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The Ladybug and Bunny – working on being friends
Funny how Time Slips Away
I came across this lovely little earworm tonight on the Youtube machine so I thought I’d share it. Here’s Al Green and Lyle Lovett (Al Green and Lyle Lovett??) (this might be the first Willie Nelson tune I’ve posted here) performing Funny how Time Slips Away. Billy Preston on B3.
Big John McNeil
I don’t know who Big John McNeil was or anything about the origin of the tune. I’m mostly familiar with it from listening to some Canadian fiddle music. Recently I stumbled across a clawhammer arrangement for this tune, so I’ve been re-familiarizing myself with it to get the right feel for it in my head and I’m going to try learning this one on the banjo.
Here’s the late great Ottawa Valley fiddler Ward Allen performing it…
It seems pretty straight ahead as a banjo tune, but it’s played pretty fast and that’s going to take some practice.
The Lazy Allen Stories – first supporters on Patreon
When I started writing The Lazy Allen Stories, I didn’t really know what to do with them. I started posting them on this blog, then built a place for them of their own. I looked at maybe submitting them to literary magazines, but that didn’t sound too promising to me. First, I didn’t really know any. My background is in painting, not short story writing. So I asked the Googler, and discovered that indeed there are a bunch of literary journals operating in Canada. Most of them welcome manuscripts. Most of the prefer you only submit your story to them and nobody else. Most of the take 3 months before making a decision. Some of them even offer a bit of money if they publish, 25 or even 50 Canadianos. I thought about that then decided I could likely find as many readers over time on the internet than I could attract with the more traditional approach.
I had been watching some lectures on YouTube about the game of go, and at a certain point, I noticed that one of these “go streamers” put up a little note that said, if you love these lectures and want to support them, go to my Patreon page. I checked that out and I liked the model. I liked it because I could continue to post these stories for anyone to read for free, but if there were some people out there somewhere who loved the stories and wanted to support the project financially, that option was available through Patreon.
The way I have Patreon set up for the stories is that I’ve created the option to support the project at only one level – $1 per story. I don’t have any special goodies for supporters, beyond the satisfaction of supporting the project, but I will thank all supporters on Patreon, on the stories site and here. My goal is to write and publish one story per month until my brain runs dry. Supporters have an option to limit monthly support, just in case I go on a crazy writing jag and publish faster than anticipated. The way I was looking at it, someone supporting the project would be pledging about $12 per year for a dozen stories, less than the cost of a paperback. So readers have a choice, enjoy the stories for free (and that’s fine – please continue to enjoy them), or pay for them at $1 per story (even more fine).
I really have no idea if Patreon will be successful for The Lazy Allen Stories over time. We’ll see. Maybe it’s a crazy idea. Who knows?
Today I got my first Patreon supporters, so I want to send out an extra big thank you and some big hugs to my dear friends Candy Minx and Anthony Stagg, for believing in my folly writing project. I really appreciate your support!
Party Mix Saga
We had a bag of cat treats for our lions, called Party Mix. As near as I can tell, these are like nachos for cats – maybe not the healthiest vet-approved treat out there, but but cats love them. The other morning we found the Party Mix bag down in the basement, sliced open, much of the contents missing.
Only one thing has changed in our household and that is the addition of the Ladybug to the family. In the dead of night, the little weasel grabbed the bag of Party Mix – and keep in mind, she only has 3 legs – pulled it down from the kitchen counter, dragged it down the stairs and opened it up. Maybe it was her way of making friends with the others – hey look what I got! Dig in everybody!
Score: The Ladybug 1 – Hoomans 0
Fortunately we have much more developed brains than our feline friends. The Party Mix went into a plastic container, and a bottle of vitamins went on top….
Today I arrived home from work to find the vitamins knocked over and the Party Mix container upside down in the sink – intact.
New score: The Ladybug 1 – Hoomans 1
Tie Game
Reel de Ste-Anne or The St. Anne’s Reel
Here’s the St. Anne’s reel as a Quebec button accordion tune…from CherzeduKbec
Interestingly, it’s also popular among Appalachian style players. Here’s a version from Sam Worley featuring clawhammer banjo…
I haven’t learned this one on clawhammer yet, but it’s on my list.
Snow Magic
I love the way a fresh snowfall transforms the garden. 
Imagination Station #2 is looking great…
On the other hand, Imagination Station #1 is in need of renovation. Maybe it’s what the local developers like to call a “tear-down”.
I have some work ahead of me come spring.
Retirement Practice
Like anything else, I think retirement requires some practice to get it right, so a I took a vacation day today and thought I’d give it a go. I started the day by heading up to the gym for a good swim. I love to swim, but between work and all the other activities I’m involved with, I haven’t been nearly disciplined enough in getting to the pool on a regular basis. Today’s swim was very refreshing and I feel as if I’ve stretched my muscles out nicely.
There was a shopping list waiting for me by the computer this morning, so after swimming I did a little shopping, then came home to shovel the snow. It’s still snowing, but not that hard. I might have to do one more light shovel later. I wouldn’t call this a winter storm exactly, but since we haven’t had a whole lot of winter this season, maybe this is as good as we’re going to get.
It isn’t really cold out today, but still, I wouldn’t want to be a cowboy out in this….
….or a lumberjack for that matter….
New butterfly mosaic…The Flowerpot Butterfly
Here’s the new butterfly mosaic – this one is approximately 2 feet square. Tuffy P did a great job on this one. My only role was to make the shaped ground. This mosaic features a variety of items from broken crockery to pokerchips. There is even a toy soldier in there – can you find it?
We’re always making new mosaics and we do custom projects as well, big and small. For more mosaic photos, visit Long Branch Mosaics. Coming soon – a series of mosaic mandalas, and as spring approaches, we’ll be working on some robins too.
Little Village
We bought this little village of bird houses at Nice old Stuff in Jarvis, Ontario. We’ll be applying some mosaic to these, then some of them will be mounted on top of the two pillars we’ve planted in the back yard (which will also get a mosaic surface treatment).
This community housing project has a 9-unit town home, a 4-unit town home as well as two single-family dwellings.
27th Street 