The holidaze are definately here!

So how are you all doing with the shorter days, the cold and the intensity building as Christmas approaches? I know tonights' full moon is partly responsible for feeling overwhelmed.  I hope you can stop and fix yourself a nice cup of tea and relax.

For me I am taking things one day at a time. Today I sang at two different places.  The club house I have told you about before. What I love about it is that some of these people look on the outside jaded and harsh. But they will sing, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and all the rest of the favorites with as must gusto as anyone else.  I was pleasantly surprised  when the music session became focused mostly on one man who appears kind of quiet and shy. He sang along quietly with me and told stories of his Christmas celebrations he spent in FL as a child.

Next I went to a nursing home where most of the residents were napping but a man named Tom and I spent a good hour singing every Christmas song we knew and when we ran out of holiday tunes, we sang old folk songs. He particularly likes the upbeat songs where he likes to hoot and holler in a fun and rowdy way.   Whatever the song, he puts his whole heart into it.

Yesterday I went to visit my former Galax dulcimer teacher whom I studied traditional mountain old time music with a couple of years ago. We jammed on some of the tunes she taught me and then started playing Christmas songs. I wished I had recorded her playing, "O Come Emmanuel" on the dulcimer! Wow that was haunting.

Here is a video of me with my teacher playing in a the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcase back in 2011. I feel so lucky to have been her apprentice and now it is my job to pass on the tradition. So here goes: