Amy –
I was just running through some posts here that I haven’t read yet, and I ran across this one. I loved the shape note music!! What a blend they have. I used to do a little barbershop, and I’ve sung in many choirs, and done some solo stuff. I just love the harmonies. Oh how I miss my singing. <sigh> Someday, somehow, I will get back to it. :crying:
OMG AMY…that pic is SOOOOO GREAT! You have such a classic face…fits right into that costume. I thought for a minute (saw the pic before I read all of the post) that maybe it was a pic of your great great great (great?) grandmother!!!
Thanks DotMom and Kelly. 
Here are some more shape note recordings!!
I got permission to put these up! These are all of our group. The first is a few years old, before we joined, and is from a CD of our group (which can be purchased online here). The rest are from our last convention in March. 300+ people singing together! Of course it sounds VERY different with lots of singers, than that other recording of 4 women singing together.
MP3 Recordings:
Florida
Desire For Piety
I’ll Seek His Blessing
Exhortation
Arbacoochee
This music has incredible energy and rhythm. You really have to hear it in person to feel its power, but these recordings are as good as recordings get. Much thanks to Dan Richardson who recorded all of these (masterfully! even the un-sweetened ones sound excellent). And thanks Dan for letting me put these online. :cheering:
Gardening Adventures
Yesterday I discovered a curious new weed in my yard. After admiring it as best I could in the fading twighlight, I pulled one out, and a couple of seconds later discovered what it was. Stinging Nettle! Ouch! My right hand is now covered in little white blisters (well a few anyway). Actually I think now, nearly 20 hours later, the prickly sensation is finally gone. And the tiny white blisters are turning red and fading.
My other act of brilliance was to water the new seeds on my front lawn: for about 7 hours! The first hint I had that I’d left the sprinkler on, was when I went to brush my teeth and the water in my tap wasn’t working. I’d actually emptied the water tank completely, by depleting it faster than it could fill up! :rollseyes: Took me a solid minute to figure out why the water wasn’t working. :doh: umm, oh yeah, time to turn off the sprinkler.
Sort of garden related…
Many of you know that my dog Burmy passed away in January. What I don’t think I’ve mentioned, is that my SIL later gave us a cute Burmy-look-alike stuffed animal that we fondly call Burmy. Well, today I found a tic, crawling on Burmy! :shock: How odd is that! I know she really does look like a little Burmy, but enough to fool a tic?! :??
OUCH! Ive never seen stinging nettle, and now I never want to! Hope you’re unblistered soon!
Kelly fills up a pitcher of water to tide Amy over
Maybe that was a Special Little Yellow School Bus tic??
Thanks Kelly Amy rinses her hand in the soothing water.
Yellow School Bus tic? :??
I’m actually in great spirits and very much enjoying the weather, and gardening and getting stuff done around the house, despite a rather large list of
Recent (minor) catastrophes…
I’ll start with the money stuff. We just bought an expensive new camera (we love it, but it was mucho dinero). We sucked it up, thinking, “Okay we’re not going to buy anything else for, like, the rest of the year.” Well. What happens next? Within a week: The scanner breaks. Okay, a hundred bucks; fine, we’ll replace it. Then the printer breaks. Yikes! We need a hi quality printers, so this is $700 to replace! Well we order this, and overnight it, because I need it right away, and then, the stupid thing (the NEW printer) breaks too! So we have to return it, and pay for something else to use in the mean time. And now, I need to buy an $80 ergonomic keyboard, because…
(On to the more personal catastrophes)…
I’ve developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists, apparently, from using the computer! (hopefully this qualifies as a minor catastrophe) It’s been coming on for a while, and this week it’s gotten so bad that a couple of nights ago I couldn’t comfortably hold my knitting needles! :shock: It’s improved since I’ve been doing less (I haven’t been on the forum as much), but I’m realizing I need to take it seriously, I certainly don’t want to loose the ability to knit and do other manual tasks! So I’ve taken a jigsaw to my desk to improve the ergonomics of my computer area, and I need to buy a curved ergonomic keyboard, which many people are telling me will help. Plus wrist braces to put on my wrists at night. I think all will be well. I feel like once I improve my computer area, the problem will very likely disappear altogether.
And to top it off, I was in our storage room tonight, and getting something off a high shelf, and the stupid shelf actually broke, and three gallon-buckets of paint fell on top of me. I’ll have a nice bruise on my hip (not major), and I’m limping on my poor ankle, which got the brunt of it. :rollseyes:
But all things considered, I’m really not complaining. (really!) If my carpal tunnel works out, which I think it will, the rest is just minor temporary discomfort, and shelling out dough which we’d probably have to shell out anyway before too long. All in all, in the long run, I don’t really have anything to complain about, but it’s fun to share the dramas. :mrgreen:
[color=indigo][size=6]On the very bright side…[/size][/color]
I had FABULOUS weekend of gardening, singing, more gardening, and making closer friends. Our good friend Laura whom we sing with, is finally back this month after being away for two months with her son who was in the hospital for that time after nearly dying from bacterial meningitis. They’re both back, and he’s in good health (thank heavens). A bunch of us singers gathered at her house yesterday to weed and stack wood, and help her get her home back in order after being away so long. I met her son for the first time, and seeing such a wonderful young person, and realizing what she almost lost, it put things into perspective. It was a wonderful day of just working at her house, and I spent hours weeding with another singer whom I’ve sung with for two years, and hardly ever talked to, and we got to know each other, and that in itself was quite wonderful. Then we ate a delicious dinner and desert that Laura had cooked for us, and then sang a few songs to cap off the night. It was really quite a special day.
Today I potted up my own flower planters (ala Hildie and KellyK, I’ll share pictures soon!), and got a few of my veggies in the ground. It was really quite an awesome day. It’s been quite a wonderful weekend! I wouldn’t change a thing; except maybe dodging that last paint bucket. LOL.
Counting my blessings and enjoying life.
[color=red]HUGS[/color], Amy!! For the happy AND the frustrating!!
Hope your ankle and hip feel better soon! If you are TRYING to look on the bright side, now nothing in nature has colors like birds, fish AND AMY! :shifty:[/b]
My gracious! What a time you’ve had. Glad you could top it off with some good gardening and conversation!
Heaven’s to Betsy! It never rains but it pours. I’m glad you kept a happy face through all your troubles. So here’s one from me:
My ankle is totally better! :happydance: The paint buckets have been defied! Thanks for your good wishes Ladies!
I had a great gardening day here at home. Used up the loads of compost that I’ve accumulated but haven’t touched in like three years (don’t ask me how that happened! Not touching my compost piles for that long!).
I Planted:
~heirloom tomatoes
~a six pack of Brandywine tomatoes
~cukes
~pumpkins (both a large carving kind and a pie kind)
~Mammoth Sunflowers
~Cosmos
~yellow pepper
I still have stuff to put in the ground: broccoli, loads of snapdragons (went a little out of control with the snapdragons, don’t know where I’ll put them all!),
Here are pictures of the planters I potted up this weekend!
Amy –
Good to hear your ankle has recovered! You have inspired me with your photos to get the flowers I bought yesterday into their containers! Your pictures are lovely! Happy Spring! :happydance:
Hey Amy, cool flowers! Finally got around to reading your bio and “100 things”, you seem like a real hip gal, and your hubby is CUUUTE!
May I ask a couple questions?
Why did you stop studying Zen?
If you’re not “New Agey” anymore, what are you (spiritually)?
I hope this is the appropriate place to ask these questions. Feel free to answer or not!
Yours,
Kilgore
Hi Kilgore,
I’ll try to answer your questions concisely. I guess we’re also getting into “Amy’s philosophy of life” here, so this is a bit long.
Zen helped me reach a place of peace, and inner stillness, which was very helpful. I stopped practicing formally, just because it felt right to take a break at that time. So now I just do what I do, in my own way. I knit and do other things that feel peaceful and right for me. I do feel that knitting is spiritually calming and grounding, and clearing to the mind, so I suppose that’s as close to a religious practice as I have right now, or care to have!
I’ve heard that you can actually do formal Zen meditation while knitting. I don’t consciously attempt this as I knit, but it could be a neat practice! I suppose it would consist of paying attention to each stitch, maybe counting stitches as you go, if it helped keep your mind from wandering. And bringing the attention back to the knitting, and noticing when the mind wanders into other things, and bringing it back to just the knitting, over and over. Basically, just knitting with 100% of your attention, enjoying it as much as you like, and that’s it! Maintaining a conscious awareness of what your mind was up to would be the challenge of course, as with any meditation. A half hour of that a day would be a very serious Zen practice I think! If I were to do a structured Zen practice again, that would probably be it! I don’t feel the need for a structured regular practice right now, because I’m in a very happy and contented place. However if I found that stresses sent my mind spinning and worrying and that I was unable to feel calm and peaceful and happy in my life, I would definitely consider a practice again for the purpose of calming the nonsense of the mind and getting into a good calm-mind habit again, so I could be happy! That’s what it’s about, as the Buddha said.
As far as belief systems, I suppose my beliefs are fairly New Age, but not very strong or firm. I like to think we have multiple incarnations, and I pretty much believe that, but one can’t really know such things, can they? I do believe in God. My concept of God is rather new age I suppose. I believe that all humans and animals are connected psychically, and that we look out for each other and set things into motion to help each other out. I think that the definition of God is the pure loving intention that we all share, and that it is incredibly powerful and could probably make physical miracles happen, but I’m not particularly concerned with that aspect. I believe in praying, because I think that’s how we can ask for help from each other, and align our intention with whatever this higher energy consists of. I do feel there is something there. And this is my concept anyway. I don’t think that one concept of God is better than another. Although I think that externally applied guilt, “shoulds”, and restrictions can be counter-productive to the natural loving and generous tendencies of people, so I don’t like to see religious institutions exercise such leveraging ability over people.
My philosophy I suppose boils down to this. I think the most important thing we do here is to be happy! I think that’s the first order of business. And I think that true joy and happiness, although it is composed of different elements in life for each person, is primarily about just feeling okay and calm, and like you are okay already, just being who you are. People can find different things useful in cultivating this feeling of peace and calm and okayness. Zen is a very direct, no-nonsense path to get through the layers of stuff that may be in the way. Thinking too much can definitely get in the way, and Zen or other meditative practice can be very helpful in overcoming that. Then, beyond that feeling of peace, is the life and inspiration that we can each find, to be excited about life, and truly into it.
I personally have found great inspiration in Tasha Tudor, in the way she approaches life and in just something about her spirit. I have both documentary videos about her (“Take Joy” and “Take Peace”). I was very moved by something about her, when I first saw one of the documentaries about her on PBS. She has an air of peace that attracted me greatly, and yet she also exhibits great energy and joy about life, and creativity, productivity and playfulness!
If you want to know more about Zen practice, there are some Zen talks you can listen to online here. (My sister has listened to these talks, and says her favorite teachers here are Sylvia Boorstein, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg.) I think the time to practice Zen is when you’re in a difficult place, or when you feel the need to. If you’re happy with your life and feeling at peace, I don’t know if there’s anything to be gained from meditation. I don’t know if a Zen teacher would agree with me, but that’s my own feeling about it.
As far as inspiration goes, if you’re curious, here’s more about Tasha Tudor. The two documentary videos of her can be purchased on her website (here). These are not intended to be spiritually instructive, not overtly anyway, but for me they were in an indirect way. Tasha Tudor is a really cool person. She’s an illustrator who’s nearly 90 years old, and she lives on 250 acres in Vermont in an old-style house. She lives for the most part as if she’s in the 1800’s. She’s got a great sense of fun, which is all about what she finds delight in. She just pours herself into everything she does, whether milking her dairy goat, or making her own cheese from the milk. She makes her own candles, spins, dyes, weaves and sews clothes, cooks with a wood-fired stove, has a delightful and impressive garden, has many pets she adores, and is just such a creative soul. I watch the videos for enjoyment and inspiration! I don’t think I’ll ever live a life quite so varied and creative as hers, but I admire the attitude she brings to things, and I like to simply don the Tasha Tudor attitude as I wish. That’s my little happiness recipe. 
99 parts inspiration and delight, 1 part Zen.
Amy, I just had to jump in and say I adore Tasha Tudor. I have a copy (perhaps a first edition? I’d have to look, but my mom was born in the 1930s…) of Pumpkin Moonshine that I’ve cherished since my childhood.
Hey Amy! Very interesting to read your answers, your approach seems very peaceful I meditate and learn about buddhism whenever I can, which is why I was curious. For me it hits a lot closer to the mark than any other siritual practice I’ve heard of. Anyways, thanks for being open!
Kilogore
Sure Kilgore, thanks for reading all that! WTG on meditating!
Lately I’ve been thinking about what I can do for my local community. I’ve gotten more involved with a start-up food cooperative that I’ve been a founding member of for two years. It’s so exciting to see a local food cooperative being born, and to help out with the process! I’ve worked with cooperatives before, and this one is just so well run, it’s a pleasure to be a part of it. I’ve roped Sheldon in, and he’s been helping out too. The store is a few months away from starting construction on the site they’ve secured. They’ve recieved a grant of over $400K to make it a “Green” building, with solar power, and all sorts of cool stuff. The best part is their commitment to supporting local agriculture and community businesses. It’s already had a positive impact in the community, and the store’s not even open yet! I can’t wait until it opens next year! :cheering:
Here’s me and my friend Jade at a booth this weekend, telling local folks about the food co-op, and recruiting new members (like this guy, score! :happydance:).
By the way, if anyone’s looking for a WONDERFUL way to invest some money, the market is still accepting investment loans, and offering a 4-5% return on investment. It’s a 7 year loan. Call me if you’re interested (413-256-3311), and I’ll give you the scoop! 
I’ve got tickets for a Garden Tour (expensive but worth it!) of Tasha Tudor’s garden! I got them three weeks ago, I’ve been meaning to mention it. …I’m going to actually meet her!
My friend Siw (“Seeve”) is going with me. This friend is the same friend who is an expert in period costume and is the one that dressed Sheldon and I up for the Civil-War era sing we participated in (picture bottom of page 4 of this blog thread). Since Tasha Tudor is always in period dress, and most visitors come to her also in period dress, we’ve decided to also dress up!
It’s this afternoon!
I’m about to go to my friends house and get dressed up and head up to VT. I’m sort of nervous! I admire Tasha Tudor so much. I hope it all goes well! Wish me luck!
We’re not allowed to take pictures on the property, but I’ll try to get a picture of Siw and I.
soooo envious!
Cannot wait to hear details when you get back!
It was AMAZING!!
Thanks for all your enthusiasm (on this thread)! Okay, I’ll mention this again here, for those of you who dont’ know who Tasha Tudor is:
She’s a well known illustrator (she illustrated The Secret Garden, more about her here), and has been my greatest idol since I first saw a special about her on PBS about 10 years ago. She lives as if she’s in the 1800’s, for the most part: She dresses in old clothes, which she sews herself, often from fabric she’s spun, dyed and woven herself. She knits, she spins, she makes baskets, she grows her own veggies and raises chickens and goats (actually not goats anymore, because they’re “strong animals” and she’s gave up trying to handle them in her old age). She also has an elaborate dollhouse, puts on marionette shows for kids, or at least used to, and just has a wonderful, creative imagination. She really knows how to celebrate the seasons, and live with nature and with joy and festivity, you should see all of what she does for Christmas. She’s the ideal grandmother! Did I mention she cooks on a woodstove, and often in her open fireplace? She’s so cool.
Why do I love Tasha Tudor? Not only for her inspiration of doing so many things I love, but also for her perfect peace and pride in just living a rich home-based life. We don’t have many models of this in our modern culture. It seems in our culture that a woman needs to have a baby to have “an excuse” to be a home-maker who can hold her head up high. My friend Siw says that in Norway, where she’s from, the position of being “The lady of the house” is very highly regarded. In our culture, the strongest impression we have of that role was established in the 50’s, and there’s something about that image that rather spoils the notion for me: the 50’s housewife model, to me, paints a picture of being very confined by what the neighbors think, extremely materialistic, and interested in appearances above all. I have no desire to live like that! But Tasha Tudor’s model of someone who gardens barefoot, gets her hands and dresses dirty, yet still dresses with care and femininity… I just find it delightful. Her love of life is primary and it shows. It’s just a way of living that inspires me. Not that I’m going to give up my dishwasher in favor of a sink with a hand-pump faucet…
But there’s much to be inspired by her, even just to be able to allow myself to claim a simple home-based identity with peace and pride. That’s a huge thing to do. It’s been a great ego boost to have a successful website and my own business from it, but I like to think that I would be just as comfortable in my identity were I to simply be a person focused on the joy and details of living a pleasurable life at home. I really think life is about being happy, not proving anything to anyone. I also think, as an environmentalist, that such a life is perhaps the most noble of all; to grown veggies organically, and walk lightly on the earth. It’s an incredible and noble path. I find it extremely inspiring!
So about the tour yesterday!..
This was a garden tour, of her property, and of two other family member’s gardens, and we had a brief meeting with Tasha. She lives a very private life, and does not give tours of her house (unfortunately!), although you see a good deal of it in the videos about her, which you can buy from her family website (they’re wonderful!). I would have given almost anything to see the inside of her house in detail! But this was second best.
I talked a good deal with members of her family, who lead the tours, and live on adjacent properties, and that in itself was very special. Her Grandson Winslow and his wife Amy are wonderful, and lead the tour starting with their own house and garden, which is only a few years old, and very pretty. Then we saw Tasha’s son Seth’s property, and his wife Marjory’s garden. They too were charming and friendly, and I chatted it up with both of them as well. And finally we saw Tasha’s property, and a hush came over the whole group. It was just incredible. The incredible beauty and care and delight of the garden, with the stone walls and terraces, and the winding paths, and hidden treasures, it was remarkable. I almost cried when I strolled the path right against the front of the house. I’ve seen it in her videos many times, and it was just so cozy and welcoming and pretty. I felt very priveleged.
My friend Siw (“Seeve”) didn’t wear her historic costume because it was too warm for the weather which was into the 90’s. So I was the only one in the group who was in historic dress, and I got lots of compliments from others, including Tasha! :happydance: I was the only one, actually, that she looked in the eye for more than a moment, and she singled me out twice and even stopped to chat with me briefly on my way out to ask me about the dress I was wearing! That was pretty darn cool; I didn’t expect it, and it was a real treat.
By the way, my friend Siw made this dress for me, just for this occasion. I paid for her ticket to the tour, and she made the dress for me in exchange. It looks simple, but there’s an incredible amount of detail work and a LOT of hand sewing that went into it. She spent weeks on it. I didn’t get a picture of me in full costume, with the straw hat, and my hair up, but here’s a shot of me trying on the dress to hem it. My facial expression was horrible, so I’ll spare you the rest of my head.
