MudCat Thank You - Part II

Subject: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: MMario
Date: 28 Mar 02 - 02:14 PM

Part One

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: CapriUni
Date: 28 Mar 02 - 05:26 PM

Alternative Title to this thread: A little Night-Owl music

heh, heh!

Luv it, Mmario!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Helen
Date: 28 Mar 02 - 06:58 PM

jeffesh,

Do a forum search for Music Therapy and you will find a most remarkable thread which will inspire you even more in your quest to share your music.

Go up to the box showing "Quick Links" and scroll down to forum search and then type in Music Therapy. There are a few threads with this included in the title.

Here is a link to the first one started by Night Owl:

Music Therapy

http://www.mudcat.org/Detail.CFM?messages__Message_ID=65224

Helen

P.S. Turn back now if you don't want to get addicted to Mudcat. This is your last chance to save yourself! Otherwise you will become a part of this amazing community and you'll be spending significant chunks of your time laughing, crying and having fun here and you'll wonder what you did with your life PM (Pre-Mudcat).

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Mar 02 - 07:19 PM

Hi Jeffesh and welcome to the'Cat......Many of the people you see on this thread have been around here a long time. We found Mudcat as you did through the music, but we have stayed and become friends through the sense of real community that exists here. Helen who just posted is a beautiful and intelligent and very compassionate Aussie who has shared even her (sort of) recent marriage with us (She also got me hooked on Vegemite, but that's another story). There are get-togethers and gatherings of 'Catters every now and again and when folks who have only known each other through the threads meet, the feeling is invariably the same......."Old friends, just met."

Welcome again and feel free to add and share with us. The 'Cat is a collection of wonderful, intelligent, talented, knowledgeable, caring, and loving people. Sadly I don't have any of those attributes but a lot of folks do....I know from long experience. Jump in whenever and wherever you have an interest. Take some time and read the Faq and explore around the site. It's very extensive with all the threads archived and available to be refreshed anytime.

Spaw

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Mar 02 - 08:46 PM

Mind, sometimes it gets a bit hairy...But there's nowhere else that comes within sight of the Mudcat at its best. Or even not at its best.

And this thread has been the Mudcat at its best.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: jeffesh
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 12:59 AM

Thank you all for the warm welcome! Online communities of this caliber are extremely rare in my experience. I was a member of one a few years ago that was a game based on JRR Tolkien's world and I actually met the woman who became my wife there.

It wasn't an internet romance sort of thing; there was no romance until we met in real life. But things have worked out wonderfully and we just found out yesterday that our baby coming in August is a little boy! I'm already thinking about what kind of guitar to start him out on :)

Anxiously awaiting more wor about the mystical potato peeler!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 01:25 AM

So let me get this straight...some woman became your wife at the JRR Tolkien site and you've finally met her and she's already preggers?! Wow! Kewl!**Big Grin**

Seriously, everything Spaw said is true, except the part about him not having any of those attributes; his worst fault is self-deprecation, but as long as he keeps the cat litter cleaned up out back, we still love him.

Congratulations on your good news and welcome to the Mudcat! Stay tuned, ya really DON'T want to miss the "Peeler" Saga! I hear there may even be a song in it!

(Sorry, Night Owl, for the thread drift. Jeffesh's line was too good to pass up; every newbie has to be initiated at some time, eh?*BG*)

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Cappuccino
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 02:20 AM

Spaw, what exactly *is* vegemite?

- ian B

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 09:18 AM

The Aussie equivalent of Marmite, although that will spark argument of course!! I like them both, but they are different in "details."

Here's a thread that also links back to the previous threads and if you want you can read the whole lurid tale of Spaw and his Vegemite!

Vegemite and Marmite--Click Here


Spaw

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 09:36 AM

BTW, one of the funniest descriptions of Marmite was done by my friend Leej (Lonesome EJ) and if you don't read anything else, you need to read this:

There has been a small jar of Marmite in the back of our cupboard for a couple of years.Spurred on by Spaw's positive experience,I popped open the jar and smeared some of this stuff on a piece of toast.First of all,smear isn't quite the right term.It has the consistency of warm tar,so you sort of blot it on the toast.Now,the taste is..is...well,if you don't have any actual Marmite,I can tell you how to approximate the taste.
1) Take 4 cubes of vegetable bouillion,and mash to a pulpy mass

2)Mix with 1 tablespoon water to a glutinous,thick,gummy consistency

3)Apply to toast with butter knife

4)Remove Marmite residue from knife using a mild solvent and rag

5)Dispose of rag

6)Dispose of Marmite-tainted toast

7)Dispose of balance of jar of Marmite

Now,I kind of like salty stuff,but this...this congealed matter ...excuse me,I've got to go down another glass of cold water.

Still makes me laugh, but then again Leej often does!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: SINSULL
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 10:23 AM

Even the smell of it reminds me of Ichthammol Ointment - the salve my mother used to use to draw out a splinter. Looks bad; smells bad...and Spaw loves it. Says it all.

jefesh - this is a wtr5555555555555555555 (cat just walked across the keyboard) wonderful place. Don't miss a chance to meet a few of us face to face. It is even more wonderful.
Mary

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: SharonA
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 12:22 PM

Helen: Thanks for that link; I didn't know which "Therapy" thread was being referred to in Night Owl's story.

I've been just quietly following along with the story, Night Owl, but please accept one more hug from one more stranger.

Sharon

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 06:34 PM

Ichthammol Ointment - it appears to be a medicine for horses. Well, I've always disputed that quote about horses not singing folksongs, and maybe Sinsull is living proof it's a lie.

Anyway, Sinsull mentions the smell and the look, but what about the taste? It's always useful knowing about possible substitutes.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Mar 02 - 06:38 PM

Hey, my folks used Ithcthamol too! So have I!! Sisull is right, it looks and smells disguting, but it works. Speaking of horses, did you know that vets feed Captan (look it up) to horses internally? Yuck.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 02:19 PM

I've been working/sleeping/working since my last post here...(hope to finish this "saga" today/night). I HAD every intention of posting an apology for taking so long to get back. BUT...I see it ain't necessary....bg.

As soon as the weather warmed up in April.....we went back to work on the archaelogical dig.
It was VERY different living in the apt than it had been at the Campground. It's a small apartment, small windows....and I made a mental note to be sure, that if I found a new home, it HAD to be one in which I could glance out a window and see the sky, because..without it, I was losing heart.

I clung closer to Mudcats during the next while. Skimming threads for information and links to save on my "Tracer" page for replacing some of my music stuff, getting lost in reading and learning new things in the threads, consistently finding a giggle and DAILY being grateful that the Mudcat community exists.

And then I took a trip......

a "Mudcat Magic" trip with LOTS of other Mudcatters.

and the details in the threads every day....about where we had been, what we did, what we saw, where we were going next, (complete with detailed maps of the routes), helped me forget for a moment, the darkness I was going through. Pulling a quote out of Allan C.'s thread about the Adventure guitar...:

"Bill Sables and I took a trip earlier this year. After Bill left England to join me, we packed up my car and drove through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and West Virginia. During those travels we met with and sang with about seventy-five Mudcats, each of whom put their signature on either the face or the back of a guitar we carried with us."

THANK-YOU ALLAN C. AND BILL SABLES..for doing the trip and bringing us all along with you.

THANK-YOU KAT...for the work you did mapping the trip

And then .....they went to the radio show!

It was another one of those "magic music" nights for me here. (Mudcat Radio.episode 40....June 21, 2000.)

THANK-YOU MAX for the contagious excitement you had in you that night..listening to and playing that wonderful music.....AND for archiving the show.

and THANK YOU ALL who were on the show that night, for the music, the humor.....and for responding to the requests being shouted out to you from the radio "chat room".

The music and friendships glowing that night gave me a MUCH needed "boost" up.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 02:47 PM

We also had, back then..."Hear-Me"..(the old Paltalk).
Night after night I went into the Hear-Me music sessions to listen...and when the North American Mudcatters had to leave and get some sleep....the Mudcatters from down under would begin to arrive.

THANK-YOU MUDCATTERS..for holding my hand with your live music.and helping me get through those "midnight horrors"

and a special THANK-YOU to those of you who didn't leave the room until I could sleep.

taking a break for a bit......turning the "page" to rebuilding......

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:23 PM

THANK-YOU... JON FREEMAN
for all those hours/days you spent....PATIENTLY.....helping me figure out why my mike wasn't working in HearMe;
for singing "Donkey Riding" whenever I asked;
AND for all those nights you whipped my butt playing Scrabble. Just...thanx for being here.

With a LOT of help from the Mudcat community and my "3-D" community/friends, I was able to stay somewhat focused, and we finally finished loading the dumpster. Paul continued to stand strong beside me, sending music, giggles and encouragement.

Months came and went.....I continued fighting with the Insurance Company, going to work and living in the apartment.

The apartment is on the second floor of an old farmhouse, a few houses down the street from my house...same village. Not a fancy house, it was built in sections during different eras. The oldest part of the house dates back to the 17th century, and is one of the original homes in the village..just a "poor farmer's house"...but well built. The family added a couple more rooms onto the house in the late 1800's and again in the 1940's. The small second floor apartment was added in the 1950's.

The property has an old barn....which I had sadly watched for 30+ years...deteriorating from lack of attention. The old carriage trails I had exercised my first horse on were also on part of the property. Sometimes I would sit on the floor in the apartment, and just stare out the window at the barn...and marvel at just being there....alive.

Things kept happening ....some "spooky" (for lack of a more definitive word) to both myself and the owner of the property.
I had also been meeting with a builder, making plans for rebuilding my home... trying to stay within the inadequate budget I would have, IF I won my fight with the Insurance Co., still aware I was lucky to have had ANY insurance.

The builder kept telling me how much I would LOVE the new kitchen and new cabinets etc. until one day I realized, I didn't want "new"....and was just going "through the motions".
When I got back to the apartment that same night, I received a call from the owner of the house asking if it was ok to stop by....we "needed to talk".

I prepared myself as best I could, thinking that "we needed to talk" meant that a member of his family wanted to move into the apt. and I would have to move out. Instead, when he arrived, he informed me that for months he had been feeling that I "belonged" here and that people in the village had also been feeling the same. He had been meeting with other members of his family, AND.... not only were they in agreement with him, they also offered OLD pictures and information about the history of the property if I was interested.

AND so......in the summer of 2001, after a LOT of financial risk and scrambling, I bought this property....barn and all....and laugh if you will......it's given me back a "home" that I doubted I would EVER find again and it's been hugging and healing me ever since. Soooo

THANK-YOU-MAX and MUDCATTERS

for keeping a "thirst for life spirit" ALIVE in me through your collective music and support, and giving me the energy to open the door to my new REAL home.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:28 PM

Great! And is there any hope of being able to save that barn? Have a Mudcat Barn Dance there some day...

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:31 PM

Mary Ellen Carter, inland version.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:45 PM

GEEEEEEEEEESE......McGrath...speaking of "spooky" alias "Mudcat Magic"

Part of the reason it took SOOOO long in between posts here, is that I had written some stuff about the "Mary-Ellen Carter" and then deleted it before hitting "submit"...fearing I'd be drawn and quartered if I didn't get to "potato-peelers" soon. Gonna type it back in the little "box" before I take a break......

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Banjer
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 07:59 PM

Night Owl you just take as long as you want to get to the peelers...This is one of those stories which one looks in on a daily basis to see if any new installments have ben added and dreads that day when he will see 'THE END'...But looked at in the proper light this story is actually a beggining isn't it? I can only hope that if ever I am faced with a similar crisis in my life that I have half the fortitude to face and deal with it as you have shown. Thanks, you are an inspiratiion to all folkies...Banjer

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 08:17 PM

To McGrath of Harlow:
"and the horse you rode in on". A horse singing folk songs indeed!

FYI:
Ichthammol Ointment Ichthyol Ointment From Baar.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Ichthammol Ointment is a soothing application and anti-infective salve for external use. Sometimes called Black Salve, Ichthyol or Icthyol Ointment. Recommended by Edgar Cayce for tenderness or breaking of tissue, abrasions, and also massage. Also stated as the "best application for bed sores."

"Keep the Icthyol Ointment over those areas where there is the broken tissue, or where there are the irritations." (2514-7) "In those areas under knees and on hips, where the sores are formed, do keep the Icthyol Ointment. "(2514-8) "The only changes we would give from that being applied would be to use the Ichthyol Ointment on the right limb; that is, the foot, the ankle, the areas where there has been the tenderness by the breaking of those areas that become sore." (0849-73) "On those irritated places, as on the knee and on the hips, we would continue to use the Ichthyol Ointment." (2514-013 ) "... for scratches and itching of vulva." (5671-015)

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 08:30 PM

I know most of the story, and I keep bawling.
THANK YOU JACKIE! for being brave enough and alive enough to be able to share all this.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 08:32 PM

Briefly, years before my partner and I started working on pulling together the Carriage business...we were talking about jobs he had that he enjoyed the most. He mentioned one of the jobs he had doing carpentry and listed all the reasons he respected the boss and the work...one of the reasons was the boss's skills, commitment to restoring old buildings and his love for old wood.

After I bought the property...I was standing in the yard, looking at the sagging barn and this man's name popped into my head. I looked him up in the phone book and called him, somehow convincing him that he HAD to come see the barn. He was not only excited about helping the barn stand up again..but did a thorough evaluation of the house as well, and got excited about the 17th century part of the house. He, members of his family, some neighbors and myself worked ALL the remainder of last year,(in his spare time), on doing some immediate repairs to the house and "wenching" the barn back together. I'm told it's a Nova Scotian design......and kat found some pictures and websites of the style for me.

THANK-YOU KAT...lol

Anyway...I came home one morning after working an 18 hour shift...and he, his girlfriend and her sister were already working on the roof of the house. I plopped myself down on the tailgate of his truck, and watched the organized, competent chaos. I don't know if any of you have ever felt that you were EXACTLY where you're s'posed" to be, but that's the wave I felt watching them.

I sat there for a few minutes....soaking up the visual scene...still baffled by EVEN being there...just beginning to feel, that after ALL the hell I've been through in the last few years, I JUST might make it after all......when....on the truck radio came Stan Rogers singing "The Mary-Ellen Carter". After I got over my initial.."I Don't Believe This....." and found words(kinda/sorta)I called Paul and I think kat(??) and "babbled"......like I just did here....bg

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: CapriUni
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 09:09 PM

*BG*

No such thing as coincidence....

Magic Happens!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 10:59 PM

Yeah, Jackie, I think I got one of those calls, too.LOL

Just a note, way back up there...Alice did a more refined, better version of the Mudcat Adventure trip map which was linked for awhile, too. Thanks, Alice!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 12:04 AM

Another of the hard things I lost in the fire was ALL my Christmas decorations. I hadn't found a trace of any of them, and with everything else I was dealing with, had forgotten about it until the "Holiday" season hit.
That first year, Paul and I had made plans for another visit in Vancouver right after Christmas...so it was fairly easy to "ignore" Christmas in the apartment.....and look forward to celebrating holidays and the new millenium in Vancouver. As it was, even before the fire, I hadn't "celebrated" Christmas after my partner died...just gave and received presents.....barely made it through what was "expected".

Christmas, 2001 in my new home felt VERY different.

I don't remember when I started talking with kat on the phone ...or even why....but she had already sent me some old music books she had....with apologies for their "condition".
As I told her at the time..to me they were PURFECT.......dog-earred corners.....obviously well-used, and were similar to some of the books in my collection that I had lost.

Paul, at the same time, had already given me a music book...and was sending me individual pages of songs from a now out-of-print Bill Staines music book I lost. I was starting to "nest" in my new home...(instead of "perching" in the apt.)....and I even had new "treasures" to put on the shelves.

(One of the "advantages" of a fire is that it also burns up all that "stuff" that collects over the years, so I AM being careful NOT to just replace that "stuff".)

The Holiday season had begun, and I was telling kat about how it had been YEARS since I felt like recognizing Christmas......but that the living room (in the oldest part of the house) REALLY wanted a Christmas tree in it.........AND so did I.

I talked about some of the decorations I lost......and that I really had to....and WANTED to ....start over, and begin NEW traditions for my Christmas tree....in my "new, old" home. I had gone to K-Mart, but it did NOTHING for me and I found it more depressing.

We talked a bit more, trying to think of what to put on the tree.......when I giggled and said:

"I know ONE thing for sure that'll be on the tree......a potato peeler."

And I told her about how, after the adventure Radio Show boost, when I was "perched" in the apt. upstairs, I had decided I needed to pay stricter attention to my diet and remember to eat once in a while. I had gone to the grocery store and bought potatos, stuff to make a salad, sweet potatos, and a bunch of other vegetables.

I told her about how, when I got back UP the stairs into the apt. with ALL the groceries, and put the water on the hot plate to boil, and opened the kitchen drawer to take out the potato peeler, I burst into tears. Here I was.....struggling to hold myself together....fighting to keep up my courage...keeping a "brave" front.....proud of beginning to pay attention to my physical health.....and NO potato peeler. I had not only forgotten to replace a potato peeler, but had no sharp knife to use either.

I cried and sobbed and cried and sobbed the rest of that night and into the morning.

I had a dentist appointment that afternoon, and by the time I arrived at the office, I was giggling at myself. I lost my home, thought I was done crying over the loss.....and got "blind-sided" by a potato-peeler!!

The dentist noticed that I had been crying.....and I told him why. And when one of my girlfriends called that night, I told her about the tears. We both giggled, and decided that... regardless of the REAL importance of a potato peeler....on the road from birth to death, the tears were healthy......and born out of utter frustration with EVERYTHING.

The following week I had another dentist appointment......walked into his office and he presented me with a GORGEOUS new potato peeler. I got home from my appointment with him and found, sitting outside the apt. door.....a package from my girlfriend.......which contained......another potato peeler.......SAME kind.

And sooooooo, I said to kat, I didn't CARE what else went on my tree in my new home, .....the two potato peelers were going on it as decorations...and would be going on my tree in future years!!!

The following week, I picked up a package from the post office....from Sorcha....

and in the package were, among other treasures, "potato peelers"(click on "Documents")....each one tied with a red ribbon and a tree decoration hanger.

There was a pink one, and a green one,
And a blue one, and a yellow one
And they ALL were simply gorgeous,
And NO two looked the same

There was a turquoise, and a red one,
And two shiny silver ones,
Oh Sorcha, Ummmm THANK-YOU
What more can I say?

and THAT's the potato peeler giggle here.......more coming......but I gotta quit for tonight.

AND I MADE IT!!! Got this part done before Easter!!!
I'm going to go watch the sun come up over the ocean tomorrow morning and think about new beginnings, and Mudcat friends. Happy Easter!!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: catspaw49
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 12:24 AM

And a Happy Easter to you too Jackie.........and I believe this is an infinitely better resurrection story(:<))

BTW, sister Connie, the Activity Therapist, has a bad internet connection so I'm forwarding your posts to her e-mail. Tomorrow, during Easter dinner and all, I can assure you that you will be in our conversation as we have all talked about you and this thread a lot. So I'll send you an Easter Greeting from our merged family and also a hope that one day, you'll come and spend some time with all of us.

Pat, Karen, Tristan, Michael, Wayne, Connie, Ricky, and David

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Sorcha
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 12:27 AM

Ahaa hhaaa haaa haa! A whole Christmas tree decorated with potato peelers............it still gets better, friends. There are more tree decorations to come....Jackie and I laffed so hard the night she recieved the peelers and called me. It still is funny....

I maybe shouldn't tell you this but Jackie has been so open I just can't help it. She does not accept gifts very readily, but she just couldn't help accepting the peelers......and "stuff". Maybe this whole story should be called "The Christmas Peeler Saga".

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Jeri
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 12:32 AM

I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice this, but I think a lot of the magic comes from you. All those people wanting to help you, and the way they helped you is extraordinary. They're extraodinary for having done so much, but do you see it takes someone to give AND someone to receive?

And you told the Christmas story on Easter. Rebirth, renewal, power and hope. Thank you for this - the story itself is magic.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Banjer
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 04:03 AM

This all goes a long way toward showing us all how we can find much joy and happiness in things that we take for granted in our lives. Just reading this saga has been theraputic in a way for me. When Night Owl told of the simple pleasure and joy she found in a potato peeler I couldn't help but think of some of the lesser things in my life which have more meaning than I could remember! I don't know about the rest of you, but I will go into the new day with a slightly different perspective for having read this. Happy Easter, all!!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: SINSULL
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 12:54 PM

I am sitting here laughing and crying at the same time. In February I moved to Maine and left 21 years of living in the same place behind. It was all exciting and fun and new until the first morning I went to make a cup of coffee and found I had no mug. Everything was "in transit". Instant coffee microwaved in a paper cup brought me to the realization of the enormous changes I had made. And the tears came - not sorrow or loss just everything from my son's addiction to the collapse of the Twin Towers hit me at once.

The first thing I unpacked was a mug made by Alice and given to me by AllanC - my potato peeler.

Jackie, did your home let you know how happy it was with the tree and a real Christmas?

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Alice
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 05:41 PM

Night Owl, what a great story.

Sinsull, I didn't know you have one of my mugs, but I am VERY glad you do and glad that it gives you pleasure. - Alice

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 09:02 PM

If by any chance you still need a choice of potato peelers, here it is - the "Lancashire Poato Peeler" is the best sort, I think. It's the chepest in the list too as well.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: CapriUni
Date: 31 Mar 02 - 10:14 PM

I'm glad you were able to get to your coffee mug first of all your posessions, Sinsull... But just a word of warning: mugs are much too heavy to hang on a tree for decorations.

(but they do make nice vases for Christmas greenery bouquets)

And, Night Owl, did you take a picture of your tree? And if so, can you post it? I'd love to see it.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 01 Apr 02 - 04:08 AM

I was hoping to be able to write another "installment" here tonight...but am REALLY tired and need to get to sleep. I DO want you guys to know that I thoroughly appreciate your responses here..ALL of you!!

I have pictures and talked with kat tonight about how best to easily "blue clicky" them...we'll be doing that soon. There is MORE fun stuff coming up.

The "ditty" I posted for Sorcha goes to the tune "Little Boxes" written by Malvina Reynolds...for anyone unfamiliar with it....it's in our database.

For tonight, I just want to post the last few lines of Stan Roger's song "The Mary-Ellen Carter". If you guys have been able to wade through ALL this "blithering" so far, you'll understand why so much "magic" in the moment I tried to describe above. (btw...to me at the time...."smiling bastards" referred to the Ins. Adjuster)


And you, to whom adversity
Has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you
Everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength
Of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter,
Rise again.

Rise again, rise again
Though your heart it be broken
And life about to end
No matter what you've lost,
Be it a home, a love, a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter,
Rise again.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: CapriUni
Date: 01 Apr 02 - 09:50 AM

Take as long as you need, Night Owl... I'm actually hoping this thread goes on for a long time. It's been wonderful to read, especially at the end of the day -- going to sleep with thoughts of survival and strength and new beginnings in the head (much better than letting the evening news reports have the last word!)

And re: The Mary Ellen Carter -- what a perfect theme song for this whole saga!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Apr 02 - 12:07 PM

I think I'll be able to get the picture fo the potato peelers up by later this afternoon. They are SOOooooo pretty! Who knew!?**BG**

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: CapriUni
Date: 01 Apr 02 - 12:41 PM

Kat --

Everything is pretty, if you find the right way to look at it...

So, did you top the tree with a box grater? *BG*

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 02:36 AM

continuing on.....

The next time I talked to kat I learned that, after I had described some of the ornaments I lost and told her the potato peeler story, she had taken on the "task" of decorating my tree...and had enlisted a couple other volunteers to help.

And THEN..it started.

Every day, when I went to the Post Office, there was a package waiting for me....and I started giggling.

I giggled,.... my friends began to giggle,....... my neighbors were giggling, ....my family was giggling..... and even the Post Mistress, by the fifth day..started giggling.

In the packages were an incredible array of USEABLE kitchen utensils...(alias tree ornaments)!!

I received a package from Jen-Ellen with a "small stuffed moose."(click on "documents")(sitting here on my computor now) and a shiny, delicately pretty thing...with a note attached saying "Any tree with a potato peeler on it, NEEDS one of these."

We ARE from the "back woods" here I guess...cuz none of us could identify it. (It's a "Cherry Pitter".)

Kat was sending what seems like a package a day herself, loaded with small treasures. I had whined to her months earlier about having no string....and there it was...a ball of string....a round "ornament".
And potholders....exactly like I had....the kind our children make, woven on a small loom....colorful and light enough for the tree. Not only did she send the potholders...she sent the loom itself with extra loops to make MORE potholders.
And Rick sent a beautiful carved leather "ornament".

And I took a lesson on RECEIVING..........bg

There's NO way I can list ALL the utensils and treasures I received...but will get the pictures "blue-clickied" so you can see them if you want.

When I called Sorcha to thank her for her package, it was CLEAR to me that she had thoroughly enjoyed, and was excited, about finding the stuff she did. Same when I talked to kat while she was packaging up "stuff" to send me. They both JUST kept giggling!!!

Kat's "project" was contagious here. I had all the utensils and treasures spread out on the table before Christmas..and they were gorgeous....!! And everyone who saw ALL of it, left giggling.

A neighbor, who usually goes to bed early, called me late at night..pretending to be angry..complaining that she couldn't get to sleep cuz she kept thinking of more "utensils" for my tree. My girlfriend came with a silver "hard-boiled egg slicer" in the shape of a chicken, my aunt sent a round gadget to separate egg whites from the yolks.....and everyone who brought something for the tree........giggled.

It's impossible for me to capture what you all did here.......not only in my own "heart smile" but for others around me as well.

My mother turned 92 in March. Christmas for her has not been "joyous" since my brother died. I want you guys to know, that she sat in my "new-old" home...and laughed, and giggled and laughed.......and SMILED!!!

It's a wonderful gift (laughter) you collectively gave....not only to me..but everyone around me as well.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;o)))))))))))))))))

gotta stop writing for tonight here.....there's more.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 11:18 AM

I've got the giggles, again, just thinking about it...it was SO much fun! And before this, folks, she only went to the post office once per week! We had her going evey day!!LOL!!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: CapriUni
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 11:34 AM

Laughter is contagious... even reading about it!

Thank you for this thank you!

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: SINSULL
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 11:56 AM

Reminds me of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"...it came without the usual array of lights, balls, bells, etc. I wanted to send an antique Christmas ornament and was told "No". Kat was right. The last thing this tree needed was a plain old Christmas ornament.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: JenEllen
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 12:25 PM

It was a trans-continental giggle-fest. Imagine the scene in our little country store:
"Do you have any ornaments with elk on them?"
"Elk?"
"Yes, elk. The big furry things running around outside? Elk."
"We have this moose..."
"A moose in drag?"
"Well, with the dress and the hat over it's horns you can hardly tell it's not an elk..."

And believe it or don't, but that delicate cherry-pitter is a fabulous invention. When you become masterful, grasshopper, it can actually shoot the pits 'a purty fur piece'---in Washingtonian, that means that you can sit on your porch in the summer and eat cherries and shoot the pits at the neighbor kids. (waitaminute...it might also be useful in the cat deterant thread....hmmm...)

Anyhow, lovely story dear one. Glad to hear there were some laughs to be had.
Luv,
Jen

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Night Owl
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 02:31 PM

Next "installment"......

Backing up a bit... last summer, I met a new neighbor. He had stopped by to introduce himself, and initially was a VERY nervous little boy. When I first met him, he puffed out his chest and stood up straight.....and announced that his name was Jon, he was the minister's son from next door, and did I need help with the yardwork. He's been working for me, once a week, ever since.

We talk a lot, while we're working, and I quickly learned that he was saving any money he made, to buy a guitar and take guitar lessons. (So, of course....I gave him a raise.) He's a hard worker and some of the neighbors, watching him work here, hired him as well. By Christmas he had saved enough for his first guitar.

The week before the "ornaments" started arriving, Jon and I made plans to go pick out a tree.......even though I had NO idea at the time what I was going to put on it...... I JUST wanted a tree.. When he arrived, I was in the midst of one of many "kitchen utensil giggle attacks".

I told him that I had something REALLY fun to show him, and as we walked toward the table, I mentioned that, in the fire, I had lost all my Christmas decorations. I looked at the table......giggling......and looked at Jon...who looked upset. He's a very quiet, sensitive kid, and my immediate thought was that the reality of the fire and what I lost was upsetting him. The following Sunday, I learned what was upsetting him.

Walking up my driveway, that Sunday, were three children and an adult, all carrying bags. The adult is a friend and teaches Sunday school at Jon's church. (Jon wasn't with them.)The oldest girl made a "speech" and unpacked the bags.......and then I found out why Jon had looked SO upset.

He had approached the teacher weeks earlier and told her about the fire, (she already knew).....and asked her and the 5th grade class if they could make Christmas decorations for me. Jon had been upset because....when he saw ALL the decorations I had been getting in the mail.....he thought there'd be no room for their decorations.....

Those bags were FULL of the most creative, precious works of art I've EVER seen.

Did you know, that if you take a popsicle stick......glue a tiny red furball 2/3s of the way up on it.....and wrap a brown pipe-cleaner once around the top of it......it makes a reindeer?

SOOOOO........my "confession"......with apologies to my "Secret Santas".

When Jon came again to work, we (he) picked out my tree......and we decorated it with the artwork he and the other children had made....and one potato peeler. A friend had also found "bubble lights" to replace the antique ones I lost...and we put those on the tree as well.

That tree went in the living room.....in the 17th century part of the house. The room simply smiled and took on a "spiritual" glow throughout the holidays.

The "kitchen utensil ornaments" never made it onto a tree.

Jon and I hung them, and other special treasures Mudcat "elves" had sent, on walls........ in doorways.....and in the windows. The potato peelers stayed beside candles on the table.....sparkling and reflecting the candlelight. My kitchen and dining room remained warm, giggle rooms until well-after the holidays.
Next year I'll be putting up two trees.

I have pictures of the children's tree......(complete with an "Elmo Jesus" glued onto a styrofoam cup).

"THEY" say that timing is everything in life.

Kat had been giving me repeated "lectures" about learning to receive "graciously" and to JUST ACCEPT the packages that were coming in the mail.

THANK-YOU KAT........AND my Secret Santas"

for giving me ALL the practice with receiving...so that by the time the children came.....I was receptive and my heart was open to them.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 02:40 PM

I have to stop reading this thread at work. People are beginning to wonder why I sit here and cry.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: jeffp
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 03:09 PM

You're not the only one, Mmario.

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 03:21 PM

OH NO--more giggles! That is just too funny, Jackie! Do we have pics yet?

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 03:29 PM

Or not crying and smiling a lot instead.........Let me try this on to see if I can make sense here.....okay?

I have never met Jackie in 3-D. I have seen her pictures, read her words for many years, and talked with her on the phone.......and perhaps it's the last one which makes me smile. Her voice puts the entire picture together somehow for me and in these last two installments I am completely caught up in actually "seeing" her thrill, her joy, her "giggles." Her joy with Jon and the kids, with 'Catters in a number of ways and times, with going to the post office and seeing her through their eyes and the other folks in town........hellfire, I can see the town! Never met her, never been there, but this is as distinct an image as any movie..........I just sit here smiling broader and broader for my friend and for those around her.

Someone said that the "magic" may be because Night Owl creates her own magic and indeed, can anyone read the last two "chapters" and not know that to be true?

Spaw

Subject: RE: MudCat Thank You - Part II
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 03:34 PM

Oh I am smiling too, but the tears still come - that strange mix of emotions.