I have talked before about author Barbara Winter of the Joyfully Jobless blog (and book Making a Living without a Job). Today she posted a blog entry called “Things I Haven’t Told You.”

I got to thinking… what my mind jumped to was telling a story yesterday (at Maker Faire). I was a computer consultant and discovered that one could knit her own socks. For me, that was a defining moment in my own personal history. I knew my life would change, and it did.

I am fond of saying “One can not buy passion.” It sort of explains how I am in this business. My computer business was enjoyable and paid well, though it fizzled out after Y2K passed. My knitting/singing/art business is about passion. I wake up dreaming that I am knitting. It is all about that excitement that can not be purchased.

Going back, I remember several moments which I will never forget. These moments changed my life in some way. The best of them include a picture in my mind of how the room looked, how I felt, sometimes how I stopped in mid-step to drink in the experience. Some of them:

• I was maybe 9 or 10 years old, and my family took a trip across Lake Michigan on the “Milwaukee Clipper.” There was a musical ensemble in one room for entertainment. One guy was playing a drum set, including a snare drum with brushes. I had to be pried away from watching him.
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  However when it came time to play in band, I knew not to ask. Girls did not play drums in my community in 1969. I asked to play flute, which had intrigued me since Mrs. Gibbs played one for us in 3rd grade. My father gave me two choices, trumpet or clarinet. He played trumpet and I did not want to “match.” I never liked clarinet. I quit as soon as I was allowed.
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  Interestingly, though… I was always great at reading rhythms on sheet music. Notes were much harder. As an adult I took a private hand-drum lesson and the instructor indicated that I took to it easily. Arthritis in my fingers means I did not pursue it further, but I felt good to find that out. Now, I play Heftone bass. It’s a rhythm instrument that is kind to my hands. In the end I sort of got what I wanted, all along.
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  Not long after I started with clarinet, Karen Carpenter came on the scene, playing a drum set. She also had a beautiful voice. She was my hero.
• I was in 10th grade. Our church youth director, Lynn Grimes (now a retired United Methodist minister) was from Detroit. Our town was decidedly low on diversity and not at all like a big city. She decided to take our whole youth group to Toronto. There were 15 kids, Lynn and her husband. We had an amazing time. For me, I found out that there were places not like home, where there was more diversity, more visual stimulation, more everything. It was intoxicating.
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  Lynn made sure we saw things we could never see in 1975 suburbia. We rode the subway. We went to a Hungarian restaurant and a Chinese one in Chinatown where lots of people did not speak English. The food was unlike anything near home.
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  We went to fine museums, both the Royal Ontario and the Science Center (a new concept at the time).  And I spent a whole weekend taking photographs pointing straight up, at the skyscrapers. I fell in love with cities. Now I collect cities  (and especially their subway/transit systems). Photo is the Eaton Centre, a multi-story mall in Toronto.

• I was 27 years old in the sad part of my adult life… cleaning house alone one night, playing the radio for company. I think it was Bob Blackman’s Folk Tradition show on WKAR/MSU. He played a cut from Paul Simon’s Graceland album, singing with Ladysmith Black Mombazo (I believe the cut was Homeless).
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  I literally stopped  in my tracks, turned up the volume, and sat right there on the floor in front of the speakers, transfixed. I knew virtually nothing about Africa at that time, but it was like finding home. That much vocal beauty at one time knocked me over with a feather, so to speak. I’m still in love with that sound.
• I took a feltmaking workshop on the recommendation of Nancy McRay, around 2000. It was wonderful, and my hands remembered how wool made me feel good, to touch it.Looking for wool supplies online, I somehow found myself on the www.socknitters.com website. I was blown away. I had not imagined that someone could make their own socks! I could feel in my gut at that moment, that my life was going to change.
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  As a child of the 70’s (Twiggy, rainbow toe socks, laugh in), I loved bright colored socks, preferred wool, and had small enough feet that bright colored wool socks were impossible to find for me. I literally had over 80 pairs of socks in my sock drawer, when I found out one could knit one’s own socks. None of them were a)wool, b)bright colored, and c)small enough to fit properly. Most had two of those three attributes.
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  So there it was: I could make my own socks. I was working on a rather complex database project for a computer client at the time. I knew if I went to the yarn shop before finishing, I might not get the project done on deadline. The minute I turned in that project, I headed over to the only yarn shop in town at the time.
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  Ruth was working that day. I told her I had only knit scarves for 20 years and had played with purls a little, but not in any finished project. I was determined to make socks.
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  She did not flinch. She helped me find some DK-weight yarn and double-pointed needles, and instructions for making my socks. I went home, and somehow I had a pair of socks 10 days later (photo at right). And the rest, is my current life/livelihood…

Perhaps you would like to tell me a moment like this, from your own life? In the comments? I would love to hear. I think these moments do help us know who we are on the inside.

My life changed when I went to east Africa for 38 days in 2004-2005. My friend Altu, who grew up in Ethiopia, took me to meet her family. During that time we spent 1 week in Kenya and 1 week in Egypt.

I have written several posts on my African trip and put up many photos here, over a few years. Click if you want to see the series of Africa posts. There are 45 posts in all, some have text which is not about Africa but they show photos. Many, but not all, of the photos are from Ethiopia. Few are from Kenya.

Today a friend posted a note on Twitter, with sad news about Rhinos. I decided to go peek at the photos in my previous posts and see if I had put up animal photos. I had not.

The week before Christmas, 2004, Altu and I went on a morning half-day adventure in the amazing Nairobi National Park. It’s right outside the city limits.

Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya, a true city with crazy street traffic and big buildings. In one photo you can see a herd of hartebeests in front of what looks like a string of condo homes.

But most of the park was wild and without a view of human occupation. We did not see zebras or baboons  but we saw pretty much everything else the Wikipedia article about the park says it holds.

I just put up 23 photos of that half-day adventure on my Flickr account. They are set up so they can be viewed as a slideshow. I have wanted to do this since January of 2005.

Understand that some of the close-up photos are low digital quality. This was 2005, and I used my digital zoom on that now-uncool camera to get some of the photos. It still shows that I really did see these animals.

You can click on them here (or in Flickr) to see more detail, at least on the better images. To get back to this post, click “back” at top left of your screen (or hold Alt and tap your  left-arrow key lightly, in Windows; open-apple key plus left-arrow on a Mac).

I hope some of you enjoy my Kenyan wildlife photo collection/slideshow. If you want more information about the park itself, you can read more on Wikipedia.

My dad used to introduce my mom as his “First Wife” to get a raised eyebrow. My mom would reply that he was her “most recent husband.” They had not ever been married to anyone else…

So in that train of thought… this is me with my FAVORITE brother. I have no other siblings, but this man is truly a joy in my heart every time I think of him.

I call him Eric Oscar Ole Olson Troldahl Cranberry. My dad started that, too. He figured that “Ole Olson” was the most Norwegian name ever. Eric Oscar Troldahl is a pretty good Norsk combination, as well. So he became Eric Oscar Ole Olson Troldahl.

Then one night when we were probably in Middle School, we were playing hide and seek with neighborhood kids. there were two Erics. My Eric was wearing a burgundy pair of pants and burgundy top. The other Eric was wearing blue top and pants. I was born focusing on color more than anything else (really?) and declared them “Cranberry and Blueberry.” For the duration of that game, that’s what we called them rather than Eric.

This guy was my “Dude of Honor” at my wedding to Brian. This guy was with me the day my father died. We were together the day his first wife Kelly died (at age 27, out of the blue). We know how to do up *and* down together. We are a team of the best sort. I don’t like to cook, but I always loved cooking when we cooked together at Mom’s house.

This photo was taken by Eric Oscar’s wife, Diana. I call her my “Sister in Love.” I’m passionately unhappy with the phrase Sister in Law, anyway… it makes it a government assignment rather than relationship… and can either mean my brother’s wife or my husband’s sister… a wholly unacceptable English phrase in my mind. So Sis in Love it is.

Friday, Mom and her partner Fred, his granddaughter V who is visiting Michigan for the first time, Eric and Diana, and Brian and I all had lunch in Ann Arbor. We met up at Zingerman’s Deli which is the most AMAZING place for customer service ever (and for food, as well). Had a wonderful time.

When lunch split up, Brian and I went to REI and bought some foam pads for camping in the tent. Mike, our helper in that store, was equally excellent at customer service. I did not imagine a large store like that would have such excellent, friendly service.We went next door to Whole Foods and had more friendly service… a great day being a consumer, which I don’t do as often these days.

Good news doesn’t make it to TV broadcasts. Let me tell you that it was a great day in Ann Arbor, with my family. It was a great day for Customer Service. And the weather did not hurt, either!

Happy 50th Birthday to my favorite brother. Many, many more!

Brian’s youngest sister lives in Washington DC. She was in Baltimore one day and saw this remarkable, lovely sight:

“Hug Me.” I love this deeply. I’ve seen several photos of trees with sweaters, and this in in my top two favorites. Incredible.

Brian and I went to Grand Rapids for Father’s Day. On our way home, we went for a walk in the East Town Neighborhood. I found some beautifully painted homes on our walk.

We lucked out, because the family living in the orange house with a purple door, was outside and we chatted a while. They just finished this paint job. Isn’t it a beauty?

I figured that with a purple door, I needed to photograph it for my category “Purple Houses” here on this blog. They were all for it.

We also found this wonderful electric-green house. It appears to be headquarters for a neighborhood organization of some sort.

The homes in this area are just gorgeous. The architecture is uniformly detailed and delightful. We had a great walk.

If you liked these photos, you can see all my posts labeled “Purple Houses” by clicking here.

Where was I? TNNA and Columbus, Ohio. Well, that is where I left off my storytelling, I think.

One day in Columbus, another Lansing traveler told me that our Lansing musician friend Jen Sygit was also in Columbus. She had performances on Friday and Saturday. I was in town Thursday – Sunday.

I called Jen with a message, and also left her an online note. I heard back relatively quickly. She was up for lunch on Saturday. Perfect!!!

In the end, we had lunch at North Market, with Sam Corbin and their friend Eric who lives in that city. It was much fun.

We all ended up with lunch from the Indian food vendor. It was delicious! It is a good thing I don’t live too close to that booth or I’d be poorer and heavier in no time!

We also played tourist. Near our lunch table, there was a board painted with a lady, a scarecrow, and a goat… with holes cut open for their faces. Jen wanted to be the goat (I was glad it was not me), and Sam became a scarecrow. Eric took this photo of us clowning around. I think it turned out pretty well for such things.

After we finished eating, we went outside behind the building. There was a street festival going on. I got some photos of the band. They were really cranking out the energy up there, a pretty large band. Eight musicians! Wow.

I got a good photo of Sam Corbin behind the stage area. He’s such a pleasant, comfortable person to be with (and a very fine musician, as well). I think you can sense his nature from this image.

As I passed through the North Market parking lot on the way back to the TNNA conference (a few blocks away at the convention center), I came upon an astounding vehicle. I took a few photos. After all, anyone with a car like this surely expects to have it photographed.

The license plate reads “ThatCar.” I have seen a few art cars in my life, though Michigan is not a great place to have one (because of weather). This one was as full-blown as any I’ve seen.

Ironically, I was reading some Twitter posts about TNNA, and found the owner of this vehicle. His twitter name is “ThatCarARTCAR” and his “real” name is Greg. This is what his Twitter profile says:

Meeting planner by day, artcar artist at heart. I participate in parades, festivals, lectures and love to welcome convention attendees to Columbus Ohio.

Greg also has a Flickr account online, with photographs you can check out (besides mine). Find him here:
http://www.flickr.com/thatcar

I have been to Columbus at least three times before. The street festival and ThatCar were new experiences for me this time. It was a fine addition to what I already knew and loved about the city already.

Saturday was definitely a good day for me, in Columbus. I’ve been home since Sunday night. I miss it already.

I came home from TNNA in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday around dinnertime. Rita Pettys from Yarn Hollow was my traveling companion this year. She and I have done a bit of collaborating in the last year (including but not only during the Sock Summit last August in Portland, Oregon). We just finished with a sock design which will be released in a few weeks.

Rita had not been to TNNA before, and I encouraged her to go. She was happy to have attended.

As usual, the Lansing folks all ran into one another often during the weekend. We tried to have another of the “many shops from Lansing” dinners as we have done in several previous years. However, TNNA scheduled things differently this year (with events after 5pm) so it did not work as well as in the past.

We still ended up with a Saturday-dinner Entourage of four folks from Rae’s Yarn Boutique, Rita/Yarn Hollow, and me. Other than that lovely and more intimate meet-up, there were many knit-celebrity sightings and many, many hugs. It is such a joy to connect with my peers! TNNA is precious to me for that reason.

The weather was hot and about 100% humidity most of the time we were there. One day a thunderstorm created a power outage for a short while in some buildings. However, the first photo above was taken right outside the Convention Center on Friday, the day of the big storm. It was gorgeous and sunny right when I found Sarah Peasley outside doing a bit of knitting.

Sarah works for the XRX people often, teaching at their Stitches events all over the country. She was one of my first teachers and I continue to pass on her tips to my own students. I’m lucky to have her as a peer, and even more lucky that we live in the same area. However, we don’t see each other often.

I was honored to see that Sarah had knit a mini ZigBag for her sport bottle. I was even more honored to hear that she made several as gifts and then finally made this one for herself. She is not fond of photoshoots, but she consented to this photo of her outside the Convention Center, with her ZigBag. (Thanks, Sarah!)

Friday was much fun, with classes all day and exhibits of new products outside the exhibition hall. There were snacks, and a meet & greet with teachers (including our Rae, who taught sold-out dyeing classes for this conference). Then we had a keynote speaker and a fashion show.

The Keynote Speaker: Excellent

I have not seen anyone else mention the speaker yet on the web, when discussing TNNA. I was enthused with and energized from the presentation. (I can not seem to find her name anywhere on the web. I want to say it was Anne/Ann, but I’m grasping at straws here.)

She was from ZingTrain, a training company related to Zingerman’s delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is such a fine organization/restaurant, I am a loyal customer even though I live about an hour away. I’ve literally (when I was younger) gone to Ann Arbor just to go to dinner at Zingerman’s and then come back home to Lansing.

She Knows Fine Customer Service, by Experience

The food at the deli is extra-ordinary in all senses. The service is just incredible. People wait in line, often outdoors in bad weather, just to get in there and buy. When you are the first in line, they treat you as if you are the only person there, bringing samples of whatever you’d like to try, and answering any question you might have.

Since I have a lot of food restrictions, there are few places I can eat without taking risks with my health. At Zingerman’s they really know what is in everything, and I can eat without taking any chances. They bring me lists of ingredients whenever I ask. It’s wonderful.

I was there once in a rainstorm. We customers waited in line outside under umbrellas and newspapers, chatting while we waited. The deli sent out treats, and I think hot coffee if I remember right, for those of us waiting outside in the cold.

Back to the Speech

This is to say that when our speaker talked, I listened. Maybe others listening did not know she was really telling it without embellishment. The methods they have for customer service are truly extra special. They do make customers happy, even with a long wait and even in bad weather. Yes, even with relatively high prices. The quality service and food make for such a superior experience that I go out of my way to eat there whenever I can.

I learned much from her about good service. One of the points she made was that they use the same skills and techniques to serve one another inside the company. There are a lot of folks who work there for long streteches of time. This, in a retail food business (an industry not known for overall loyalty from employees).

Another great point was giving the employees the power to actually fix a complaint right then and there, rather than telling a customer they need someone else, or need to call back at an inconvenient time to find someone with the authority to make it right. They are to find out what went wrong, and do whatever they can to fix it, then thank the customer for letting them know they needed to make something right.

Authority to Act is Key

When employees, anywhere, can not fix something for a customer (because they lack authority or confidence) it hurts the business in a trickle-down fashion. The customer then will (definitely) tell a lot of folks about their unhappiness. If they have a good experience, they also share about it, but not in as destructive way.

I once worked for a computer training company for 6+ years. I was often the only representative of my company on location. My boss handled the authority issue well.

I was told: “If there is a problem, do whatever you can to fix it, in the best way you can figure out. Later we will discuss what you chose to do. If I would prefer you do it different the next time, we will discuss it then. Meanwhile, do your best and don’t wait for me to tell you the right move.”

This was powerful. I am confident that it increased our ability to do good customer service. I loved being told I was trusted to be a thoughtful adult, too. So many workplaces do not have the confidence to do this. It helps the customers, the employees, and the business. I am confident it helps the bottom line, as well.

I want to share more. I’m falling asleep as I type. More images tomorrow, I assure you.

Hello from Columbus, Ohio! The TNNA trade show is a great time, I’m loving it. No time to write much right now. I’ve written a little last night on my twitter account at http://twitter.com/colorjoy (follow me @colorjoy).

These photos are a quick look at the Ravelry party last night. They offered prizes, a beverage and Jeni’s Ice Cream, the pride of Columbus. It was a blast. Enjoy!

This weekend may be my favorite weekend of the year. I’m going to TNNA, a trade show for the yarn/needlework business.

I am lucky in that Lansing does have a decent handful of folks on the national designing/teaching scene. However, few do this full time as I do (unless they own a shop).

At TNNA, in Columbus, Ohio… there is a convention center full of my peers. It lightens my heart to be among my own.

Right now I’m in the predictable last-minute panic mode. I have food and yarn and computer ready to go. I have most of my clothes ready. So of course, now I’m trying to cram ten more skeins of yarn and a few more outfits in the packed stuff, while I surely will forget something that is essential.

I have me, I have yarn, foods, meds, needles, computer, a few clothes. I have funds. We have reservations for the conference and for a hotel. I guess I’m ready enough.

Oh… gratuitous picture showing off a special kid. Isabel drew this butterfly in Kindergarten. She and one of her best friends learned to ride bicycles yesterday, thanks to my friend April. I predict an incredible summer!

Friday I had to go to Holly, Michigan for a funeral home visitation on Friday. It seems that time of year, unfortunately.

The good news was, once I had to go out of my territory, I decided to visit friends I know online. The bad news was, I have too many friends in that neck o’the woods to see all in a short day.

I thought I’d go to the funeral home, then go to Howell and see Beth Smith at Spinning Loft. This is a shop specifically for spinners, not for knitters (though many folks do both)… an unusual, rare and wonderful place.

Then if I had time I hoped I could go to Stitch in Time, a knitting-and-needlework shop downtown Howell. You see, I won a gift certificate from them at the knitting guild last month. I have not been there in a long while, and there are a few yarns I’ve purchased there which I have really enjoyed.

Somewhere in there, I was on Twitter and realized that my friend Melynda of French Press Knits lives out near Howell. I sent her a note. The next thing I knew, my schedule was more than full.

I met Melynda at a new shop between Fenton and Howelll. The shop is named The Knit Side, and owned by the gracious Gail. It is tidy, organized, and colorful in there! She has a lot of yarns in the Cascade, Plymouth and Berroco lines.

No shop has every yarn in every line. Therefore, even though I am familiar with a lot of these, I found a few yarns I did not remember touching before. I ended up with Magenta and hot green alpaca/wool/silk from Cascade. Maybe a neckwarmer?

I went in the shop with 2 bags. I left the shop with 2 bags. Whoops! I had made a purchase. I should have left with 3 bags. Fortunately, Gail knew I was going to a funeral home in Holly. She knew my name because I signed the guest book. She called the funeral home, they found me, and she delivered my knitting bag to me at the funeral home. My friends, this is fine customer service. Hugs to Gail for being so willing to bend on my behalf!

It was good to see Melynda again. It was great to meet Gail. I was also very happy to see my friend who I see mostly online, who I’ve known for probably 18 years, and who was just widowed.

I was bummed to miss out on Spinning Loft/Beth, and spending my gift certificate at Stitch in Time. Beth is closed on Sunday/Monday, which are often my best days to go on adventures. I will have to see how I can get down to Howell again with only those shops on my agenda.

Oh… and those of you who have been with me long, know: I love purple paint on houses. Here is one I found near Fenton, Michigan. If this tickles your fancy, see my entire collection of posts about Purple Houses!

This one beats ‘em all. Our dear friend, Lil’ Rev with his daughter, Mariela Rose, on his lap. Brian and Mariela Rose enjoyed one another all weekend.

And Rev looks so good. Being a Daddy is definitely a good change for him. No doubt he is tired between a career, a new child/family and a Ukefest to plan, but he seems so happy. I’m happy for him.

Just look at those faces.

Love this Place

As Mom would say as we drove in the driveway, “Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!” There is nothing like one’s own house and bed, no matter how humble. Home is home.

Milwaukee’s Inaugural Ukulele Festival

We sang in Milwaukee on Saturday, for the inaugural Milwaukee Ukulele Festival. It was incredible. I just turned on my computer after a long drive, and have not downloaded photos yet…

However, Victoria Vox posted a photo on Twitpic of the three of us: me, Brian, Victoria – click the small image for a larger version, on Twitpic. The photo was taken by Victoria’s mom (whose company I very much enjoyed), on our way out after the show.

Let’s just say the talent was impressive, the musical styles quite varied (all wonderful), and the hospitality could not be topped. The volunteers were WONDERFUL in every way, making sure to answer questions about as soon as we had any to ask.

And the audience? Welcoming, enthusiastic, attentive. Everything a performer could ask for.

What is Next?

I have a huge week ahead of me, I’m dyeing yarn and it will be for sale at Rae’s Yarn Boutique this weekend (Lansing, Michigan).

I may not dye yarn again, this is an option I’m taking very seriously. It would simplify my life and take some stress out. Less stress would be great. I’m going to take a hiatus from buying/dyeing new yarn for a while, at any rate.

This weekend, there will be Resonance Flammegarn sockyarn (pictured below in Blueberry). I will also dye up what Cushy ColorSport I have here in stock. I have some Lynn’s Luxe DK-weight yarn (good for cushy socks or lightweight tops) to dye, as well. I may have one sweater-quantity of DK-weight (?) alpaca yarn. Maybe there will be other things, I still do not know what I can fit in to my week. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time…

Gratitude

I may sound like I’m complaining. I’m busy with all the things I wished and prayed for. I’m singing profesisonally with a man who I adore and who feels the same about me. I do visual/textile art and teaching all day. My friends are truly friends, and I have every physical thing I truly need and many things that are extras. Color is everywhere in my home, my life, my closet.

I’m busy, but I think I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Maybe a slower pace… but then, maybe I’d just fill it back up again.

On Saturday, Brian and I got up very early, went to Lexington, Michigan for a long, full day at Thumbfest. It was such a packed day, we had little time to see other performer friends do their own shows, but we got to peek at one or two songs sometimes.

What a lovely event! The talent was entirely drawn from Michigan, and everything I heard was top notch. The volunteers were enthusiastic and great, and the weather could not have been more perfect.

We started at the Jam Tent. Moonsqualler (a good-time, old-time, old-fashioned, jug-band-influenced group) was paired with us, The Fabulous Heftones, to just take turns leading songs and having a great time. The audience sang along on several numbers, and it was just a good experience.

Not long after that, we played at the Smackwater block stage. I was happily surprised to see that the group ahead of us included Kitty Donahoe. I’ve been a fan of Kitty’s for a long, long time. She used to live in East Lansing, and I used to say that she was Lansing’s most beautiful voice. She still is on the top list of my favorite voices, even though she now lives in Ann Arbor.

Considering how jam-packed every performer’s schedule was that day, I was delighted to look up and see friend Jen Sygit at our show for a few songs. She told me later that she made sure her parents came to hear us, she knew they would enjoy our work (and they did). That makes me smile.

We had a little leeway after singing that set, so we strolled down the street to see other stages. You can not believe how many stages they had going at one time! I counted three down by the waterfront and at least six up in the downtown area. Whee!

We saw Jen Sygit and Sam Corbin play once, and at the Country Jam later in the day. We saw a few songs by Moonsqualler at their show, and Duality (friends Kathy and Terri are in that band). We caught a little bit of a songwriter workshop, before our Ukulele workshop (where we ended with a rousing set of blues numbers on uke, quite memorable).

After our workshop we had enough time to eat dinner. We sat inside the restaurant right behind the Smackwater stage, and Brian got a few photos from behind the performers, showing the view we had as we were singing.

The meal, by the way, was one of the most tasty I have had in just plain years. The restaurant looked fancy, the descriptions of the meals sounded really good, but there is always a chance that it’s all hype and it might not taste as good as it sounds. In this case, I had a salad they made specially for me and a tomato bisque soup. Incredible flavor, just great balance in all ways.

Brian had cajun-seasoned fish tacos with broccoli slaw. He said it was very flavorful and satisfying. I talked him into espresso creme brulee’ for dessert, which he had never had before. It’s truly dangerous stuff, I think it is very good that it’s a hassle to make or we would all die of too much dairy fat! It’s better than the best ice cream, and that’s saying something.

After we finished our meals, we walked down to the harbor area. Brian went out on the breakwater for a look, and I found a good park bench where I could knit for a little while. I made friends a number of times, with folks coming by asking about my unusual instrument (a Heftone Bass, which looks like a huge banjo). That was very fun, I’m always up for chatting with happy people and they all fit that description.

The final show for Thumbfest was at the big harborside stage. As the moon rose in the sky, first Mustard’s Retreat played and then the Yellow Room Gang (including David and Michael of Mustard’s Retreat). I love the song Kitty Donahoe played with the Gang. Here are some of the lyrics:

“Do what you love love what you do
And in the hard times the joy will see you through
And in the end it will all come back to you
If you do what you love what you do”

(Song is on a wonderful CD, This Road Tonight, you can download the album or one song if you click that link, you can preview the tune before buying as well.)

Finally we had the Hootenanny. All performers from the whole day were invited to get up on stage together. We took turns leading songs that most folks would know. As Brian put it, we had “folkie heaven” singing together, with as many harmony notes as any of the songs would allow.

The first song honored the friendship and life of Denise Marie Stein. She was a member of the Yellow Room Gang, and was an incredible harmony singer. She and Maggie Ferguson opened for Brian and I at our Halloween Live at the Living Room/Blue Note Cafe’ show last year. It was meaningful for many of us to sing a song in memory of her talent and friendship.

We were honored to be asked to lead a song very early in the show. David of Mustard’s Retreat is a dear friend of my brother Eric Oscar, and his wife Diana/Otterwise. We finally got to meet briefly, and he asked us to get up there and lead the packed audience (and packed stage) in a number.

We chose to lead “When the Red Red Robin Goes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along.” We whistle on that number in two places. We invited everyone to whistle with us. It was pretty incredible to hear not only people singing along with the verses, but whistling by the hundreds, all at one time. I loved it!!!

Thanks to Jack Ferguson for telling Shirley and the rest of the Thumbfest gang about us. We had just the best time, ever!

Update 9/7, 11pm Eastern: For those who were involved with the event and who would like to see a full set of photos, you can go to my Flickr account (user name colorjoy) and choose the Thumbfest 2009 photoset, or just click the link in this paragraph.

Photos: 1) Moonsqualler; 2&3) Country Jam at Jam Tent; 4) Eire America (Kitty Donohoe and David Mosher); 5) Sam Corbin and Jen Sygit; 6) Duality; 7) View from behind Smackwater stage, taken from restaurant; 8 ) Harbor View (there is a good beach here); 9) Yellow Room Gang (Jim Bizer, David Tamulevich, Kitty Donohoe, David Barrett, Annie Capps, Jan Krist, Michael Hough, Matt Watroba, not in that order on stage); Hootenanny with The Fabulous Heftones (Me and Brian) leading Red Red Robin.

More Travel for LynnH

I visited my Goddaughter, Sara, in Chicago, Friday night. This is the end of her 3-month living/working in the big city.

I was delighted to be invited to peek at her life, one she has dreamed of for a while. (I took her to Chicago for her High School graduation present, and now she has graduated from College… maybe it’s my fault.)

She is 23 and living on her own, in a city where she knows almost nobody. She loves it. I loved being there with her.

It was a whirlwind trip. I was out of Lansing for less than 24 hours (Chicago is a drive of 3.5 to 5 hours, depending on traffic). I must confess, I love Chicago so much that I don’t mind being totally stopped in traffic if I can see the skyline. See the red brake lights? Same photo as above, without cropping…

I took a photo of a spiral fire escape for Paz. This was in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, where Sara is living.

I took a nighttime skyline photo from the roof of Sara’s building. The roof had a nice social area, like a patio, and she says normally it is full of folks relaxing after the workday is done. We were up there in misting drizzle, so there was only one other person up there while we were.

And of course, I got a nice skyline photo of the city from the north, coming south… also stopped on the highway. This photo can be seen much larger if you click on it. I think it has the look of an early 1960’s architectural drawing, the way the colors are limited.

Cities are Sometimes about Food

We ate Indian food at a place she enjoys. We had breakfast at a place near her home which she had not tried before. It had normal breakfast food and excellent service, and was bustling with families on a Saturday morning.

Stretching a Bit

She wanted me to see the movie “Singing in the Rain.” I’m not a movie person at all (the last movie/video I saw was The Lion King, when it first came out in the theatre).

However, I am a dancer and singer of 1920’s music. She knew I would like this film, and she was right. We watched her DVD together. I was surprised to see that some songs Brian and I sing, were in the movie. (Fit as a Fiddle, Good Morning, and another I can’t think of right now.)

She Still Calls Me at Age 23! Score!

It was mostly just about being with “My Sara.” I am so glad I took the time. What a lovely whirlwind trip it was!