A few weeks ago, when I was in California at my high school reunion, I was in a conversation that went something like this: “And where do you live now?” “Massachusetts.” “Oh, that’s one of those small states back East that are all on the same puzzle piece.” “We call that New England.” — but …
Author Archives: deanb
Wildlife
I saw a raccoon on my street on the way home from klezmer tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one. They were decimated by rabies about fourteen years ago. For several years before that we used to see them very often.
More than one meaning
There have been a couple of recent posts about unintended meanings of product names (see Unfurnished Brooklyn for one and a link to the other) which reminded me of this van that Arlene and I saw in New Brunswick probably twelve years ago: I guess it means something else in Acadian French.
RH
On Friday evening we had Anne & Matt and Charley, Nicole, & Emma over for dinner for the first night of Rosh HaShanah. We ate early so Anne & Matt could get to Casco at a reasonable hour (and even so it would only have been reasonable at their age) and so Emma could get …
More Finale work
I got another song into Finale, another of the four Goldenshteyn pieces we got last Tuesday in klezmer class. This one is his “Rushishe Sher”. A sher (pronounced like share, what you learn to do in kindergarten) is a lot like a square dance. It can go on and on, like a square dance, until …
Goldensteyn Khosidl
Barry handed out four new pieces on Tuesday night at the first meeting of the klezmer band class for the year. They’re all attributed to Goldensteyn (no first name given), who’s not the composer but the musicologist who collected them. Someone collected a large number of klezmer tunes in the Soviet Union in the ’30s; …
Sept 15, Wayside Commons
When I was working in Burlington, at my previous job, there was a big construction project going on across the street. First they were demolishing a big industrial building over there, with cranes and power shovels and wrecking balls. Then there was a period of blasting. When you heard the five minute warning whistle you …
Sept 14, Israeli Dancing
Today was the first meeting of Koleinu, but I’m not going to do it this year. There’s just not enough time during the week to get things done after work. But it was my sister Sari’s yahrtzeit, so we went to Temple Emanuel to say kaddish. Israeli dancing has been meeting Thursday evenings over most …
Sept 2, Pocatello & Lava
When people in Pocatello say they’re going to Lava, they mean Lava Hot Springs. It’s about 30 miles, about 20 miles south on I-15 and 10 miles off the freeway. Once many years ago we went there to swim in the 50 meter swimming pool. This time it was to soak in the hot pools. …
An old picture
There’s a painting hanging in the cellar hallway in my mom’s house that I didn’t remember ever having seen before. I asked her, “Who painted that picture of the young woman knitting? That could be you, in a wicker chair that could be on the porch in Milford?” She said, “Oh, I think Mimi did …