You could read three weather forecasts daily...from three different sources...and they would all diverge wildly.
And they would all be wrong.
They might promise that the rain will let up around 4 PM so you plan to do some things that don't involve being wet...say maybe help park the kids' camper or pick tomatoes.
Not only will it not stop by 4PM, it will rain 3 inches between then and 4AM the next day.
On days when the cute little icon on the weather page is a bright fat sun with rays dispelling rainy gloom there will be a downpour every hour.
Ralph swears he saw 32 geese all carrying umbrellas down by the river this morning. He says some of them were downright fashionable too.
I think just about anybody you ask would happily cry, "Hold, enough!" and wish for even a few minutes of dry weather.
And you know how they always say, "It's a good day for ducks?"
I have seen maybe a dozen ducks in the past three weeks, so I don't think they are happy either.
However I can attest that every day, all day, is a good day for mosquitos. There is a little tiny kind that goes straight for eyes, nose and ears. There are so many you can wipe them off your face!
I sure hope we get a couple of consecutive weeks of respite so farmers can get the corn in and then some more drytime later in the season for the beans.
Meanwhile, guess what???? It's raining.
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| Pretty much the only sun we will see today |
We moved to Broadalbin when I was in 6th grade and I found out all about different. I had been fine in Fonda...they were used to me and my quirkiness. That didn't fly up north. I consoled myself by lying on the dining room floor...cold, bare, empty, hardwood...after the dishes were done of course...and wearing out Dad's Kingston Trio albums. They had a little record player that sat on the floor there and I could play them all I wanted if I was quiet. My favorite was, and is, From the Hungry i. (We still have the one with the grooves worn almost beyond redemption.)
Everyone else was listening to the Beatles. I didn't. (Until later when we got the band going but never with any great pleasure.) Did you know that the Beatles once opened for the Kingston Trio? Yep, I found that out last night.
See, Becky inherited my love for their music and wore out MY cassette tapes when she was about the same age as I was during the dining room years. They played locally during the years we were showing cows every summer, but due to one fair or another I couldn't take her.
Fast Forward a few years....
Tickets went on sale for a show at the Universal Preservation Hall a couple of months ago and she got seats for the three of us. We searched out maps and parking and off we went in a snaky, slithering rain, with much trepidation.
I had watched videos online and liked what I heard, but had no idea what to expect from this extension of the original band. The founding members all left us long ago.
What can I say but, wow! Becky was one of the youngest people there, by at least a few decades, but they rocked that place and the crowd was downright dynamic. They played the best-known KT classics with a polish and fidelity to the past that was at once exciting, and yet comforting to this old fan. It was great to remember those dining room years from where I am now and realize that weird really isn't all that bad.
They played songs I had never heard before, having moved on to country and rock once our band got going and we needed to please others, so I missed some albums. They closed with one written, I believe, by John Stewart, about America's first moon walk that literally gave me cold chills. (BTW, for historical reference, along with my brother and friends, I belonged to two rock and roll/country bands, Hereafter and Stone Free. We always joked to the audience that we would probably be here after they walked out, and that although we didn't play stone free, we were certainly dirt cheap.)
The show was great rollicking fun. We laughed, sang along, clapped, and laughed some more. Even Ralph sang and amazingly well too. He is not exactly a music guy. At the end of the show the band mingled in the lobby, shaking hands and sharing memories with anyone brave enough to walk up to them. I am a sniveling coward at heart as it happens, but that didn't stop me one bit....nice guys and very approachable.
Among my favorite aspects was Buddy Woodward playing the conga drum. Such flash! What panache! However, it was all fun, from fan favorites to new territory.
Before we were home last night, having traversed the dreaded route down 29 in rain-lashed darkness, lit mostly by ill-placed reflections glaring from the watery road, Becky had found some of my new favorites, and placed them on my "3C Walking" playlist. (You know, threecollie...who is a walking fool.)
Thanks Beck for getting the tickets and coaxing us out there, Ralph for driving under such nasty conditions (at least it wasn't blinding snow like that one High Kings Concert at the Egg), Dad for giving me so much music in my kidhood, and the band for a great evening's entertainment.
Hope they play here again and soon.
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| Back in the band days upstairs at Sherman's Amusement Park Loved that Framus guitar and I believe that is the drum set Mike is sellin if you are interested. It's a good un. |
Today I finally remembered to bake and freeze the big butternut squash I bought for fifty cents each from some Amish folks up in Otsego County. They grow darned good squash.
I don't believe my watermelon is going to set fruit this year, but at least...so far...the deer and woodchucks have left it alone. Last year just as it started making baby melons they ate every single leaf. It is so pretty that I will continue to grow it just for the foliage!
Check out this mixer. A dear friend bought it for me once when i took care of his horse when he was out of town. That was before I even knew Ralph existed, so over forty years...way over. It still works perfectly well too. You know that old saying....they just don't make them like they used to!
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