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!

Poor Sal Is Forgotten...

When a woman has a child, she is starting down a long and amazing road!  Sometimes the road is relatively smooth -- and sometimes it's pretty rough -- but in the end, what's it all for?  I believe it's for... GRANDCHILDREN!

After my child-rearing adventures, I hoped to end up with a grandbaby to enjoy -- and especially hoped for a granddaughter.  I wanted to buy cute little pink garments and do "girl stuff" together.  Of course my sons were (and are) great, but the urge to purchase pink was not satisfied when they were kids.  We had lots of fun, but a baby girl to dress up was my unfulfilled dream.

And now my dream has come true!  Thanks to my son, Brian, and his wonderful Jen, a beautiful baby girl has come into my life.  Her name is Sophia -- and she is truly a joy! 

Since this little family lives several hours away from me, Sophia was four days old by the time I met her.  Of course I planned to take Sal with me when I went on one of the most exciting trips of my life... but unfortunately, my little uke was left behind!  I had lots of things to bring -- including the fabulous Flea ukulele I bought for Sophia -- and didn't realize that Sal was not in the car until I was 15 minutes from home.  Since I was already running late (as usual), I decided to let Sophia's ukulele stand in for Sal on this visit.  Sal will go along next time -- and many times in the future -- to help document Sophia's growth.

Now it's time to share some photos of my amazing grandchild -- as all grandmothers must do!

Sophia with her very own first ukulele.  It's bigger than she is now, but that will change soon.

I took more than 40 pictures of Sophia with her Flea.  At this point she seems to be bored with the whole thing.  Perhaps she is wondering when Grandma is going to play the instrument instead of taking pictures of it!

Awwwww....

After taking photos, I played and sang a little for Sophia, and she didn't cry!  I regard that as a successful first step in her indoctrination to the ukulele, and look forward to many fun musical times in the future with this darling girl and her Flea.  In a few years I hope she'll be playing the instrument herself and we can do some duets!  Perhaps I'm putting the cart before the horse a bit, but a granny can dream, can't she!?

Sal Sees a Theorbo

Regular readers of Travels with Sal know that I've been taking violin lessons.  (See this post from August and this post from October for details.)  Well, after experiencing the ease of tuning offered by the ukulele, I found tuning my violin to be ridiculously difficult.  At each lesson I would hand the violin to Jessica -- my patient teacher -- to tune.  At home I attempted it, but it was a very frustrating process, as the pegs kept slipping.  The result of this was fewer practice sessions, as I experience enough frustration in my daily life already.  Music is supposed to be a stress reducer -- not another source thereof!

After much slipping (by the pegs) and swearing (by me), I decided there must be a better way.  I have geared pegs that look like tension pegs on my Walnut Flea, which made me think there should be similar pegs for violins -- and there are!  There are Pegheds for violins!  Jessica did not encourage me to get them, for reasons both philosophical (wooden pegs have been used for hundreds of years), and practical ($$$), but I wanted to go ahead anyway.

Despite her reservations, Jessica recommended a fixer of violins named Reese Williams, so I called for an appointment and went to see him.  Mr. Williams made some recommendations about my violin and suggested that I start with adjustments to the existing pegs to make them work better.  We could talk about the Pegheds later if I still wanted them.  I agreed to this and returned the following day to pick up the easier-to-tune violin.

I also brought Sal with me, so I could get some photos of her with an amazing instrument Mr. Williams had been working on -- a Theorbo!?  (Click on that bold word to learn all about the Theorbo.)  It was in the workshop when I dropped off my violin.   I'd never seen anything like it, and it seemed to me that a photo of it with Sal would be necessary.  I think you will agree that Sal and the Theorbo make an interesting pair.

The Theorbo had been moved from the workshop into the front room, as it was ready to be picked up.  I wonder what sort of vehicle the owner drives, and how he maneuvers this giant instrument through doorways and around corners.

Looking at the many strings on the Theorbo, it seems silly that I find it so challenging to play the ukulele with its paltry four strings!

If, after seeing this really cool instrument, you are still interested in the fate of my violin, I will tell you that the old pegs work much better now...  but I still want the Pegheds!

Sal Travels to Elderly Music (again)!

On Saturday Sal and I attended three ukulele workshops at Elderly Instruments, and had a fabulous time.  We drove up on Friday afternoon, stopping at the fabulous Ikea in Canton, Michigan.  We bought lots of great stuff and had the traditional Ikea meal of Swedish meatballs before getting back on the road.  We arrived at our motel, fell into bed and actually slept -- unusual for our first night away from home.  We got up bright and early -- ready to learn new uke skills at the day's workshops.

After eying the motel's breakfast offerings with skepticism, we decided to look for someplace else to have our morning repast.  (I had just listened to the newest book by Carl Hiaasen, which made me suspicious of the freshness of the food.  Don't read Bad Monkey -- or any other book by this supremely entertaining author -- if you are squeamish.  If you enjoy absurdity and wacky mishaps, however, go out and read his books right now!)  But I digress...

I figured there must be a restaurant near the music store where I could get breakfast, so we took off for Old Town -- the location of the super-cool Elderly.  I didn't see many people out and about at this hour, but I noticed some cars parked near a restaurant called Pablo's, which had the word "breakfast" in neon in the front window.  This looked promising, so I entered.  I saw that only one table of other diners was there, which worried me a bit  (see above reference to the book I had just finished), but the gentleman who greeted me was very hospitable and helpful.  In the course of our conversation, I told him I was in town for the Elderly workshops, and he said that the store always sends customers his way.  (This is true, btw, as an Elderly staffer recommended Pablo's later in the day!)  I encouraged my host to go to the store and buy a uke to serenade his customers.  We had a few laughs, and I began to think I should go to my car, get Sal, and ask him to pose for a photo with her.  At this point, however, the restaurant became much busier, so I decided not to get Sal.  Afterwards I wished I had, as I would have had his picture to share with you.  (I wonder if he was the eponymous Pablo?)  I guess I'll have to go back and find out!

After a yummy breakfast, I arrived a bit early for the workshops, so I took a short walk to the river and took some pictures of Sal there. 

This lovely spot is a 2-minute walk from Elderly.

Looking the other way down the river from the same location.

As I entered the Elderly store, I met up with Tabitha -- one of the oft-mentioned Cleveland Jumping Fleas.  She had driven the long road to Elderly, too, and was trying out some banjo ukes...

Sal helping Tabitha select her new baby!

The first workshop was with the amazing Lil' Rev.

Sal hanging out with Lil' Rev and one of his ukes after the first workshop.  He introduced us to lots of challenging and exciting stuff in his classes.  Now it's time to practice, practice, practice!

Tabitha, Sal and I had lunch at yummy Sir Pizza and then walked back to Elderly for another workshop by Lil' Rev.  Of course I had to take Sal photos in the restaurant and on the walk back.  Tabitha was very patient with this process.  :)

Still life:  Calzone and Uke!

Lovely misty river.  I would have loved to stroll along that boardwalk, but uke magic awaited us back at Elderly!

Before the next workshop began, Sal and I were hanging out in the store when I saw Jim and Liz Beloff.  I decided to ask them to pose with Sal right then instead of waiting until the last workshop -- which Jim Beloff was teaching.

Liz and Jim Beloff with Sal.  As the proprietors of Flea Market Music, they have received quite a few $$$ from yours truly.  I am very happy about this, though, as I love playing songs from the Daily Ukulele books on my Flea ukuleles!  They sound so sweet!  Thanks to the Beloffs for their efforts to bring the uke back to its proper place in the world of music -- the top spot!

After the last workshop, it was time to get on the road and drive back home.  There was going to be a concert that night featuring Lil' Rev and Jim Beloff -- and it would have been wonderful I am sure -- but I had only booked my room for Friday and a big football crowd had apparently scarfed up all the rooms for Saturday.  So, into the car we went -- sad that we were missing the concert -- but glad we had experienced such a ukin' wonderful day.

Looking forward to more Elderly workshops in the future!