Quick glance back at Lotus weekend

There has been so much going on that I haven't told you about Lotus weekend!

The Ohio Cousins have made a tradition to come for this world Music Festival and we were delighted to have them again this year.

The Festival is more than the music, although there was plenty of that and very enjoyable too.

In fact, here is the first bit of music we heard - that fearless goldfinch eating seeds only a few feet away from the gathering crowds.

We began with a downtown feast at Uptown, 

  and then did the traditional hopping from venue to venue to catch a bit of a dozen sets -- here a Hungarian group gets set up in one of the hosting churches.

And when we were early for the Irish set at the theater, no worries --

waiting just gave everyone a chance to check their email.

Two nights of music..

and two days of exploring our town.

Got to visit the Farmer's Market

and talk to the vendors about the delicious fresh veggies we brought home.

Have to make a trip to Nashville...wait - haven't I taken this picture before??

Really, in the same store with the same couch.

The trip to Lake Monroe was a highlight

and we tasted the first ripe persimmons of the year.

So summer is ended and autumn begun.

Going to Nashville

 Brand new shoes?
Must be going somewhere?


Yes, a weekend trip to Nashville, Tennessee

to meet up with these folks:

some of whom we hadn't seen in about 47 years.

And since we were in "Music City"

 we naturally checked out guitars

 at the world famous Gruhn's guitar store.

 With great restraint, this guitarist only played one of the fabulous instruments there.

After all, we had more to see and do!

Dinners! Excursions! Tours!

The Pledge Class of 1965, along with a couple of Big Brothers, had a fine time.

(This picture taken just before the portrait of Roy Acuff fell off the mantle on their heads.)

Couldn't visit Nashville without going to the Opry, right?

 Wooooheeee!

You will be glad to know that these are the souvenirs I didn't bring back for you. 

(But if you really want one,  let me know...)

June Catch-up (including one hot dog)

Oh June was a full month and I didn't take nearly enough pictures and I didn't keep up the blog. 

Now I am inspired by the Bloomingtonauts (who did take lots of pictures!) to do a little catching up.

Our themes for June:  company and performance!

Granddad was delighted to have company on the front porch of Garden Villa, where he is now staying.

He was so happy that folks came such a long way just to see him!

Then the Bloomingtonauts arrived to begin several weeks of activity,

in which we managed to get in lots of typical Bloomington sights--

the Farmer's Market

the B-Line trail

Lake Griffy

and our old house, now completely redone.

Wow!  You should see inside!

Check out the article about it in Bloom Magazine.

(Scroll down, it's the "50's Ranch Reinvented near Bryan Park" )

We had celebrations --

Father's Day

and Midsummer.

There was storytelling

(we taught a two week course together)

and singing --

Granddad is even singing along, "Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts..."

In fact he is still telling us about the evening when the Bloomingtonaut played and sang songs that he actually knew!

And we got to hear the Bloomingtonaut's original songs performed on stage at Max's Place.

Okay, July, come on - can you top all this?

I'm looking over a four-leaved...

So why do I have this song stuck in my head?

"one leaf for sunshine,

another for rain..."

Sure the clover is blooming-

 spot the 4-leaf clover in the picture???

Me neither.

"one for the roses that bloom down the lane..."

(The early roses have bloomed and gone. It's not that.)

"no use explaining

the one remaining

is someone I adore.

I'm looking over...

a four leaved..."

Mushroom???

Don't know why this didn't catch on.  Sure to be just as lucky, right?

Der Opera-goer

Here we picture the German BIL in a much more familiar environment.

 Yes, we went to the Opera!

 We perched precariously on the third balcony.

It was impossibly high up, but amazingly enough, the music reached us loud and clear.

December 23: The Holly and the Ivy

The Holly

and the Ivy

When they are both full grown

Of all the trees that are in the wood,  the Holly bears the crown. 

Oh the rising of the sun

The running of the deer

   

The playing of the merry organ 

Sweet singing in the choir.

(Thanks to Mimi for the Holly and the Ivy!)

Need the music?  Try  this    Christmas  Carol site.

December 13: Saint Lucy

December 13th is the Feast of Saint Lucia and is celebrated in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. This fascinating celebration involves the oldest daughter of the household putting on a white robe and a crown of lingonberry leaves and candles. Lighted candles! And then serving her sleeping parents "steaming hot" coffee and saffron rolls while singing the "Santa Lucia" hymn.

The girls look lovely...but do we worry about lighted candles? In their hair? While their parents are sleeping?

There seem to be St. Lucia celebrations - processions of white-robed singing girls with candles led by the chosen Lucia with her flaming crown -just about everywhere. They sing and pace through churches, schools, malls, nursing homes, and historical sites. They bring hot coffee and buns to Nobel Prize winners as well as those slumbering parents seen above.

This charming custom raises lots of questions besides the issue of flames and hot wax on someone's head.

How did an Italian saint end up in Sweden? The more I read about Santa Lucia the more confusing the whole story becomes.

How did a Neapolitan boatman's song about a harbor (sung here for you by that well-known Italian singer, Elvis)

become a Swedish "traditional" hymn, as sung here in Swedish:

And all of those questions aside, aren't you humming "Santa Lu-ceee-ah, santa lu-che-ah" now?

Keep singing, and come back tomorrow to see what's behind the next window.

December 11: Indiana Day

December 11 is "Indiana Day" and in honor of this, I've given you a link to Santa Claus Indiana, where every day is Christmas.

And while you explore the many attractions of Santa Claus, you can listen to "Indiana Christmas" by the a cappella group Straight No Chaser, which began in Bloomington, Indiana in 1996:

Enjoy a Hoosier Christmas and check back tomorrow for yet another treat.

December 5th: Here we come a-wassailing

In honor of Repeal Day, our December 5th window is an invitation to drink a Wassail Cup.









You might get one by going "a-wassailing", as in the old song sung here by 'the King's Singers':






Or you might brew your own.
While there are many fine recipes for filling your wassail bowl both on the web and in the Joy of Cooking, here is an 'ancient one' from The American Book of Days:

"Cook a little grated nutmeg, two cloves, a pennyweight of powdered ginger, a tiny blade of mace, five or six allspice berries and an inch or two of stick cinnamon in a gill of water until it boils once or twice. Mix this with the contents of four bottles of wine and heat the whole over a moderate fire, dissolving in it about a pound of sugar. Beat the yolk of twelve eggs until light and frothy, then fold them throughout the whites which should also have been beaten to as stiff a froth as possible. Put the beaten eggs into a big punch bowl or old wassail bowl. Remove the wine from the fire, pour it over the eggs, beating the whole constantly till light and frothy. while still foaming add twelve hot baked apples."

I may just do the hot baked apples and drink the brandy straight.

Check back tomorrow for another seasonal treat in window 6.

Window 2 : Sing along

One of the pleasures of this season is its music. So for the second day of December, here's some favorite traditional Christmas carols. In fact, that's the name of the album. And it was an album, a big old black vinyl record, when we got it around 1967. Now it is on line - see link below - and when you click on the link, scroll down to find the album.
You wouldn't think a guy born in New York City in 1919 would evoke the high lonesome places of the Appalachians. Pete Seeger does.

Listen to "'Twas on a night like this". Doesn't it make you feel like you're standing alone way up on a mountain looking at the stars?

Shining so truly, shining so brightly,

Guiding our footsteps from afar.

It leads us through the night:

a path to love and brotherhood,

By following its light.

Keep listening. You too can get the refrain from "Mary had a baby" stuck in your mind:

"The people keep a-comin'

And the train done gone."

And the sly political commentary from the 17th century in the "Carol of the Beasts"? Still pretty relevant, unfortunately.

"Oh what a beautiful City..." a good one to sing while you are working on something...."Twelve gates to the City, Hallelujah!"

There is something especially haunting about "Behold that Star". The liner notes credit it as "Composed by a black musician in Tennessee about 1930." Who was that? A gifted composer, if unnamed.

"Behold that star.

Behold that star up yonder.

Behold that star.

It is the star of Bethlehem."

Sing along, and look tomorrow to see what is in Window 3.

Musical Unmastery

We know that many of you, faithful readers, have musical families. We read with interest about guitar classes and piano playing and singing of all sorts - you know who you are!
So I thought I would share with you the progress of our own Infant Prodigy, only not so much of either when you get right down to it.
I do refer to Granddad.
Granddad has been wanting to learn to play the guitar for years. He works at it diligently once or twice a year. Each time it becomes more obvious that the musical ability of the next generation did not come from his genes.
This weekend he began again. First the Actual Musician showed him how to play the notes.

Now you must all sing to your selves the first five notes of
"Home on the Range." This is the song that Granddad wants to play. These are the notes that he is going to learn today.
The Actual Musician positions him correctly, more or less, and talks him through those five notes.
"Oh give me a home"
The Actual Musician tells him that he must repeat those notes until he has them memorized.


"Oh give me a home"
and again
"Oh give me a home"
and again
"Oh give me a home"

a half hour later
"Oh give me a home"

They are both still going strong. Your Temporary Librarian's weak mind has long since broken.
I am drooling and muttering in the background "Oh give me a break!" "Oh send me a -way!"
Maybe next week end they will get to the next line.
I will go out and sit in the car.