Down in the River to Pray – Apollo's Fire/Amanda Powell – On Tour (UK) 24MAR2020

 I have always loved this song, this is such a beautiful version.....

Down in the River to Pray Southern Folk Hymn APOLLO'S FIRE Jeannette Sorrell, Artistic Director Live at the Aldeburgh Festival/Snape Proms August 2018 This song is the finale from "SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN – An Appalachian Gathering" Created & directed by Jeannette Sorrell PERFORMERS: Amanda Powell, soprano Madeline Apple Healey, soprano Ross Hauck, tenor Ian Crane, bass Susanna Perry Gilmore, violin/vocals Tina Bergmann, vocals, hammered dulcimer Kathie Stewart, flutes, vocals Brian Kay, lute, vocals René Schiffer, cello Jeannette Sorrell, harpsichord, vocals https://apollosfire.org/ Passion.Period. TOUR BOOKING INQUIRIES: Rob Berretta, Opus 3 Artists (In the U.S.) Claude Boischot, K D Schmid Artists (in Europe) Video Production: Erica Brenner and Sisi Burn

apollosfirebaroque

VISITORS TO MY MOM'S HOUSE IN SCANDIA, PA 22MAI18

MOMMA black bear and her three (yep, THREE cubs) came to visit at Mom's house in Scandia, Pennsylvania this afternoon. My brother Kirk said Smiley, mom's little mutt dog was out on the deck when all of the sudden he was barking and snarling and charged off the deck. Kirk came out it time to see momma bear treeing her cubs and then she turned, stood up facing Smiley and was growling. Kirk was out on the deck screaming for Smiley to come back to the house because that bear would kill him with one good swipe of her paws (the cubs in the picture are just a little bigger than Smiley) and he finally did come back t the house unharmed. Kirk said they went back into the house and momma got her cubs out of the tree and they eventually wandered off into the woods. 

UPDATE 31AUG16

I have been off line for 2 months as I have been caring for my parents, providing a home for them and taking care of their health issues. But now the are actually home, back in the house we built as a family in 1969-1970, in Scandia, Pennsylvania. My retired brother and sister-in-law have moved in with them and will take care of them until they die.  Mom and dad are so happy to be home with their family still in the area, their Church and friends, and to be in the wilds of Northwestern Pennsylvania. They wanted to be home to die, and we are all praying that will not be for a long, long time.......

BACK FROM VACATION AGAIN 25AUG12

BACK from vacation again, I went home to my parent's in Scandia, PA, which is still home for me though I have lived in Virginia since April 1986. Some places you live in, and others are home, and that is how Scandia is for me. I did a few things for Mom and Dad around the house, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with my sisters Sheila and Jennie and their husbands Richard and Ted and Jen's & Ted's daughter Katie (60 YEARS!!! THEY WERE MARRIED 16AUG52!!!), went to a wedding, spent time with family and friends, wandered in the woods and along the shores of the Kinzua reservoir, wandered out at night to look at the Milky Way and caught my breath from life here. It was really, really good to be away. While I thought of friends I have here I was really in no rush to come back, the week went by way too fast. It was beautiful while I was home, in the 70's (teens 20's C), up to 84 (26 C) on Thursday during the day and the 50's (10 to low teens C) at night and only rained the morning after I got there. I am really thankful for my life here, and really, really thankful that I have my Mom and Dad in Scandia and can still go home whenever I want.
On my way home I stopped at Kinzua Bridge to check out the Skywalk on the remains of the old railroad bridge that was destroyed by a really violent storm a few years back. If you like trains and history check out Kinzua Bridge Reopens to the Public 8AUG11 & Tracks Across The Sky 9JUL09 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/kinzua-bridge-reopens-to-public-8aug11.html

By the by, I am so fortunate to have friends like Pam and Robert and Tim who come over and feed my birds and water my balcony garden while I am away. I really do love you guys!!!!

A BEAR!

I have been home in PA all week. I live in Virginia, but home has always been and will be Scandia, Pennsylvania. It has been a beautiful week, and I have had a really good time. Thursday I went to dinner with my friends Derek and Pam McKown. We were driving to the Horseshoe Inn in Onoville, NY (great food and atmosphere, check it out if you are ever in the area) about 1930 and out of the woods wanders a beautiful black bear. That is not uncommon in the area, but this bear really had us laughing. It started across the road, stopped, looked at us, turned and headed back where it came from, then turned around and started back across the road again and then decided to sit in the middle of the right lane! It was a cute bear, jet black with the classic round ears straight up giving a very comical look. Pam moved the car just a little bit so the bear got up and wandered into the woods on the right of the road, when we pulled up slowly there it was just sitting in the woods, looking at us, and then it finally got up and wandered deeper into the woods. It was so cool to see and made us laugh at times during dinner, which was great. Thanks Derek and Pam!

INDIVIDUAL PEACE

"An individual can march for peace or vote for peace and can have, perhaps, some small influence on global concerns. But the same individual is a giant in the eyes of a child at home. If peace is to be built, it must start with the individual. It is built brick by brick."
- Dorothy Day

MY BALCONY

Spring is here, and my balcony is already in full bloom! I have petunias, pansies, salvia, portchalaca, trailing sweet peas, fuschia, colias, heritage tomatoes, grape tomatoes, nastursiums, cacti, a begonia, dahalias, a pineapple plant, a Boston fern, 2 hot pepper plants, herbs, mums, sun flowers and my 2 35 year old geraniums (classic red blossoms). I love my little balcony garden, the wild mix of colors and textures and scents.....gives me a lot of pleasure when I am out there in the morning with my first cup of coffee in the morning or sitting out there in the evening when the spicy scent from the petunias is the strongest. It is a very happy place to be for me, and for others in my apartment complex as I have been told by people in my building as well as the complex management and people walking by how much they enjoy my balcony garden every year. I think I may have even motivated others in the apartment complex to create their own balcony gardens too, because when I first moved here mine was the only one, but over the years there have been more people with plants on their balconies....all different kinds of gardens, like the hanging gardens of old.