We have had 2 warm days, now it is cool again.
Sunday – from last week — Happy Father’s Day. I forgot with yesterday’s blog entry and said we had nothing to do this weekend. Just after I sent the blog to John, we had a phone call from our neighbors, inviting us to dinner on Father’s Day. We joined them and there will be 3 fathers present. It was a nice dinner with tons of food for 11 people. Here was the menu: Roast beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots (cooked and raw), salad (lettuce with tomatoes), green jello salad with pears, rolls, butter and jam, and for dessert a great chocolate / cream pie. Fun conversations as well. We are both tired, and John is napping. I may be soon as I finish checking my email.
I forgot to mention the morning antics of Sunshine. That gave us many laughs. She was outside the front door… by herself, her choice. She went out when John and the dogs came in from feeding the horses, and exercising the dogs, in the wind.
She was playing around in the gravel and dirt, and I happened to look out the kitchen window to see her climbing up the Mountain Ash tree. It is probably 7 inches in diameter, and John recently took off the suckers and bottom limbs up to about 5 feet. She climbed all the way up to the lowest branches, and on to two above, out of sight in the leaves. The wind was blowing hard and she was being thrown as if on a roller coaster. She was hanging on and turned to come down. Made it down to the bottom branch and jumped to the dirt below. She then walked out and plopped down on the concrete pavement, relaxing in the shade. I’m glad she didn’t hit there, but on the dirt instead. She stayed out there for 5 minutes and we had to pick her up and bring her in so we could leave. When in the house she can go through the window to the backyard, but she has had to train us to open the front door.
Not much happened Monday except exercise class, and Tuesday found us in Yakima, at the auto dealer having the white Subaru serviced. I took along my computer, but I could not connect to a wireless network there. We went to Costco and will get stuff for others as well as for us. One thing we got was 330 Chinet Plates for the July 1 celebration for an early 4th of July celebration. It’s being sponsored by the Adult Activity Center and Briarwood Retirement Center, but being held in an auditorium in downtown Ellensburg, next to the community library.
http://www.ellensburg.org/zimages/pics/images/libraryStatue.jpg
Two music groups I play with will perform and I am in charge of all the organization, song choice, and creating the play list. That has kept me busy all week, because I also have to look up words on the Internet to print. I’ll lead the singing and the group, and we will have microphones on stage. Normally, when we play for nursing homes and retirement communities, we don’t have microphones.
Also contacted my banker and he checked for a cancelled check at the end of 2010, paying my dues to the WA Old Time Fiddlers Association. He got a hit and I got the proof they had cashed it but never renewed my membership and I haven’t been getting the monthly newsletter. I also need it to register for the summer workshop in Kittitas. I have decided to take a morning class in Beginning Mandolin, so I can finally learn to play the one I bought myself for a birthday present 3 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandolin
Mine (FM-53S) is made in Korea for Fender;
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0955300032
Mine (used) did not come with the rosewood fingerboard below the strings, but the holes for attachment are there. So, a mystery!
While at CWU, I did not seem to find the time to learn to play and then after I got sick I couldn’t, so now is the time. It is tuned the same way as a violin, hence I will be able to know the “notes”, and to keep it tuned properly. I just have to learn how to chord on it, get the technique down, and build calluses on my left hand fingers. Now I only have the index and middle finger calluses from playing the violin, and I do not know yet if the placement will be the same for the strings on the mandolin. John says I need to spend 15 minutes/day till the end of July and my class, getting my fingers ready. I’ll try. Also, I looked on the Web to learn some chords from you tube videos. There is a surprising amount of information out there. Irish Washerwoman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXWa6q9PsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA82NOHXIP0&NR=1
Sierra Hull (with others) – Instrumental
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YonLq2GDLlk&feature=related
Wednesday. Started out with household and yards chores. One thing I did was retrieve my Mandolin in its case and dust off the outside of the case. I took it to town with me so I could stop by the music store and buy a strap for it, to be sure it fit. I carried it with me to the AAC for my foot care and exercise class. Also delivered the Chinet plates I got for the July 1 shindig. After exercise I went to the grocery for a few things and then on to the music store, where I bought the Mandolin strap and got it put on for me. I’m all set for beginning lessons the end of July. I’m excited.
Finally, the sun has come out at the end of a very overcast and threatening afternoon. This weather is quite strange. Up to 83 temp today and just before dark it’s gone down to 71 and the wind restarted a couple of hours ago.
Tomorrow is more music. I need to print out some new patriotic songs (new copies of music and words, but not new music). You will know them: America the Beautiful, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, You’re a Grand Ole Flag, God Bless America, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Yankee Doodle Dandy, (guess I’d better pull out Dixie), and There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere. All that got done and we had a very nice play day today. We were surprised to see our friends show up from Winlock, WA (on the wet side of our State). Nice to have them join us. We love having the Bass Fiddle added that makes our sound so much fuller, and also have the additional fiddler.
[Winlock, WA was a major producer of eggs (no longer) and has an “egg”
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/4033
to prove its historic importance.]
John loaded trash and garbage into the pickup truck to take to the transfer station (the dump). He got rid of a lot, for a $15.00 fee. That did not include any recyclable items (paper, cans, glass), because there was no room left in the truck. That will have to happen another day soon. We have many boxes ready to go but John hasn’t gone since before I landed in the hospital at Thanksgiving in ’09.
We just had a nice dinner and are waiting for a good dessert. John found some leftover (frozen) apple pie in the freezer while cleaning up and we have ice cream to go on it.
Friday was a free shoulder massage, Food Bank Soup Kitchen music, with a payback with lunch (beef, potatoes, carrots, salad and apple pie) and an afternoon exercise class. Only 10 of us were there but we gave ourselves a hard workout. Also I stopped at 3 garage sales, but only bought at one, spending 85 cents for four things: 2 blouses, a carrier bag with a Native American scene on it, and a loud pink baseball hat. Our winds are blowing (not as hard), and the temps are in the sixties, (very nice) today. John has cut metal roofing from off the barn into 3-foot lengths and is fixing it onto the side of his garden to protect the small plants from the wind.
Saturday brought a nice visit with friends over a Dutch Oven cooked roast beef dinner. Both daughters were home this weekend and we haven’t seen them since Christmas, as a family. John made a blueberry/apple cobbler for us to carry with us. I took along my Mandolin to have the mom and one daughter show me a few things about it, as they have some experience.
We’re late getting this blog out, because of last night’s doings. This Sunday morning started out with the mystery of 4 young cows in our driveway, and John having to herd them out. He thought they were the neighbors, but not. So with several other neighbors helping, they pushed them into a pen — across from us they still have the remains of a small dairy operation. When the owner finds them missing and starts asking around the mystery will be solved. The wind is not blowing hard today for a change. John decided to mow the grass up near the road because people come down the road too fast and miss the turn. A roll-over could start a fire at the road/bank edge and the less dry grass there is, the better chance we have of it not coming past the fence. John now has some plants on either side of the driveway he wants to protect — Althea bushes (Rose of Sharon)
http://www.botanical-journeys-plant-guides.com/rose-of-sharon-bush.html
from last fall (4 plants, and we think 3 survived). They were old to begin with and he didn’t pay a lot of money for them; and Rocky Mountain Maples:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_gardener/3051989344/
http://www.westlight.net/autumn_photographs/autumn_maple_5158.html
That’s about it, so I will stop and when John comes back in for his afternoon rest, or for lunch, I will have sent this blog to him to put out for our faithful readers. Hope your coming week is a good one.
All our best regards
Nancy and John
in gusty Kittitas Valley