Spring and the Bard

 

April . . . hath put a spirit of youth in everything. 

Now tis spring and weeds are shallow-rooted; suffer them now and they'll overgrow the garden.

Daffodils that come before the swallow dares and take the winds of March with beauty.

Oh how this spring of love resembleth, 

The uncertain glory of an April day, 

Which now shows all beauty of the sun, 

And, by and by, a cloud takes all away. 

Spring thoughts by William Shakespeare, born and died on this day. 

1564-1616

It seemed appropriate on his significant days to share the items above. 

After all, I taught Shakespearean plays throughout my career.

I believe that the true way to appreciate AND to understand Shakespeare is to teach it. 

As one whose literary background and understanding has always been average at best, I am thankful for the responsibility of sharing Shakespeare with my students. 

This assignment made me take the time and effort to understand his language and his perspectives on the universe.

In a nutshell, I realized, through all that mental labor, that he had a pretty good grasp on human nature and nature itself. 

Imagine if a Shakespeare were in business nowadays. 

He would need at least a couple of lifetimes to capture all the comedy, tragedy and history that we experience on a daily basis.  

Maybe he could get some assistance from Artificial Intelligence. 

Speaking of which, I think I'm going to have to sign on to teach Artificial Intelligence cuz it's just about as hazy in my mind as those Shakespearean plays were before I did some studying. 

Would someone please explain the gist of Artificial Intelligence to me besides the fact that you can fake it if you use it?

Please don't cheat to make the explanation.  Thank you. 

😏😏😏😏😏😏

Another gorgeous spring day is upon us.  

I thought yesterday was supposed to be one we could put in the "lovely" category, but when I went out and circled the lawn on the riding mower a few times, I nearly froze today. 

Hopefully, today will be warmer. 

That will be good for the garden.  I have planted beans and chard this week, and, so far, the transplanted cabbage and lettuce have survived the frosts.  

One welcome spring development here in the neighborhood is the return of the beehives down the road.  So far, there's not much here at the Lovestead for them to do their work, but it won't be long. 

I'm guessing the horses will be out on pasture by this time next week, and, by that time, we should be seeing some blossoms on fruit trees if the frosts have not played havoc with them. 

Today's agenda includes some more lawn mowing and more painting of fence boards.  

Looking like a pleasant and fun day ahead. 

Happy Tuesday. 

Prepare for mirth for mirth becomes a feast. 

Let's go hand in hand, not one before the another.

All places that the eye of Heaven visits

Are to a wise man ports and happy havens

Teach thy necessity to reason thus;

There is no virtue like necessity. 

Jammin' at the Pour Authority

 

Karen and Ed Robinson:  both have worked with Bill over the years in forest-related arenas. 

This guy, Mike Boeck,  and I used to ride horses together when we were 4-H members. 

It's apparent he's put the horses aside and has fiddled around a lot in his adult life. Mike's a retired forester. 

Ed Robinson, Dave Gunter and Mike Boeck. 

Pardon me because I don't know everyone's names. 

Ed Robinson posted on Facebook Saturday that he and a group of musicians would be playing some Irish tunes at the Pour Authority yesterday afternoon. 

Since Ed is Bill's former boss and friend and since the word "Irish" was in the announcement, I knew Bill wouldn't hesitate to go. 

When we walked in the door, we were amazed with the size of the group. 

And, we recognized several faces among the group. 

The place was packed with listeners, so I'd say it was a success for the band. 

Plus, it felt comfortable, knowing that we shared a trait with the band members:  age. 

We stood for quite a while and then a couple left telling us that their chairs were available. 

Walking back to the empty chairs and plopping down in one, I learned from one of the bartenders that the place had sold twice since John Hagadone opened it several years ago. 

Turned out that the bartender was a former student whom I hadn't seen since the late 1980s:  Todd Brannigan.  

According to Todd, his brother Erin, who's also taught some high school English, bought the place with a friend. 

Todd lives in Utah and was up helping out with family and with pouring some brews alongside Erin. It was fun to catch up with Todd and see his two sons which obviously make him proud. 

We also met Gabriel, Angela and Rob who were occupying the space near us.  Gabriel and Angela were in Sandpoint visiting from Canada, while Rob says he lives in Sandpoint. 

The music played on, and it looked as if the group was having a great time  with their laid-back approach of  deciding what to play next.

Bill is familiar with the group, which includes players in the Oldtime Fiddlers who practice at the library where Trout Unlimited meetings are held occasionally. 

The jam session brought in the listeners and whetted appetites for them to show up again. 

Twas a fun late Sunday afternoon session of entertainment and visiting.  

Ed sez they're hoping to appear once a month at Pour Authority.  Stay tuned. 

Since the band was playing this song when we walked in the door yesterday, I thought I'd help get your day started with a You Tube version with Dolly. 

Have a great Monday. 

Remembering Two Great Ladies

 

It's become too cliche to say that this is happening far too often.

Saying good bye to friends, I've oftne been told, is something we can expect when we reach a certain age and especially if we've lived in the same community throughout our lifetimes. 

I don't know what the actual age when this is supposed to happen with frequency, but I do know that I'm beginning to see the phenomenon our elders warned us to expect. 

This week alone my mind has reflected on four people who have passed on and whom I've known forever, it seems. 

I fully expected to attend my longtime friend Mae McCormick's celebration of life yesterday but had no idea until mid-morning that I'd be going to a gathering honoring the memory of everybody's friend Peg who passed away Thursday due to complications from ALS. 

In both cases, these people had found their way into my heart and had never left. 

I met Mae in the early 1970s when she served as the study hall monitor at Sandpoint High School. 

We became instant friends.  I thought of her as a  fun sidekick and even sometimes as an older sister.

My main story to share with an audience involved a lunchtime conversation, more specifically my whining, in the home ec room at Sandpoint High School.

I guess I'd whined enough for a few days about my frustrations with teaching.  It was probably my first year when this interchange took place. 

Soon after my whining had begun that day, Mae looked me straight in the face and said, "Why don't you resign?"

The comment hit me between the eyes, and I shut up, determined never to to whine at lunchtime again.

It was a significant story for a day like yesterday because Mae was a trooper like no other.  

She dealt with a number of life-challenging medical ailments during her last years of life and NEVER did she whine.  

Mae was always determined to get better, and she truly fought the good fight. 

I needed her comment that day so long ago, and it definitely called my bluff when appropriate. I'm sure the whining continued off and on over the years but probably with a lot more discretion. 

Mae's celebration was beautiful just as she was. Her niece Megan from Nashville sang.  Sandpoint's Beth Pederson sang.  Family members shared thoughts about Mae and presented a beautiful video. 

Mae was a great friend to many, including myself, and I've always appreciated the fact that her friendship inspired another long connection with her daughter Julie. 

Meanwhile, Peg Sullivan's friendship story really begins when her mother and my mother were both residents at The Bridge for Assisted Living. 

I knew Peggy, a local nurse, from past associations, and sharing our experiences dealing with aging moms united us.  

Later, the trips to Ireland and meeting other Sullivan-Fuqua family members built the bond. 

Peg often shared her Irish experiences and perspectives with me. 

Because we all met her cousin Patrick in Ireland, we got to feeling like the Sullivans or O'Sullivans, as Peg preferred it, were almost like family. 

Yesterday's afternoon gathering at MickDuff's Beer Hall brought out a host of Peg O'Sullivan fans, many of whom also feel like family.  Maybe it's an Irish thing. 

Peg's daughters Hailey and Stephanie led a toast in her memory. 

It was a wonderful gathering.  

Both events honored to great friends and genuine contributors to our Sandpoint tapestry. 

As with far too many these days, these women will be greatly missed, but they will continue to inspire in spirit. 

In Mae's and Peggy's memory, play the video below as you scroll. 

  

At Mae's celebration there were two Sharon McCormick's, so it seemed appropriate to take their picture. 

Saturday Slight

Grateful. 

That's the word that best describes our feelings about the "heroes" who came to our plumbing rescue yesterday. 

Such efficiency along with skill and knowledge and some dirty work---all combined to solve our problem and have us back and flushing by 11 a.m. on a Friday before a weekend. 

This amazing service involved two businesses:  VIP Plumbing, owned by our regular plumber Joe Zavala and KG +T Septic Service where we happily did not have to return the merchandise because we were so satisfied. 

We also know where our septic tank is located, thanks to Joey's knowledge of the way things plumb. 

To say that yesterday's fix on the plumbing went like clockwork would be an understatement. 

Once Joey looked into the septic tank, he gave us a service to call.  I called, and about 20 minutes later, the truck pulled in the driveway.  

While Joey and his assistant Jada worked inside on a new floor flange for the toilet, the nice man from Bonners Ferry pumped the tank. 

Bill and I are still amazed and totally appreciate how smoothly and quickly this "crappy" situation was rectified. 

Many thanks to Joey, Jada and KG and T for making our day and returning our lives to normal, regarding a basic essential. 

 And, I thank Bill for filling in the hole where the tank lid is located.  In no time, with a little grass seed, we'll never know the ground was disturbed.  

And, that's vitally important to this "yard Nazi," an appropriate term borrowed from Jada.

Life is good this morning, and we have a new appreciation for flushing. 

There was even time during Joey the plumber's visit for him and Jada to get acquainted with the horses. 

We had a nice surprise last night while leaving Sweet Lou's for our Friday-night dinner. 

Willie and Debbie's German exchange student Emma was coming in with the Casey family for their Friday night dinner. 

Emma and Brandon are home from the University of Montana for a quick social event. 

Always good to see them. 

💙💚💛💜💜💛💚💙

Speaking of Montana, I saw the following review on a Facebook post yesterday. 

Brady Lux, the subject of this music review, grew up in our old neighborhood off from Woodland Drive. 

This is how we remember Brady when we all lived in the same neighborhood. 
                                                       ----Photo from Saving Country Music

We haven't seen him for a while but have gotten reports from his parents, Dave and Nancy who both worked locally for the U.S. Forest Service. 

This review is great, and what an amazing and wonderful surprise to see what Brady's up to while working on a Montana ranch.  

Who knows where he'll go from this point in his musical journey.  It will be fun to watch. 

After reading the review, do click on the link and listen to one of Brady's songs. I think you'll like it. 

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻

Review from Saving Country Music

Feb. 16, 2024

Now that everyone wants to go country including Beyoncé, many country folks are wanting to go Western. Thanks to the popularity of the Yellowstone series and Steven Rinella, folks are moving up to Montana in droves, walking around with a stupid chip on their shoulder like they’re Cole Houser, or importing their fair trade gourmet coffee routine and LL Bean wardrobe to the Big M. God help them up there in Big Sky country.

The world is full of Instagram cowboys these days who always seem to have someone there to shoot the perfect reel as they ride off into the sunset. But as the new batch of “Western” musicians bray on and on in service of anachronistic cowboy cosplay, Brady Lux is here to sing about the true cowboy experience of today, which is a strained relationship with the modern world, trading out horses for 4-wheelers, and fighting off high feed costs and the onslaught of land developers.

Forget not having a fancy label and marketing team, Brady Lux doesn’t even have a Facebook page, or any social media for that matter. From Big Timber, Montana between Billings and Bozeman, Brady is a genuine ranch hand cowboy who works his ass off every day, and at night he writes songs and saws a little fiddle when he can find the time. This has resulted in songs that don’t rely on nostalgia, but offer honest insight into the strange juxtaposition of a real Montana cowboy trying to interface with the ever-evolving world.

This is all perfectly encapsulated in the opening song “Little Bo Peep” off Lux’s debut album Ain’t Gone So Far. It takes both cutting humor and absolute truth and delivers them with wit. This is Western music for 2024 that conveys the actual reality of things, and tears back the veneer. Same goes for the second song “Four Wheeler Cowboy” and the commentary of a traditional cowboy trying to navigate the contemporary world, “Bozeman Girl.”

But this isn’t all pissing and moaning about Californians moving to the mountain West and the scourge of Tik-Tok. “Take Me Back to Montana” might be about feeling unfamiliar with the world outside of the Big Sky country, but at its heart it’s a song about appreciating Montana as home. 

Helping Ain’t Gone So Far along is the fact that the music is straight country and Western, with lots of steel guitar and fiddle layered on strong. Produced by Landon George and Jackson Grimm, the twang really cuts through the mixes, and the musicianship is one of the album’s assets.

It’s fair to say that a few of Brady Lux’s songs could have used some tightening up with the writing. Some lines falter or fail to rhyme. But that’s gonna come with the authenticity of this music. These are songs and tracks written and recorded in Montana, and presented to the public warts and all. If you want perfect, like the sheen on a Southern California investment banker’s Subaru who just moved to Bozeman, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Feeling patently unfamiliar with the modern world is what brings out the relevancy and truth in Brady Lux’s Western music. With only seven songs, Ain’t Gone So Far feels like a starting point as opposed where he’s ultimately going. Incredibly humble and maybe a bit shy according to friends, he may even feel weird that people are even talking about his music in the online world. But what Brady Lux is cooking up in Big Timber, there’s an appetite for around the world.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15e29oWytd4

You can find more Brady Lux tunes by googling him on You Tube. 

Happy Saturday.