Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Sal Goes to Dulcimer Days

Coshocton, Ohio is most famous as the home of Roscoe Village, but many music lovers also know the city as the site of the annual Coshocton Dulcimer Days Festival.  I won't get into the very long story of why we went there, but suffice it to say, three Fleaharmonics and Sal ended up at the festival.  Unfortunately for us, and for those who worked so hard to prepare for the big event, the rain poured down for hours.  Navigating the charmingly uneven brick sidewalks meant following a zigzag course in an attempt to avoid an overabundance of gigantic puddles.  Most of the vendors -- who were supposed to be in tents along the streets -- packed up and went home.  It was a pretty dismal day.  All was not lost, however.  The three of us (and Sal) took a ukulele workshop with Bing Futch -- a super musician and teacher.  This prevented the trip from being a total washout -- pun intended!

Hoping to go to a drier Dulcimer Days next year!

This was Bing Futch's third meeting with Sal.  The others took place at the Midwest Uke Fest, which happens each August in Woodburn, Indiana.  We'll all be meeting there in just a few weeks for two days of ukulele fun and learning.



Saturday, July 11, 2015

Sal Experiences the Renaissance

On June 9th, The Cleveland Fleaharmonics did a singalong for the folks at The Renaissance Retirement Campus in Olmsted Township.  Sal was happy to come along and enjoy the show!

The Cleveland Fleaharmonics -- and Sal -- ready for the show to begin!



Friday, July 10, 2015

Sal's Missed Opportunity to Meet Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink

On May 29th, I attended two workshops by Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink at the Beck Center for the Arts.  What a great experience!  In the morning they performed wonderful music for us and taught us much about using music in our work with young children.  They encouraged all the teachers and daycare providers in attendance to learn to play the ukulele and use it with their young charges.  YES!

In the afternoon they conducted a ukulele workshop.  The group was divided into beginners and more experienced players.  I went with the beginners so I could get some ideas to use in the ukulele program I'm doing at the library this summer.  I learned a lot from both of these super-cool ladies!  Looking forward to their next visit to Cleveland!  I will be signing up for whatever workshops or classes they offer!


Rushing out of the house in the morning, I left Sal behind.  Bummer.  I would have liked to get her photo with Cathy and Marcy -- entertaining presenters and inspiring teachers. 

Sophia and Sal Meet Again

Sal and I visited Sophia in May.  As always, we had a great time.  Sal and I agree that Sophia is amazing and delightful in every way, and are doing our best to indoctrinate her into the world of ukuleles...


Sal bringing her Flea ukulele to Grandma.  She would like to hear a song!


Sophia and Sal -- two cuties!

Sal Goes To Mighty Uke Day

This post will be a challenge for me.  It's going to take great self-discipline to write briefly about Mighty Uke Day!  Six of the Cleveland Fleaharmonics attended this year, and to steal a phrase from one of our number, we had a simply splendid time!

Mighty Uke Day was actually two days long.  It started on Friday, May 8th, with a strum on the steps of the Michigan State Capital.

Sal posing on a tree in front of the Michigan capital.
Sal waiting for the Capital Strum to begin.
Sal -- a very small ukulele -- posing with a very large ukulele -- 13 feet long, to be exact!  This giant uke was seen all over town during Mighty Uke Day.

Three Fleaharmonics -- and Sal -- ready for the Capital Strum to begin!

Later in the day we attended workshops!  That evening we enjoyed a fabulous concert.  The next day meant more workshops and another evening concert.  In between we enjoyed nice meals together and had a generally wonderful time.  If you want to read about all the talented people we saw in concert, click here.



Susan Picking and Sal.  Ms. Picking taught a children's ukulele class, from which I stole ideas for our summer uke program at the library.
Stu Fuchs -- a wonderful instructor. We totally enjoyed his workshops.
This was Sal's third meeting with Victoria Vox.  What an amazing singer/songwriter she is!
The Fleaharmonics gang at our last Mighty Uke Day workshop.  What a great time we had!  Looking forward to next year already!

Sal Goes to the Cleveland Jumping Flea Spring Strum

The Cleveland Jumping Fleas love to play al fresco, so this year we added a Spring Strum to our schedule.  We couldn't have picked a nicer morning.  It was warm!  With sunshine!  Ukuleles bring out the best in people -- and weather!

The Spring Strummers - and Sal.

The traditional silly pose.

Another Missed Opportunity for Sal -- Meeting Mary Roach!

When my son Christopher and I learned that Mary Roach, an author we both enjoy, would be appearing at Writers Center Stage, we knew we had to go.  We looked forward to April 22nd with great anticipation.  When the day arrived, I decided not to bring Sal.  I was way behind in posts already, and was seriously considering giving up on Travels With Sal.  Of course when Christopher and I were waiting in line to get our books signed, I regretted my decision.  Thankfully, I carry a supply of Sal's cards in my purse, so was able to get a Sal-related photo anyway.

Note to self:  Always bring Sal! 


Mary Roach =  delightful person + entertaining speaker!
And, in the small world department, whilst discussing ukuleles, I found out that Mary Roach knows Gerald Ross!  



Sal Helps Celebrate Sophia's First Birthday!

Sophia had a big celebration for her first birthday!  Family and friends gathered for an extravaganza of gifts and Frankie's pizza and cake.  Unfortunately, in all of the excitement I neglected to get a photo of the birthday girl with Sal.  The next morning, though, we had a little photo session in front of the giant Hello Kitty birthday party backdrop.  What a difference a year makes.  Check out this post about Sal's first meeting with Sophia.  Looking forward to what the next year brings...

A serious moment of Sal and Sophia bonding.

:)

Dala Meets Sal's Card

Many months ago my friend Heidi invited me to go to a Dala concert in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  I checked out a couple of Dala's videos online, and decided that YES, I wanted to go to the show.  The videos reminded me a lot of another duo I really enjoy - Lily and Madeleine -- so I figured I would like Dala, too.  I was not disappointed.  What a delightful evening!  I loved their sense of humor and their music!  I bought a CD and have been listening to it a lot since that April night.  I've also been working on their song Lennon and McCartney on my ukulele.  It's got lots of barre chords, and is quite a challenge, which is forcing me to work on those chords.  I really want to play this song!  Thanks, ladies, for the great incentive!  If any Travels with Sal readers want to try it, too, here it is:  http://www.dalagirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Lennon-and-McCartney.pdf

Come back soon, Dala!  I will be at the front of the ticket line! 


 Why didn't I bring Sal to the show!?  Huge oversight, which of course I regretted.  The ladies of Dala were good sports, though, and posed with Sal's card.








Sal With The Fleaharmonics

On March 4th, The Cleveland Fleaharmonics did a Singalong for the Women's Club at Mary Queen of the Apostles Church.  I, unfortunately, was unable to play -- or even to drive myself to the church -- as I had broken my elbow and was wearing a sling.  It would have been unthinkable to miss a Fleaharmonics show, though, so I got a ride and joined in the singing.  We all had a great time, as you can see in the following photos!  (I think the audience did, too!)


The Fleaharmonics (and Sal) take the stage!

What a fun bunch!  In this photo -- the traditional "silly" shot -- you can see the sling that prevented me from playing my uke, from driving, etc.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Sal Attends 1-1/2 Ukulele Workshops

Regular Travels With Sal readers will have noticed an alarming lack of blog posts in 2015!  Many months have passed since Sal's adventures were last chronicled here.  Life has been getting busier, and it has become obvious to me that something's gotta give!  So that I don't have to stop sharing Sal's travels entirely, I have decided to limit myself to posting just photos with minimal text.

The very lengthy post you are about to read (or give up on because it looks too long), was begun before I had this epiphany, and has been sitting in Blogger as a draft since February.  Since it was almost finished anyway, I'm posting it.  You will perhaps be relieved to know that future posts will follow the photos and minimal text model.

Back in February I wrote...

When Sal and I heard that there was to be a James Hill and Anne Janelle weekend at Elderly Instruments, we decided that we had to go!  I asked Bruce -- a fellow member of The Cleveland Fleaharmonics -- to accompany us, and he agreed.

The weekend of February 13th-14th was to be full of musical delights:
1. An open-to-all strum early Friday evening, led by Ben Hassinger of Mighty Uke Day fame.
2. A concert by James Hill and Anne Janelle at 8:00 p.m. on Friday.
3. A Saturday morning open-to-all strum at Sir Pizza.
4. Chord Twins workshop at Elderly Instruments at 1:00 p.m.
5. Lyricism and Line workshop at 3:00 p.m.

With me behind the wheel, Bruce, Sal, and I took off for Lansing on the 13th.  As we got closer to our destination, we began to encounter some falling snow.  By the time we arrived at the location of the Friday strum and concert, the flakes were coming down pretty hard.  We went inside and followed the lead of others who were saving seats in the concert hall by placing their coats thereon.  While taking my coat off, I put my purse down on a chair. Bruce asked me if I was going to leave it there, and I responded that of course I wouldn't do such a thing!  He gave me his wallet to stick in there, and off we went to the strum.  My purse remained on the chair, where it sat unattended for the duration of the strum!  Thank goodness ukulele players are honest!

James Hill and Anne Janelle had started the day in Manitoba, traveled to Toronto, and then found their flight to Michigan had been cancelled because of the weather.  They bravely rented a car and drove through the blizzard instead!  That is dedication!  Because of this transportation snafu, James and Anne were late in arriving in Lansing, so The Springtails -- a wonderful local duo -- did a great set for the assembled uke fans.

By the time James and Anne got on stage, it was well after 9:00 p.m.  After such a trying day, you might think they would put on a half-hearted show, but you would be wrong.  They were amazing!

After a terrific evening of music, we headed for our hotel through a blizzard that made it well-nigh impossible for me to see the road.  Happily, we eventually arrived safe and sound.  The next morning we had breakfast and headed off for Sir Pizza.  The strum was fun, and we decided we would return for a pizza lunch between our two workshops.

The Chord Twins workshop was super -- and gave us some good ideas for a kids' ukulele program we're doing this summer.  Afterwards we went to Sir Pizza -- looking forward to a relaxing and tasty lunch.  Unfortunately, there was a loud presentation going on in the restaurant, which took much of the enjoyment out of the experience.  An author was talking to a bunch of young women about the Christian relationship book she had written, and giving them advice that we could not avoid hearing, as she was loudly amplified.  The advice was pretty hard to swallow, which made the food hard to swallow, too.  We ate pretty quickly and returned to Elderly, where we hung around looking at ukuleles while waiting until it was time to go downstairs to the workshop.  Unfortunately, I mistakenly thought the workshop was scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.  Since it actually began at 2:30, we were a half hour late.  Embarrassing....!  James was quite gracious about it and did not humiliate us in any way, but I felt absolutely awful.  It was bad enough that I missed 1/3 of the workshop myself, but I caused Bruce to miss it, too.  (And he's a guy who is known for always arriving early!)


Lots of people wanted to talk with these amazing folks, so Sal and I hung out until the bitter end to get this photo.  Thanks to James and Anne for being so nice to all of the students when they must have been exhausted.

The rest of our time in Lansing was filled with even more disasters.  For the sake of brevity (too late), I'll skip directly to the next morning, and list some of Sunday's events...
1.  The driver's door on my car was frozen shut, so I had to climb over the gear shift to get in and out more than once before it thawed out.
2.  Despite using a GPS, I missed a ramp from one freeway to the next, causing a cascade of mysterious GPS commands and frustration.
3.  When I pulled over to reset the GPS, I decided to get something from the back of the car, and almost knocked myself out with the hatchback.  Because of the cold it didn't open quickly, and was only half open -- parallel to the ground -- when I bent over to reach inside the car.  The edge of the hatchback and my head collided smartly and I fell on my butt in the parking lot.  I sat there stunned for a minute.  When I pulled myself together and got into the car, I learned that Bruce had not even noticed what had happened to me.
4.  At this point in the proceedings, I had a mini-meltdown and cried for a while.  I'm sure you can understand why!

Eventually we made it home.  My head was sore for a few days, and my pride was injured, too, but I'd travel to Lansing for another James Hill/Anne Janelle weekend anytime!  Please come back soon!

And here's a wrap-up of the whole thing, which I'm adding just before finally posting!  I began writing this, but before finishing it, I fell and broke my elbow.  This meant that all typing had to be done with one hand, which is why I stopped working on this (extremely lengthy) post.  Eventually, I could type with both hands again, but the damage was done.  I couldn't find my way back to complete the post until now.  ARGH!!!