Sitting At The Kitchen Table

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Dec 06 - 09:12 PM

I really AM tired -- I didn't post that link to MOAB at all!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 14 Dec 06 - 10:17 PM

Had a great time today, singing carols at a Veteran's Center, as I said. As a surprise, one of the older Vets (World War II, I'd guess) brought his trumpet and came and played with us. That's always a special pleasure. Many years ago, I was singing at a nursing home, and very early in the program, someone requested a turn of the century song I'd never heard of... something with Mother, God and telephone in the title. I told the person that I didn't know it, but if someone did, they should sing it. And by Golly, darned if a couple of people didn't... and sang it in weak, ready voices, with great conviction. They felt so good about it, that someone else asked if anyone knew another song from the same era (another I didn't know, although I have an extensive collection of popular music from the turn of the century, and know at least a half dozen I could do.) Again, somebody knew it, and started singing. Several others joined in. And they were off to the races.
Everyone was very excited, and as soon as one song was finished, somebody would suggest another. I was delighted, and unobtrusively packed up my guitar and wished everyone a good day. They hardly noticed that I was leaving. The person in charge of the program was very upset with the residents, and extremely apologetic. I told her that something wonderful had happened: that they realized that they could entertain themselves! She didn't seem convinced, but I thought that it was beautiful. As I was leaving, I could hear tentative strains of God Bless America coming from the room. They were just enjoying singing together, and it didn't really make that much of a difference what it was that they were singing.

That was one of the best programs I never did.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 09:35 PM

Got a nice surprise in the mail today. I received a wonderful Christmas card from my friends Dave Para and Cathy Barton, out in Boonville, Missouri. They are wonderful musicians, and even better people. They just released a new CD titled Sabbath Home, which they included with their card. They've recorded another of my songs, Poppa Was A Preacher. They've also recorded Handful of Songs, and Living on the River, and sang harmony on Handful Of Songs on my CD.
They are great keepers of the tradition, and run the Big Muddy Festival in Boonville, which is one of my favorite small folk festivals. Jest plain folks are the primary audience, and when you walk down the streets of Boonville, or walk into a store, it seems like everyone you meet was at the festival the night before.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the CD yet, as I've been excavating the layers of stuff that had been "temporarily" stuck in our garage for the last five years.

I shoulda ben a archeologist.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 11:12 AM

Jerry, your story about singing for the veterans reminded me of the summer of 1980, I was staying with friends in Toronto and met this wonderful lady called Ellen, once a week she would play piano in the lobby of a big hospital and the veterans would come down from their ward, some in beds, to listen. She had found out I sang so took me along, it was one of the most moving afternoons,luckily the requests were for quite popular songs, I do not read the "dots". She had the music for LLoyd Webbers " memories", it had just come out and Cats was on in London so I knew it. They were the best audience I have ever sung too.
I would love to know what happened to Ellen she was a real inspiration.
wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 09:13 AM

Cooffee was cold, made some more!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 08:01 PM

Hey!!!!!!The coffee pot's stone cold!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing in particular to talk about, but I felt like stopping by. Listening to North Mississippi Allstars as I type this, and enjoying a quiet evening. This year, we got our Christmas stuff well in hand, so we can take it easy in the evening. This afternoon, I took Ruth out to make a couple of quick stops: one to order a photo cake for our Grandson, whose birthday is the day before or after Christmas (I don't remember which.) Then, I took her out to dinner. We had a nice, relaxed meal, ambled on home, watched an episode of Murder, She Wrote, which is a favorite of Ruth's. And then she retired upstairs and I dropped into the cyber kitchen to see how folks are doing.

And to listen to the CD that I bought this afternoon. Life should always be this good...

While I'm here, I'll put a fresh pot of coffee on the stove..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 10:38 AM

No one here, still I have had a hard day, putting my feet up and opening a bottle of chilled white wine, anyone got the cheese and biscuits?
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 11:20 AM

Hey, Wendy:

Guess everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas. We're in high, high Spirits, here. We're ahead of the curve this year, so we're not as stressed as we've been at previous Christmases. How relaxed are we? I can take the time to clean my office. I've confirmed that there is a floor, and that my desks have tops. It' a good feeling, getting everything sorted out and put away. Part of my problem is that when company is coming, we "temporarily" store stuff in my office. "Temporary" is a few weeks less than forever. I've got a big stack of bags behing my office door that I'm going to put in the garage "temporarily." They went behind my door, temporarily, a year ago.

One strange thing that happened yesterday is that I left two Christmas cards and a card and check in our mailbox for the mailman to pick up on his rounds. In broad daylight, in the middle of a sunny day, someone noticed the flag up on our mailbox and took the cards. Stealing Christmas cards? Eccchhh! Of course, whoever stole them was looking for money. I immediately put a stop payment on the check, so they probably won't be able to cash it. What a way to celebrate Christmas!!!!!!!!

You know that Santa Clause was watching.

But, that didn't dampen our Spirits. It was no news flash that there are some desperate people out there. They may need Merry Christmas wishes and prayers more than any of us.

Now, we're heading off to pick up some groceries. Ruth has already made a gigantic batch of tuna cakes, and an enormous pot of potato salad, and another of barbequed meatballs. Now, it's my turn.

Gott run.

Ruth is calling

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 12:33 PM

Bummer, Jerry!

A gang tagged the hood of my car with graffiti a couple of days ago: a drawing of a bomb and the word "bang" in gang-style writing.

Heigh-ho, the kids are out of school.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 01:38 PM

Hi! I just dropped in for a moment - "and find no one waiting" (from one of the saddest songs I know) but I gather that everyone is busy. 'Tis a busy time of year, it is.

I won't have as much music this holiday as usual. My singing partner and her husband trundled their motor home onto the ferry and took off for parts south; they won't ba back until January 8. (I do believe there is a tune by that name)

Anyway, since the Friday night group has been gathering at their house, that wipes that out. It used to always be at my house but since I am now in a teeny apartment I could host no more than maybe 7 chairs that accommodate instruments. But maybe I'll make a few calls and get a few people over here...

We'll see;

I made ANOTHER fresh pot of coffee. (Jerry, I brought some replacement coffee beans with me- you'll find them on the counter there next to the microwave.)

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 03:48 PM

Hey, Ebbie:

I found the coffee beans., Just in time, as I was running out. I just put two large trays of lasagna that I made in the oven. They'll be ready to serve in a half an hour...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 04:36 PM

Ebbie, I'm sure nothing stops you from singing, even if it's around the house or in the car, accompanied by the radio or whatever. Washing the dishes seems to be the time when I really let it fly.

Well, this year is my first Christmas flying solo. Not flying, but feet on terra firma. Strange, Thanksgiving was tough, but so far so good during this holiday season. I feel a lot of support around me from friends, family--even though they are far away--and I sure get a kick out of this idiosyncratic internet community. I am very grateful for the friends I have made here.

At the beginning of the year, when my whole world was falling apart and I had no idea how I would support myself and keep everything afloat and in one piece, I said that I would be happy if I just got by this year. Well, so it has come to pass. On the material level I just barely squeaked by, but the squeaking little phoenix dusted off a few of the ashes and that's a good thing. On other levels, it's been an amazing time of growth, of finding inner resources that I didn't know were there, from profound to pragmatic (such as getting in touch with my inner plumber). Also, outer support has appeared, the kindness of strangers, little blessings and synchronicities that whisper, 'all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other. Only think about one foot right now--you don't even have to think about the other just yet.'

Lest this sink too far into the maudlin, I will end these ruminations here. Thanks for all the coffee, the hiding place under the table to escape catbox brawls elsewhere, the food for thought, the laughs, the community, the fun of learning to recognize your distinct voices, the sharing of your lives.

And one of these days, when wabbits fly, Fudd will get his hundredth post!

Happy Holidays, y'all,

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 06:05 PM

That evokes another thought: There are times, blessedly, when all that is needed IS to put one foot in front of the other.

When my daughter and her husband had twins their first go 'round (neither had ever been around tiny babies and secondly, my son in law was going through kidney dialysis three times a week)they quickly became exhausted. One day my daughter called me in tears. She wasn't getting anything done, she said, and even then she wasn't getting enough sleep; she was so tired she was afaid the babies would get hurt because she fell asleep.

I told her that with the babies that young, the ONLY thing she had to do at that point was to keep them comfortable. She did NOT have to try to entertain them or make them pretty; she did NOT have to clean the house or fold the laundry or even DO the laundry until she was good and ready.

Well, the twins are now 16 years old and they have a sister two years younger and all of them are happy and healthy kids

In later years my daughter said that if she knew it would be twins again they would try again. This time, she said, it would be fun.

But one foot in front of the other got them through it, and sometimes that's good enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 07:19 PM

Hey, Elmer:

Every rabbit don't got a hole.

I suppose it's time to start refelecting about 2006, as the New Year approaches. Like everyone else, this year has been a year of wins and losses. I lost my Mother this year and found a good friend, and my life has moved off in a different direction. A few years ago, I realized that I was pretty much of a failure, trying to predict where my life was going, so I got out of the prediction business. I thought of the line about putting one foot down in front of the other and it brought to mind a wonderful country music
song: Walk On Faith"

   "Walk on faith, trust in love
   Just keep putting one foot down in front of the other
   Though the valley is wide, and you stumble in stride
   Walk on faith, trust in love"

Works for me.

We had a large plate of lasagna for supper tonight and watched The Last Time I Saw Paris on the tv. I took Ruth to Paris on our honeymoon almost 8 years ago. It was funny: I asked her where she wanted to go for our honeymoon, and she said, "Paris." I said, if
for some reason, I can't swing Paris, what would be your second choice. And there was dead silence. We still laugh about that.

Paris is for lovers.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 10:13 AM

Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm feeling like Shambles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just did my first copy and paste (below)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I'm starting this thread with no idea whether people can relax from all the combativeness I see in here, and just join me in a cup of cofffee or tea, a beer or just a cold bottle of water. The kettle is on and I hear the whistle going off. Why not sit for a minute, tell me what's going on in your mind, or what's happening in your life... how are your wife and kids? anything happen today that you want to talk about? I'll start it off..."

I was thinking that this thread must be getting close to its first anniversary, so I went back to check my opening post. When I started this thread, I had no idea whether anyone would want to stop by for a minute. I figured maybe we'd hit a 100 posts. When the New Year rolls around, this thread will be one of the many pleasures in my life that I will give thanks for. And when February 25th and
the Anniversary arrives, if we're still all here, I'l crack a bottle of champagne and toast you all!.

When I was Director of the Museum where I worked for over 30 years, our fiscal year ran from July 1st to June 30th. I used to hold a Fiscal New Year's Eve party on June 30th and we had a great time celebrating another year.

Why not February 25th?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 10:57 AM

Looking forward to the champagne Jerry, and your story about Paris got me thinking, Billy is not too well at the moment and having lots of tests, we should get all the results back at the start of February, he has never been to Paris and Spring in Paris would be wonderful.So maybe he and I should drink our champagne there on Feb 25th?
Wishing you all a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and thank you for this table and the good friends I have made here.
wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 11:18 AM

HI All, I am recouperating from some surgery yesterday and feeling a bit beat up but on the mend. Hope you are all enjoying the season. Now where did I put those pain pills?   jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 12:09 PM

Dang, Jimmy!!!!! I've been wondering where you've been!!!!!!!! Now you got me even more concerned!!!!!!!!!

You doin' awright?

I certainly hope so.

Ruth and I wil lift you in prayer.

Get well, buddy.

And don't make any quick moves.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 12:12 PM

Be a good patient, jimmyt. (You know what they say about doctors.)

Recuperate beautifully, OK?

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 01:46 PM

I am a very good patient Ebbie! Jerry the only quick moves I ever make are on the Astring of the bass (note how I intentionally avoided mentioning the G string)   thanks all!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 01:48 PM

Awwww, jimmyt. Hope you feel mo' bettuh mo' soonuh. And whatever was ailiing you, I hope the surgery fixed it.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 01:58 PM

Jerry,

On Feb 25th, why don't you just take us all to Paris instead? We can sing a rousing chorus of "The Night They Invented Champagne" in its country of origin. Very trad, you know...

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 02:29 PM

jimmyt, a brother of mine - who has never played any instrument - has taken up the bass guitar. Although it is electric, which is a pity, it is probably easier to learn than the upright.

My question: What is standard tuning on a bass? I don't play bass, but because I play other instruments my brother thinks I should be able to give him some pointers. Although I do flat pick, I'm used to thinking in terms of chords, which is no help here. Besides, we live a thousand miles apart, so it's not going to be easy.

He does have a video that he watches, but the language itself is a problem to him.

I told him, OK, I can help you understand about notes and keys and components thereof, I can tell you what to listen to and for (The Chuck Wagon Gang, by the way, is just about the best I have ever heard to listen to a bass)and give you an idea of the role of a bass in support of music.

Back to the very basic question: What is standard tuning for a bass?

Thankee.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 04:16 PM

Ebbie,   EADG low to high. Tuned in 4ths, LIke the bottom 4 strings on a guitar. Good luck to him!~ I think it will be pretty straight forward to get a handle on the bass guitat pretty quickly if he has an ear

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Tootler
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 05:49 PM

Hello All,

My daughter's been busy making mince pies today, so I brought some along. Please help yourselves.

Jimmyt, I hope you are on the mend. Look after yourself and you will do OK.

One nice thing about playing a bass instrument, in a session at least, is you don't need to know the tune to join in. I sometimes take my contrabass recorder along to a session. I looks a bit odd (like this), but makes a great sound, if a little quiet and I have great fun chugging along at the bottom.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 11:28 PM

Thank you, jimmyt. He has a good ear but little or no training or understanding of the mechanics of music making.

It's funny- we come from a large family. Of them, only one girl out of five DOES make music, and only one boy out of four does NOT make music.

That's not quite true, of course- all of us love to sing.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 11:50 PM

I know what you mean about people that you haven't seen for a while.
My cousin Tim and I were born about a week apart and were pretty much raised together until Uncle Lee (Tim's father) moved his brood out to Boulder, CO. Tim and I were nine years old. We were always close and were/are a lot alike.The family joke is that one of us is the other's evil twin, but nobody is quite sure which is which. We saw everyone fairly regularly on annual trips west (from Chicago). In 1967 Tim and two of his sisters came to Chicago to visit us. Through one thing and another ( our changing lives, growing up, finding careers, etc) Tim and I did not see each other again until my mother's funeral in 1994. We picked up the conversation pretty much where we had left in 1967.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jeanie
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 06:53 AM

Hello from me, a late arrival at the kitchen table (I don't think I've ever dropped by here before). Here are some 'Lebkuchen Herzen' (heart-shaped German Christmas biscuits) to add to the table <3 <3 <3 <3. I've only put 4 on the plate, but there are plenty more in that tin over there. Help yourselves.

Hope everyone is starting a nice, gentle run-up to Christmas Day. How are you feeling today, Jimmy ?

Ebbie, isn't it great when a love of music-making gets passed on from one generation of a family to the next ? This has certainly happened from my father's side of the family - from his mother and her mother before that, and it looks like continuing, too. I was clearing out my parents' flat this year after my mother died, and made a wonderful find: a tape of our family Christmas "concert" of 1975, with all of us playing, singing, chatting and laughing (more laughing than anything else). It was quite extraordinary to hear all those familiar voices, several of whom are now long since gone from this world and I hadn't heard for decades, but there they all are. So many happy memories, and future memories in the making today.

What kind of family music-making are people planning for the next few days ? I've just this week acquired an autoharp, something I've had my eye on for a while now. Still need to look to see where the chord buttons are, so there are a few longer-than-necessary pauses, but my daughter and I are going to have some fun, with her playing flute or whistle and me limping along behind with my autoharp chord changes!

I'll bring some Gluehwein with me, next time I call by the table.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 09:02 AM

Welcome to the table, Jeanie! It's a real delight seeing you.

As for family music, I have an interesting story. It relates to your story to, Stephen, in that it involves meeting a cousin after an absence of many years.

In October, my cousin Roger Holliday came to visit us here in Connecticut. Roger's father, my Uncle Walt appears in two songs that I've written: Roger hadn't heard either of them.
   
"Alfred told my Uncle Walt, who married Alfred's sister, Edna"

I'd only seen Roger once since I was a young teenager, and that very briefly about 30 years ago. It was less a matter of catching up, than starting to get to know a near-complete stranger.

Roger's father was my Mother's brother, and at one point in the conversation Roger said, "The Hollidays were never singers." I thought that it was an odd comment, because Roger's father, my Uncle Walt was the inspiration for another song that I wrote: Poppa Was A Preacher with the line "and my Poppa sang the bass." Mu Uncle Walt had a powerful, deep bass voice and sang the blessing before we ate at family picnics. And so I told Roger about the Hollidays: how my Mother and her sister, my Aunt Ruth, sang as a duet as little girls and were quite the sensation, and how her Mother and all 8 kids loved to sing around the kitchen table, or riding in to town on the wagon on a cold winter's night (another song.) There weren't a lot of instrument-players in my family, although my oldest sister played violin, and my youngest sister played autoharp (Hi, Jeanie.) It's funny how reality hardly puts a dent in old misconceptions.

This time of year reminds me that I first learned to sing harmony by going out caroling with my sisters when I was a little kid. Singing harmony was a natural part of growing up, for me.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 12:10 PM

One of my favorite memories when I was young was that on Sunday nights after supper my father would gather the stack of hymn books (black, cloth-bound- does anyone else remember them?) and five or six of the youngest kids would group with him around the big library table in the middle of the living room and we would lustily sing 'Love Lifted Me', 'Softly and Tenderly', 'Gathering in the Sheaves', 'Heavenly Sunlight' 'Shiloh' and dozens of others.

My mother didn't normally join us- my guess is that she was getting ready for the next day's return to 'real life'. Or maybe she was just catching her breath.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:57 AM

Silent Night

It was my first Christmas alone. I'd just come through a brutal, two year divorce, and my ex-wife had my two young sons for Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was always very special for me. Growing up, we celebrated Christmas Eve more than Christmas. At least, that's when we opened our presents. Being alone on Christmas Eve, still bruised from a traumatic divorce, was a new experience for me.

After taking my sons over to my ex-wife's house, I headed off to New Canaan. New Canaan is a small, picturesque New England town and was lit up like a set out of It's A Wonderful Life. A woman who worked for me, who I was in love with at the time (or at least in love with the idea of being in love with) said that she was going to sing Christmas carols at the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree in the town park. Not having any place to go and facing an evening alone, I decided to go over for the tree lighting. And to see her. As it turned out, I had gotten the time mixed up and by the time I arrived at the park, the tree was already lit and the carolers had all gone home. The streets were empty, and there were very few cars on the road. Everyone was home celebrating with their family and friends. It was a silent night.

Driving back to my empty house I took my time, following the narrow, winding roads through the countryside, and I was transfixed by the beauty of the night. With a full moon, and freshly fallen snow covering the fields and woods, all was calm, and all was bright. It was a holy night. Somehow I felt like I had risen above all of the turmoil of my life and was surrounded by the beauty of the heavens that clear night. I don't ever remember seeing the stars that bright. It was an experience unlike anything that I'd ever known, and my eyes welled up with tears at the beauty of it. It was one of those times when I felt loved beyond all measure. And I was filled with love for everyone who was gathering in their homes that night to celebrate the birth of Christ, or just to enjoy the gift of family and friends. I was alone, but not lonely.

Sometimes, we need to be pulled out of our daily routine so that we can truly see the beauty around us.

Have a beautiful Christmas Eve. And if you can, step aside and enjoy the silence.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: David C. Carter
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 09:27 AM

Hi Jerry and everybody,been away from the Table too long!Had a bit of a Brain Ache!
Thanks for your PM Jerry,very kind of you.
It's good to see everyone still dropping by the Table.Feels like a family.It is a family!Silly me!
This is a short posting co's the Heavy Artillery will be coming by soon for tonights bash,so I should be going and setting the table and putting the food on.Took a stroll up the Champs yesterday,a beautifull sight!
Whatever your'e all up to,have a good time up there!
Merry Christmas to you all.

David

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 11:07 AM

Nice to see you, David:

Welcome back to the table.

I'm feeling like Mostly Martha this morning. Back in the 50's, the Crew Cuts had a hit record of that title, but I'm feeling more like Martha, of Mary and Martha. When Jesus came to visit their house, Mary spent her time ministering to Jesus while Martha worked in the kitchen. We had 25 people for Christmas yesterday: all members of our family on Ruth's side. My family is all out in the Midwest, except for my oldest son and his wife and kids who are in South Carolina. We made breakfast for about eight people, and I manned the kitchen, making scrambled egg-beater omelets, vegetarina breakfast sausages, toast, farina ,coffee and heating up the tuna cakes that Ruth made a couple of days ago. Ruth set the table and served, and I wanted her to have time to socialize. After breakfast, I was back in the kitchen doing dishes, cleaning up and getting stuff out for dinner. We had a great feast... fried chicken, roast turkey, lasagnan that I'd made a couple of days ago, barbequed meatballs, chili and potato salad Ruth had made, two cooked vegetables, a tossed salad, rolls and surely some other things that don't immediately come to my weary mind. We finished dinner around five, opened presents, and then celebrated our Grandosn Pa-Sah's 17th birthday with a large picture cake, home-made ice cream his mother made, three different pies, fruit salad, cookies, brownies and surely some other things that don't immediately come to my weary mind. Then, I was back in the kitchen until nine, cleaning up, helped by our daughter Dee and daughter-in-law Nina. Ruth received two long phone calls from family who couldn't be with us, and I was happy to give her the time to enjoy them. Finally around 9, we'd wrestled the kitchen mess to the floor (not literally) and I'd done four or five loads of dishes, so Ruth had the time to sit and talk with her/our daughter Dee, while I called my oldest son and his wife, and we had a chance to speak to both of them, and our grandkids. About the time Ruth and Dee were wrapping up their visiting upstairs, I got a call from my youngest son, out in Rockford, Illinois. We talked for an hour, and it capped a wonderful Christmas.

What we worked so hard for was to set a bountiful table, in a beautifully decorated home where everyone could come, relax and enjoy each other. I think we did it. And as often happens, someone came unexpectedly (not an immediate family member) so I ducked downstairs to my office, pulled out a large box where I keep un-assigned presents, and selected a nice gift for him. It's a real pleasure, being able to include strangers in the gift receiving, with no advanced notice. That's not a problem for me. I'd already bought three "Christmas 2007 presents" before Christmas 2006 got here. Some of the presents I have stashed away will be pulled out spontaneously for a birthday of someone who drops by. I've never emptied the box, and don't expect that I ever will.

Ruth and I had a wonderful, quiet Christmas Eve together. I was especially appreciative of that because on Christmas day, we spend the day trying to make sure that everyone has a good time. If they do, we do.

Meanwhile, we've got enough food left over to fill this here kitchen table three-fold.

Please pass the lasagna, and I'd like a piece of that sweet potato pie..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 08:51 PM

Our Christmas was a bit like yours Jerry, we spent an overnight with relatives and several of us worked together to have food and drink for many, a virtual family reunion as well as Christmas celebration. Delightfully, some old friends dropped in from out of state with nowhere else to go, and they brought nothing to the dining table but plenty in terms of enthusiasm, good will, and inspiration. So much fun when extra people are added to the mix. And this year there were new little kids, and a new daughter-in-law, and all that sort of thing. It had been awhile since this clan had grown boys tossing a football and teeny ones staring in wonder at a ceiling fan.

But how, next year, do we get more music and less food preparation?? Despite farming some of the cooking out to different branches of the clan, we were so exhausted both days by the traveling and food and wine and kitchen work that we never got to the music-making we half-planned.   Maybe we will have to go the Martha Stewart route-- do some heavy planning, and pre-make and freeze a lot of stuff next time.

We did get to attend a good candlelight service with carols, that was one of the best parts. Glad that was on the schedule before everything got truly crazy.

Well, I am babbling, I am going to put down my mug of hot cider and call it a night.   Wishing everyone at the kitchen table a nice midwinter rest and a roaring start to the new year.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: OtherDave
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 07:13 AM

Well, well, a kitchen table.

I was born (quite some time ago) in Cape Breton, where they know a thing or two about sitting around the table.

I'm not too big on virtual snacks, but in the spirit of things, let me offer the endearingly (enduringly?) hearty Dougal Archies, known to some as "funeral biscuits." Not that they cause funerals; you bring Dougall Archies as part of paying your respects.

...Also, my mother's shortbread. I like the classic proportions: twice as much butter as sugar, twice as much flour as butter.

You've got four weeks to practice making these if you want to be well stocked by Burns Night.

OtherDave

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 11:04 AM

Hey, Other Dave: Welcome to the table. Thanks for posting the recipes. I may have to try them out with some modifications. Three years ago I was diagnosed as diabetic. One of the best things that ever happened to me. I took off 30 pounds, and never looked back. My blood sugar has been normal, I am not on medication and I have my blood sugar checked every four or five months. The good thing is that I started taking care of my body, and am now running on high-test, premium instead of the cheapest economy fuel. Through time, I've modified most of my favorite recipes with generally good results, substituting Splenda (a sugar substitute in this country made from sugar) who wheat flour for the white enriched stuff, margerine with no trans fats, and a few other alternatives. That might seem to take all the fun out of life, because the food I make is generally good for you. But, I like being at my fighting weight, with all the associated energy level. And, I don't feel like I've had to give up much.

I have a recipe for something called Cowboy Cake, which I was given at a folk concert I did, many years ago. I swapped a copy of one of my albums for the recipe. I've been meaning to try it with whole wheat flour and Splenda, so maybe your recipes will motivate me. I'll track down my Cowboy Cake recipe and post it here. Maybe even figure out how to do a blue clicky (just been too lazy to do it.)

The great thing about cyber food is that it isn't fattening. Pass me another slice of that pepperoni pizza, will you?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 06:56 PM

Other, those Archies sound like the cookies they bake at Colonial Williamsburg at the Raleigh tavern cookhouse, they shove them in an old woodburning oven. Yummy. Same recipe they used way back. I wonder how close the two recipes are and if they started out the same place....

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Dec 06 - 02:30 PM

Back to normal. And it feels good. For the first time in a couple of weeks, Ruth and I went for a walk on the River Walk, here in Derby (CT., that is.) It was good to get the legs moving again, and I know that I'll feel better tomorrow. We've just about cleaned up for our Christmas and will start taking the decorations down after Jan. 1. We've made at least a dent in all the food that we had left over, and I may even take Ruth out to dinner, just for a change of pace.

Yesterday, I pulled out my banjo, which I haven't played in a long time. Don't ask how long. Much to my astonishment and pleasure, the old songs are still in there. All that they need is the playing. When I started my gospel quartet, most folks thought that I'd stopped playing folk music. Kinda like Little Richard leaving Rock and Roll to become a preacher. I never left folk, or became a preacher. I'd always done some gospel as part of folk music, so nothing seems to have changed, except the emphasis. Hey, I pulled a fourteen verse child ballad out of storage, dusted it off and it sounded as good as new on my banjo.

I'm really looking forward to the New Year. I'm brushing up on my folk music for a concert, and gearing the Gospel Messengers up for our 10th Anniversary concert in the spring. I'm looking forward to getting back to writing, and Ruth and I are counting our pennies to see if we can spring another trip this year.

So, what's coming up for you folks? Remember, the days are already getting longer (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere.)

If you feel so inclined, check out the Gifts og Ageing thread and add your comments..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 09:44 AM

Well, I'm gearing up for New Year's. Yup, I've gotten my pucker back and plan to whistle up a storm, or at least a small drizzle.

Funny thing. Back in 1993 or 4 I picked up my trumpet again after being off it for probably 25 years, at least. My embouchre was shot, of course. I worked at it and finally got to where I felt comfortable taking my old place as 3rd Trumpet 2nd Chair in my High School Band's 50th anniversary concert in 1995.

The really odd thing was that I didn't need to remember the fingerings. In fact, I could play notes like Db or A#, stuff I KNOW I never played before.

I suspect that when you start using those old dusty paths in the brain again, sweeping out the cobwebs and dust, you find that they're still just as workable as they ever were and maybe moreso -- you knew more than you think you did.

Same thing recently: I heard for the first time in a very, very long time the Kingston Trio's singing of "They Told Me Doncha Go Down To That City", which used to be one of my favorite songs. With the first line I could sing it like I'd been singing it all along.

The brain is a wonderful gadget. I'd see about getting a good one, but I'm kinda used to the old clunker I've got.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 10:10 AM

That's the intriguing thing about playing an instrument, Rap: sometimes I seem to make greater strides by NOT practicing. Of course, that offers up wonderful excuses for procrastination. Maybe my mind is so slow that it takes awhile to process what I'm learning.

Along the same lines, ferreting out long forgotten lines from songs convinces me that we have alot more stored in our brains than we realize. It just takes some poking around in corners to find the stuff and bring it into consciousness. Got a story about that, but my wife and I are heading out for our morning walk.

Later, Dude..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:08 PM

Sorry I haven't been back for a while. It was a real busy Christmas concert schedule--and then I got caught up in some of the political threads. I know--like a moth to a flame. But somehow it really irks me when somebody makes stupid attacks on Carter--probably the only genuinely good man--and good even on a global scale--seemingly without the need to backstab anybody-- to be US president in the 20th century.   OK--- political discussion, get thee behind me.

Anyway, my group group's Christmas concerts are always sponsored by a specific embassy--no money given, just the theme, and the ambassador makes it official--hosts a gathering, etc.

Well, this time it was the Austrian embassy. Can't go wrong with that---Mozart, Schubert, Alpine-flavored Christmas music. It was just wonderful. I even had the chance to sing at the ambassador's residence--just 12 of us--out of about 200. She and some of her staff sang one of their favorite carols--which I'd never heard before. She told us how hard it was in the US to try to follow the Austrian custom of only going to get a Christmas tree on the 24th of December. She was lucky to get one at all even close to what she was looking for.

And at the reception, a staff member wanted to know why there are SO many Protestant denominations over here--and how they differ. Not easy to explain--especially auf Deutsch. And I wound up singing "Es gibt kein Bier auf Hawaii" with another staff member--while everybody was milling around us. She knew verses I'd never heard. I think anything goes at Christmastime as far as music.

Then a few days later another subset of my group did 2 family Christmas concerts. A story--from about 1890--of "Why the Chimes Rang" ( cathedral chimes which hadn't rung for centuries). Then we tacked Rudolf, Frosty, and Santa on after the play.--it seems the kids have to have them--and it was after all a family concert.

Lots of wonderful songs about bells--including "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"--which, I've learned, is not only a warm emotional song, but was written (the poem) by Longfellow during the Civil War-- and at a low point for him--his son had been recently seriously wounded.   It even has verses-- hardly ever sung--which fix its time--something to the effect of "Then from every accursed mouth/ The cannons thundered in the South."

It seems to me that the more you know about the background of a song, the more you appreciate it. Familiarity does not breed contempt--at least not for me.

More later.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 03:59 PM

HI, Ron:

How nice to see you. We've missed you at the table. Are you sure you're not more than one person? I can't believe one person could do everything that you do.

Tonight, Ruth and I are going to Watch Night at our church. Watch Night is a tradition honoring the night when slaves gathered together awaiting the stroke of midnight, when slavery would be abolished. Most black churches honor that experience, remembering it in special services on New Year's Eve. This will be a rare experience for me, as I am not singing with the Men's Chorus tonight. This is my tenth year in the Chorus, and the first time I've ever sat in the congregation, rather than sing with them. But, this is New Year's Eve, too, and I want to sit with my wife. I mean, I love the guys in the Men's Chorus, but they can't hold a candle to Ruth.

Here's wishing all a great New Year!

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 06:09 PM

I'm smelling wabbit. I'm gonna bag that sucka befaw this yeaw is thwew!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Alice
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 06:16 PM

Ron and Jerry, great to hear your stories of what you are doing.

I love the song/poem I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. I learned it from an old Bing Crosby recording and always think of his voice.
I have never had a chance to perform it, just sing it for myself around the house.

My music experiences have been nil this year. My job currently has overtaken everything in my life. I hope this coming year will be one in which I can have more personal time.

Happy New Year to you!

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:31 AM

It's 2007 now, the Chinese year of the pig.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:33 AM

But it's a wascally wabbit I'm after. Hewe, bunny, bunny, bunny.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:34 AM

I have some nice cawwot-flavored champagne for you!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:36 AM

C'mon Bugsy, ol pal. Lets buwy the hatchet and be fwends. Let old acquaintance be forgot, auld lang syne--y'know?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 03:40 AM

FWONT AND CENTER, YOU SCWEWY WABBIT! WIGHT NOW! THE TIME HAS COME! IT'S PAST MIDNIGHT AND FUDD NEEDS HIS BEAUTY SLEEP. I'VE GOT YOU NOW. YOU'WE ALL MINE, ALL MINE AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU'RE TOAST, YOU HAWEBWAINED BUNNY, DO YOU HEAW ME?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 04:00 AM

1500? Did I catch him for you, Elmer?