Praying

Thanks to my neighbors for this gift of a poem for my "space":

thanksgiving

(pilgrims feasting made by students at Beekman Elementary School)
We had a beautiful day in Monterey, (Mass.) with the Amidon clan and phone calls from Sam in London and Stefan in Paris.

my birthday/salutations

I hiked up Mt. Wantastiquet (solo) in one hour and enjoyed this view, went for a message (ahhh), had breakfast, dinner and drinks with friends, lunch with my husband of 30 years, went to Bratttleboro Museum and Art Center and was joyful. Salutation to the Dawn seems appropos.
LISTEN to the exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day! For it is Life, The very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the Varieties And Realities of your Existence;
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived
Makes every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every To-morrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn.

Ooooooooklahoma!

We performed school shows for three days in six schools in Stillwater, Oklahoma thanks to our friend and music teacher, Trish Ranson who as she puts it, does best "when her hair is on fire".
(she has great hair and you can imagine this). Saw the Capitol Steps at the University, very funny, and ate some great Mexican food. The license plates all say Native America on them and we heard a Native show on Oklahoma public radio. Thanks, Trish!

gospel singing weekend

Last weekend was an incredible gospel singing weekend with our idol, Kathy Bullock of Berea, KY and John Harrison of Plainfield, Vt and 80 singers in Ashfield, MA. We sang as part of the church service and had everyone up clapping. It was held at the church in Ashfield, MA and we got to stay in the big colorful home of the cheese queen Ricki.
www.cheesemaking.com/

O Connor's pub in Worcester, MA

Two days in Peter's birthplace, "Worsta" we found a great pub for dinner. We worked in an amazing publice school, Worcester Arts Magnet School which has a theater teacher, music, art, dance teacher and a choral and composition teacher. Yes!

Childsplay in Brattleboro

At the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro, a beautiful concert of fiddlers with fiddles made by Bob Childs. They are making a new cd this week. Full of singing by Aoife O'Donovan and others, dancing by Pierre Chartrand and Molly Gawler. The program opened with a new tune by Keith Murphy called Samsamamidon: smashing!

great book, great cd

I got to hear a solo concert of the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes recently and am loving his new cd; its stunningly beautiful.
Also just started this incredible book about the dust bowl called the Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Seems appropriate since we are spending the week in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

more autumnal bliss

I finished it! Sam's new sweater!

the wool is called Cloud Nine, 50 percent angora and 50 percent wool, so soft.