Grey Morning
9.5.22
Its a grey morning here in Dexter. The day can’t seem to decide what it wants to be when it grows up. End of summer? First stab at a fall day?
There is a patch of hostas that seem to think summer, they and the black-eyed susans down by the road are blooming.
I am thinking fall though.
A big flock of blackbirds is up in the tree tops maybe 100 yards into my neighbor’s trees, raising a ruckus. This seems to be a fall thing every year.
Grey Morning
Grey morning is a favorite piece, I have not played it in 35 years. I picked it up a couple nights ago and it fit like a glove.
I struggled with a couple takes, I was sitting perched on different stools in my office trying to get things so my hand position was correct. I have never had guitar lessons, but my experience with violin as a child tells me that good hand position is half the battle in getting things to sound clean and not screw up your hands.
It was definitely the three little bears with different combinations of 2 stools, different rungs and the little red building block I sometimes use as a foot rest. This one’s too big, etc. (BTW the 3 Little Bears is a favorite Hendrix tune from War Heroes: https://vimeo.com/380568988 )
Anyway, I have an old mahogany parlor organ in my office that a wedding gift back in 1890 for my great grandfather Justice. The organ came with a nice adjustable piano stool which I recovered in green velvet some time ago. The light bulb went off. It is perfect. I twiddled with the height for a minute and got a pretty fair to middling first take, the fruits of which are in link below.
I believe my grandfather’s sister Clarice played this organ, she was according to my grandfather, very talented. Unfortunately she died at age 19 in 1923. So Maybe I will get a good vibe from Clarice if I use this seat for my little recordings. Seems possible…..
PS. I added a little intro video. This was the grey morning today.
The snapping and Florida softshell turtles are each about 20 years old. They were hatchlings that my sons kept when they were in middle school and I inherited some decade or more ago.
The koi and piscene friends are more recent vintage, they are about as old as the guinea pigs – 6 or 8. Hershey & Butterscotch were a bit of a rescue, a friends daughter went off to MSU and I had quarters available after my daughter’s guinea pigs Tallulah and Genevieve passed away. They are in my office at night during the summer and otherwise all winter.
The box turtle is also a rescue, one of my son Jake’s friends at Wayne State couldn’t deal with him so I took him in 8 or 10 years ago. I am guessing Lenny is about 25 or so. The turtles and koi will likely outlive me. I will need to set up a trust I suppose…