Bloggingrhythm

Bloggingrhythm

My first problem with blogging is keeping a rhythm going on my postings. For me, once I've broken that rhythm it is kind of hard to know what to pick up and what to leave out. So this turns into more of a diary than anything else.

Not that I don't have a good excuse for the long gap between posts. And not that I need an excuse, but so much has happened.

First - I'm in my new place. To say it feels like home is a stretch, but I have books unpacked, and I'm getting my kitchen stocked with equipment and utensils. Today I bought an iron and ironing board. Yesterday it was decent butcher and paring knives. And I have some salt and pepper and other spices in my cupboard, along with rice, flour, lentils and some meat in the freezer, and jam in the fridge. Oh and some good bread from Rachel's.

Second - well its been a busy week with something musical just about every day. Today was the MCCO concert with Dan Berggren. The concert itself was fun, but the high point was the musician's gathering Friday night at Rachel's Bread. We put out the word to area folky types that Dan would like to meet us and play with us. Maybe a dozen showed up from 8-10. The Schmaltzentrubers kicked it off with 'Poor Wayfaring Stranger' and 'Ain't Misbehavin'. Then Pete and Jen joined us and we played a couple D dance tunes, followed by 'Wagon Wheel', and it took off from there. Dan played a couple of his tunes, and we just kept playing. I was the only fiddler, and at one point I took a break and played harmonica. It was fun - more than fun I've had in a long time. Dan brought such a gracious and generous spirit.

Thursday night the Schmaltzentrubers played a benefit for the Interfaith Hospitality Network (and we had practiced the night before). It was a volunteer gig, and we've learned over the years that there is an inverse relationship between how much we get paid and how much fun we have: the free concerts have always been the most fun. The audience was really appeciative - and we sounded pretty good. We could hear each other really well, and somehow we were just 'on'.

Finally, I've been waiting to get high speed access at home. My new modem / wireless router arrived Friday, but somebody needs to throw a switch somewhere, and they aren't scheduled to do that until the 20th. After grumbling about that for several hours I realized that I could write this off-line and then load it up across the old-fashioned slow dialup.

I went to church today and a whole bunch of people told me how glad they were to see me and glad to hear that both of us plan to continue to attend. I'm not sure how this will work for me, but only time will tell.

Looking ahead, tomorrow I fly to Boston area. I give a paper Tuesday morning at a conference, and then on Thursday we have a north east region user conference meeting, and I have a presentation there. Wednesday and Friday are prospective customer meetings. I return Friday evening, and my friend Ralph is driving down for a visit from St. Jacobs. I appreciate the moral support.