Easter--New Every Year

Christmas is the holiday that gets all the press about forgiveness, love, new chances, and starting over, but Easter is the one with the track record. Easter represents new birth, new life, forgiveness, and sacrifice. Easter is new every year, too.  We remember and rehearse the events and reclaim both the death and resurrection. And then we also re-claim our own forgiveness and walk in new life.

Every year this is an exciting, new experience; every year I come to Maundy Thursday, Black Friday and Holy Saturday with renewed terror and Easter Sunday with deeper joy and celebration. You'd think it would get old with the same hymns and scriptures, but resurrection life never loses it value. Every year I have grown in my understanding of God's love and deepened in my appreciation of the meaning of forgiveness.

It would be easy to get caught up in preparations, the egg dying and the clothes buying, the company and the dinner, but sacrifice and renewal is the main act. Easter Sunday brings release from the fear and dread of sin. It also provides an opportunity to look beyond death and enter new levels of joy with my risen Lord.  And I must remember that the joy is not in the day or the season or the Church service, but in my relationship with my Savior.

How to Beat The Blahs

Getting old has some unsuspected pitfalls. Perpetual idleness is a trap. It has some severe consequences that lead to worse problems.
I blame myself for feeling idle, useless, and unproductive. The cure for these problems is purposeful activity. Whining and excuses don't improve this picture, but there are some factors that contribute to the condition. I no longer drive. I blame this for much of my inactivity. (Don't whine.) 

The real cure lies in focusing on filling time with challenging and meaningful activity. Learn something new. Read a classic you never read before. Explore a subject you have avoided: physics or astronomy. 

I write this like it's advice to others who rare facing this boring extreme, but it's really realizations I have embraced. I may still watch the mind-numbing fare offered on TV, but when that becomes a drag, I do know the cure. I can read Winston Churchill or G. K. Chesterton or study calculus or work out, even just a pleasant walk beats boredom. Just do something, anything will do.

Did You Know That Today Is Pi Day?

I didn't, but now I'm enjoying that I even know what pi is. Oh, by the way, today is also Albert Einstien's birthday. Since he was a brilliant and renowned physicist and mathematician I think is an appropriate day to remember him and pi.

Pi is the ratio of the radius of a circle to the circumference. Aren't you impressed that I know that? Don't be. It took a very good teacher several years of algebra to impart that to my brain.

One of the exciting things about this being Pi Day is that it has all kinds of facts associated with it. For instance, Pi is an irrational number. That means it is an infinitely repeating decimal. It never decides on what it's value is. Maybe that's not the way to state it. 3.14 may be as close as it can get.

I'd be a little more certain of things if it was pie day. Pies are more common in my experience than pi.
 

I Love to Remember!

Sometimes remembering is hard. Sometimes I remember things that make me sad. Or shame me. Or overwhelm me. I remember when I was in the first grade, my mother was Santa Claus for my class. I don't guess she did it for any other classes. I felt very special that she did it for mine.

I didn't say anything to anybody, but I knew as soon as she gave me whatever she had as gifts for everybody. She had gotten the suit from somewhere and was covered completely by the wig and the red suit. But when I took the candy or trinket, I saw her rings. She wore a large opal ring that was very distinctive; I didn't say anything to her or the other kids until I got home. She thought she had fooled me. She didn't think about the rings, I guess. But it was a kind of secret we shared that made me feel very proud and honored to have her do this for my friends. 

Memories have special significance to each of us, and enjoying the memory gives the same special feeling the original event carried. Oh, I love to remember!

How Old Are You?

I pride myself on being truthful, but I really lie a lot. When people ask me how I'm doing, I say "Fine." That's a lie. I can't remember appointments or deadlines. Maybe I'm not doing so well.

In 1983 I went back to school to finish my degree. At the time, I said I had to do it immediately because dementia and Alzheimer's were nipping at my heels. By the end of 1886 I finished my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. I comforted myself that I had outrun the evil demons of old age, but I wasn't nearly as old then as I am now, and I'm still running. They are gaining on me though. The stroke has slowed me down some, and I ache more and forget more.

Now I try to avoid the reminders of my age and disabilities. To help overcome the problems caused by the stroke, I do physical therapy. I don't know that it's doing much good. I had just about gotten back to walking like I'm supposed to when I started it, and I really hate it. It requires me to do things that hurt and things I can't do. Of course, theoretically, it strengthens the weak muscles. But they are the ones that hurt.

I console myself that I'm still doing what I want to, but that's a lie too, sometimes. If I could still do what I want to I wouldn't need the physical therapy. Age really is relative. I have a friend who is 92. She does as well in general activities as I do. My daughter Carol is 49 and she is far more limited in life-style and general activity than I am, but her problems stem from her arthritis. It's all relative. What do I need to do? What could I do if I tried harder?

Interest, enthusiasm, concern, and joy may be more important than age in determining what I can do. Or what I may accomplish. Remember, it ain't over til it's over.

 

More About Dulcimers

The Mountain Dulcimer seems to be a truly American instrument. I thought they came over on the boat with early pioneers, but it looks like the pioneers created them as a simpler instrument and easier to play than the classic violin of European origin. The Appalachian region is known for their Scotch-Irish melodies and dances; the dulcimers were someone's attempt to produce an instrument that took less formal training to play. Family and community groups adapted the traditional melodies, and a new musical tradition was born. The dulcimer was traditionally a parlor instrument because of it's softer sound and ease of transport, unlike the piano.

J. Edward Thomas of Knott County, Kentucky began building and selling them about 1880. Others took up the craft and a new American tradition was born. There are not many still in existence that were built before about 1880--at least it would be a rarity--and possibly very valuable. Jethro Amburgey made dulcimers that were distributed by his relative Jean Ritchie, a Kentucky musician,  and her partner George Pickow. Jean and George were performers who participated in the folk music revival of the 1950's and 60's. They eventually began producing and selling instruments, too. Jethro was a woodworking instructor in the Hindman Settlement School. The instrument became familiar to audiences during the Folk Music Revival. Other influential builders of mid-1960s included Homer Ledford, Lynn McSpadden, A. W. Jeffreys and Joellen Lapidus. Michael and Howard Rugg formed a company called Capritaurus, the first to mass produce dulcimers. They introduced a system of geared tuners making the instrument easier
for players  to tune. 

The Mountain or Appalachian Dulcimer is similar in tone and potential to some Middle Eastern instruments and even some ancient ones, such as the zither and lute, but it is a distinctly American creation. I hope for a return to softer sounds of music in which the melody is still distinct without the harsh and grinding sounds common in modern music.        

The dulcimer has acquired a following worldwide and now festivals are held in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada.   
More information about Dulcimers: 

McSpadden Duclimerss
Warren A. May, Wood Worker
 

Dulcimers Are Fun

                                                                            
My friend invited me to a rehearsal of her Dulcimer group today. I went even though I am neither talented nor knowledgeable concerning the instrument. The group was composed of 25 or so musicians. Three of us were just there to listen. I thought the others who did not play might be wives or drivers for some of the players. I tried not to get in the way. Most of the instruments looked similar to the picture, but some were of different kinds of wood and some were different sizes.

The music was melodious and soft--no rock or hip-hop here. I could imagine a guitar or violin in the mix. The players were seated  in a circle with a music stand in front of them and  the instrument resting on their knees. Old country favorites such as "Red River Valley" and "Buffalo Gals" spoke to my memories of Sunday afternoon in a shady yard. Nobody in my family played a dulcimer, but I remember visiting Ms. Gal Walker sitting on the porch or around the table in the kitchen. After a while Ms. Gal would go to the piano and start to play softly. The men on the porch might come in to hear better and the kids playing dominos would give up their game. She'd play a few choruses, then somebody would join in and sing. No, I'd never been to a dulcimer concert before, but this seemed to be something I remembered from an earlier time. This belonged to a southern house with a wide front porch and 8 or 10 pecan trees. Men in a huddle under one tree and the women in a clutch by the door with kids scattered around. The story-tellers had run out of breath and it was time to say so long with a little music. Sunday afternoon was winding down and the dulcimer music blessed me with good memories for the night. 

I don't know the official name, but this is a dulcimer, too.

Today was Wednesday. Funny how memories don't care what day it really is.

 If you want to know more, try this  http://gaylehaynesgettingoldergettingbetter.blogspot.com/2015/01/more-about-dulcimers.html