Raise the Dead of Wintertime
One perfectly still and beautiful winter’s morning at Christophers Cross, in western Prince Edward Island, Vincent Handrahan hitched up his little morgan horse and we took a ride over the back fields, surveying the supply of fire wood that had been cut and still needed hauling. That sleigh ride, and the hardworking and resourceful people of West Prince, inspired ‘Raise the Dead of Wintertime.’

Listen to a clip of this song

(You’ll need an MP3 player to listen.)

http://www.allanrankin.com/songs/onesong.php3?number=10

Lyrics
A sighing wind brings heavy snow
Every good woodcutter knows
It fills the road and blocks the door
It lays and stays and waits for more

The Jeffery boys are strong and lean
The best damn workers you’ve ever seen
They’ll cut more wood than a horse can haul
Near six chords before nightfall

Chorus:

We’ll get up at the break of day
And hitch the morgan to the sleigh
And as we work we’ll sing a rhyme
And raise the dead of wintertime

Deep in the woods our fuel is born
It meets the axe to keep us warm
We trim the branches, pile it high
And leave it for the wind to dry

The yellow birch, the spruce so red
And juniper to bake good bread
Hard maple when the flame’s in doubt
And cedar if the coals die out

And when at night we’re by the stove
Our bellies full and our stories told
The winds of winter might blow cold
But none of us will feel it

Repeat Chorus
Repeat Last Two Lines
End

Players
Vocal: Allan Rankin
Yamaha 9ft Concert Grand Piano: Tracey Dares

Copyright Wild Garden Music (SOCAN)

I think I have a combination of cabin fever AND spring fever!!

I can almost feel the warmth and smell the freshness of the clothes drying on the line.

Clotheslines

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you’d see the fancy sheets
And towels upon the line;
You’d see the company table clothes
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby’s birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You’d know how much they’d grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, “Gone on vacation now”
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, “We’re back!” when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors raised their brows,
And looked disgustedly away.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody’s guess.
I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

Author unknown

I am reading The Shipping News, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Annie Proulx, and read this line in this morning’s reading: “He took a last look in the side mirror at the rented house, saw the empty porch, the forsythia bush, the neighbor’s flesh-colored slips undulating on the line.”

Pearson Soda Works building in Placerville; home of the Cozmic Cafe where my husband & I used to produce folk & Americana concerts.

I’ve been away in a slump of some sort for the winter. I had a productive Wednesday and that always gives me hope that the next day will be good.

Yesterday morning I listened to my friend Gary’s last day on KVMR with some sadness. It was a beautiful show and good music is always a key ingredient in my productivity at work. I had to stress to get some major tasks accomplished as I had to leave by 1:30 and head to Placerville for a doctor appointment and to visit my new hospice patient in a skilled nursing facility.

The doctor appointment went well and I was proud of myself for making the appointment – and showing up. Talking about myself is not my favorite thing to do. My blood pressure was a bit high but he didn’t mention it. What’s that about? Why doesn’t he tell me to lose weight?  Oh, and he said he had fired his bookkeeper and offered me a job!  What’s that all about?   Do not think so!  My goal is to get away from the desk.

The care center is located right between my doctor’s office and the pharmacy, so I stopped to visit with my new patient, a lovely 98 year-old woman named Dorothy. Both she and her roommate were in bed; both were in wheelchairs the last I visited. Nap time, I assumed. I tiptoed in to place the small dogwood branch with blossoms I had brought for Dorothy on her side table. Her eyes opened and I realized she had just dozed while watching the TV. I reintroduced myself and she said she was having a lazy day, the first day she had not gotten out of bed. She had obviously failed. She did chat with me a bit but kept yawning, so I told her I’d be back soon and tiptoed out of the room. Failing patients foes with the hospice territory. I went through the in-home respite training course for our local hospice soon after my dad died. Just lost an in-home patient who reminded me a lot of my dad. My supervisor and I both thought it would be good to have a change of scene and a woman this time, thus resulting in my assignment in the very pleasant and clean skilled nursing facility.

A quick pharmacy visit and grocery shopping and home for a very relaxing evening.

As for now, I’m off to check on the mama goose sitting on a nest on top of our barn. Photo soon!

My birthplace!

The photo is the former home of the Dickinson County Memorial Hospital in Spirit Lake, Iowa.   Nice to know my birthplace is still standing.   In August I spent a few days in Iowa with my mother.   We had a wonderful visit although at times it was bittersweet because of my dad’s obvious absence from my girlhood home.   

Check out my own personal theme song, Sprit Lake by Erica Wheeler, on CDBABY: http://cdbaby.com/cd/ericawheeler2 

I walked down to Spirit Lake and saw my reflection…….. that’s where I lay my burdens down.

Makin' bacon in the summertime

Life is a cup to be filled not drained.
Anonymous

This was supposed to be a nice, normal week!   Well, as normal as normal could be when you have to wake up at 2 a.m. on Tuesday and drive an hour to Nevada City, CA where I now have an every other Tuesday 4 to 7 a.m. radio show on KVMR FM.    The name of the show is Ordinary Town and I play lots of fun folk, Americana & roots music.   It has taken me two years of training and subbing to reach the goal of having my own show and I am mighty proud to be part of the KVMR family.   www.kvmr.org

As a result, I have been dragging a bit at work.   I’m thankful that the vineyard management co.  I do accounting for allows me such flexibility.  They were great during my breast cancer surgeries and treatment last fall.   I am blessed to have a  job in our little Sierra foothill mining town.    However, I am also feeling the effect of the exhorbitant gas prices with my 12 mile round trip commute every day.  Just a drop in the bucket compare to so many others though.

I took a nap after the radio show and was at work by noon on  Tuesday.   Tuesday evening was to mine to savor as my husband had a choral practice.   I was reclining on the couch, a luxury I don’t give myself very often.  I was just getting into a nice little movie when I remembered that our darling dog, Tiffany, was still outside.    It took me a couple of minutes after she came into the house and laid down on my lovely living room area rug to realize that something was very, very wrong.   You know the saying “I smell a skunk”?  Well, I did definitely smell a skunk – and my dog smelled like a skunk!   The rest of the night was devoted to internet research and bathing Tiff in various anti-skunk odor concoctions.    It’s is still a work in progress as is saving my lovely living room area rug.

I woke up with a cold sore Wednesday morning and had to cancel my visit with my hospice patient.  Hadn’t seen her for awhile so that was really disappointing.   I did do something that I am happy about later that day.     I rejoined Weight Watchers!     The sub leader was a woman who used to work  as  receptionist at WW meetings in Georgetown, Linda.   She’s lovely and one of  the best leaders I have met in my illustriuos WW career.  Hey, they say it’s a lifestyle!    (I do have making Lifetime as my goal this time around.)   Linda calls herself a breast cancer survivor.  She shared with me later that she is in actuality a breast cancer fighter as it has returned twice and is now in her ribs.   It’s a sign…..   I am going to attend meetings on Wed. evening as long as she is subbing and then I’m moving to her Saturday morning meeting.  

Stay tuned……   Next blogging will contain tidbits from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Wisdom from the Sea.

Snapdragons thrive in the toilet bowl of life!

A fallen oak creates an emptiness beyond description

I’d better get busy; I have e-bay sales items to mail – woo hoo!, and then to get ready to head over to Nevada City for the 30th birthday celebration.  I’m a folk dj there.   www.kvmr.org

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury,pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

I am a 54 year old woman living in the Sierra foothills of Northern California.  It’s a lovely spring-like day and I am sitting here at the computer counting my many blessings.  Last year I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.  Although I had to undergo two surgeries and 6 1/2 weeks of radiation therapy, I consider myself a very lucky “girl”.   I slept for two days after my last radiation treatment and then my husband & I had to drive back to the Midwest where my father was in the hospital dying.   He passed away peacefully two hours after our arrival.   Much soul searching has taken  place in the first few months of the new year and I am now committed to living each day as fully and healthily as possible.  Now I know that is easier said than done.  Each new day is a new journey.

I plan to share with my readers some tools I have started to utilize to enhance the quality of my life and well-being.  I hope you’ll stay tuned!  Or at least bookmark me!

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. (Irish Proverb)