Snow Day

A family tradition

In our parts winter usually waits until January to truly arrive but the White Witch seems to be on the move.  We had about 4 inches Saturday afternoon into early Sunday morning.

The Common Household Son came over before the storm hit to wrap a present and help me put up the Advent-Hanukkah paper chain. Our interfaith family was in need of our own tradition for this time of year. This one has withstood the test of time, although some of the paper has disintegrated.   You can get a detailed description here.

The weather outside turning frightful, I set to work on a most enjoyable task – writing Christmas and Hanukkah cards.  The irony here is that Hanukkah cards are not really a widespread thing, but I like to send them, and since Hanukkah is often before Christmas, sometimes the Hanukkah cards are the only ones that get sent.  This time I managed to finish more than 40 cards.  It’s a whole production which I may or may not describe in a separate post.  

Then, another homebound activity - checking out the music for tomorrow’s worship service.  I have always sung soprano, but my range has been contracting as I age, so I sometimes try to sing the tenor line.  Singing harmony is a real challenge for me, as I’ve always played or sung the melody.  I spent some time at the piano enjoying playing through some Advent hymns.  It turns out this cozy music session was fortuitous.

It is my tradition to always
measure the snow with this ruler.

The next morning I measured the snow on the deck.  I usually like to measure in front of the house too, because we often have a mullet fall of snow - short in the front, longer in the back.  But I wasn’t going to put on my boots just for the sake of measuring.

I got the notice that the church music director was not able to make it to church at all.  But wait!  I played through the hymns just the previous day.  Knowing that very few people would actually be in church to hear it, I volunteered to play the music.

The perfect drip takes several tries.

I put some oatmeal on the stove.  Porridge (as my dear uncle of blessed memory called it) – the non-instant kind –  is just the ticket for a cold winter morning.  Then I achieved the perfect drip to keep the water pipes flowing, and went outside.  

The deer visited in the night.

The world is a special kind of quiet on a Sunday morning after a snowstorm.  

The Common Household Husband and I set to work shoveling the driveway.  In past years, the Snow Fairy has done this, sometimes at 3 AM, but the Snow Fairy is getting old and wanted help.  Together we got the job done.  We have never used a snow blower and I will keep using the traditional method as long as I can.  As we shoveled, the township snowplow/salt truck did its magic.

The Common Household Husband
starts at the other end of the
driveway, which is harder, because
of the snowplow snow.

There were a few slippery spots on the roadways to church but I made it just fine with ten minutes to spare.  There were a handful of people gathered – probably fewer than twenty.

Folks, it turns out there is a LOT of music in a worship service besides the hymns.  It turns out that ten minutes is barely enough time to get organized to play all of the worship music.  All that in between music, such as after the lighting of the Advent wreath, after the assurance of pardon, during the offering, etc etc, was waiting to be played and sung, too.  I was very nervous and muddled through, playing some interesting melodies and harmonies.  It is my strong belief that all musical mistakes are corrected on their way to God’s ears.  Maybe not on the way to the congregation’s ears, but God is the actual audience.

About halfway through the service I remembered that the Best Practice is to determine the key signature, time signature, and tempo before starting to play.  I was sight reading some of the music, and I’m sure it showed, but I was glad to be able to contribute to worship.  I did get to play a few of my favorite Advent hymns for some of the in between music.

While we were shoveling snow,
a huge flock of geese flew over head.
By the time I got my phone out for
a photo, they were gone, leaving
just the winter sky.

And that was our snow day.  Did you get snow this past weekend?  Was it enjoyable, or a chore?

Four good things

 It’s been a horrible week.  I don’t believe in just tossing it off and saying everything will be fine all the time.  I can’t pay attention to all of it, but I intend to remain aware of reality in at least some arenas.  

However.  Right now, in a desperate attempt to save my sanity I am going to list some good things about the past week.  

1. We unfroze the frozen water pipes in the kitchen.  No burst pipes.  

2. Yesterday it was finally warm enough to do one outside task: I got my car washed.

While the modern car wash itself is the moderately terrifying inside task of sitting in the car surrounded by soap and large brushes coming at you, it is mainly an outside task because of the vacuuming of the car interior. 

I found a nickel as I was vacuuming.  Thomas Jefferson’s image is on the nickel.  We know his story.  What is Tom thinking right now?

3.  Celtic folk music.  

While looking for a recording of "The Canticle of the Turning," possibly the hymn most defiant to the patriarchy (based on this scripture), I found this:

Siskin Green: Will Your Anchor Hold?  A recasting of a stodgy old hymn.

One of my children sent me some videos by this vocalist.  The video is weird, but I love when she sings “We’ll all go together.”

4.  I returned my two physical library books.

Our public library is undergoing a renovation so we went inside to look around.  In the children’s section they have an axolotl!  For some reason that makes me happy.  Also this week I did a deep dive into some blog posts about books.  (That said, most of the books I am reading right now are not terribly optimistic.)

New England just completely
broke away from the
United States of Cookie.  Apt.

Keep a song in your pocket

The Common Household Husband
captains the boat

In the first church sermon I heard in the new year, the preacher said, carry a song in your pocket for the coming year.  That preacher is right - I’m going to need a song, and maybe more than one, this year.   

Three years ago, during the uncertain early months of the pandemic, I must have been looking for a song, because I recently found a document with strange first lines of hymns, mostly gloomy.  Some of them now seem particularly appropriate for the throes of 2020.  According to my notes, I found these in 2020 while searching on hymnary.org for all hymns with the meter 8.6.8.6.  It escapes me now why that meter was important for 2020.

* * * * * * *

First lines of hymns for the covid era

A holy air is breathing round (much needed during a pandemic)

And are we wretches yet alive? (seems a fitting mood for a pandemic.)

Far from the world, O Lord, I flee (good for covid-19 stay-at-home times)

How sweet and silent is the place (describes all large, empty arenas during the height of the pandemic)

Actually a fairly pleasant hymn

How vast must their advantage be (for politicians who cast doubt on the virus, but get the covid vaccine before essential workers do.)

Lo, the destroying angel flies (reminds me of certain episodes of Doctor Who.  Utterly terrifying.  But also reminds me of airborne viruses. When I did a google search for this hymn title I got a bunch of advice about deadly mushrooms. Destroying angel indeed.)

Lord, from the ill and froward man (that is the person that the murky, diseased droplets of virus come from)

My thoughts on awful subjects roll (I hear you, hymn writer.  I ruminate too.)

Not from the dust affliction grows (yes, we have learned that it comes from airborne droplets.)

When languor and disease invade (a hymn for the covid era, for sure.)

When sickness shakes the languid frame (an accurate description of symptoms.)

* * * * * * *

It’s hard to imagine that hymns which start like this would spark religious fervor.   

The song I am keeping in my pocket for this month is The Queen of Connemara.  It's a song

about a boat, earning a living, beauty, facing danger, and the love of family.

I was first introduced to this song in this version, which has a fun jig at the end.  But the

version I love the best is the one that Younger Daughter and I sing at our own piano,

a good clip faster than Cherish The Ladies’ version, at the top of our lungs.

The Queen of Connemara Lyrics:

Verse 1:

Oh my boat can safely float in the teeth of wind and weather

And outrace the fastest hooker between Galway and Kinsale

Where the white foam of the ocean and the dark clouds roll together

There she rides, in her pride, like a seagull over the waves

Chorus:

Oh she's neat, oh she's sweet

She's a beauty in every line

The Queen of Connemara

She's that bounding barque of mine

Verse 2:

When she's loaded down with fish 'til the water lips the gunwale

Not a drop she'll take on board her that would drive a fly away

Like a ship she'll sail out gladly like a greyhound from his kennel

And she'll land her silver store the first at ould Kinvara quay

(Chorus 2x)

Verse 3:

There's a light shines out afar, and it keeps me from dismaying

When the sky is ink above us and the sea runs white with foam

In a cot in Connemara there's a wife and wee ones praying

To the One who walked the waters once, to send us safely home

(Chorus 2x)

The Queen of Connemara

She's that bounding barque of mine

Caramelized Playlist

Thanksgiving onions 2014

Here is the playlist we listened to during the Caramelization of the Onions today.

-       If I had words from the movie Babe.   Sung by mice.  Saint-Saëns to a reggae beat.

If I had words to make a day for you
I'd sing you a morning golden and new.
I would make this day last for all time
Give you a night deep in moon shine.

- lyrics by Scott Fitzgerald

And then, of course, this naturally followed:

-       The Saint-Saëns Organ Concerto #3, final movement.  Pull out all the stops!

To switch things up a little:

-       Peter, Paul and Mary singing Blowin’ in the Wind. 

Which prompted me to say to Younger Daughter, "Bob Dylan wrote that song.  Have you ever heard Bob Dylan sing?"  No.  So next up in the play list was 30 seconds of:

-       Bob Dylan sings Everybody Must Get Stoned. 

“Why does it sound like a carnival?” Younger Daughter asked.  So we switched to:

-       Twist and Shout, The Beatles.

Then back to classical music:

-       Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg. 

Then Youtube selected this for us:

-       Rondo Alla Turca, by Mozart. 

-       Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, the final movement.  This included some dancing around the kitchen, because by that time the onions were sliced and in the pan.  A bombastic finish to the caramelization process.

This is the version of the 1812 Overture we listened to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2W1Wi2U9sQ&feature=youtu.be

Check out the plethora of great Dad jokes in the comments on that youtube link.  But bemoan the fact that the youtube poster did not bother to say which orchestra is playing. 

Happy Thanksgiving!  May your onions be sweet!

Thanksgiving survey 2019: Music

Some music performers I AM related to
L to R: Me, my Dad, my son

It's time for the Common Household time-honored tradition of the

Thanksgiving survey:Music

1. Name a music performer who is not related to you, for whom you are thankful.

2.  What is a musical tune you remember from your childhood?

Bonus:  Sing 30 seconds of a song which includes the word “thank”.

Please participate by giving your answers in the comments.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Music is a huge part of our lives in the Common Household, although we are not professional musicians. For us, music is an integral part of any educational philosophy.  Participating in a music ensemble teaches us cooperation, discipline, listening, and how to remember to bring our pencil to practice.  Music teaches math and creativity and beauty.  We are so thankful for music. 

A short composition by the Common Household Elder Daughter.

(For some reason I have no videos of the Common Household Son performing music.)

And the University of Pittsburgh Handbell Ensemble, including Common Household Younger Daughter.