Ceilis, Fiddlers and Maladies

Those are the Monday Night Fiddlers on stage at the Open Up The Summer Kitchen Ceili in Almonte last Sunday. There were nine of them although you can't see two who are in the background in this photo. That's what they do — get together and play on Monday nights. What fun these good old boys must have jammin together!

I have to say that I envy them a little bit. I wish I could do what they do: not that I'd ever be able to reach their level given my late start, but I'm sure you take my point. Speaking of which, they (the physiotherapists, not the fiddlers) stopped physio on my fingers last week. Their ministrations did help; I do have more mobility now, but my hands are far from fine. I assume that I'll be able to continue to play a little but probably never a lot, and I'd really have to practise a lot to get up to any sort of speed at this stage of life.

The somewhat frustrating thing is that those guys are all older than I as far as I can tell, but their hands work fine. I do take some consolation in the fact that I'm not alone, however. My physiotherapist shared that she was dealing with two other fiddlers about my age with similar of finger problems. I guess that information helps a bit; it's not so much that misery loves company, but it seems beneficial to my spirit to know that I'm not the only experiencing premature arthritis — well, I think it's premature! Apparently, violin injuries of various ilk are apparently quite common, and Cuppa was just talking to a lady last night who is suffering from a severe case of banjo arm — another musical malady.

Meanwhile, here's a short clip of the Monday Night Fiddlers along with my last thought for the nonce — about the tools at our disposal. I love these tools. All of these videos that Cuppa and I have been posting (of Smudge) are taken with her somewhat old (as in four years old) digital camera. We haven't bothered with this feature before, but it's come in so handy with Smudge's arrival. And how great is it that YouTube exists to make sharing so darn easy.

BTW, if you want to see more photos of the Ceili, they're here on Flickr, and all of our little videos are here on YouTube.

Faces of the Young ... and Old

I went over to mind the baby this morning while Maw had a shower and did her hair. It's just as well because she did require some attention. For a while, I wasn't receiving Smudge's messages very well. I held her up, sideways and out and tried her new chair ... to no avail. She wasn't at all happy with me. So, I went back to sideways (more or less) got up and walked, rock and sang, and she quieted right down and soon zoned out. At this stage, she's one human who doesn't mind my deep bass vocals, but I'm sure that will soon change, and she'll be mortified by grampa's proclivity to break out suddenly in joyful barking melody.



She's also got me wondering. We've had two babies ourselves, and I hate to confuse the faces that infants make while dealing with gas with real smiles that are supposed to not appear until later, but Smudge does appear to be starting to smile. When Maw posted the above photo yesterday (see Thesha's blog) I thought it looked pretty real, but of course it couldn't be. Or could it? Today, in fact, I wonder because I got about four smiles when she was still happy and content ... before the crying fit and the nap. On the one hand, I say that it can't be because it's too early, but they sure seemed seemed real.

Meanwhile, here are two pics from about a week ago. I found them in draft mode and hated to waste them. We seem to be making faces at one another.

A Ceili in Almonte

The whole and proper title for the event was the Open Up The Summer Kitchen Ceili.

What's a Ceili, you ask? First, it's usually spelled Celidh in my experience, but, since the dh is silent (it's pronounced kay-lee), the shorter variation works well. Basically, it's a Scottish party involving dancing and traditional instruments such as fiddles. We didn't dance yesterday, but, as the picture (below) demonstrates, there were loads of fiddles.



Although you can't see them all in this photo and the number did change slightly from time to time, I believe there were 17 fiddlers on the stage in this grand finale. Amazingly, they kept this finale going for the best part of a half hour. The guy in the shorts in the center would keep going from piece to piece and everybody would just follow along, all from memory, even though they had probably never played together before. There were several sets of step dancers who would come out from time to time during this finale until they could manage no more. It was quite impressive.

Getting back to Ceilis, I don't suppose you'd find too many gatherings of this ilk in too many places anymore. Traditionally, there has been a lot of fiddling in the Ottawa Valley, and, lately, it's revived some in popularity, led by fiddlers such as Natalie McMaster from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Spurred on by the renaissance of Celic music from Cape Breton and abroad, certain people in Almonte (the town near to ours) are doing their best to keep these traditions alive by organizing events such as this.

As for the summer kitchen part of the title, I don't think I've ever seen one, but in the past some farm houses would have just that, a summer kitchen, in a separate structure off the main house. The idea was probably to get as close to the outdoors as possible in the nice weather — kind of like a barbecue on the patio these days, I suppose. Anyway, when the nice spring weather began to take hold, they'd air out the house (notice the laundry on the line in the photo) and open up the summer kitchen and maybe have a party ... or ceilidh.

I hope that picques your interest to take a look at this video clip of the Fusion Step Dancers with the Kyle Felhaver Band in the background.

Sorry ...

... but I can't resist.

But I'm too pooped to write anything to go with the photo, except to say that this is Smudge at Two Weeks plus Two Days.

Generations

I have to tell you that I really like women, not just because of the built-in attraction thing that I have going on deep within my being but also because of the way they are. They share and communicate in ways that we males don't. It would probably be true to say that, in many cases, I prefer the company of females to males. It's not always so, for I certainly appreciate good male companionship too.

This is a good time for me to observe women playing their roles. Thesha nurses and cares for Smudge, and Cuppa coddles both, often being able to soothe the baby when mother begins to despair. I hear various little tidbits being passed on: "When she pulls up her knees like that, try holding her really tight and rubbing her back like this."

Of course, Cuppa does what her mother did before. I remember being utterly relieved to see MIL arrive on the day when we brought Thesha home from the hospital. It was Christmas Day, and Cuppa's parents and sister travelled several hundred miles with turkey dinner in tow. When they arrived, Cuppa and I were beside ourselves trying to placate a screaming baby. MIL took right over and had Thesha rocked and settled in what seemed like no time, and then we enjoyed Christmas dinner together.

MIL quickly discovered that Thesha liked to be wrapped very tightly and to be rocked furiously. She really did. I have never seen another baby like her; we'd just about blast off into permanent orbit with the pace of our rocking. When we took Thesha out for a stroll in the carriage, it wasn't a stroll at all. We'd be bouncing the carriage for all we were worth. It was stunning really. Poor Althegal though: when I confidently wrapped her up and started rocking her the way that I had rocked Thesha, she just about went into apoplectic seizure.

Now, Cuppa passes on her knowledge to Thesha, just as her mother did before and generation upon generation previously, no doubt. It's very special to see that. Cuppa will head across town several times of day to watch the little one while Thesha has a quick shower or to soothe an anxious baby with her magic touch when mother is at her wits end. It's all very heart-warming.

Yesterday, I missed it, but Mother and Grandmother bundled Smudge into the carriage and took her out for a walk: three generations of women with many more, most unknown to us, applauding in the background mists of time. Here's are pictures of the event. Unfortunately, since I wasn't there, Cuppa's not in the photos.

Making Progress

Well, I'm making a bit of progress with the montage of Smudge Day 2 (above) and one of the rest of week 1 (below). If I can get Smudge more or less up to date, I can begin on the rest of my huge backlog. I've got to get much of this accomplished in the next month. The problem is grandma who keeps adding to my photos at an alarming rate. As I write this, she has requested that I upload more photos and video clips to my computer; only then can I upload to Flickr or YouTube or blogs or whatever the lady desires. It's so hard being me.

You can see the other grandma, Daboy's mother, second down on the right, below. On the very bottom is one of the Vancouver Aunties — Puff. She was in town very briefly for a conference and managed to get out here for a few hours in order to pay homage.

A Tall Order

I really do understand if you're getting a might weary of Smudge pictures, but that's the way it is right now.



Smudge came for her first visit today, but, as you can plainly see (above), settling baby can be a tall order. (Get it?) But grandma soon rocked her so fast asleep that she resisted waking up afterwards. She's lying on grandma's knees, below.