City of New Orleans

We're at the Mt. Baker Theater tonight listening to the great Arlo Guthrie.   It doesn't get any better.  If you have a chance to see him don't miss it. He is very funny as well as being a great musician.  We are so lucky to have this great venue.  Thanks, Mt. Baker Theater

The Dark Time of the Year

The next few weeks are my least favorite time of the year - it is cold - not so cold as in the "Frozen North" - but so cold that I got up and put on another night gown and a pair of socks last night.  I was still cold - an hour later, I got up and put another blanket on my side of the bed - The Shepherd kicks off most of his covers at one time or another during the night.  Go figure.

The song "Turning Toward the Morning" is a favorite of mine - I learned it many years ago from my friend & banjo teacher Mike Marker - The songwriter, Gordon Bok wrote it in response to a letter he received from a friend who was having a bad year - his words to her were full of encouragement that the morning always comes and spring will be here before you know it. 

Bok, who lives in Maine, rarely leaves the northeast, but if you get a chance to see him, don't miss it.  I found several renditions of the song by others on You-Tube but none that I would endorse by putting them here.  So you'll just have to believe me that this song will get you through the tough times.  


TURNING TOWARD THE MORNING
(Gordon Bok)

When the deer has bedded down
And the bear has gone to ground,
And the northern goose has wandered off
To warmer bay and sound,
It's so easy in the cold to feel
The darkness of the year
And the heart is growing lonely
For the morning

Chorus: 
Oh, my Joanie, don't you know
That the stars are swinging slow,
And the seas are rolling easy
As they did so long ago?
If I had a thing to give you,
I would tell you one more time
That the world is always turning
Toward the morning.

Now October's growing thin
And November's coming home;
You'll be thinking of the season
And the sad things that you've seen,
And you hear that old wind walking,
Hear him singing high and thin,
You could swear he's out there singing
Of your sorrow.

When the darkness falls around you
And the Northwind come to blow,
And you hear him call you name out
As he walks the brittle snow:
That old wind don't mean you trouble,
He don't care or even know,
He's just walking down the darkness
Toward the morning.

It's a pity we don't know
What the little flowers know.
They can't face the cold November
They can't take the wind and snow:
They put their glories all behind them,
Bow their heads and let it go,
But you know they'll be there shining
In the morning.

Now, my Joanie, don't you know
That the days are rolling slow,
And the winter's walking easy,
As he did so long ago?
And, if that wind would come and ask you,
"Why's my Joanie weeping so?"
Wont you tell him that you're weeping
For the morning?

Well, that was FUN!

Saturday night we went to The Blue Horse Gallery & Cafe for a CD release concert for one of our favorite Bands - a group based in the Seattle area called Pearl Django,

We have been following these guys for about five years, ever since we first heard them at our friend's 20th anniversary party.  It's been about a year since we've seen them though.

The band  has been together for about 18 years - there have been a few personnel changes, but the music is still the best - 

Neither one of us had been in this Gallery for many years, especially not since they'd added the cafe.  It was a really comfortable place and I'm sure we'll be going back again.  

Here's our friends Curtis & Felicity, that 20 year "Anniversary Couple" - today - they will have been married 25 years in August.

Thanks for introducing us to the band you guys!






Pearl Django doing a few licks to warm up before the concert starts

Monday Musings

Last month The Shepherd & I went to a special concert given by our friend Lydia McCauley and her current music partner Nancy Rumbel. It was an open air concert at a charming little Italian restaurant out on the Mt. Baker Highway. Truth be told, I didn't really enjoy the food all that much - but the music was fantastic, the evening was lovely and the bread was good -

It was kind of an anniversary celebration for us, as on our anniversary in April The Shepherd was sick in bed. All in all, it was a fun evening.


This little lady has fleece as white as snow - just like "Mary's little lamb" - her name is (Little) Eva - and she's going to be a contender for the BEST fleece next summer at Black Sheep. Her fleece is very much like her Uncle Galloway's fleece - a fine crimpy fleece - BSG, here we come!








I led the service yesterday at church. It was our end of the summer service (we only have two services during the summer) - and everyone who was there contributed - it was fun to hear how Laura, a 70 plus year old great grandma went on a zip line ride in Costa Rica - I mean really - you couldn't get ME to do that - You absolutely rock, Laura! - and another friend, whose daughter & granddaughter visited from England, fell in love with that little girl all over again. Oh, you grandparents - sheesh...



Well, speaking of children - aren't these two just so sweet - George has now decided if Gracie gets to sleep with Mummy at night, George gets to sleep with Mummy at night too - sometimes I wake up and cannot move my legs - It takes me a minute to figure out that I'm not paralyzed, I just have a 10# weight on each side holding me down.

They are pretty good about coming in at night - sometimes teasing me - one will come in and the other one disappears and no amount of calling will get him or her in until they are good and ready.

Here are some more of this year's lambs, with Vanessa from last year in the back.

Wendy, they black one in the front has changed colors again - according to The Shepherd, she has three colors in her fleece now - I'll have to go out with him one of these afternoons - I'm sure she wouldn't let me touch her by myself.

Her half brother Blanco went to the big BBQ in the sky last week. I just try to think about it that we gave him a very good life for the first 5 months of his life, and hope that the fellows that bought him will humanely end his life.

My friend Diane (who happens to work in the tech services department of our local Voc-Tech college) came over to visit on Saturday, and helped me put my new W I D E screen FLAT monitor together with my new/refurb computer. I had to get the new monitor because the new-to-me computer was not a tower style, and would not have worked with the old Gateway monitor that I had, which was AS BIG AS A HOUSE! It always seems like every time you upgrade one thing, another has to go...

I am grateful l that she was here, I'd never have been able to figure it out myself. Thank you Diane - I owe you a lunch! (at least...)

Well, that about catches you up on all the "noos" that Gracie hasn't imparted - I'm busily spinning and crocheting and now on top of the things that I'm making for the Artisan's Faire I have special orders for six pairs of fingerless gloves. Yikes!

Oh, and five more posts and I'll have 700 posts! Double Yikes!

A busy Saturday

This past Saturday we went to Monroe to participate in our friend Gretchen's Fiber Frolic. We had hoped to sell some nice Shetland fleece or roving, but alas, everyone was keeping a tight reign on their purse strings. We did make a lot of contacts and got a lot of "hands on" the fiber - so maybe next time...

When it was over at 4:00 we had to scurry home to get ready to go to our friends Lydia & Kurt's for a Concert at Meadow House -



This special concert, a coming together of three very talented women, was one of the nicest events that I've attended in a long time -

Lydia McCauley is an artist that The Shepherd and I have followed for the past 18 years - To our delight, over the years, we have gotten to know Lydia and her wonderful partner and husband Kurt, and try to not miss any of her concerts.





This evening Lydia joined with Nancy Rumbel and Jami Sieber (both internationally known artists who are from the Seattle area) for a very special concert called "River"














Jami Sieber plays electric & acoustic cello. Amazingly -

We first met her a year ago when she opened for Lydia's last concert. She is an amazing musician and vocalist - It is hard sometimes to distinguish the difference between her voice and the voice of her cello - they are that close.

One of her life's projects is protection of the endangered Asian elephants, which she came to know about after a trip to Thailand in 2001 - You can read more about her work with these beautiful creatures here.






Nancy Rumbel has performed with The Paul Winter Consort and for over 25 years with Eric Tingstad as Tingstad & Rumbel.

To quote the bio on her website: "NANCY RUMBEL is a professional composer, recording artist,performer and teacher. Her primary instruments are oboe, English horn, double wooden ocarinas, clay ocarinas and keyboards."

She even has a CD out of her ocarina music - fancy that!



And speaking of CDs - Look what I won -

My very own copy of Jami's CD "Hidden Sky".


What a great evening it was.

New Year's at Nancy's

Every year on New Year's Day our friend Nancy has a brunch for friends - It started out being a bunch of us who used to hang out at a little restaurant called the Cookie Cafe. When it closed, we no longer saw each other on Friday nights - so what better way to get together - music and food.







Now, we have added new friends and even our neighbors come out - (how is that - go half way across the county to see someone who lives two blocks away!)











Since the start we've had a preponderance of old "rock and rollers" but now there is a contingent of great bluegrass pickers & singers - nothing could be better -














This year a couple of us brought our spinning wheel. Ellen's husband is one of the bluegrass players - I brought my wheel too - everyone was very interested in what we were doing -












And it gives us all an opportunity to bring our best dishes or try a new one.

I have traditionally made Aebelskivers - which are a little round pancake made in a special pan. But when I do that, I don't get to visit with anyone, because I'm in the kitchen making them - so I decided to bring a hot dish similar to a strata - Apple, Bacon & Cheddar Bread Pudding. It was very good. I doubled the recipe (as shown is the regular recipe) except for the apples and only used them in the middle - I think it would have been nice to have had some warm maple syrup or some hollandaise sauce to give it a little bit of "oomph" - Here is the recipe:

APPLE BACON & CHEDDAR BREAD PUDDING

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)

3 tablespoons packed brown sugar

4 cups cubed firm bread

1 pound bacon, cooked, drained and chopped

2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8 ounces)

2 1/2 cups milk

1 tbsp Dijonaise (or other Dijon style) mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

5 eggs

1. Grease 2-quart casserole. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook apples in butter 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. Stir in brown sugar; reduce heat to low. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender.

2. Layer half each of the bread, bacon and cheese in casserole. Add the apples. Repeat with remaining bread, bacon and cheese.

3. Mix all remaining ingredients; pour over cheese. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

4. Heat oven to 350ºF. Bake uncovered 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I fried up my bacon bits the night before (on New Years Eve - woo hoo) and had planned to put together the dish so it would have overnight to sit - but the fridge was still full of Christmas ham, and other assorted leftovers, so, I got up early to make it on Friday a.m. - so it only sat about 1/2 hour before I put it in the oven - it was OK - (I mooshed it a lot with a big spoon) Using the packaged shredded cheese saved me a lot of time too - it's premeasured to two cups - oh, and I didn't peel the apples either - just chopped them up in 1/2 inch cubes...

A Concert at MeadowHouse

About a month ago we received an email from our friend Lydia McCauley. We were invited to a house concert at the home where she and her husband Kurt live, on August 14 - even though The Shepherd was scheduled to be at the Skagit County Fair with the boys this weekend, we knew that we couldn't miss this important event. I sent in my RSVP immediately - her concerts are very popular and I knew that only a few people would be able to attend this one because of limited space.

Training had begun in earnest (much to the boy's dismay) - and they were actually beginning to "respond" to being good boys with the halter and lead, in exchange for one of those yummy alfalfa & blackberry treats. Well, as it turned out, the halter training was for naught - a week ago (even though they'd had his paperwork FOR A MONTH!) we got a call from the fair office, that "unfortunately, there was no room in the sheep barn for our sheep this year" - The Shepherd was so very disappointed. But, it did give us the opportunity to go, unencumbered by worry about sheep on their own at the fair, to Lydia's concert.

Besides being her "sound man" Lydia's husband Kurt is one heck of a master builder. Their home,which he built, is a sight to behold - centered in a meadow and surrounded by lavender and herb gardens.

Inside - the kitchen and the bath have marble counter tops - a professional range in the kitchen - of course I would notice that you say - well, there are just some things that are important!



Lynn (the band's bass player) and her partner Keith opened the concert with a humorous song about a bumble bee and an old James Taylor song about life's changes - Lynn has been with Lydia's band for about 9 or 10 years - essentially all of the time that we have been, and I hate to say it - "groupies" - well - when you find a good band, you go to their concerts - you want to support them, so they will keep finding places to play, right? Over the years we have become good friends with Lydia & Kurt and the other band members, so it's almost like a reunion of friends when they have a concert any more.

If you click on Lydia's name in the first paragraph it will take you to her blog where you can listen to snippets of her music, or if you have an iPod, you can even buy some of her tunes.

Lydia is a very talented musician and has a lovely voice. One of the fun things that we have done together was a few years ago when she and the band came to our little church in Blaine and gave a concert. We packed the house for them . The Shepherd & I got to sing with her! That's one way to get to sing on stage - promote concerts staring your friends.




There were between 40 and 50 people there tonight - including poet Lucy Shaw who lives here in Bellingham, and chocolatier Kevin Buck, owner of Chocolate Necessities, just the best place in the world to get the world's best hand made chocolates! (get a feeling that these people make good chocolate? - you'd never believe HOW good their chocolate is!)

And, in the small world department - as we were preparing to take our leave, one of the ladies sitting in front of us - said "you're Tina aren't you? - Do you recognize me?" Well, I had kind of thought she looked familiar - but after working in two highly customer service oriented companies AND spending 21 years singing in a restaurant, many local people look familiar - Anyhow - long story short - she (Peggy) and her husband and their children used to come in after they got done with church every Sunday night (I mean, we're talking for many months) to have a snack of Nachos and listen to me sing. After she said that, I did place her - and even smaller world department, in the mid '70's, that same family had briefly rented a little house on a street called East Victor here in town - the very same house that I bought in 1981 and where I lived for 13 years until I married The Shepherd and we moved here.

In fact, "That Old House" will be the topic of one of my blogs next week. Check back in a few days to read more about it.