Granddaughters Anna and Maura at the piano in 2011
Throwback Thursday isn’t until tomorrow but when the top pic came up in my Google photos, I didn’t wait to create this post 🙂
Eleven Years Ago and 2021
Tag: piano
Paul Robert Van Sickle 11/23/1938 – 10/25/2021
Remembering Paul Robert Van Sickle.
A loving husband, father of three, and a proud grandfather. A brother, a teacher, a gifted musician, gardener, and woodworker.
And our beloved cousin.
We’ve just returned home after celebrating Paul’s life during a Memorial Service at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox, Massachusetts last Saturday the 20th. Paul would have loved all the music- the singing, the playing of the organ. It was beautiful. Poignant.
The cousins drove in from Vermont, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. After the service we gathered together at his home to share stories and memories.
I felt moved as I entered Paul’s workshop, behind his home, and inhaled the scent of wood. He could repair things, too. See his tools all lined up? His grandfather’s toolbox on the bench. There’s a wooden toy box in my home that Paul crafted for my son, Mark.
Paul was a master musician, organist and vocalist. He had a beautiful singing voice. I remember his playing our family piano when he’d visit our home. J.S.Bach was a favorite composer.
Paul’s favorite cookies were my mom’s recipe for Sour Cream Cookies. His wife Susan baked them for the family gathering after the service. My mother baked them for a Paul in the sixties when he’d visit our home. That kitchen was in Morris Plains, New Jersey and he’d visit when he was on leave from the US Army -Ft. Dix, New Jersey.
Paul and his daughter Amy at my wedding.
It’s hard to sum up a life in a few words. Paul was a blog follower and told me one time I was a little heavy on the photos showing decay. You know those abandoned buildings and discarded furniture pieces, the garbage I post? 😂 We’re going to miss his laughter, his kindness, his generous heart- full of love for all of us.
Here’s a link to his obituary in the Berkshire Edge.
Hymn of Promise Author: Natalie Sleeth (1986). pianist Evan Alperone sung by Tim Silva
Unexpected Trombone in Hospital Lobby
from the archives
Unexpected Trombone Music in a Hospital Lobby 
A Charm Bracelet Started in the Sixties
Now I’m in my sixties!
Do you have one of these in a drawer or a jewelry box somewhere? I hardly wear jewelry nowadays. These were popular when I was in 7, 8th grade- freshman in high school. (1966-67). Charm bracelet definition and history
Maybe you’re sporting one of those trendy cable types with the bead charms? Each one a carefully chosen gift by someone who knows you or a gift to self, to commemorate an interest, travel or person in your life.
Funny, I have a guitar and a grand piano on mine but am not skilled at either. I taught myself on a Sears guitar the summer of 1964 and could strum Michael, Row the Boat Ashore but a charm to signify guitar playing is funny. And I took piano lessons, unsuccessfully.
I’ve seen gold charm bracelets in antique stores for a lot of money. You wonder about the owner and the significance of the charms collected. And a full charm bracelets can make way too much annoying noise, jingling in the theatre.
Wednesday afternoon, I was out with a couple of friends and admired one’s bracelet with holiday charms, a charm a month bracelet. I told her about mine. She asked me if it still fit! Hmmmm, how much bigger is my wrist now? It has enough links so yes it still does fit but I didn’t know until I got home, dug it out and tried it on. Ha!
The one charm is a typewriter with a tiny carriage that moves back and forth. Fancied myself a writer?
I think I remember which friend gifted me the Forget-Me-Not. There’s an enameled disk from a 1965 field trip to the UN.
When I came home and found my old charm bracelet and went to photograph it, I mistakenly pulled out a crystal dish I thought would look good under it. The dish towel was a better solution. No reflection.
It’s silver and unpolished. I remember you could have the charms sodered on so they wouldn’t come off. If I were to add a charm for my interests today it would have to be a skein of yarn and knitting needles and places visited would fill it up and then some. Charms for my life now could be so different.
Photographing jewelry is tricky, I forgot.
One aspect I wasn’t really aware of or considering is this- “The wearing of charms may have begun as a form of amulet or talisman to ward off evil spirits or bad luck.[1]”.
Of course…….lucky charms! Duh!
Feel free to send a photo of your charm bracelet or a write about a specific charm. Initial pins were the rage in the late sixties, too.
The dish towel for a backdrop
…compared to my first thought of using a the crystal dish as a backdrop to photograph the bracelet
The shadows from the dish looked better than the jewelry.
Plastic charm necklace from the 80’s blogpost you might remember.
Piano Tilting, Tuning and Repair
Joe DeFazio is featured today in the People at Work Series- Primarily Pittsburgh
From upstairs, I could hear him playing the piano after it was tuned and it sounded wonderful. (after years of neglect) He’s an excellent musician.
It was my first time seeing a piano tilted to be worked on. I asked if he would be part of my People at Work Series and he graciously agreed.
These photos are not in chronological order.
Drawing angle lines in case the keys fall out they can easily be put back in order.
and the gas mask portion of sealing a crack with the seemingly toxic (but not) fumed glue
My neighbor recommended him. Thank you.
If you need your Pittsburgh piano tuned, you can get in touch with him defaziomusicAThotmaildotcom
(Hopefully this listing will not result in his inbox being overwhelmed with you know what)
Broken- South Hills Mall
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Broken.”
Light Streams at the Museum
The Carnegie Museum of Art
I was waiting on a bench in the lobby while Matthew and Natalya were in the galleries.
I saw the light stream through the windows onto the floor.
A family was examining a portion of the Sebastian Errazuriz: Look Again exhibit.
You might remember The Piano hanging overhead in the Hall of Architecture before Thanksgiving?
(this shot taken with the SONY mirrorless)
The Satisfaction of Completing a Lengthy Project
A few months ago, I was knitting a little baby blanket which called for 4 skeins of yarn. My granddaughter Anna loved how the blanket felt to her touch.
She asked if I could make her a blanket. A big one. Certainly.
Eleven skeins later (and a lot of time sitting in the knitting bag, not being knit) summer break from school and a few long swim meets ( I perfected knitting a toasty blanket in 90 degree weather by draping it on an adjacent chair) the handknit blanket got finished!
I was returning home today (Tuesday) and completed the final stitch at yesterday’s swim meet. Phew! Anna would ask me how her blanket was coming along. I promised myself, I wouldn’t start another new project until this one was complete.
When we got home, Anna put it in the washing machine and sat and watched it for awhile. She set it for “quick wash” and then it had to be dried. it’s 100% man- made polyester (I know some knitters will disapprove it’ s not made with natural fibers )
But she said she didn’t like it, she LOVES it!
What else could a grandmother wish?
Monday night at the washing machine. Watching the time.
Tuesday morning. Piano practice.
The blanket reminds me of a chenille bedspread from the 1950’s. It is soft and squishy. Because the yarn is variegated, the color falls in random splotches.
And yes I moved my position to capture her profile with the backlighting from the open front door.
Bernat Pipsqueak Yarn, Color Sittin’ Pretty
Pattern is the old basic dishcloth. Knit on the diagonal
Cast on 4 stitches.
K 2, YO, Knit to end. Repeat until half your yarn is used.
Then to decrease. K 1, K2 together, YO, K2 together, knit rest of row. Repeat until last four stitches then bind off.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Beginning
The example posted by Cheri Lucas Rowlands was a Northern California foggy dawn.
A sunrise – a perfect beginning.
A baby, just born.
The first page of the dictionary.
The first page of the new calendar.
Once you start, more come to mind.
Beginning= possibility? A new start.
I did not search the archives for beginnings but put the iPhone to use at breakfast-
My Saturday morning.
Here’s the beginning –
The special English muffins a surprise in the Christmas mail from Ben and Susan, thanks
A newly sharpened pencil ready to begin……
a journal entry, a letter, a poem, a novel, a list-
Begin with a single match…………..
Middle C- “Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start….” “When you sing you begin with Do Re Mi”
The beginning of a ball of yarn in my new yarn bowl 🙂
Play Me, I’m Yours – Omaha Nebraska – Guest Post
Guest Poster JB Writes from Omaha
This morning I took my usual walk through Memorial Park and the Rose Garden and came upon this piano sitting all by itself at the top of the Memorial Park, overlooking Dodge Street.
A jogger happened to come by, sat down and played a number of tunes so I asked if it would be OK to photograph him. He said his goal was to find each painted piano throughout the city and play them.
On the back of the piano is a bag filled with leaf-shaped paper cut outs – and a request that you write one phrase or line from a favorite song and then pin it on the piano back. These will be collected and the artist will compose a piece utilizing them.
To read more about Play Me I’m Yours Project click here to read the article at Omaha.Com
Thanks J for the great post today.