The Wild Granny

Yes for those of you not familiar with The Maryland Renaissance Festival, that is what we call Mom - The Wild Granny. She's actually Keeper Of The Rum on the (virtual) pirate ship The Polly Dodger.

Mostly she just has fun. She dons garb, totes her mug, parks it at The White Hart (a pub with a stage inside the festival) and waits for visitors. You'd be shocked and amazed at how many people stop by to see her when she's there. She missed last year due to her stroke in October but the year before (autumn 2006) it was a steady stream of people until she decided she was just too tired and needed to go home.

Sadly - little did we realize then - that year was to be her last year. I can't forsee her being able to attend anymore. She can barely make it outside. She's been so very weak since her stroke. In essence she basically goes nowhere anymore. That is truly sad.

Today is her 71st birthday. After last October at times I wondered if we'd make it this far. Now I wonder if we'll make it to this milestone next year.

Enough of that: for this evening we hit Outback Steakhouse for her 2 favorites: steak and Death by Chocolate Martini. She'll come home to an icecream cake that she'll be too full to eat and will probably have some for breakfast tomorrow morning.

It is difficult to watch the passing of time knowing full well that you need to make your memories now because the tomorrows become more uncertain with each passing day. I will worry about that tomorrow --- for today we celebrate !

the picture above was taken summer of 2007 at the Virginia Renaissance Faire

the winter moon

There is something peaceful about the full moon through winter bare trees.

Shining brightly, illuminating the night

So close and yet so incredibly far.

A Pang of Longing

The tangy smell of sea air

The sound of the waves breaking

The sound of the gulls screech

The taste of fresh seafood

The sounds of summer laughter

I miss the water

I miss the summer

~~the photo above was taken @ Solomon's Island. The main blog picture (the waves on the sand) is of the Chesapeake Bay by Calvert Cliffs

Nourising the body/nourishing the soul

Home sick today.

I don't know how much is sick and how much is sick.

Either way, a little Todd Rundgren, a little Gilbert O'Sullivan, a little Stephen Bishop and all is feeling better.

I just wish I knew an easy effective way to upload my ITunes purchases to imeem ... I'd love to share my favorite playlists.

For now just take my word for it -- they're perfect for whatever ails.

The photo above is of a wonderful stone bridge in DC. It was taken during the Duck's Tour summer 2006. I'm not familiar with which bridge it is though.

Thoughts on moving forward

A new year.

A new beginning.

New thoughts. New days.

Changes. More changes.

Changes upon changes.

The changes from a year. The things that haven't changed. The things that will change in the future.

A year ago I was a prolific public blogger on Y!360. Now that blog is all but closed and awaiting whatever the fates and follies that Yahoo chooses. I have tried repreatedly to safe the entries and comments but I want to save them intact not just bits and pieces. I find I much prefer to leave it as the ghost of christmas past rather than save a skeleton.

Today. I have a few of the friends on Multiply. I find that while different, it is still the best alternative to Y!360. Note I don't say substitute because in truth it isn't: in ways it's much preferred but in others it doesn't have the magic that 360 had. Perhaps that will come with time.

I will keep this blogger because sometimes I wish to blog things that are just for me. If they're read and commented upon so be it but since this is less public that is doubtful. Often it's just a place to expound on the thoughts that roam my brain free range and without fences.

Often it's a place to make sense out of the senselessness that my life can be at times.

Sometimes --- more frequently lately --- it's a place to chart the changes that time makes.

May I look back upon this in a year with a fond smile.

May this blog celebrate the spring as well as the winter.

the picture above was taken in 2006 at The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC. It is looking across the Tidal Basin at the Jefferson Memorial

End of an era

Actually that's a little harsh - let's call it the changes that time makes.

In a couple of weeks I will be contacting a friend of mine who operates a music store in Takoma Park. The reason for this is to enlist his help in donating my percussion stuff: the mallets, the sticks, the auxillary equipment. I have 2 large bags of different chime mallets and orchestral bell mallets, drum sticks and timpani mallets, jingle bells, woodblocks, a kabassa, latin shakers, triangles and so much more.

These are things I accumulated over the many many years of playing with the local symphony, community band, community jazz band, and college bands.

I will never come to the emotional realization that that part of my life is over while I still have these. I've known for quite some time that my hearing isn't good enough to play anymore. It was going south over 5 years ago. I've been deluding myself that I prefer to watch television upstairs when in reality that's where it is set on closed caption. I don't go to movies because in crowded noisy areas I can't hear specific sounds -- it's all a roar.

I will never play again. Not percussion. Not with a group. Not in front of people.

Wow that was hard to write.

I *do* have a lovely digital piano that has earphones. It's not the same rush as the 32 measure roll from Russian Christmas or the gong crash in Fanfare for the Common Man -- it's definitely not timpani nor crash cymbals but it *is* music.

Maybe I can conquer my love/hate relationship with it? Only time will tell I guess.


The picture is a sculpture by Alexander Calder that is in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. I noticed as I moved here and didn't play, my muse was drawn towards art and photography. I'm just hoping that Harold likes the piano as well. I know he'll miss the cymbals.

:) coincidence?

I'm not one for glaring coincidences. However you have to wonder about this one. This was one of my favorite songs ever --- yet I was from Kansas. I had no clue where Easton was.

I know now.

Coincidence? You be the judge....



the person who did this video quite correctly used images from Ocean City, Maryland. Easton is on the Eastern Shore and the areas mentioned in the song are either Eastern Shore or Baltimore.

My photo is of Kent Island Maryland on the way to The Eastern Shore taken from the Bay Bridge across the Chesapeake Bay ;)