Some highlights from my third year at the Cordova 4-H Music Camp. I’ll try and section this up so you can skip around at your leisure. (Not that I condone skimming Abbott Family Blog posts, of course…)
Sasha! Sasha! Blah, blah blah!
First up: a video of the most popular dance at Cordova Music Camp:
I think this is a Russian dance that was introduced to the camp a few years ago by a dance teacher (who has been absent ever since). The “blah blah blah” part was originally “1 2 3″ in Russian, but the kids couldn’t remember it. And thus, a timeless classic was born…Continue reading ‘Vignettes from Alaska, 2009′
You hear it day after day. Whenever you hear a statement that takes more than a few neurons of computation, you can easily brush it off with a “whatever.” Sure, it stings a bit for the person who made the statement, but “whatever” sayer puts up a verbal shield around himself protecting him from the venerable quirks, contortions and run-on sentences that goes along with English language. This makes it the Word of the Year. Plus, I hear it everywhere.
This “Word of the Year” award is reinforced by what you will say after you finish reading this post – “Whatever.”
Have you ever been told to pull on your tongue? I had a singing teacher tell me to do that. When Luke and Kyle were little, Carl and I knew we wanted to play music as a family. I thought it was a good idea to take some singing lessons. Perusing the phone book I found a woman teacher and called. I didn’t know what to ask besides the price at that point. I arrived at her home and an opera student was singing with her. I was feeling insecure and wondered what was in store for me?
…Continue reading ‘Belting it out’
And there I was, on the road during a cyclone in Vietnam. I was hitchhiking the length of South Vietnam in the early 60’s (before the Tonkin incident started us down that foolish by-path)!
Earlier, I had shared a house in Saigon with some journalists. They told me that, if I got a ‘press pass’ from the USIA (United States Information Agency), I could hop on any in-country flights. Mind you, I didn’t have to be a journalist, all I had to do was say I was a journalist. I thought to myself, “Now that’s the way to hitchhike!”…Continue reading ‘It was a dark and stormy night…’
I leave for Alaska on Friday. This will be my third year as an instructor at the Cordova 4-H Music Camp (see my previous Cordova blogging) and, as always, I’m super-excited about my trip…and really unsure about when to get to the airport. Take this scene, which I wrote about last year:
“It is too late to check in for this flight,” said the automated check-in terminal. “Please talk to an Alaska Airlines representative.”
My heart sank. Last year I arrived at SJC around 4:30AM and had to wait an hour before I could board my 6:00AM flight. This year Mama and I decided to leave half an hour later, only to arrive with just minutes to spare.
Rushing off to check in (I'm the one with the banjo)
We got separated as I rushed to find where to check in, which took me over five minutes. By that time, it was too late. The security line snaked its way around the baggage claim area, and I hadn’t even checked my bags in.
Luckily, this really nice representative put me on a 6:30AM flight which actually ended up getting me into Anchorage earlier. There I met up with some other camp musicians, where we waited for our flight to Cordova—which got delayed by four hours! Luckily, we all had our instruments with us.
This year I’m on the 6:30AM flight, so I think I want to arrive at SJC by 4:30. Which means leaving here one hour earlier. 3:30am, or something like that. It’s early, but I don’t care; I don’t have a 6:30AM flight to fall back on!
When I was younger, I could appreciate most all forms of humor. Golly, I would laugh at the word “plunger.” (and could still do, if the timing was right) Thus, anytime Mama said anything with the right voice, I’d be laughing for days. (at least that’s what I remember)
On the surface, people tend to think the benefit of yoga is increased flexibility and balance. As I see it, this is just icing on the cake. Yoga more that anything else I do helps me get to know myself. This, in turn, helps me ‘to my own self be true’ (“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man” – William Shakespeare).
Although, it is not actually the doing of yoga that helps me know myself. I only find this when I seek this (“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” – Jesus). In other words, action is action and nothing more. The value we find lies in how we approach action – any action.…Continue reading ‘Cease Treading Water and Just Sink’
You hear it day after day. Whenever you hear a statement that takes more than a few neurons of computation, you can easily brush it off with a “whatever.” Sure, it stings a bit for the person who made the statement, but “whatever” sayer puts up a verbal shield around himself protecting him from the venerable quirks, contortions and run-on sentences that goes along with English language. This makes it the Word of the Year. Plus, I hear it everywhere.
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