Goodbyes Are Never Easy

Everytime I leave Judy Branch, I must go through the process of saying goodbye to Bella. My recent schedule has had me spending several nights away from home on a regular basis, and Bella is always uncertain of when I might return. I'm sure it must be unnerving, not knowing if your best buddy, parental unit, significant other, etc. will return in a few hours, a few days or a few weeks. Poor Bella! I think she and the cats have now become accustomed to spending a night or two alone, and I'm hoping that my current travel schedule will ease the disruption of my being in Poland for a month this spring.

This weekend I was faced with saying goodbye, perhaps forever, to a good friend. At the monthly old time jam this Saturday we learned that one of our music buddies was in the hospital with a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. Even though he's a young 80, it was heartwrenching news. After the jam, eight of us caravaned up to the Pikeville Hospital and brought the old time jam to Rodney's hospital room. I'm not sure who was most affected by this simple gesture - Rodney, his daughter, or us.

My friend Bev and I were talking about how people have so many different lives. Those folks we play music with have families and friends that have no clue who we are. When we showed up at the hospital, we not only gave Rod a treat, we brought some joy (and relief) to his daughter. She finally got to be part of "that" part of his life that she had heard about but never had experienced. At one point she said to her dad, "Now I see why you always want to go down to Whitesburg..." Bev & I agreed that we want our families to know what to do/who to call if anything were to happen to us. "Callin' in the troops," is how we referred to it. If I were to pass before my folks, I'd want them to be comforted by all my music friends showing
up and playing music for/with me, whether it be at my hospital bed or at my wake. There's something about that musical connection that surpasses anything anyone can ever say or do. It's just something you share without any pretense or predjudice.

back pain

i'm about to give up on the chiropractor experiment. following my session last week i felt a marked improvement in my back and left leg. but for some reason i could not get him to do what he did (basically it was sort of like a deep tissue massage around my lower back) in this week's session. and guess what? the pain in my back has returned... with a vengence! with that returns a numbness in my left leg and foot, awkward limping and severe limitations of movement. after nearly four months of this nonsense, i'm about to lose my mind!

but i'm thinking what i need is either a really good massage therapist or a surgeon.

tonight is a judy branch night, and i'm spending it under an afghan on the couch working on a grant proposal and watching UK play in the SEC tournament. all the critters are napping nearby. i think bella misses her new best friend, justin (see picture above).

Sticking around the Old Homeplace

With all the traveling that I'm having to do these days, the time I have at Judy Branch has become even more valuable. After my week of hosting the Chocolate Drops, I jumped right back into my new fellowship schedule, which has me driving to and from Berea twice a week. I was so glad to get back home on Friday and enjoy the quiet comfort of my home.

Some strategic planning on my part allowed me to stay home all weekend, even though I hosted a meeting on Saturday morning. Instead of meeting at my workplace, I suggested they all come out to Judy Branch. It was so cozy, sitting around the kitchen table, driking coffee and snacking on cream cheese danishes while we made plans and caught up on each others' lives. While sitting there, I got to thinking about how some aspects of my job really don't feel like work, mainly because of the people I get to spend time with. I feel really fortunate that I get to spend a great deal of my time in the company of people who inspire me with the lives they lead, warm my soul with the stories they tell and humble me with the love that they send my way. I didn't really do much culinary preparation for my guests, but they were pleased nonetheless.

I made a really simple cream cheese danish (at least I think it's a danish!). All you do is put a pack or two of cream cheese & some sugar (1/4-1/2 cup) in a mixer and cream together. In the meantime you melt 1/2 a stick (or less) of butter or margarine. You take one tube of crescent rolls and lay the entire "sheet" of dough flat across a baking sheet, not pressing it flat or doing anything to it at all. You spread the cream cheese mixture on top and then pop open another tube of crescent rolls and lay it across the top, lightly pinching the edges of the bottom & top together. Pour melted butter across the top, sprinkle some cinnamon & sugar over it and pop it in the oven @ 350 for about 10-15 minutes, maybe more. It's done when the dough is cooked and a little brown around the edges.

For lunch we had leftovers I had made from the ingredients I never got around to using during my previous house guests:
A mix of sweet potato and black beans with spices and Kentucky-Creole eggplant pudding (a baked pudding, more like a custard or casserole) over a bed of spinach served with salsa, fresh cilantro and tortilla chips. Pretty yummy for a random combination pulled out of the frige!

While the wood stove kept us nice and warm for our meeting, the weather on Judy Branch became almost balmy by afternoon. To my disappointment, the ground was too moist to plant snap peas. Even so, I got in some garden time pulling up old milkweed skeletons and clearing out the remains of last year's garden.

The weekend was capped off with my Sunday session with Lee. This week I brought a visitor, my fellow Appalachian music fellow. I think Lee & Opal like having company as much as I do. Opal cooked us up a big dinner of green beans she had canned, cabbage, mashed potatoes and cornbread. I love Opal's cooking just about as much as I love Lee's banjo playing!

Sweet Solitude (Somewhat)

I really enjoy playing the role of hostess. I love to feed people home-cooked food, and I especially love to bring them out to Judy Branch for a few hours (or days) of retreat from that busy world that exists beyond this little hollow. This week I was in full hostessing mode, cooking enough food to feed about 12 people for five days. I didn't get to cook all the dishes I had hoped to make, but there was plenty of food. What I could prepare in advance of the company's arrival, I did last weekend. The rest I had to cook late nights after full days of work. Fortunately, I was in good company with Dom Flemmons as my house guest. He provided an impressive array of music to cook by, kept me awake with irresistable conversation and even helped me cook a bit. Most importantly, he kept me from over-working myself every night! Most of the time we sat around the kitchen table going through our music collections, geeking out full-force about our mutual musical obsessions.

Several other folks came out to Judy Branch last week, with "snow," or I suppose the idea of snow, cancelling several of the school and senior citizens events we had planned last week. We made the most of our free time to really get to know each other. Bella hit it off with Justin, and I think she's actually missing him a little now! By the end of the week, even Sid Vicious felt comfortable around the guests, sitting in the middle of a room full of people!

Company departed on Sunday, and Monday morning I drove to Berea to continue work on my fellowship. Usually I am a house guest when in Berea, but I opted to splurge on a hotel room for some much needed solitude and R&R. It was the best night's sleep I've gotten in over a week! As nice as it was to have a break from being around people, I know when I go back to Judy Branch tonight it will seem empty.

snowed in!

this week i made big busy plans for my visitors, but the weather interfered. it didn't really snow much, not even 1/2 an inch, but things like the senior citizens' lunch and school got cancelled. all those things we were going to do would have been loads of fun. but we had fun just the same being snowed in.

since school was cancelled, and thus all our work commitments until 6pm, we all pretended to be snowed in on judy branch yesterday. it was really cozy having company, eating brunch together, playing music, talking and watching movies.

it looks like we are going to have more of the same, weather-wise: snow flurries. i just hope they don't cancel the square dance tonight! why do people have to be such wimps about a little snow?!

Succotash

There are some combinations that are divine. I believe that succotash achieves this, no matter which manifestation. I've experienced many variations in my life, and there's not one that I've chosen as my standard. This week, for me and all those I'm feeding, succotash is made up from treasures found in my freezer: okra, corn & butter beans, cooked with fresh tomatoes & a habanera pepper (you poke it with a fork, throw it in with the mix while it stews and then take it out when it gets to the desired spiciness).

Another divine combination is chocolate and chili pepper (cayenne, or whatever your palate’s pleasure).

Oh, and I must also give a nod to fresh basil blended into hummus. Yum.

Want a full list of what I’ve cooked up so far for the week (for my lovely guests)?

2 pans of spinach lasagne
macaroni & cheese (made from scratch, except the noodles…)
2 pans of chocolate chip brownies
several pans of hot chocolate chocolate chip cookies
1 carrot cake
1 large bowl of basil hummus
1 vegan spice cake
1 big pot of succotash
1 vegan loaf of cornbread

What else might I cook up this week (during all that spare time)?

An interesting KY-Cajun Eggplant Dip I want to try
Vegetable stew
More cornbread (turns out the vegan guest actually will eat eggs)
Collard greens
Mashed turnips

My friend Blue Artichoke would be so proud of this Lil’ Birdie!

slow food

judy branch is a great place to hole up for the weekend, especially when it's cold outside. for all the marvels of electricity, you can't back up to central heat. i love my wood stove. what's even better is the location of the stove. my living room and kitchen are one big open space. this is great for evenings (or all day) at home. i can cook, listen to my stereo, even watch a movie, while the fire crackles in the stove and the critters lounge lethargic in its heat.

when i know that company is coming, even if it's just at work, my prep work starts at home. next week i'll be hosting quite a few musicians, artists and other guests. a quintessential southern trait that i've inherited from pretty much all the women in my family is that when company's coming, you cook. a lot. i mean a serious quantity of food, mostly the kind my mom, aunts, grandmas, great aunts, etc. taught me to make for company. before i can get around to the catering prep for the upcoming week, though, my somewhat abandoned house needed some attention.

last night i replaced the bag in the vacuum and waged war on the "halloween" beetles (they want you to think they are lady bugs, but they are not!). i realized that enough was enough when they seized my bedside lamp (imagine a lamp covered entirely with a layer of lady bug impersonators...) and would wake me up several times through the night crawling on my skin and biting me at will. for nearly half an hour my bedroom was free of those imposters. i don't know where the back up troops come from or why they feel a need to centralize forces around my bedside lamp and surrounding areas (the wall and ceiling above the left side of the bed). the only way to keep those buggers down to a nearly tolerable presence would be to vacuum every day. i'm not the only one who faces this dilemma. in fact, it is worthy of regular posting in my local newspaper's "Speak Your Piece" column.

i'm beginning to think these beetle bugs were intentionally let loose in the southern mountains by vacuum bag manufacturers. what do you think?

today bella went with me to do the old time radio show, and then i loaded up on groceries and came home. i practiced "black eyed susie" until my fingers hurt and i made a food list and schedule (what i'm making for next week, for which days/events and when i must make them). right now there are two spinach lasagnas in the oven that i can freeze for one of the meals next week. still on the list for this weekend: basil hummus, carrot cake, cayenne chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, brownies, carrot cake, cheese cake, lemon squares. looks like sunday is going to be a busy day! in addition to all that cooking, i've also got to practice the tunes lee taught me, prep the garden for planting peas (on valentines day!), go over to lee's for a banjo lesson in the afternoon. yipee!

Deadheads & Suckers

I'm not sure if it's a mountain, rural or generally an American thing, but I've always been more inclined to measure the distance between two places by how long it takes to get there, usually by driving. The drive from Judy Branch to Berea is approximately 2 and 1/2 hours. Part of living in the rural mountains is that you get used to spending quite a bit of time in the car. This has been my experience since I first started driving. In high school, a 40 minute drive to a good swimming hole was considered close or "local." Driving 30-45 minutes to get to work or a night out on the town was also considered close by. I guess that's why I've never had a problem with living at least half an hour from anywhere, and driving a couple of hours to get somewhere isn't really all that bad either.

Last night I stayed with my friend Deborah at her farm in Jackson County. I think it took about 45 minutes from Berea, maybe a little less. But the terrain really makes it seem much more in the middle of nowhere than Judy Branch. Even though I'm nestled in the heart of the Central Appalachian mountains, the roads really don't go up and down as many hills. They follow the rivers and creeks, and while winding and dotted with sharp curves nestled between a sheer drop into said creek on one side and a craggy cliff face on the other, you don't really have to go up and down much.

Deb has been a house guest on Judy Branch many times, and I knew from her descriptions of life on her farm that I'd feel right at home. What I really love about their place is all the work that they have put into the place to make it their home along with all the daily work they do to make a living from their home. While I garden and do a lot of those survival tasks of rural living, Deb and her husband Frank are really living off their land. They raise sheep, rabbits, hogs and chickens, which provide eggs, meat, hide and income. Their work crew includes horses, guard and hunting dogs and I'm sure a few other tennants that I haven't met yet. Inside are the two cats, Foscoe & Madeline (they sleep outside when it's not so cold) and a pen of quail. I had my first taste of quail eggs, hardboiled last night and fried this morning.

Frank & Deb had to convert the original house structure (a typical Appalachian flat board house that has been upgraded over the generations) to include indoor plumbing. The water is gravity fed to the house from a spring up the hill. For more consistent pressure, they've added a cistern and a water pump. What's handy is that when the power goes out, they can still get water fed by gravity. While I also have spring water from a well, it comes from underground and required a pump to get it to the house. So I'm out of luck when we lose power.

They have built on a high-ceiling log addition to the original house which makes for a fantastic living room, complete with a cozy futon covered in warm sheep skins.

One of my favorite rooms of Deb & Frank's place is the outhouse. Neighbor Billy Joe and I've talked about how in so many ways life was much easier before indoor plumbing. I know from Judy Branch how messed up indoor plumbing goes when it comes to toilets. You really have to make an effort to flush, and if it rains too much for too long the septic tank can get backed up, which is not at all pleasant. Those problems don't exist when you just use an outhouse. And they really have a nice one, well decorated with National Geographic photos and poems pasted all over the walls and door.

Last night Deb and I sat by the wood stove, and she taught me how to play "Black Eyed Susie." I brought her my copy of the Flat Mountain Girls CD, Honey Take Your Whiskers Off. They're an all-women old time band from Portland, OR, which play a rockin' version of the tune. I've let her borrow it today in hopes that she'll figure out how to play "Deadheads and Suckers," a tune they recorded and cited as Trad. Neither of us had ever heard of it, so I am now on a mission to find out more about the tune (and to learn how to play it!).

Today I'll head back to Judy Branch to prepare for a week with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. A week from Monday I'll return to the mysterious chiropractor (who, from my novice perspective seemed to ask a lot of questions of my arm... tho I think it was my brain channelling through my arm?). He's fixing me of my lactose intolerance and will hopefully ease some of my back pain (thus the root cause of seeking his help). I'll hold off on any detailed commentary until I've tried it out a few times.

The real icing on the cake will be that evening (Feb 19th), when I hope a big field trip of friends will join me and Deb to see the Chocolate Drops perform live on the famous Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour at the Kentucky Theater with Folkboy himself, Michael Johnathon. Above is a picture from my last field trip to see friends Uncle Earl play on this legendary radio show. Is it because of the stellar musical guests that we make the Monday night pilgramage to Lexington? Is it to support our up & coming, "undiscovered" musician friends as they are introduced to an international audience? Or is it the personality of the host that draws us like ants to sugar? You decide and let me know.

crossing over

i remember years ago when a chiropractor located his office next door to my dad's office. that's when i learned that my dad thought that chiopractors were the modern day equivalent of a medicine show doctor. a total farce. at that time, i was a kid, and i had never even heard of chiropractors. even though i've never really had an opinion either way, i have for the most part kept the same attitude toward seeking chiropractic help as counselling (i was always told by the parents that i was "normal" or "just fine" and thus did not fall into the category of those who need pychological or emotional help).

since then, i've known more and more people who swear to the miracle of chiropractic adjustment and of seeing a counselor. at the age of 30, i am finally going to become one of those people... if all goes well today.

in about an hour, i will have my first chiropractic adjustment/session in hopes that the pain that has been shooting through my lower back and down through the muscles of my left leg since mid-november will be lessened.

this is new territory for me, and even though i am a full grown adult, it still sort of feels like an act of rebellion.

let's hope i get adjusted enough to be able to dance painlessly for days on end next week! who knows, if this chiropractic adventure turns out to be a success, i may get brave enough to ask someone to shrink my head!

cold, cold heart

valentine's day is on it's way, and mother nature is showing us her love with a winter embrace. the temperatures in eastern and central kentucky have been between 2-17 degress (that's -20 to -8 degrees C!). i hope my weekend will be spent having fun in the woods with a chainsaw and then with an axe splitting wood. one of the perks of living at the head of the hollow is that i'm surrounded on three sides by hills of forest. not too far up the path, there are several downed trees that are awaiting their afterlife as firewood. as my woodpile hastily depletes during these cold nights, i give thanks to all those trees who succumbed to gravity last fall. i also give thanks to friends with chainsaws. perhaps if i am really nice and provide delicious food and refreshing beverages (post-chainsawing phase), i will be able to charm said friend into also splitting the wood so that it fits in my stove.

we all know that valentine's day is a modern invention that is now a huge marketing scam. even so, that marketing reminds us all of how our own love lives don't fit into that picture perfect, big screen romance we've been fed most of our lives. the important thing to remember is that love encompasses so much more than romance. i think that valentine's day should be about showing yourself some love and then letting that spill over into all the other relationships in your life. and eating lots of chocolate. let's face it, most of us are far too hard on ourselves. i will celebrate valentines day in several ways, many which will include pampering myself. one of the first things on my agenda is to go see a chiropractor about the pain in my back and left leg that i've had since mid-november (handling fire-wood is a dangerous business).

the other way i will shower myself with love is with the music and company of some of my favorite musicians, the carolina chocolate drops. i met these fantastic folks last spring, although i remember seeing them around at the Black Banjo Gathering a year or so earlier. then we all taught workshops at Common Ground on the Hill this summer, and I got a chance to take a dance class with them. all this led to talks about how we needed to plan a residency at appalshop. next week it's all going to happen, and i'm really excited! although i am breaking the rules a little by talking about work-related matters, i feel that this is more a labor of love. i don't know how many folks will make it out to the public events, including three delicious evenings of desserts and dancing (wednesday 2/14, friday 2/16 & saturday 2/17), but i know that it will be a week to remember. the full scheudle is on my work website.

now i must return my focus to listening to tapes from 1974's celebration of traditional music. currently flowing through my earphones, artus and joan moser (before that it was J.P., Annalee & Danielle Fraley).

enjoying the now

it has been a real challenge to fully immerse myself into this new phase of my life. the schedule i had set out for balancing my fellowshop and work keeps getting disrupted. a big part is the responsibilities i feel at home. i don't want to leave bella sleeping on the porch on subzero winter nights. the other distractions has been work. i'm only supposed to give one day a week to that place, but last week took three. i'm taking a stand right now. i will not give any more of myself to my job than one day per week. that's all i'm getting paid for, and that's all i can handle (on several levels).

traveling back and forth from berea, taking spontaneous road trips and musing about what other adventures might await me... these have all really driven in my determination to move on and find a new life somewhere else. i really am ready to move on. i just need to figure out where. prefereably a place that has the following:

people who play old time music
a good place to get a beer (legally, in public)
a significant population 25-40 years old (esp of the eligible bachelor variety)
a good coffeehouse
live music (of the non-jam band genres, please)
hills and the great outdoors

for now, i'm going to enjoy the now and look forward to the upcoming journey to poland. anyone want to meet up in prague sometime in june? i'll be nearby...

Chicago?!

I wasn't home but a few days from my Northwest adventures until it was time to get back on the road. The plan was to drive twice a week, staying two nights in Berea for my music fellowship. A brilliant plan really, because it gave me four days in the music archives while allowing me five nights at home with the critters. There was one major oversight: It is now Winter. While it's been rather mild up until now, I believe that my travel plans gave Old Jack Frost the inspiration he needed to visit Kentucky.

But what, you may ask, does this have to do with Chicago?! Well... the weather set into snowing Wednesday night, discouraging me from driving to Berea on Thursday and inspiring me to instead drive to Morehead on Thursday night with co-adventurer Julie to catch a 6 AM caravan to Chicago. Boy, oh boy am I ever grateful for that cold snap, because did I ever have such a time as I did in the windy city! There's nothing better to cure the winter blues than a spontaneous roadtrip to an unfamiliar city to spend an entire weekend in the company of friends listening to music, eating city food, visiting, making new friends and keeping warm with driving jam sessions and refreshing beverages. I feel revived!

The characters in this story are really what make it a story I'll always remember. Almost all my favorite Kentucky friend plus many of my favorite old time pals: the fabulous Foghorns, Dirk Powell, Travis Stuart, Riley Baugus, Martha Scanlan, Ellie Grace. The circumstances were that I was feeling a bit depressed, lonely and bored after returning home from the recent Northwest adventures. I had been muddling for awhile on the idea that I might catch a ride up to Chicago with said Kentucky friends-the Clack Mountain Stringband- who had a gig to play with Portland/Foghorn friends and the Dirk Powell Band (the crazy bunch that played the Masquerade Ball here in October) at the Old Town School of Folk. In my exhaustion post-Northwest adventures, I had pretty much written off the earlier thoughts of caravaning with the Clack Mountain crew for a raucous weekend in the big city. But something clicked, Brett Ratliff in all his wisdom asked "What better reason could you have to go to Chicago?" and the rest is history. I'll write more details about the weekend once I get caught up on sleep. I will tell you that I learned an important lesson from this weekend. Don't talk yourself out of doing something fun and adventurous with friends because you "just feel like hanging out at home."

Cat Power

Even though Portland tried to delay my flight home with a snow storm, I made it back to Judy Branch without delay. The critters all seemed glad to have me back, and I suspect they ganged up on me in my sleep and gave me a nasty head cold so I'd have to stay home with them instead of going into work. Despite the violent sneezes and the runny nose that feels like a leaky faucet, I have enjoyed being a homebody for these few days, nesting inside away from the cold winter winds. After two weeks in constant company, it was a bit strange to not see another human being for several days at a time!

Tomorrow I begin my fellowship work, which means I must once again enter the company of other humans and that I have an early drive to Berea.

I had to pull myself away from my new banjo and blog so that I can get to bed in time to get at least a few hours sleep before I start this new phase of my life.

That said, this is going to be a short entry. I'll write more about my banjo and new adventures soon.

sound advice

i just love my portland friends. they're so neat.

since in portland i have:
+enjoyed a night of music at the moon among friends
+eaten yummy cuban food
+spent hours surrounded by books
+assisted on a shopping trip to a "hip" portland grocery store
+partook in an evening of cooking and wine-drinking adventure
+sewn wool ?s onto neck ties
+played scrabble until i could barely keep my eyes open
+watched sleet fall over the chinese classical gardens while warming myself in a tea house
+happened upon (and into) two really amazing art exhibits at the portland art center: "the other portland: art & ecology in the 5th quadrant" & "Second Skin"
+gave a lucky marble to one of the coolest kids on the planet
+scored a ukrainian cookbook
+"networked" with really amazing arts professionals and was given some really great insight
+had 2 billion moments of yearning for bella (bella would LOVE this walk; look, bella and i could go there; i've eaten so much good food & i hate to waste what's left on my plate, i wish bella was here to help me; bella is SO much cooler than that dog...)

now it's off to the airport to pick up rich & julie. but first i must impart the wonderful advice a sage imparted upon me: with every important life decision, ask yourself the following:

what do i need & want: professionally, personally and creatively.

Oh the wind & the rain!

I'm nearing a week in the great Pacific Northwest. As soon as the jet landed in Portland last Wednesday, I picked up my rental car and sped northward to Seattle, specifically the old Victorian house on Capital Hill shared by Tiffany, Larry, Bella (the cat), Luna, Heinz and Mazzie. One of my select home away from homes, I always enjoy returning for long visits. On this trip, Tiffany and I managed to get out of the city and head out to Port Townsend and Fort Worden State Park. We got a late start and conquered many challenges to get there including a tumultuous ferry ride (Tiffany was recovering from a stomach bug), a hail storm and directions that never would have gotten us to where we wanted to go. Even so, we arrived as the clouds parted and the sun began to set. Absolutely breath taking! The park is an old army fort that the state has transformed into Centrum, an arts and creative learning center and host to the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. Centrum's Peter McCracken gave us a quick tour and took a picture of us in front of our dream castle by the sea. Tiffany and I took turns nearly getting blown over by the wind while attempting to take photos. I loved how the waves crashed against the coastline and the view of the Cascade Mountains across the water.

The rest of my time in Seattle was spent well within the city, and I got my fill of night life and "exotic" food (i.e. any food that isn't frozen and then deep fried in fat). We wanted to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, but it was SOLD OUT. Isn't that crazy? I didn't know that museum exhibits could sell out, but apparently they can... days in advance. This was a first for the Pacific Science Center, and we were all disappointed that we missed the exhibit. As an alternative, we paid a visit to the Seattle Aquarium, which features all Pacific Northwest wildlife. My favorite critters were the sea otters, seals and the octopus. There were also a handful of strange looking fish that also stole my heart. I had been wanting to eat fresh sea food while in the city, but couldn't bring myself to do so after the aquarium.

Yesterday I headed southbound to Portland, arriving in time to partake in what is becoming a Portland tradition: Sunday supper at Pambiche with Rebecca. What better way to warm up on a rainy winter night than over decadent Cuban food in an overly-warm, brightly decorated cafe? I also felt it was fitting to begin my visit by catching up with Rebecca one-on-one. It was a nice change of pace from my November visit. Also part of the tradition is the end the night at the Moon & Six Pence where the Foghorn boys drink beer and play tunes. As always, it was great to catch up with those rowdy musicians, and I'm pleased to hear that they just might make it back to Judy Branch within the next year! What's even better is that I've recruited Kevin to help with the cooking! There are many things I love about the Moon, but I guess my top three are: 1. It really has the feeling of a pub (not many American bars can pull off that subtle, cozy atmosphere) 2. It has the best bartender in the world, who makes the most wonderful Spanish coffees in the world 3. At least once a week I can find my five favorite guys sitting around some tables, playing tunes and telling tales.

Tomorrow I will explore, once more, Powell's City of Books in search of Polish-esque materials (language instruction, literature, travel guides, cookbooks).

Blessed

I am feeling very blessed, and it's keeping me awake on the eve before my big trip. It's after midnight, and in about 4 hours, my dad is giving me a lift to the airport. But there's been so much to do before I leave. Like practicing the new tunes I learned from Lee on Saturday, catching a little TV time (a must-do when I'm at the parents house!), and blogging! Not to mention all the marvelling I must do at the blessings in my life, especially those coming from or being shared with the people in my life. Faerie Godmother gifted me with a wonderful send-off in the comments from my last entry. What better mantra for embarking on this journey? Roll em, Roll em....

Yesterday I drove down to my hometown in TN and had a full day of catching up with friends. First with fiddlin' Sarah at a New Year's party where several other old and more recent friends showed up to eat black eyed peas and greens, huddle around the bonfire and play a few tunes. Then there was a dinner date with Blue Artichoke (best pal since third grade and partner in exploring the world- well, east berlin and poland so far- by backpack) that ended with us closing down the restaurant and then sitting in the parking lot for another hour catching up. We could have used a couple of days to catch up on everything, but she needed an early night and I needed to catch up with my friend Jennifer (remember, I helped her drive a u-haul to NYC?) on her last night in town. She and I had a great rendezvous/ speedy catch-up session that revealed we are both on the same plane going into the new year: stay positive, stay happy, stay open, appreciate all that you have and everything else will fall into place. Or something like that. I'll get the exact wording on here later (we wrote it down, but don't know where in the mess of all my packing). The cool thing is that we are both feeling a lot more hopeful and positive and have ambitions to keep ourselves on that kick.

Could it be that Lil' Birdie finally caught those feelings that are supposedly wrapped up in the "New Year?" I certainly am feeling that there's hope for good things to happen, even in the face of global warming, etc. etc. etc. I even feel that there's possibility for love, which was reaffirmed when a friend from the past who when I last saw him was going through a real rough heartbreak showed up at the New Year's day gathering with one of the most lovely, wonderful women I have ever met. Hell yeah! It was one of small things in life that you don't expect to make such an impression on you. That those two people found each other, however long the connection may last, just warmed my heart.

It is now 1 AM and I should at least take a little kip before I go to the airport. Tomorrow's a big day. Fly to Portland, drive to Seattle. Hang with Sister Tiffany for four and a half days. Roll 'em, roll 'em, roll 'em Rawhide!

Homebody

The hoidays, for many, are a season of travel, shopping and socializing. I, for the most part, have managed to avoid all three. Although I did travel to TN to visit my granny for xmas, I have spent minimal time on shopping or socializing. The most socializing I have done has been with my Granny over the Xmas weekend. She and I have been best of friends since I was in college. We're both night owls, and we share the habit of staying up into the early hours of the morning just keeping each other company. Sometimes we talk the whole time, other times we just sit together doing our own things - reading newspapers, doing the crossword, etc. It's really a great way to wind down the day. Besides that time I lived in Scotland, Judy Branch is the farthest I've ever lived from my Granny, and I hate that I don't get to visit her more often.

Besides the one diversion to visit Granny, I've been happily hiding away on Judy Branch. Not that I've been alone. With great neighbors like Bill & Billy Joe and a motley host of critters (dogs, cats, horses, cows and other...), there's plenty of company to be had here. I've been hunkering down and being a homebody in the wake of a season of travel. Tomorrow it all begins, and I am soaking up as much Judy Branch as I can before I light off. I will be equipped with a laptop on this round of travels, so I may actually be able to keep up with my blogging.

Until then...

Empty Nest Syndrome

This winter and spring will bring forth new adventures for this little bird, many that require me to flee my cozy nest for days, weeks and even a month at a time. Those of you who know me even a little know that I have a traveling gypsy soul. I LOVE to go places. But equal to that love for journeys abroad is my love for nesting. Seems like contradictory, but that's just how I am. Full of contradictions.

I am getting geared up for another visit to the Great Northwest in advent of my Appalachian music fellowship starting mid-January. I managed to secure some travel $$$ from work, which means this time I'll be equipped with a traveling device (a car). I plan to head up to Washington for a week and whisk sister Tiffany away from Seattle to explore the Olympic peninsula. Namely, I want to check out Port Townsend, the home of Centrum and the site of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. It's located in Fort Worden State Park, which is only a short ferry ride from Seattle. January may not be the most ideal time of the year for a visit, but I'm not the type to let cold, gray, rainy days hinder my desire to explore! To the shock of my Scottish friends, I returned (a year or so after attending Uni there) for a month-long visit in January. Short, damp days are still good days to me when I'm in Scotland!

Another reason for my visit is to spend quality time with my Portland friends, attend the Portland Old Time Gathering, and pick up my new banjo: "The Little Birdie Special."

I am incredibly excited to embark on this journey but also a little reluctant. Well, "reluctant" isn't really the word to describe it. What I want is to slow down the next week, perhaps expanding it into two weeks so I can get my nest in order before I dive full-speed into six months of a dizzying dance of balancing three different archival research gigs, a banjo apprenticeship, my job (yes, I am still working, supposedly "part-time"), a trip to Poland and preparations to finance my career after I return from Poland. Yikes. Very exiting, but I fear it will all whoosh by and leave me even more unkempt and disoriented than usual. If I am to keep up with the small, ordinary pleasures that really keep me alive-- gardening, cooking, writing and romance (when the opportunity arises)--then I must develop a more advanced system of multi-tasking than the one I currently use.

My current plan of preparation is to get my spring cleaning done this week. I figure if I can at least de-clutter my nest in winter it will make life much easier when spring rolls around. Plus it gives me a valid excuse for staying home instead of going into work, which I really ought to avoid as much as possible (seeing as I'm still not able to pay myself!). As I work on my nest I will ever so often repeat the following mantra: "Part-time gives Me time, part-time gives ME time...."

being festive is Exhausting

Celebrating the season where I live and with the company I keep can be hazardous to one's health. Although I have not actually come down with severe illness, I'm certain that in my weak condition I am susceptible to all sorts of bugs.

Activists, artists and old time musicians really are artful... at pushing the physical and psychic limits of the mere human soul. They work hard, and they celebrate and play even harder. I got my fill of both, in the form of serving as secretary at two board meetings, attending to a cast of crazy munchkins at three youth theater performances and participating in at least three holiday celebrations, a square dance and a hog killing over the past week. Today, as a special treat, I rewarded myself by crunching numbers all day at work! I think that is what did me in. For me, understanding non-profit budgets is about as easy as reading Russian. Actually, I'd say Russian makes much more sense.

I am comforted to be spending a quiet evening on Judy Branch. Bella seems to have also had an exhausting day. She came in, gobbled down her supper and went straight to bed. My supper was pretty good: leftover mashed turnip/lentil/squash pie. (I'll reveal the recipe in a later entry) Rosie had a rough day too, because she got locked in the study all day. She must have snuck in this morning and I didn't notice when I closed the door before leaving for work. She and Sid Vicious are now out in the woods hunting while I am trying to figure out if it is worth applying to graduate school for a second time (already have a masters...). If so, is it really worth having to take the damn GRE again?! I think I'll just draw a bath, pour a glass of wine and not think about it tonight. I mean, the applications won't be due until January.... Ho, ho ho!

Cold Enough to Kill a Hog

This weekend the temperatures dropped into single digits at night. It's the kind of weather for hog killings in the mountains. And that's just what my friends Julie & Shawn did this weekend. Now, I am for the most part vegetarian, because I could never bring myself to kill an animal. Except for fish. So I don't refrain from eating them. (Although I still fill a bit sad about it sometimes. I'm a sentimental wimp.)

Even though I couldn't stomach the actual killing of the poor pigs (there were two), I do appreciate the big social gathering that is a hog killing. I deciding to pitch in by bringing some of the last of the garden goodies to help feed all the folks who gathering to help with the butchering, etc.

I must say that turnips are now giving beets a run for their money in my book. Just like beets, they are simply beautiful to look at. They are the kind of vegetable that is deserving of a still life painting or a portrait. The white bulbous root, braised with a magenta-pink and topped with curled, dark green leaves. The pleasure you get from admiring this plant is almost equal to the pleasure you can get from eating it!

I brought two kinds of turnip greens to the hog killing. Actually, I did a mix of turnip and curly mustard greens. One dish was vegetarian, the other seasoned with andouille sausage from Eunice, Louisiana. The trick to cooking really good, southern-style greens is to really cook them for a long time. Here's what I do (for the veggie-version, just don't use sausage):

*Rinse greens well, roughly chop them and put in a large pot with water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat just enough to continue boiling; stir occasionally.
* In a skillet, sauté onion, garlic and andoille until browned. Add to greens.
* Add salt, black pepper, Tony Chachere's seasoning, a dash or two of cayenne pepper and a few dashes of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (your can substitute Tamari or Soy sauce) and let simmer for a hour or more.

In my book, greens taste best when they nearly melt in your mouth. My mom insists (as do I) that you should never disregard the juices when eating greens, because, that's where the best flavor and the nutrients are. It's called pot-likker, and there is no shame in licking the remains of a good pot of greens! A great way to enjoy greens is to eat them with the other half of the plant... turnips! Mashed turnips are sort of like mashed potatoes, but better. And they are perfect for soaking up the juices from your greens, especially when they are partnered with cornbread. Here's the way I like to fix turnips:

*Clean and peel turnip roots. I don't typically peel the entire turnip, but just peel off the stringy root parts. Chop into large cubes.
*Clean, peel and cube one or two small potatoes (yellow or gold). I recommend using one small potato for every four or five medium to large turnips (a large turnip is about the size of a baseball). You want a lot more turnips than potatos.
* Put turnips and potatoes in a saucepan with water, a dash of olive oil and salt and boil until soft
*Peel and chop garlic to your liking (I like a lot)
*Drain turnips/potatoes and mix together with butter (for Vegan, use Earth Balance or a butter substitute), garlic and a little salt to taste. I prefer to use a mixer, but you can do this easily by hand.

If you've never given turnips a chance, try cooking them like this. I think it just may convert you to the cult of turnip-love. I can happily say that I belong to this cult, in addition, of course to being a member of the church of beet-love.

Note to self: Next year, quadruple the amount of beets and turnips in garden. I'm talking early spring and fall crops, both more than twice the amount I grew this year!