Pagode Player Yet

 

Check it out - Niko can wear the backpack he fits into! So he can carry his shelter around with him!

Also, I swear neither of us set her up like this, but this morning Valerie the Vulture was gazing longingly out the window, like she'd rather be soaring high above our roof.

This morning after Mass there was a Care for Creation meeting, and three of us were from Moldy Jam. Then Travalon and I took a walk in the woods, and I saw lots of lovely woodland flowers, like very light violets.

And very dark violets, as well as yellow violets.

And my favorite woodland flower, the Jack in the Pulpit.

Before my drum class, only two people were playing pagode samba, including the one woman in the group. She asked if I liked pagode and I said yes, and she said she is trying to form an all-woman pagode group. Wow!! The whole reason I joined the drumming collective was because I actually wanted to play pagode, so it looks like my dream may come true! Of course, with what time? I'm already doing a lot of Irish fiddling and old time fiddling and two other kinds of Brazilian music, the choro and the drumming. But I will make it work somehow! If you are wondering how to pronounce "pagode," it's Pah-GOH-jee. Also, one of the guys in the current pagode band has a catamaran, so it's not entirely impossible that I might someday get a ride on it, if I keep hanging around.

After my very hard drum lesson, my one buddy asked me where I was going next with the fiddle, so I told her about the Slow Irish Session, and she wanted to check it out. Then Travalon and I went on a walk and found a beautiful lakeside park.

We saw some beautiful flowers and trees on this walk, like these purple and white violets.

And a couple of Japanese red maples, so beautiful with the late afternoon light shining through their leaves.

Some very red tulips.

And some very fragrant lilacs.

There were a lot of people at the Slow Irish session today, including Famie (but not the red-headed flute player), my ex-bandmate who always comes, a couple of current bandmates, and my drumming buddy just listened but said she might come back with her guitar. We played some tunes nobody knew, so I had to look at the music, since I can't learn by ear if nobody knows the tune. We also played some we know well. One guy who came for the first time said he would just listen, but they have all sorts of instruments at the music club, so he ended up borrowing a mandolin. Apparently people donate instruments to the club, so I may unload some of my many instruments. Not my violin or mandolin, of course - they're family heirlooms, and I use them constantly - but maybe the mountain dulcimer a coworker made me buy from her decades ago, or the woodrow that the Former Professor Formerly Known as Lute Player gave me recently that I haven't had time to learn to play, or the bowed psaltry my former neighbor gave me. And definitely the "garbage" violin, if they would even take it. I would keep the tamburitza, the balalaika, and the sitar because they were all gifts from Travalon, and I do plan to learn to play them. And of course I'd keep the ukulele, which I play monthly, plus it's a souvenir of Hawaii. I'm not sure the music club would even want my rebec, and maybe someday I'll get to play early music again. Then there's the odd guitar-like instrument I bought at a silent auction - should I keep that or give it to the club? Oh, and my electric mandolin isn't going anywhere either, because it's come in handy at the most random times. As you can see, I have a lot of thinking to do.

Keep Pa Hat in your prayers. He may die tonight. He was going to have his big 80th birthday later this month, but it looks like that won't happen.

Famous Hat