Mudcat Musings

Subject: Mudcat Musings
From: Big Mick
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 04:24 PM

A house starts its life as a structure built out of wood and plaster, dreams and efforts. It usually only holds the promise of the everyday music of life to come. Soon comes the people who live and die there, the children born and raised there, the tune of the lawnmower and vacuum cleaner. A bit later begins the jig of daily life, the mournful air of struggle to make ends meet, the joyous reels of party, successes and celebration, and the dirges of trial and life's end. A house, in the fullness of time becomes a composition of the music of it's people. I can remember walking through my Grandparents house after they had passed. I had been asked to speak for the family when my Grandmother, the last of my Grandparents to finish this part of the journey, left us. I remember walking through the house alone, sitting in the rooms and listening for the music of Christmases and holidays, love and conflict, children playing, my own mother growing up. I remember hearing the music of the family in my mind, and I was able to sit down and capture that and play it back at the funeral.

The music of our house on Gun Lake has a very warm feel to it just now. It is the warm glow of camaraderie. It is the harmony brought about by the promise of lifelong friendship, just begun. It is a symphony of hope and appreciation for a wonderful village called Mudcat. You see, my friends, I have just put Dave and Pam (who is called PJ here) Swan on an airplane after having them as guests in my home for a week. This just a few days after having Bill Sables and Allan Clark here as guests. Dave and Pam are now, and forevermore, linked to this place by their presence. They have added a piece to the composition of this place that will sound better, like an old guitar, over the years. And they came to me from here in the Village of Mudcat. By their coming, we got to meet Val, Peter, Willie, Tony, Bonnie and the wonderful Fieldings. The gathering at Rick and Heather's home was profound for me. It was an awakening to the power of this community to create mighty friendships that only need the meeting to give form to the music of life. And they are now part of the rhythm of our humble home on Gun Lake. And I fervently hope that the rhythm of their home was enhanced as well. As I play back, in my mind, the music of my home, I will forever hear the joy of Bill Sables playing on his banjo and his button box for wee Ciara while she practice the heel and toe downstairs as I watched from the balcony upstairs. And the laughter from my daughter as Allen performed rope tricks with her on the deck outside.

Yep, the old place is sounding in wonderful tune right now. Oh sure, we will go out of tune at some point, but like all good musicians we will tune 'er up, and finish the show. Sure am glad I have all you to help me do it the right way.

All the best,

Big Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Giac
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 04:34 PM

What a wonderful spirit you have, and how lucky are
the people whose lives you touch! Your posts always
make a bright spot in my day. Thanks, Big Mick.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 04:36 PM

I'm still coming down from the high of Old Songs weekend and it's so wonderful to see put into words the feelings I have about the wonderful people on the Mudcat. Thank you, dear Mick for saying it so well.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: SINSULL
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 04:53 PM

Beautifully put, Mick.

I was trying to explain to my niece who abhors change why it would not be hard for me to sell my home of 20+ years. The memories will still be roaming around here and I will be a part of them.

Thanks, SS

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 04:55 PM

Good to have you back on a more regular basis, dearie...luvyakat

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Peter T.
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 05:18 PM

totally weird mixed metaphor alert!!: mudcatters are like snails, they carry their homes around with them as they go from house to house. At least that is how it feels when you meet 'em. Mick is a really, really Big Snail!!!

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Amos
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:28 AM

Snails don't think of themselves as going from house to house, Peter, do they? More like going from meal to meal. Or date to date. Or slime trail to slime trail, I guess, maybe...

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Sailor Dan
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:41 AM

Big Mick,

I know that in all my years,I must have seen, read experienced something as wonderful as you have written, But I'll be damned if I can ever remember when or where. So I think I will rate that just about tops and go back and read it again.

Heck it made me feel warm as toast the first two times I read it. Thanks for sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings.

Sailor Dan

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Pene Azul
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:50 AM

Thanks Big Mick. That's beautiful.

PA

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:54 AM

Thanks. It sounds like a place I would like to have been. And it helped to tune me in to the music of my own house.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Night Owl
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 01:10 AM

Thank you Mick...I am holding on to those wonderful thoughts, so well put into words .....

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Den
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 01:19 AM

You know I've been hanging around mudcat for quite a while and at times it has been great and at other times it has been really disapointing. But (I know Peter I should never start a sentence with but) its the people who stick around here that really make it great. The people that work through the adversity and still post and come back time and again say their piece respectful of others when possible and keep it all together somehow. Its a nice place to come and sit and talk or listen and meet new friends. I like Mick's analogy. I know that I will probably never meet very many of the people I've grown to like here but that doesn't matter. I can talk to them even argue with them but its the people who keep coming back that are the ones that make this community great. I know, make way for the big hook my 15 minutes are up i'm rambling...trails off, Den

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: alison
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 03:37 AM

Very nicely said Mick......

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Naemanson
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 04:54 AM

A house is far more than the composition of it's physical elements. My family home in Northern Maine was built in or around the early part of the 19th century. There is a grave in the back field that was dug in 1819. We have dug up bottles and other artifacts that come from the whole range of the last century. When you go out into the back yard and look up to the stars you can feel all the oldtimers crowding around, watching over you to make sure you are all right. As the silence stretches out around you and the Northern Lights flare, you can "see" all that has happened on that piece of ground since the Descendents from Europe decided to settle there.

When you go back into the house it feels as though they follow you in and resume their places around the fireplace, sitting and jawing of the day's work. The comfort that is the essential fabric of a house settles around your shoulders and family encloses you again in its folds. A house is good, a home is special.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Big Mick
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 11:26 AM

Naemanson, I really love that. My tradition is very similar. My Grandmother used to explain conscience and wisdom as the voice of all of our people who have gone before us. Lest this be passed by as a simple analogy, she believed, and she drilled this into us, that it was the actual voices speaking to us. I loved that, and sometimes I like to sit on my hill, or in the old graveyard and listen for their songs.

Big Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Allan C.
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 11:50 AM

What a privilege to be given the opportunity to become a part of the song of your house, Mick. It was such a pleasure to be there and to share a few moments of its life and yours. Thank you!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Naemanson
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:05 PM

Big Mick, I feel very connected to my family's history. I believe when we live in a place we take the history of that place into ourselves and become part and parcel of it forever. My family's ancestors came ashore at Pemaquid, Maine, on board the Angel Gabriel. I drove past there last night to visit some friends and felt like I was coming home.

This is something that too many people have lost. I don't know much about the Native American cultures but what little I do know indicates many of them may not have lost (been robbed of?) that ability to feel the connection to the places they have lived.

It's good to connect to someone else with similar feelings and beliefs. I haven't been at this site long but I already have enjoyed what many of the people here have to say.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Micca
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 01:44 PM

Big Mick and Naemanson, some of what you describe is IMHO similar to what shamans and other pagans and even some non-pagans, talk about as " sense of place" and is the often described also as "the spirit of the land" meaning the totality of the place and the people who have lived and worked and loved it. Some places seem to absorb this energy and even amplify it and you can feel it ( Haven't you felt very comfortable/un comfortable in some houses? Places?). But I have seldom seen the core of the idea so well expressed, thank you Mick,

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 02:22 PM

Naemanson, glad you've joined us...I think you will find there are many of us who have that same sense and connection, not just to a home or place but also to the land *herself*, much as some of my Native American friends feel and as Micca notes.

Willson and McKee, up in Montana, have a nice song they wrote about an old house feeling so much like a home, etc. I won't post it without their permission, but I will try to remember to sing it next time I am in HearMe. It si a really beautiful song.

Naemanson, if you haven't checked out the virtual song circles, please join us. Look for any thread which has HearMe in the title. As long as you have a sound card in your computer you can hear us take turns making music AND, if you have a mic, WE can hear if you feel comfortable sharing with us. There is also a text chat which we all use whiel listening to each other.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: BlueJay
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 02:30 PM

Thanks, Big Mick. What a great way of looking at a home. I have only lived in my house for a few years, but it is a hundred years old. I have done my share of adding to the house's music. A lot has happened here.
I will probably be relocating soon. I will try and hear the music before I make a final decision, and sure as hell try and tune up the walls once I move in! Thanks, BlueJay

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 08:20 PM

Musical instruments get better through being played over the years. Sometimes they seem to get so that they almost tune themselves and play themselves, you're just encouraging them along.

The same goes for houses. And for people, if they're lucky. Which isn't always what most people would call lucky - I can't feel comfortable around people who haven't known trouble... Which is why I once posted this quote.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: Art Thieme
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 08:35 PM

Good people, this man Mick not only talks the talk but he walks the walk. His whole being is dedicated to bringing people together and letting 'em know it's o.k. to use their/your communal power to right the wrongs of this mortal coil.

I've not met Mr. Mick---but I think I know this man. His very being shines bright in the many postings he has given us. Folks, check them ALL out. You will not be sorry.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Mudcat Musings
From: roopoo
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 02:59 AM

I've been in my house for 12 years, and it is approx 110 years old. At least the barn that was previously on the site was pulled down then. It was originally a pair of semi-detached houses,"2 up, 2 down", and 25 years ago was converted into one. We are the third family to inhabit it since then. I stress "family" because a sale fell through just before we saw it, and that was for a single woman. It's a house you have to walk into and through. On the ground floor there is no passageway. When we viewed it, it had stood empty for 14 months and had rising damp in the sitting room. I know it was summer, but as I walked into it, I felt it fold itself around me. The house likes a family. We had to have a new damp course installed, and a new kitchen. all the plaster on the ground floor was chiselled off for the first 3 feet or so. Moving into the place with no heating in the November was a bit of a trial!. That Christmas my mum came to stay, and after the first night she walked downstairs and said, "This house is a lady with a bustle, and although she's pleased you're here, she's a bit miffed that you haven't bought her a present!" (My mum can be a bit odd at times!) To which I replied something along the lines of "But I've just bought her a new kitchen!" Funny thing is though, at odd times on one side of the building, a couple of my kids have "seen" an old lady (so they said) and I never feel alone in the place...

And speaking of music, you should have been at the Christmas party: Bill Sables, Sam Pirt and Ian Stephenson firing off each other, with us other mere mortals joining in as and when we could!

mouldy