Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

Oh, wood I?

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005
5:37 p.m.
The sky was crying earlier, apparently as a result of Ophelia bringing weather to the Atlantic provinces. This was rather unfortunate, since we had four runs of wood delivered yesterday, deposited on the driveway, and only partially covered by tarpaulins. The four of us spent a good two to three hours moving the dry wood from the woodshed into the garage where it is neatly piled against one wall, and stacking the now wet and heavy new wood (redolent with that unmistakable smell of the forest) in the shed where it will dry out over the winter. While we were moving the old wood, Buddy Boy told me that as he had picked up a log, he noticed a small black mouse scurry into the pines carrying eight or nine suckling wee ones with her. We had to destroy their nest, consisting of hair, feathers and moss, and that was a little sad. We also found several worms on the driveway, which I rescued and dumped in the flowerbeds, and a tiny black toad, almost invisible against the asphalt, hopping away as we approached.

Hubby brought out Buddy Boy�s boom box and played CDs while we worked, namely Led ZeppeIin and Jimi H. I never listened to this music when it was new. I was a folkie, playing guitar, singing along to Phil Ochs� recordings, pretending I was Joan Baez. I have come in a big circle, a ring that doesn�t exactly meet, with my new direction into blues and jazz. Grandpa Mike expressed his initial concern about me singing blues. People think of me as a classical, operatic, singer. But after he heard me, he changed his mind and said, �Yeah, Elgan singing blues, that�s all right.� That doesn�t mean I�m going to let my training disappear. It�s actually what makes this new genre so much easier.

Patsy and I are going to a belly dancing show tonight put on by our teacher and the school we go to. We could have been in this show. I�m just as content to watch. I fear, though, that my limbs are so tired from carrying and stacking wood that I might fall asleep. I�ll try not to.

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