Our House
After a particularly cold and miserable February, we just had to get out of town. So for, um,
"Spring" break, first full week of March, we took off on Saturday and went down to Brown County,
south of Indianapolis. They have art galleries, craft shops, restaruants, assorted overnight
accommodations and so on. So you go south on I-65 out of "Indy" as we call it, turn right at
the sign that says "Brown County State Park thataway" (well, maybe it's "Next Exit" or some
such), and drive. When you get to Gnaw Bone, you're almost to Nashville. Nashville? Yes,
Indiana has one also. They even have a "Little Opry" that has country music on Friday nights.
We stayed at the Brown County Inn, a rather sprawling motel, on a package deal that Kathy
found. Included were the room, two meals and tickets to a theater production, "The Road To
Gnaw Bone" that was a really corny melodrama (mellow = "overripe and slightly rotten") but had
a lot of great music including Elvis impersonations. The audience loved it and some people
got up and danced in the aisles.
But the best part for Kathy was when we went the quarter-mile or so into town. I dropped her
off in front of the Weed Patch Music Store. Just as she walked in, as I was parking the car,
a lady named Kara was just about to start a dulcimer lesson and asked Kathy if she would like to join
in. Well, Kathy has been wanting to just touch a dulcimer for several years now. She
was in hog heaven when I walked in.
| Kara with dulcimers |
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Well, we didn't buy anything this time, but the two other ladies did, and I overheard
Kara say the total, something like "four hundred...." Anyway, she goes all over the country
playing her dulcimers; I reckon it's hard to find professional dulcimer players. But they
have a group of old codgers who get together and "jam" on their dulcimers in Nashville every
week or so.
Now these are picked dulcimers.
The hammer dulcimer is something else. I love the music, but it's hard to see which
strings you're hitting, as it's got a buzzlefunch of them. Give me a keyboard any day.
Kathy volunteered to play "third fiddle" at church if the other two bassists were unavailable. She got
a chance this month:
Oh, and as you can see, there was a new addition to our Praise Team. The kid with the guitar is pretty
good.
Interestingly enough, there were many people in the congregation who didn't know Kathy plays bass. We
invited everyone who commented to our next "gig", whenever that will occur. We'll keep them posted.
More on the home front, on the first day of Spring we got new carpet in the living room ($$$)
to replace the 1970s shag that was never going to wear out.
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Weather
Well, March came in like a lion, as they say. Had cold and snow for about the first week. We took
down a good part of the Christmas display at 28 degrees, and then it dropped to about 10 that night.
"Spring" break, they call it. Had to bring in the cables so they were flexible enough to roll up.
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When we took down what was left of the Christmas stuff, I had entirely too much help. Her name is
"Waffles" and we call her "Nemesis". She sits outside the window and Tinky goes berserk, yowling
and spitting. But she's so cute!
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Geek Stuff
I'm learning how to use the GIMP (Gnu IMage Processor) to manage my digital photos. It's not
all that hard, but it's not exactly easy, either. One of the handiest features is the ability
to change the perspective of a photo, so that you can take a picture from off to one side or
from above or below, and then adjust it so that it appears "straight on". I've done this with
the whiteboard in the classroom, for example, and with photos of pictures.
This photo is the neighbor's kitten Waffles "helping" me take down some of the Christmas display. I "processed"
the photo using only Microsoft Paint to crop & resize it. Sometimes the simplest tool is quickest and
easiest, and the results are quite acceptable. Stupid cat climbed up the outside of the Christmas Tree,
jumped from the top down onto the second-floor window sill. She actually "danced" from one window to
the next, then back again. So in the photo I'm catching her to take her back down to the ground about
12 or 14 feet below. It was mid-20s with a breeze blowing, pretty cold up there.
Speaking of pictures, remember the old shed I took a picture of last fall? (September 2006)
Well, here it is again after
we had a bunch of snow. It couldn't take the weight, apparently:
I figure it will wait until it thaws a bit, then I'll help neighbor Lowell cart it off. He's going to
rent a dumpster for a few days. Hauling it off will improve the whole neighborhood.
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