Mamas and Cowboys and Friends and Family

We celebrated this long Victoria Day weekend with family and friends. To be more precise, family who are friends. Brother Enos dropped by on Saturday after hearing that Paul's cousin Robert, his partner Amy and their three awesome girls were coming by. The day was beautiful, the barbecue was tasty and we ended our fabulous day by the campfire, roasting marshmallows and wienies. As dusk fell the acoustic 6- and 12-strings came out and the best names in country music dropped by...Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Petty (okay, there was more than country) and, of course, Willie and Waylon. And somewhere in there, Angus and Malcolm treated us to 'Big Balls'. Hmmm, perhaps I should work on the wording of that sentence. 

For those of you in these parts, Happy Victoria Day. Hope your day is as beautiful as it is here. I leave you with a snippet by the fire...

Okay, so apparently I can't rotate videos like I can pictures. So just pretend the flames are shooting up, not sideways. Mental note: hold the camera normally next time. Hey, who knew?
 

Sheepdogs and Strawberries

The boys and I took a trip into town this morning to pick up a flat of local strawberries at the Market. As we wandered around under an overcast sky, the Niagara peaches jumped out, blocking our path and forced us to buy them. Forced us, I tell you. Plums too. And cherries. The growing season may be short up here but, man oh man, when the crops come in, they sure are good.

Tonight, I sliced up most of the berries - you've got to save some for fresh eating - and layered them in the dehydrator. We're trying a few plums and cherries this go round, too. If they turn out nice, I'll pick up some more and the kids can add dried cherries and plums to the strawberry chips that they snack on at school throughout the year. Options are a good thing.

While I was cutting up the fruit, the Sheepdogs came on the all-request show on the Wolf. That got me thinking about the day to come. Tomorrow, Dorito, brother Enos and I are making our annual trek to Kingston for the sheep dog trials. (As this is the 3rd year in a row that we're going, I reckon it qualifies as 'annual'.) There's a chance of thunderstorms tomorrow and the forecast is for about 38C with the humidity. Lordy. May have to wander down to the lake for a little dip.

As for the musical Sheepdogs, have a listen. I heard them for the first time last week...as I was slicing strawberries. It's a toe-tapper... 

 

Pride

Willie and Cooter

The latest. From Nashville. Poor Cooter.

(For the story behind all this, you might want to check out the first installment - Jack and Charlie. Then again, you might not.) 

From: Enos Strate

Subject: A final day from our pilgrimage to mecca...

Date: November 21, 2010 7:54:55 PM EST

Well, our mission has now been completed fully. We wandered around downtown Nashville today, retracing much of our path of enlightenment from the night previous, visiting Tootsie's Orchid Lounge as part of today's pilgrimage.

Prior to this, however, we made it our purpose to visit the Willie Nelson and Family Museum and General Store in order to find a red bandana, which we succeeded in doing. We browsed the museum and discovered that next door was Cooters, the Dukes of Hazzard store and museum. We were truly blessed to be able to view the artifacts of such cinematic and musical history.

Though we were already blessed with fulfilment, we discovered (from our waitress at our rooftop place of mid-day nourishment) that one final destination awaited us. Our final stop took us to Hendersonville, a mere 20 minutes from Nashville. After arriving there, we asked a K9 police officer directions to Johnny and June Carter Cash's former house. The first family of country music had lived there since the late 1960s until their deaths in 2003. A few years later, after the house had been sold for 2.3 Million dollars, it burned to the ground. We eventually found the spot on the shore of Old Hickory Lake where the house had been. Inspiration indeed.

We shall be returning from our voyage of discovery and enlightenment tomorrow.

God Bless All, Shalom and Amen
Cooter and Enos

No Dodge jokes from the peanut gallery please.

I know. I'm thinking the same thing. Where does Enos come up with this stuff?

Jack and Charlie

Being the incredible wife that I am - yes, thank you, I know - I allowed Paul to take off for an extra long weekend with brother Enos. They left early Friday and headed south to the fine city of Nashville. Years back, when we were still in Oshawa, Enos mysteriously disappeared for a few days and returned with our Christmas gift - a barrel from the Jack Daniels distillery. A decade and a half later, he felt it was time for a barrel of his own, complete with the Jack Daniels logo etched into the side and branded on top. A finer piece of furniture you'll not find. In Enos' estimation, anyway. (Alright, maybe ours too.) 

But here's the thing. Nashville is the place to go for country music. Paul's not exactly what you'd call a country music fan. Enos on the other hand, is in his glory. Tootsie's. The Ryman. The *gasp* Grand Ole Opry. And all those bars in between. This weekend, I've received several emails from Enos, exhalting...well, I'll let you read for yourself. Oh, and Cooter is Paul. Or Paul is Cooter. Big Dukes of Hazzard fans 'round here. 

Howdy Pilgrims,

Here's a photo we took today during our baptism today in the Holler. 

God Bless

Enos and Cooter 

*****

Hello Friends and Family,

Attached, please find a photo of the town square in Lynchburg - courthouse (on the right), hardware store, and motorcycles - we did not see Bo and Luke (but we did see Bubba, Cletus and Earlene).

Again, God Bless!

E and C

ps We are now off to receive holy communion at the Mother Church of Country Music, the Ryman Auditorium.  We may stop in for a quick sippin of holy water at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge  (just down the alley) prior to the service.  What a glorious day of epiphany and personal religious imbibement have we absorbed this day.

*****

Mornin' Y'all,

Well, last e'nin was spent walkin round the Broadway Ave (in Nashville, not that Yankee town) and 2nd Ave area of downtown, the heart of country music bars and saloons.  We musta passed 25 bars, all with bands playin live music in them (had a JD and coke at the Whisky Bent Saloon).  Music city.

We then arrived at the Ryman Auditoruim for the Grand Ol Opry concert.  It was a live broadcast with 1 overall host (the guy who keeps the show on schedule and reads ads and introduces the 4 emcees (one for each of the 4 half hour segments) - he had a fantastic radio voice).  The hosts were Little Jimmy Dickens (a fine joke teller), Charlie Pride, Marty Stuart and John Conlee.  Each did there own performances and there were about 3 other performers in each of the segments - including Radney Foster, Ralph Stanley, a couple of kickin bluegrass bands, and the Charlie Daniels Band.  Paul Shaffer (the band leader on the David Letterman Show) was in town and joined Marty Stuart's band at the piano, performing a classic Floyd Cramer medley as well as joining Marty's band (note to Sean: which includes Harry Stinson on drums) on a fiery, Johnny Cash-sounding train song.   You really appreciate the skill of these musicians when you catch 'em live.  The Charlie Daniels Band then brought down the house with the Devil Went Down To Georgia.

The view was fine, just fine from the Confederate Gallery.

Enos and Cooter

The Charlie Daniels Band

Haven't heard a lick from Cooter. He's either a country-music convert now, and not ready to admit it, or he's passed out somewhere, not quite believing he agreed to all this.

And The Weather's Fine

Holidays. Sweet holidays. We decided it was high time we took full advantage of our time off so we shipped the kids off to daycare. Alright, alright, they all asked to go. Come to think of it, they begged. Cammy's friend Snacky was there. Nolan's friend Markie Mark was there. And Riley's friend Jade was there. Who could say no, really. 

So, while Paul worked on building out and trimming our new functioning windows (the functioning part still brings a tear to my eye), I dropped the kids off at Julie's and went down to Orono to pick more blueberries. It was a lovely day - blue sky, sunny and the blasted humidity is gone. Ahhh. I sailed along, glancing at the scenery while the radio played one great tune after another. As I neared the turnoff, I found myself behind a slowpoke (who was neither wearing a fedora nor driving a Buick - and it wasn't Sunday). Finally, I followed him, slowly, off the highway and westward along the 3rd Concession. As I passed Allin's Orchard, I noticed a guy ahead on a bike. He held both hands out as if to balance but it didn't seem to be working for him. He seemed kind of wobbly. He sat very straight in his seat and had a little Canadian flag sticking out of the back of his hat. I slowed (even more) as I approached him and gave him wide berth as I passed. The guy was on a unicycle! Outside of the circus, I can't say as I've seen that before!

Another half a minute down the road, I made my way in to Wilmot's, parked and spent about 2 hours picking. By the end, I was getting rather parched as I'd forgotten to bring water, but I was happy with my haul. I came home with a couple of nearly full 4-litre buckets and a 3-litre basket for Julie. I see now that I'll have to work fast as the buckets don't seem as full as earlier in the day. Evaporation, perhaps. I'll leave you with the best song on the radio today. Hadn't heard it in years so it deserved to be fully cranked. The video quality's not great, but...they rocked.

Today's Favourite

Ri's poor ole nose has been stuffed up and she didn't get much sleep last night so we spent the day at home. She took it pretty easy (lucky thing I had recorded Ghostbusters) and so it seemed like a pretty good day to dive into the apples that have been sitting here for a few weeks waiting to be made into sauce. Paul had originally picked up 4 bushels and we had been storing them in the garage. Over the course of a few days, a critter of either the masked or striped persuasion was into them and relieved us of about 1/2 a bushel. (Probably a friend of the pea-snatching deer.) They've been in the not-quite-as-warm-as-the-rest-of-the-house room since. I'm happy to say that we now have a nice stash of applesauce.

Anytime I'm working in the kitchen, I have the Wolf on the radio. And each time I listen, there's a song that stands out. A song that I can't get out of my head for the rest of the day. Today it was the Tragically Hip's 'Wheat Kings', the story of David Milgaard. Great song.



If you're a fan of the Hip, check out this site. I've gotta say, I didn't know that Willie Nelson was anything other than Willie Nelson. Gives new meaning to those trips to Bobcaygeon.

Nickelback at the ACC

The show last night was great. Three acts, Saving Abel, Seether and Nickelback rocked the ACC for three-and-a-half/four hours. And our seats were unbelievable. Once the last encore was played, we headed out to Union Station to catch the last train of the night. After a delay, we found our way to Oshawa where I dropped my new best friend, Dorito, off. And then home. My head finally hit the pillow at 2:45 and I told myself I'm far too old for this. That was reinforced when the alarm went off at 6:30. But it was worth it. Who doesn't like butter?

Earlier Morning

Nolan must have read my post the other day and figured he'd see how far he could go with it. He came into our room at five after two this morning. "Can I come into bed with you?" Sigh. I escorted him back to bed. He stayed there 'til after 6.

Brother Enos has been frequenting The Puck and Pint in Peterborough lately. After curling on Friday nights, he and his buddy Sean head out from Omemee and meet up with friends whose band plays the bar each week. After 10, the bar features an open mike. Last night, Enos recited Crispy Critters, a CW McCall ditty. Check it out here. Funny. Did I mention that Enos is awfully good at impressions? Something tells me the band'll be learning this one. Wonder if they know Convoy?

~Liz

Dark Horse And A Stick of Buttah

Dorito, my new best friend, says the singer of Nickelback sounds like butter. Oh, good Lord, she's right. Today, Dorito's office offered up two tickets to next week's Nickelback concert. *gasp* My new BFF emailed me and asked if I wanted to go. Uh, yes. She bid. We're going! I'm so excited. I'm also glad I paid for breakfast on Saturday with nary a grumble. Nickelback! This may be more exciting that fruit trees.

I Guess You Didn't Know It But I'm A Fiddle Player Too

That's a line out of the Charlie Daniel's song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Great tune. I suppose if I'm talking about myself, I should use the word 'wannabe' in there. But that's okay. We all have to start somewhere.

I took violin for four years in school. Never came to appreciate Beethoven or Bach or any of those other classical composers that we had to learn. By the end of grade 9 I threw in the towel and didn't look back.

Fast forward to 1999. Something got into me and I wanted to learn the fiddle. Paul gave me one for Christmas that year and I was pumped to relearn it. Downstairs I went to practice. Riley was about 8 months old then, and every time the bow hit the string, she wailed. The fiddle went in the closet. Forgotten.

Fast forward again. 2009. I've been following cold antler farm and the author is a self-taught fiddle player. The old urge to play has returned.

Last night I dug out my fiddle. The D string had snapped and the bow hairs needed some cleaning up but even so, it looked mighty fine. I tuned it up with the help of Paul's guitar tuner (I don't have the ear for that stuff) and in no time was playing "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". Hey. You've gotta start somewhere.

Guess I waited long enough. Riley didn't cry. Cammy plugged his ears. I ignored him. Paul smirked. I ignored him too. And the music felt great! Whistled the song all day at work.

I found a great sheet music site and, with my new D string, tried a few tonight. It's amazing how fast it all comes back. That's not to say that I'm hitting every note...some would say I'm not hitting many notes, but I don't care. It'll come.

One more thing. Can you see the music in the picture above? It's The Log Drivers Waltz. Any Canadian worth his salt knows that one. Well, from my generation, anyway. I'll be playing it in front of the campfire by the end of the summer. 'Cause I'm a fiddle player too.

~Liz