BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 21 - 10:33 PM

The infection rates are growing exponentially and the new more infectious strain is moving so fast that even when hunkering down at home it almost feels inevitable that this will hit many more of us. I spent 90 minutes outside with family today to exchange our gifts. Who knew that in lieu of a typical holiday at our house we would consult and decide to meet midway between our houses at a take-out Chinese fast food restaurant for a meal (eaten in three vehicles parked beside each other so we could talk through the windows) then open our gifts in the parking lot. I "played Santa" and carried parcels between the vehicles and handed them in the windows. Certainly a holiday one would never have envisioned even a year ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Jan 21 - 10:31 PM

keep checking in . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: JennieG
Date: 30 Dec 20 - 11:42 PM

We're still here, Himself and I. It's been a quiet time for us; we have a family trivia night Zoom on Sunday evenings with our son, DIL and The One And Only Grandkid, and DIL's parents. It's been 12 months now since we have been with son and DIL (and of course The One And Only), and will be two years at Easter since we were able to meet up with her parents.

It will be a quiet NYE tonight too, we will probably be in bed before midnight. Our partying days are way behind us!

Christmas Day was lunch at a restaurant, and very nice it was too.

It has been a time of stormy weather, and our town is only 3.3 mls.....that's a foofteenth, if you don't do metric......from breaking the record for the wettest December, set back in 1947. Come on clouds, you can do it......other parts of town have had more than that but it has to be recorded at the official weather station at the airport for it to count.

Fingers crossed. It would be good to end 2020 on a positive note for one thing, at least.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Cool Beans
Date: 30 Dec 20 - 03:49 PM

We're good personally here in Detroit USA, can't say the same for the overall population. Most people are wearing masks and keeping 6 feet apart in public and staying courteous and fairly cheerful. My songwriters group gets together monthly on Zoom instead of in person; it's been like that since March. My wife and I managed to record and just released a new CD, so the creativity is undiminished. Be well, Mudcat friends around the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Dec 20 - 02:57 PM

don't go away yet!

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Dec 20 - 08:37 AM

a word for the 33 1/3 hundred thousand people in the US alone who can not check in, 'peace'.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Dec 20 - 11:05 PM

The family day we call xmas is fluid, and has been for years since my son moved to Seattle six years ago and would fly in after the holidays (he worked for Amazon). Now he's not going to fly down for COVID-19 reasons, and his sister down here lives 45 miles north with several roommates. Next week, probably on Wednesday, I think there will be three, possibly four cars driving to a mutually agreed parking lot between Fort Worth and Denton, and we'll order takeout for lunch and talk among ourselves with our car windows open (if it's cold) or sitting in folding chairs (if it's warm). We will hand out parcels and go home to open them (probably). For my location and age, I expect to be able to get the COVID vaccine sometime this spring, the same for my ex. By fall the kids should have gotten vaccines, so maybe by xmas next year we'll be able to get together in one place.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Dec 20 - 07:23 PM

greeting to all.

I live alone, my sister is interstate, so as always I'm lunching with friends. They have a very large verandah so we will be outside, only eldest son & daughter & partner will be there, other son's family are spending the day with her family. Eldest son's 12 year old daughter is also spending the day with her mother, so there will only be 6 of us. But as 4 of the company are musicians & everyone sings, the usual session will follow.

YAH! good company, socially distanced live music, what more could I want?

lotsa' pressies, but my inner child can sulk if she wants, I'll enjoy the company, food & music.

sandra (listening to the daily 11am covid briefing. Sydney has a large covid hotspot, nowhere near me, but infected people from the Northern Beaches have travelled to areas near me. So we are alert & taking the usual precautions, masks & sanitisers)

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Dec 20 - 04:23 PM

Happy Christmas to you all, wherever you are.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Dec 20 - 02:53 AM

Strange winter in southeast Alaska so far. In early November we had a fairly heavy dump of snow which stayed for quite awhile Ever since rain and rising temperatures made the piles and berms disappear we get a day or two of tiny flakes barely covering pavements and roadways and then it disappears in a day or so. Just now I checked the temp- it is 41 degrees and windy, not a speck of white to be seen.

Juneau is a linear town, 45 miles long but very narrow. running alongside the ocean, so the climate from one spot to another is quite different. Out by the main glacier - as the raven flies, perhaps 10 miles from downtown where I am - they get a lot more snow than we do (we get more rain) so it may be Christmas out there.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Dec 20 - 08:19 PM

Snow's gone except for the tops of the hills, where it can damned well stay!

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Dec 20 - 12:55 PM

Hi everyone.
In Western Massachusetts, near the turnpike and near
the Hudson Valley in New York State,
we have had over twelve inches of snow,
some of which is thawing, so
it's white enough with the snowfall.

And the COVID-19 pandemic drags on,
and we watch as genuine crises develop in
the larger cities within driving distance,
while people here are largely erring on the side of caution.

Even the local McDonald's restaurant works hard at compliance:
no dining indoors whatever,
but hard at work with the drive-in orders,
and also lots of take-out/takeaway orders
and people using DoorDash and the like;
all the workers are masked and gloved,
and no on is permitted inside unless wearing a facemask.

This restaurant is right off of an exit from
the Massachusetts Turnpike / I-90, so people do show up
to order a meal at the McDonalds
who come from other parts of the US by auto.
And some of them, especially from the southeast US,
have looked around and exclaimed,
"The McDonalds [restaurants] back home don't do like this ... "]

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 06:56 PM

First snow this morning. Just a heavy dusting, it was beautiful.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: skarpi
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:44 AM

ups sorry , Eric practise i do that every day , singing and playing , even taking glasses on line , don´t stop no reason to , live it , love it , and enjoy it , yes Ebbie 2021 will better, but we have not seen nothing yet, this harmagedon is not over yet. so lots of love and hugs to you all , all the best Skarpi Iceland .

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: skarpi
Date: 07 Dec 20 - 09:37 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Dec 20 - 02:35 AM

Eric the Viking, 2021 will be better.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 05 Dec 20 - 04:59 PM

Still in the land of the living. 5 years on dialysis. Moving to Stonehaven where we will become grandparents next March. Dialysis continuing in Aberdeen. Hoping that the music scene will pick up soon before the memory goes, the words disappear, and arthritis stops the fingers moving. Merry Christmas everyone!

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: skarpi
Date: 04 Dec 20 - 11:19 AM

Ebbie in Iceland this is still going on
Its going down but we are using mask and washing our hands and so on. They say we should get ready for wave no.four.
Take care all of you. All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 01:17 AM

how is it in Iceland,Skarpi? Not good in the USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: skarpi
Date: 02 Dec 20 - 08:13 PM

So how are things? Covid is still on.
Keep up good people.
All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Nov 20 - 07:34 PM

a lot of families are like yours, Tam.

My friend's son-in-law is Irish & they haven't seen the Irish family (parents, siblings, cousins) since last year. The Irish grandparents had been planning a visit this year. During lockdown the 2yr old was upset because Nanna & Pop were standing on the grass waving so Nanna blew him a big kiss, which Mum caught & put on his cheek! The 6 year old was happy to stand behind the glass door touching their hands thru the glass, now the kids spend a day a week with their grandparents & zoom with their Irish family.

Some of my regular activities are back (socially distanced) & in all groups some members are still staying home due to their own or partner's health.

As things are opening up an airline is producing an ad showing father & grandfather swinging a happy child between them which I assume it was a stock photo or perhaps someone's family snap! Tho maybe the 3 are modesl?

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 27 Nov 20 - 04:29 AM

As I am high risk (medically suppressed immune system) I've been shielding since mid February. There have been a few drives into the Shropshire country side to see the lovely land. Autumn colour was absolutely stunning.

Not been singing much at all. I just haven't felt much like it. Kind of lost my bottle. I did a couple of Zoom meeting ballad sings. But I've lost my confidence. I am signed up for a Singing for the Uncertain course in Autumn 2021.

Hoping to participate in the Carols on the Doorstep event on 16 December. You tune into a radio station, stand out on your doorstep and sing along with the carols on the radio.

My granddaughter (son's daughter) had a baby boy, Atticus Henry on 22 November. I will be video chatting with family today. We are spread far apart. Son in Virginia, granddaughter in west Florida, me in England. 3 Different time zones.   

Stay safe everyone and I hope your holidays are as happy as may be.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Nov 20 - 03:56 AM

keberoxu - congratulations on finding someone with the same musical loves as you do. The older I get- and that's plenty old now- the more I realize that shared skills and interests are what bring satisfaction.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 08:57 PM

At the clinic where I am receiving long-term residential treatment,
a local singer and chorus director volunteers his time
two evenings a week (weekday nights),
inviting the residents to sing along with him
in individual appointment sessions -- no pressure,
and he will play anything for them to sing.


He is classically trained, however, and so am I --
my specialty used to be piano accompaniments of Lieder and art song --
so when I show up, something different happens:
I take the piano keyboard,
and he stands up and sings bass-baritone Lieder:
Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Schumann, Richard Strauss ...

the stuff he studied as a young singer , which
he teaches to the best of his singing students,
and which, in the days of social-distancing,
is hard to come by.

But we are in a large room with a very good grand piano,
and I sit there and play with my facemask on,
and he stands halfway across the room with the score singing.

Tonight, when we finished our time, he told me
that divine grace brought him this opportunity
to sing the music he loves so dearly
but never gets to perform for anybody.
How can you not love the fellow?

(Meanwhile he had to drive to the train station to meet
his adult daughter, coming home for Thanksgiving.)

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: JennieG
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 08:28 PM

Oh, we're all old, Mrrzy......so we sit!

We have old blokes on the shady side of 80 who would probably have trouble standing for too long, but they love singing and enjoy the social contact - as do we all. On arriving home from the first night back, after several months shut down, I said to Himself that I felt uplifted - and I did.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 05:49 PM

On Friday my folk club is meeting for the 3rd time this year - Feb went well, March was cancelled (4th Sat) & in October we had our 30th birthday in a small bowling club as our Council hall is still closed. We're in the bowling club again for our final concert with an act that are having their first live gig since lockdown. They are full time folkies & have been presenting facebook/youtube concerts & managing with donations. We normally have 10 concerts & I hope to book the 2020 acts again next year.

My other club met in March (1st Friday) & our interstate guest reported his next 2 festivals in his state had been cancelled. 2 performers in the audiences has also lost 2 festivals in our state, making 6 cancelled festivals in the following couple of months.

Then everything got cancelled.

Our 30th birthday looked a bit odd, with PA (we are a famous acoustic venue!) & our equally famous singing audience masked up & were either humming or singing softly under their masks.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 04:58 PM

The people I know who sing with others stand in a circle facing outwards.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Nov 20 - 04:24 PM

Mischief? Gee, I remember that ...

Been a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: JennieG
Date: 23 Nov 20 - 04:52 AM

We are still here, and still well. Our Small Smoke (pop. 43,000) has had no cases of the covid plague since April but just the same we aren't complacent; several highways converge here, so we get many tourists visiting.

We keep busy doing what we like to do. Himself plays lawn bowls (which was shut down for a while but has been up and running for some time now) while I sew, sing and play ukulele. My sewing and quilting groups also went into recess for a few months but are back now, choir has been back for a few months (sitting only, spaced out) and a truncated ukulele group meets here at our house - we had four people today and had fun.

Otherwise we keep out of mischief.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Nov 20 - 06:13 PM

Keep those check-ins coming.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 01:00 AM

Oh, I know, Ebbie. I just have a filthy, adolescent mind.

No Thansgiving. No $mas. I have however planted the seed that marzipan should still happen so I can get a care package. I am not sorry not to be making the cookies or the pie, though. Lazy.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Nov 20 - 08:52 PM

and trying to imagine a happily wagging tail, with a dog attached to it,
for Ebbie.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Nov 20 - 08:36 PM

Sinsull, do I read right that you are engaged?
Don't leave Mudcatters out of the occasion ...

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: skarpi
Date: 18 Nov 20 - 08:33 AM

No Brennivin yet, only in feb then its Brennivin and shark.
All the best from Iceland Skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 20 - 01:54 PM

Allison, I didn't realize the pup was from PR. Does this make it a pot cake dog?

Alice, I'm glad to see you back at Mudcat. This is a good place to go for words, to be sure. And 2020 has been such a dumpster fire for so many reasons, hopefully next year will improve greatly.

I just picked up a friend who totaled his car in a town he isn't really familiar with on his way to the first day of a new job. We sat in opposite ends and sides of the large SUV, wearing masks. Like I said, dumpster fire.

In the family we're trying to figure out a progressive dinner for Thanksgiving this year, where the food moves instead of the people. We'll each make part of the meal and deliver it somehow to each other (still working that out) then be ready to warm it up and have our meal at the same time when we decide to do it. I'll do chicken or turkey and dinner rolls, my ex will make pies and my daughter and her fiance will make either a rice dish or something Thanksgivingy like a sweet potato dish or mashed potatoes. We can all roast some vegetables to make the house smell good ahead of time and then warm the rest and do a video call.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Nov 20 - 03:13 AM

I love this thread!

Nothing much changed here. Time passes quickly- although to WHAT I'm not sure. It is a weird kind of existence.

By the way, Mrrzy, by 'happy ending', I mean a happy life in the time they have remaining. Which you know, smartar_e, :)

I still don't have a dog although I check a couple of sites almost daily. The local humane society told me they'll give me a call when they get a suitable animal. Very briefly I thought I had found one but KT gently convinced me that the dog was too strong and untrained for me, especially with my bum knee. Last thing I need is a fractured hip so I acquiesced. Actually, it was a relief to say No.

As for the covid, like many other states Alaska is in trouble. By spring, this whole country could be unrecognizable.

Meanwhile, trudge...trudge...trudge....

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: MudGuard
Date: 17 Nov 20 - 01:48 AM

and Skarpi, use Brennivin to disinfect yourself from inside ;-)

Greetings to Iceland from Munich!

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: skarpi
Date: 17 Nov 20 - 01:02 AM

Halló from Iceland again, I hope you are all okei:) and using mask and washing your hands, and using 2 mtr rule. This could be over in 2021 , and lets hope that we can live normal again, for some time before another storm hits again.
Keep singing and make music,
All the best from Iceland Skarpi.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Nov 20 - 12:19 PM

don't let this thread die.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Nov 20 - 11:30 PM

Yeah!

70°F here today. Tshirt weather in mid-November.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Nov 20 - 11:11 PM

Keep this check-in thread going!

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Nov 20 - 09:42 PM

Well, shit, Alice. Hope they caught it early thanks to the scans, and thank you so much for checking in with us.

I meanwhile am kind of in disbelief and also yay half my fellow Americans. Hunkering for some sore losing.

Woke up the day after the election when it still looked bad and I'd stayed up very late and had workers in very early, lay down on the couch while they tore out part of my kitchen, listened to all of our own Anne Lister's Waiting for the hero, wept buckets, and felt much better. But that was then! Hope this is really now!

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Nov 20 - 09:08 PM

A different thread had a post from VirginiaTam --
be great if this Mudcat member could post here ...

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Alice
Date: 06 Nov 20 - 05:59 PM

Thank you, Allison. It is good to be in touch. Wonderful to hear what you've been doing. And a puppy! Good for you.
Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 06 Nov 20 - 05:15 PM

Oh, dear Alice, I'm so sorry to hear about your injuries and cancer! What a year you have had!! Sending love and continued healing wishes.

I am also an old-timer, more recently occasional lurker. I recently moved to the Maine Highlands, three weeks before we all shut down this spring. I now find myself in the county with the smallest # of Covid cases, but it's creeping up, so we're hunkering down again and hoping for the best. I've been a contra dance caller and musician with my dearly beloved, and that's over with for now, along with song leading/voice teaching (although I have one student via Skype and would love a few more). But we're muddling through, in an old Maine farmhouse that we bought as a fixer-upper. Due to many delays, we are only now getting to the fixer-upping. New roof, new siding, new porch, all hopefully before Christmas.

Also, new puppy, and 8-month old rescue from Puerto Rico. Finding joy where I can, grateful for much.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Nov 20 - 04:54 PM

Hi, Alice in Montana — So glad you’re still on this side of the sod, and with us even if it’s only occasionally. Everything I’ve heard about TBI indicates that singing always helps; let’s hope the magic works for you, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Alice
Date: 06 Nov 20 - 03:31 PM

After years of just posting sometimes instead of posting almost daily in the 1990's, I am checking in from Montana.

I slipped on ice and fell back on my head on concrete while clearing snow at my house on Feb. 2, this year. My skull fractured, I have a traumatic brain injury. I don't remember the actual fall, I don't remember most of Feb.

It was pretty gory as my son described it to me. I am lucky that he was at my house running the snowblower when I fell. Ambulance to the emergency room, ambulance to the airport and a flight to the hospital in Billings, Montana, score of 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, also breast cancer found in all the scans done of my body because of the brain injury.

My son and his wife brought me back to Bozeman on March 8 to live with them while I went through neurology and oncology experiences.
Surgery for the cancer in the spring, then radiation and now oral chemo.
The vertigo that was extreme in the beginning is now imbalance when I move, some days better, some days worse.

I was eventually able to be in my home instead of living with my son and his wife. I can't be as active as I was. No gardening. My employer kept my job open that I have gone back to on days when I feel I can work. I still have to pay off the mortgage, no retirement yet because of that. I wish I could retire!

Today I am at home waiting for results of a covid test I took on Wednesday this week. It has been quite a year.

I can still sing, but I don't remember all the songs I used to know! Looking up lyrics is the rare reason I come back to Mudcat. My memory is not what it was before the brain injury happened.

It is good to see news from so many mudcat members I recognize. Take care, everyone.

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Nov 20 - 09:12 PM

One of our most beloved Mudcat members
has suffered a terrible bereavement since the previous post.
Maybe some fellow Mudcatters don't know that yet.

The pandemic, in the meanwhile, still has the upper hand
and there is no vaccine yet
and limitations are being imposed all over again.
I'm in Massachusetts where the governor
has just ordered that facemasks MUST be worn by EVERYONE
practically everywhere.
At this rate, other states may follow.

AND we're waiting for the presidential race/election to get sorted.
How is everybody else holding up?

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 07:21 PM

Mudcatter Gnu has managed to get out of the house recently
but allows that his "health is still poor."

Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 11:09 AM

Snicker happy ending

Sorry.

Charlottesville is having perfect weather for my current clothing. Also I asked around and we *are* on alert for Proud Boys etc. issues in January since we are now a symbol for that kind of crap. So good that there is alertness but boo that City Council and our [expletive rethought] of a mayor denied it when I asked *them* (my later inquiry was to the disaster prep folks).

I voted.

Thinking about not doing Thanksgiving but forgot to talk about that on my family Zoom call yesterday.

Enjoying reading about all of y'all!