Wednesday, August 15, 2012

August

Sunset in August, 8/15/12

Last year's pink cloud of epilobium is still out there, but much reduced, and now the fescue, asters (maybe too many but they're nice and pretty hard to stop), yarrow (likewise), and others have come into their own enough that nothing seems to be able to take over. There is also a blue cloud of asters now, though, as is so often the case, you can't really see that in this image. There is an afternoon's worth of china lettuce to dig up out here (tomorrow...) but that isn't bad.

I wonder if I should lighten the seed load by mowing. There will be a lot of seeds going in if I don't and there are plenty of those plants already--asters, yarrow, and epilobium. The fescue has already seeded so I will continue to get grass seeding itself (I think that is a good thing). That decision will have to be made this week. Still, it is an inspiration to look out there and see even this fairly plain view...this is what late summer native Palouse prairie looks like, which is why I hesitate to mow it.

Monday, August 6, 2012

30 years




My arrangement of François Couperin's "Les Barricades Mystérieuses," video recorded by Thomas Arthur, 7/31/12

It has been about 30 years since I recorded this piece on my first record. Since then I quit and rediscovered the banjo, and here I am playing it again.

It is one piece from that first LP that people continue to ask me about. It is so beautiful and strangely idiomatic on the banjo, and I only just recently finished writing out music/tablature for it. I was so delighted when I found that I could play it on this new instrument. If you email me (palouserivermusic@gmail.com), I would be happy to reply with the PDF version of the written arrangement attached. For some reason, I wanted to do this video before I started on the gourd banjo CD project. So, now I'd better get to work...