thought it would be pretty cool to be able to call a dance while I was playing, this was before I really knew it had been a regular thing. I've been practicing this a bit with actual dances (in the privacy of my own home), and regularly am able to call out tune changes or key signatures while playing music with people (in real life situations)... it's like rubbing your head while you're chewing gum. Combine this with the fact that you have to make the dance calls BEFORE the moves get made, so your timing is ahead of the action... yeah, it's complicated. But it can be done, it's been done before. So, I'm learning.

My fiddle teacher is one of those amazing people who are able to play and call at the same time, and she is mentoring me in this area. She's suggested some dances, is teaching me some tunes that go along with the dances, and I'm planning to be proficient enough to present them over the next six months. It's ambitious but also fun, and I love the challenge.

Many of those old time dances had specific tunes that went along with them... some are Chorus Jig, Haste to the Wedding, Rory O'More, Petronella, Galopede, Tempest and Hull's Victory to name a few. Another is Fiddle Hill Jig, this is one of the tune & dance combos I'm working on.

Fiddle Hill Jig comes from the Fiddler's Throne, and was written by Ralph Page. I invite you to check out the link and learn more.

Zombies of Sugar Hill

I think I understand the dismay and disappointment of the folks who come to the bakery for a particular treat they have in mind... (I've seen it on their faces when they ask for a cinnamon roll or an apple turnover)... only to be answered with "I'm sorry, but those have sold out". It's a good answer, because it's true... sometimes these things sell out really fast, they're popular because they're so delicious, and people stop in to get them early when they're fresh out of the oven... but it still isn't what they want to hear.
I worked today, and I actually made pumpkin whoopie pies. I knew when I was placing the batter on the sheets that I wanted one, and I knew it even more when they came out of the oven... and even more so when they were filled, wrapped and placed in the case. But, it was a busy morning, and when I got ready to leave I just didn't take one. Later in the afternoon, when Richard and I were out doing chores (taking stuff to the transfer station, in exchange for other really cool stuff at the Stop & Shop Free Store), I asked R "Hey, do you have any money?" Richard said, "Hm, I think I might have a dollar, go ahead and look", which I did and he was right... one dollar. I had some change. He asked "What is it you want?" which was a good question because our transfer station is way out of any shopping district... I replied "I really want a pumpkin whoopie pie, and the Apple Shed Bakery is right on our way home".
Richard is a good sport, and gave up his dollar to the community pot. We chose a Senshu apple before going into the store, and found the display cases had many fine goods for sale but NO PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIE! Drat #P{OI#ESD and curses on all, I was thinking, but only uttered "Crap!" which drew attention from my employer and co-worker. One look at the zombie stare on my face, and we all knew that I had reached the level of understanding that would from this point forward make me much more sympathetic to my customers who were seeking that "something special" that was not available. We settled for a cinnamon bun and two Senshu apples (which were delicious but not even in the same ballpark as a pumpkin whoopie pie) which came to $1.84 (just about all the cash we had between the two of us)
So, what am I doing right now? Well, I've found a nice recipe on-line for pumpkin whoopie pies because even though I know that I can have one tomorrow if I want to drive over to the bakery, I really want one TONIGHT, hahaha...
Well, I'm back from my baking adventure! I mixed up a batch of Pumpkin Whoopie Pies from a recipe I got on the internet... actually I found several recipes, but chose this one because it had more spices (including cinnamon, ginger and ground cloves). They are darker than PWP I've seen before, but after tasting them, the verdict is Mmmmmmmmm Good! The spices add a lot to the overall flavor, and the cream, well the cream really finishes off nice.
Zombies of Sugar Hill is actually not a tune, but a contradance that we have in our vast repertoire of contradance cards.

Happy Birthday to You...

... Happy Birthday dear Toby!

Where oh where has the time gone? Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that these adults were just little and now they're all grown up! So many good times over all the years, and they continue to be good whenever we get together.

Jen, Jason and Avery stopped by with apples picked fresh from the orchard. I cooked some into a delicious apple crisp (double on the crisp for extra tasty goodness) and the rest I cooked down into applesauce (also delicious). We might go pick more apples next weekend if the weather is good... I'll make more applesauce to freeze.

We went to North Yarmouth and played with the group at the family dance, then had yummy potluck before dancing to the tunes of Sweetbriar, and to the calling of Lisa Sieverts. Great to be in the midst of the dance community, we've been busy most weekends and haven't gotten out to dance as much as we'd like. Still, we have been having fun calling and playing as much as possible.

More windows got washed here at home, nice to have a clear view of the foliage around the yard. The roof on the main part of the house is finished, that's a big job out of the way. The chimneys are clean, firewood is getting moved and stacked onto the porch, gardens are cleaned up, and we're on our way toward being ready for "hunkering down season". Til then we'll continue to work outside and to enjoy this beautiful fall weather.

If anyone out there sees Toby, wish him a big, hearty Happy Birthday. Others sharing birthdays this month are Tonya, Nancy, Ryan, Betty, and Tyler... if I forgot anyone else it's not intentional, just a little lapse in my memory and the fact that my day-timer isn't handy!