I just grouted this scarlet tanager mosaic and it’s almost done. We still have to do a final polish, clean up the edges and install hardware on the back. This work was done with Italian Smalti glass tesserae on a wood ground.
We do custom mosaic work – we’ve created giant birds and butterflies, a granite magnolia bench, and life-size mosaic bears. We’d love to make a mosaic for your garden. See more at Long Branch Mosaics.
As some of you know, I have an old fiddle at home and I’ve been messing around with it, trying to learn to play. That’s more or less how I approached clawhammer banjo and while it may not have been the most efficient approach, I’ve been doing OK I think. Fiddle, however, caused me problems from the start. I really didn’t know how to go about it and my constant early failures were daunting.
I’ve played banjo with some ace fiddlers and listening to them play at close range, it seemed like something impossible. Could they all have done a deal with the devil? Unlikely, right? Are some people just born to be fiddlers? Well, I don’t know. Maybe some people have an early aptitude and have had an easy time of it, but most good musicians I know got that way because they work really hard at it for a long time. I suppose the exceptions are prodigies who at a very young age can make remarkable music, but let’s put the prodigies aside for now.
I thought what I need to help me get going on fiddle is a teacher. My idea was to get help building some technical chops early on and take it from there. As well, seeing a teacher on a regular basis also helps build discipline, right? You want to succeed and show your teacher what you’ve accomplished.
Then my brother sent me a link for an online fiddle course which looked really interesting. The course was devised by a neuroscientist, who has worked for many years on how people learn, and has used the learning of music as a workshop to demonstrate his ideas. This guy is Josh Turknett, the guy behind the “Brainjo” approach to learning banjo. Just as interesting is the primary instructor for the fiddle course, who is Adam Hurt. I’ve met Adam at Midwest Banjo Camp, taken some of his classes there, and also participated in jams he led in which he played fiddle. Adam Hurt is a really top tier player and based on my limited experience is also an articulate and thoughtful teacher. For this reason he is a sought-after teacher at camps and also for individual instruction.
The course, which you can read about online, is made up of many short modules, breaking down learning into small chunks. These increments become building blocks for playing fiddle. It’s taught by ear, which is the fiddle tradition. The course material suggests that one reason people fail at learning fiddle is they try to learn it using a classical violin method which emphasizes learning to play written music.
Fiddle for All is affordable (less than the cost of a coffee per day), and the first month is deeply discounted. I decided to jump in and give it a go. I’ve been at this for only a few days so far, and trying to do 3 or 4 twenty minute practice sessions each day. I’ve been working my way through a bunch of exercises and have yet to tackle a tune.
I did OK with the first exercises but experienced a hurdle when they engaged my pinky. My pinky objected. I found it difficult to make clean notes and accurate notes. However, I’m becoming more comfortable using it and it is sounding better, although I still find it somewhat difficult. I think it’s worth the effort to train my pinky to join in the fun so I’m working at it. . I’m also finding it somewhat difficult to bow two strings at once and achieve pleasant and consistent sounds. More stuff to work on.
From very early on, Adam has introduced slurs – playing multiple notes using a single bow-stroke. With the exercises, he asks us to play them one note per bow stroke, then two notes per bow-stroke, then 4 notes per bow-stroke. Where I am now, he’s introduced playing 1 note on a single bow-stroke followed by 3 notes on a single bow-stroke, and then 3 notes followed by 1 note.
The good news is that I can see progress already. I’m finding my way around, improving my intonation and my tone, starting to train my fingers to behave the way they ought to, and most importantly, I haven’t hit any walls I’m unable to break through. So far so good. I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into some simple tunes soon.
Josh has set up a facebook page for adults learning fiddle, which I’ve joined. This includes the people in the course but also other adults learning to play. Good. Community can only help. As well there is now a forum to ask questions and learn from others.
I was out in the yard yesterday loading up the bird feeders, thinking I’m already ready for a dose of spring. I have a slew of garden projects planned for 2018 and I’m looking forward to getting to them.
Our community will be hosting a garden tour this year and Sheila and I are helping to organize it. It’s going to take place on June 23 (rain or shine) and there are going to be a lot of gardens to visit. This is going to be a free event. It’s a great opportunity to explore our lakeside community through its gardens. Mark this date on your calendar. If you’ve never been to Long Branch, plan to come on down for the day – there are some great places to stop for lunch along the Lakeshore while you’re here.
There are lots of gardens already signed up, but there is still time to participate. If you have a garden in Long Branch you’d like to show off to the public, let me know. We’d love to have you on board. We’re also looking for volunteers to help out on tour day.
The Long Branch by the Lake Garden Tour is a Garden Days activity, and is generously supported by our BIA.
Here’s a new mosaic – a boreal chickadee, made from Italian smalti glass tiles, grouted, on a wood ground. Many more of our mosaics can be seen at the Long Branch Mosaic site.
The last couple posts on this blog have been about sourdough bread, so I thought I’d continue and show you the monster. 
I keep it in a Tupperware-type container. I’ve cut a couple holes in the lid because air circulation seems to be needed. I’ve been feeding it daily by taking away about a cup and a half of the starter and adding the same amount of flour and water. I understand some people keep their monster in the fridge and only feed it once per week. I haven’t done that, although it seems like a reasonable option.
When I consulted various websites about making sourdough they all told me how important it was that I weigh the flour and use some exact proportions which they specify. I didn’t do that. In fact I only more or less measure. I take out a portion and add a portion and it seems to be doing fine as my test loaf shows. The websites also warned me against using chlorinated tap water, which they they said would inhibit the starter and could cause failure. Since I wanted to do this as simply as possible I decided to ignore that warning and see what happened, thinking if my monster failed, I would start using water which I’d have sitting out to dissipate the chlorine. However, I really didn’t have any problems developing an active starter that made good bread. I suspect there are some experts who will tell me I can bake even better bread if only I did this or that differently, and they may be right. I’m not against learning to improve what I’m doing. For now though, I think I have a good monster going.
As it turned out my test loaf using the new sourdough monster was wonderful. The crust was nicely developed, the bread had that distinctive sourdough flavour and a beautiful texture with a nice bit of chew about it. We destroyed it in short order.
I’ve been occasionally baking no-knead bread in a Dutch oven over the past few months. A couple weeks ago I captured and developed a sourdough monster with the intention of using the same Lahey method only using wild yeast – the monster – rather than commercial yeast. The monster has been looking and smelling just right over the past 2 or 3 days so I figured it was time to test it and bake up a loaf.
I used about half my monster (which I re-upped with flour and water), added a little water and salt then added bread flour to form a sticky dough. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to need to proof the dough with this starter – I formed the dough very early this morning. I’ve heard of some people proofing sourdough at a cool temperature for 24 hours or longer. At the 12 hour mark, though, it was looking right, right enough that I decided to proceed. I covered a tea towel with flour and corn meal, pulled the dough from its bowl (it was very glutonous), folded two sides in then folded the other two sides in, then loosely wrapped the dough with the towel. I let it sit for another half hour, then heated my Dutch oven to 500 F. I plopped my dough in, put the lid on and baked it for half an hour, then took the lid off and gave it another 15 minutes. It’s cooling on the rack now and I can’t wait to try it.
Spotted in the Toronto Star this morning by Tuffy P, who sees everything:
Happy birthday Mister Dickens.
The American Songbook is not for the feint of heart. Trains, cars, whiskey, sex, money, work, loneliness, death – even murder – and God, not necessarily in that order. Vernacular music, music of the people, perhaps the expression of a culture just before the great decline.
You should-a been uptown when Reuben’s train came down, you could hear that whistle blow a hundred miles. Listen to the Foghorn Stringband. For a band with no banjo, they really cook.
I can feel Reuben’s train rumblin’ down the track. Long steel rail and short cross tie – bound to get to heaven when I die.
When people ask me why I’m so caught up in this Old Time music thing, I show them two or three videos which say it way better than I can with words.
My baby loves shortnin’ shortnin’, my baby loves shortnin’ bread…. This is Chicken Train, John Herrman on banjo, John Engle on fiddle, Meredith McIntosh on guitar.
I could watch this next video 100 times in a row and never get tired of it. Bashful Brother Oswald is the singer. Cathy Barton is frailing the banjo. Polly-wolly-doodle.
One more before I call it a night. I’ve shared this one before but it is so good it deserves another look. It’s the fantastic Mac Beattie and his Ottawa Valley Melodiers performing Saturday Night up the Gatineau.
I got a robo-call today from Doug Ford, brother to the late infamous Rob, former mayor of this great city. Doug wants to be the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and ultimately the Premier of the Province. He wants it really badly. I don’t know why he’s robot-calling me. I have nothing to do with that party or any political party for that matter. Maybe I would know more about why he robo-called me if I hadn’t hung up the phone so quickly. Please make him go away.
27th Street 