Month: September 2017

Metamorphosis

No, this post is not about Franz Kafka! It is about butterflies.

We spent Saturday, September 23, at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia attending an all-day workshop on pollinators: Monarch butterflies, bees and hummingbirds to name a few. We got back to Franklin late Saturday night. It was a wonderful day of learning at a special place of reflection and faith. For me this has been a summer learning more about Monarch butterflies that amazingly migrate thousands of miles to forests in Mexico to winter in colonies of millions. I remember them as a kid on our Minnesota farm. They are more numerous in the midwest than here in the southeastern United States. I have several milkweed plants, the host for Monarchs, in my flower garden.

When visiting in Minnesota in July my sister, Janet, and I learned from m our cousin, Louise, how to raise Monarch larva in the house. Louise is a former teacher, very patient and caring. As a result of what we learned Janet successfully reared 7 butterflies this summer.

Many of our pollinators are in trouble. That could be disastrous for mankind. The reasons include habitat loss and use of pesticides. At the conference we learned things, many small, that we can do, such as a few good pollinating plants where we have space in our gardens. My milkweed plants did not do well this year. Aphids were particularly bad. By now my plants were worn and ragged, and I was thinking of cutting them.  Unbelievable coincidence/miracle, when I checked my garden last Sunday there was a Monarch caterpillar on the milkweed! We brought him in the house and fed him milkweed leaves until today when he spun his chrysalis!!! It appears we may have success with this Monarch.

In five years here at our Franklin home I have only seen 1 Monarch butterfly. That was this summer. 1 butterfly, 3 poor milkweed plants . . . it is incredible that we have hopes to hatch a healthy butterfly to return to Mexico. The lesson in all we do is that is is the small things, the attention to detail and the caring that may bear fruit. And, we all go through out own metamorphosis as we age and learn.

Music

Music. Its enormous influence on me – a great source of joy and inspiration. Where to start? Both past and present.

I grew up a dozen years younger than my siblings, and therefore with the music of the Everly Brothers, Elvis, Conway Twitty (his rocker days), Johnny Cast and the Platters. Yes, it was the early days of rock n’roll, but it was also the music of Doris Day, ‘How Much is that Doggie in the Window?’, a song I sang as a little boy; Mantovanni, Lawrence Welk: the old stuff.

One of my first albums was a recording of Scheherazade, Rimsky-Korsakoff’s masterpiece. That $1 warped record transported me to an exotic other world of the east. It open with a haunting solo violin, a theme that recurs. It is Scheherazade’s voice telling her 1001 tales night after night. That music and story have remained a profound influence. I have heard it performed live 3 times and look forward to a 4th. There is nothing as powerful as live music.

…

To the present –

We are in Brevard, North Carolina, a music hotbed. We were drawn by The Steep Canyon Rangers, host band. We were not disappointed. They closed the Saturday festival with Steve Martin joining them.

A Virginia band, The Steel Wheels, blew us away with their energy, vocals and musicianship. We rushed from the festival venue downtown to Ecusta brewery where they played a two hour set in a cozy downstairs setting – 5 exceptional musicians on multiple instruments, primarily banjo, steel guitar, fiddle, upright bass and drums. We visited with them after – so friendly and gracious. The drummer, originally from Ann Arbor, MI, lives in Brooklyn. It is interesting in that in today’s music world they live in various places, coming together to tour. It is a world of travel and multiple projects in order to make a living. The drummer plays Broadway in addition to his other music.

The highlight of Sunday’s lineup was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. We had a wonderful night with them in Highlands two years ago when they revisited the making of ‘Will the Circle be Unbroken’ with John Carter Cash. That evening was a retelling in music and stories of the making of that great album: a hippie jug band recording and preserving music with the likes of Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, and Doc Watson. We had the opportunity to visit with them at a reception after, almost embarrassing how few stayed, but it was an older group of people.

I showed John Carter Cash pictures of June and Johnny taken in concert in 1965. He said Johnny was taking over a hundred pills a day at that time. Johnny was rail-thin and sweating, but put enormous energy into his show. John’s wife was fascinated with the photos. I was put in touch with a producer working with Ken Burn’s on a country music documentary, but haven’t heard from her in a while.

The festival ended with the total ensemble singing ‘Will the Circle be Unbroken’ immediately followed by ‘The Weight’. It was a wonderful close to a special event.