Food and Drink

Bow Class Fashion! Anna in Ecuador Day 8

P7210290
Ecuador Day 8
    This morning, in the cab going to the school, I remarked to Njål that I thing there is something very special about this place. I should be completely exhausted…..I have been running like crazy and getting by on 3-5 hours of sleep a night. There is no way that I should be feeling so alive! “It must be being so close to the equator,” I said. “No” he said with a smile. “It is inspiration” And I knew immediately that he was right. There was something magic happening here in Quito and I can feel it in my heart.
    The students are doing great, today! We have moved on to faceplates and all of the students are rehairing really well. Njål asks me if he can teach violin repair the following day, and even though I really hate to lose a day of instruction, I say yes. In all seriousness, he had a ton more to teach them and time is running out fast. Plus, I do have two student that are only doing bows, so I will continue to work with them.

The best part of class at this point is that we all know each other well, and are really comfortable with each other. Juliana comes to class in white pants…never a good idea when two of the guys are still sanding ebony fingerboards all over the place!! J So she fashions an apron out of a cello case and a big black trash bag. When she completes the look with a face mask, I can’t help but laugh. Yep, she really has turned out to be one of my favorite people here!

   Lunch was spent with Patricio Aizaga, (the director of FOSJE), his wife and some staff members. The plan is to discuss the future of the workshop in regards to FOSJE.. When Njål and I went to meet him, he was still rehearsing the orchestra, so I got a chance to see him at work. He is truly the most extraordinary conductor I have ever seen. Passion literally radiates out of him and you can feel that making music is a true partnership between him and the musicians. He was so captivating that I wanted to grab a cello or bass and jump in. I have never been that inspired by a conductor!!
Lunch ended up being wonderful, but we never did discuss the future of LSF and FOSJE. Instead, Patricio and I swapped stories about Indiana University, Gustavo Dudomel and different musicians we knew. The others may have been bored, but it was one of the most wonderful conversations I have ever had! J Later in the day, Patricio and his wife came to tour the workshop and Njål and I took him on an impromptu tour of the building. We have found the perfect workshop and the fact that it will displace the trombone studio is not of any concern to us at all. J J After assurances all around that there is a future for this project, we said our good-byes.
   Njål had to teach a quick Tango lesson to three of us at the school and then he and I headed to Café Libre for one final night of Tango. Several of the students are going to meet us there, but he and I are hoping to catch the last hour of the lesson that they offer first. We get there, I put on my ridiculous shoes that I bought for Tango, and Njål and I join in the lesson. The idea of Njål taking the lesson is ludicrous, but I am so glad that he did. I was so nervous that I was glad to have him to dance with. At least he won’t be surprised if I step on his toes!
   We dance two dances and I can’t seem to do anything right. I got worse and worse and finally, close to tears, I tell Njål that he needs to go find someone else to dance with. Someone who knows how. But he says no. So we keep dancing. But the teacher chooses that moment to make us all switch partners. I end up with a man who is obviously very unhappy to be paired with such a beginner. He kept barking terse dance instructions to me in Spanish and by the time the song ended, I had to step outside for some air.
 I don’t think I like Tango very much.
  I hid for the rest of the lesson and then joined out friends at the tables they had pulled together. Soon, Kathy showed up and I was so glad to see her! She is a wonderful dancer and I love to watch her. If I could ever dance like that, I would die of happiness!! J And, with her here, Njål can dance with someone that really knows what they are doing, so the evening is looking up. However, I am done dancing for the evening. I take one last turn around the floor with Juan Carlos, but my self esteem can’t take it anymore. I have spent a week stretching myself and being brave, I am done.
As the evening wound down, it came time for the final three songs of the evening. Njål walked over to me and held out his hand. You have got to be kidding me. I shook my head, but he said, “Come on.” With a sigh, I got up. The first few steps were dreadful and I thought I was going to cry right then and there. But Njål , always the teacher, said, “Just close your eyes and trust me.”. And like that, I was floating. I floated and spun and stepped and followed and before I knew it, the song was over. I looked at him with big eyes and couldn’t believe it. I just Tango-ed! The next two songs went by without me noticing…..I just closed my eyes and trusted him and Tango-ed. I probably looked ridiculous to an on looker, but I felt alive and confident and beautiful.
I think I love Tango.
Buenas Noches,
Anna

We’re Gonna Dance Upon This Earth!
www.traildames.com

“What happened next?” Anna in Ecuador-Day 7

 

P7200212

Anna in Ecuador-Day 7
   Today we had a great day in class! I am starting to get to know the students a little bit better, and I am thinking that we will be putting hair in the bows today!! We started off by moving some of the worktables around a bit, so that everyone would have room. I do most of my demonstrating and work, at the worktable in the front of the room, but I like to get up and wander around, helping everyone when they need it. Njål and I share the front table and by the end of the first day, it is a miracle we can do anything on it!! It is covered by a million tools, but I love it. It looks like we have been working here for years and I am surprisingly comfortable, given that it is never easy to work away from your normal set-up.
  Anyway, the day passed uneventfully, but with lots of laughter. In the quiet moments, when everyone was working, and Njål and I were doing our own projects, he would say, “So what happened next?“ and I would continue with the unfinished tale of the Twilight saga. At this point, we are through book 2! J Meanwhile, most of the students are struggling with cutting plugs, but they all seem to have good attitudes about it. We start putting hair in the bows and I am really excited to see how fast people are progressing. These students are really excellent musicians, and I think that all of that discipline and dedicated study prepares them for the focus and concentration you need to do lutherie work.
    After class, Njål and I are invited to go to dinner with Juan Carlos, his family, Juliana and her mother. We walk to a nearby pizza place and have the best time laughing and talking. Juan Carlos and his wife and daughter are one of the neatest families I have ever met, and
I especially hit it off with Belen, their daughter. She is an 18 year cellist and if the repertoire she is playing is any indication, she is a really great cellist!! J She is so friendly and as it turns out, also a Twilight fan, so we had tons in common and just laughed and laughed.
    Once dinner was over, Njål and I hopped into a cab and headed across town. Tonight is a going away party for John and all of the Tango folks are going to Hermann’s house to Tango. I am a little worried about how late we are….it is almost 10 o’clock! But Njål just shakes his head at me. Turns out that yet again, I am showing my ignorance of the Tango scene!! Ten o’clock is early for Tango!
   Once we get to the apartment, I am ushered into the kitchen with everyone else while Njål goes off for his private lesson with John. Around this tiny table are 8 or 9 of us, sitting knee to knee, drinking wine and laughing. Well, mostly they were laughing because at this point, everyone was speaking full on Spanish! J But I don’t mind at all. I love to hear the language rain down on me, and I enjoy trying to follow the gist of it. Most everyone is absolutely fabulous to me, and except for one new woman, I already know everyone. Kathy and Juan David are there and they kiss me and make me feel like an old friend. The only person who seems entirely unhappy to see me is Hermann’s wife. She is a large, loud woman with tons of long black hair, red lipstick, and to quote Njål , a very impressive bum! This is the third time we have met, but she is obviously not happy to see me. I search my mind for what I could have done to offend her, but literally, there is nothing. So, I don’t worry about it. Instead, I enjoy the conversation and join in when I have a clue what is going on. J
    Later, John and Njål finish his lesson and everyone sits down to eat. Having already had dinner, I sat and drank wine while the conversation swirled around me. Soon, however, it is time for dancing.
First off Marivi, a wonderful woman who is actually the one that invited Njål to join in the Tango scene in the first place, did a dance for John. It was a spoof of the dance that John had performed at Cafe Libre the other night and it was awesome! With that, more spoofs followed and then different people danced and danced. It was almost 4 am when things finally wound down. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I was content. Hermann’s wife had gone to bed hours ago, so I felt like I was surrounded only by friends. I had video-taped a lot of the dancing so we hung out for a while longer while John transferred it all to his computer. Finally, we said goodnight to all and headed home. What a great day……..
Anna
PS- In the cab on the way home, Njål said, “Wow, Hermann’s wife really hates you!!” J JWhen I laughed and asked him why, he said that it is probably just because I am American. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all!!! J

We’re Gonna Dance Upon This Earth!
www.traildames.com

Georgia with the Dames- part 3

Sweetpeas final thoughts on the weekend’s adventure!!

Georgia with the Dames (Sun)

This morning I walked over to the campfire ring and saw that someone has started a nice morning fire AND had gone and gotten our food from the bear bags. (It’s looking like it’s going to be a great day!) I went back to my hammock and packed up everything so that I could leave with one of the first groups. 15 minutes later I enjoyed the morning fire again, boiled some water for my oatmeal, and listened to all the chatter going on. SHOE, in another one of her food experiments, made some breakfast oatmeal that didn’t quite work out. It looked like some congealed orange glop. HA! That girl makes me laugh! I caught Maggie eating a breakfast S’more and had to call her out. You see, last night she had her first, and what she claimed was her last S’more. Not b/c she didn’t like it, but that it was just too rich tasting. Well, it seems it wasn’t too rich this morning. HA! We both had a laugh and I’m glad she got to indulge in a camping tradition. 🙂

After the traildame morning meeting about today’s hike and car pooling etc… Kelly and I were the first ones on the trail. We only had 5.4 miles to do but had a big climb that morning, a 954 foot ascent in a mile. We started around 8:45am and took out time. We climbed and climbed, and climbed. I thought it would never end! Then all of the sudden Kelly turned around and said, “you see what I see.” I looked up, past her and saw the blue sky peeking over the ridge. I said, “if that’s what I think it is, we are high fiving when we get up there.” And that’s just what we did! We were FINALLY at the top of Kelly’s knob. I dropped my pack and as usual, as soon as I saw the view, I forgot about the climb. It was spectacular. Kelly was pointing out a lake and told me that you could see NC and SC from our GA mountain top. I thought it was the coolest thing. We took lots of photos and a quick water break b/c it was just the first mile of the day, we knew we still had a while to go. We climbed down into Deep gap and decided to by pass the shelter and take a nice break at the bottom before the next big climb. Well, we’re chillin’, when all of the sudden this old dude in JEANS comes running down the trail. I mean running like he’s trying to get away from the cops running. He doesn’t say anything to us. OK… strange. And why would someone be out in the middle of nowhere, running in jeans? Everyone knows you don’t wear cotton on the trail right? ha! I just found it weird.

Well, we spent the next 2 miles climbing up and down 4 mountains. I counted each climb up. DAMN! I can honestly understand why lots of thru-hikers complain about all the PUDS (pointless ups and downs) in Georgia. My goodness, I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, just up, down, up, down, no view, up, down, up, down. By then, we were getting pretty fatigued from all the ups and downs, that we decided to take a lunch break. I knew from looking at Kelly’s map that after the fourth climb, the rest of the trail should of been all down hill.

Well guess what? The map was wrong. Every time Kelly and I would make it to a gap, we would start climbing again, it got to be a cruel joke that we both laughed at and sort of cried at. THANK GOODNESS I had another person to share the insanity with. Haha! By the way, Kelly was a great hiker, she doesn’t give herself enough credit. She set the pace and led the entire way. All the while telling me she’s a slow hiker. Don’t believe it! She’s a strong hiker and I’d hiker with her again any time. So to get our minds off the climbs, we started thinking about cold icy diet cokes and that helped a little. This was a tough day for me. I hadn’t expected all those extra climbs and coupled with the fact that I hadn’t hiked since early October just made it tough.

We finally push up the last little hill and see the Dicks Creek Gap road up ahead. YEAH! we made it. and it was only 1pm! We hop in Kelly’s car and head into Hiawassee for a diet coke! I was so excited to roll into Haiwassee, only because I’ve read about this little town so many times on trailjournals. I tell Kelly how excited I am to finally check out Haiwassee and then she points out the famous Blueberry Patch Hostel! It looked just like I would imagine it to look like. A blue little hostel. We finally found a little store and head right over to the soda fridges. I pull out a diet coke then spot one of those huge 1 liter diet coke bottles. So I do the right thing and put back my little coke bottle and exchange it for the 1 liter jug. haha! Yea, I got greedy, but that cold coke was sooooooo good. We got up to pay and notice slices of pizza for sale, so my greedy self grabbed one of those too 🙂 I paid the clerk and tell her this place is like a little oasis. She smiles and I wonder if she gets that alot. I mean, it is a trail town. We decided to wait to eat our slice back at the trail head picnic tables, but we took big swigs from our liters of diet coke all the way back. hahha! As we get back to Dicks Creek Gap to wait for Joan and Maggie, we spot Sunny sitting in her car. We invite her to join us at the picnic table.

Sunny used to be a serious hiker/climber/outdoors woman til she got into a really bad car wreck. She still hikes, but not as much distance as she used to do. She and a couple of hikers took the bail out, 1 mile trail back to the car this morning. Seems as if a couple of the girls decided not to finish the hike today. So Sunny went with them to help out carry gear and car pool. Then she came over to the trail head at the end of our section hike to pick up the rest us that finished. As we were talking, I find out that Sunny is really into ultralight backpacking and start to pick her brain for some gear recommendations. She asks if I want to SEE anyof her gear and I excitedly tell her “YEAH!”. She comes back with a huge duffel bag full of gear. I checked out her Patagucci (Patagonia) down jacket that weighs almost nothing. I check out her snow peak stove set that made me double think my Jetboil, and you know I love my Jetboil. But the snow peak was so small, compact, and light. I picked up her western mountaineering 20 degree down bag and almost ran off with it. That bag is soooo light Icouldn’t believe it. Then she showed me my next gear purchase! hahaa! Her Granite Gear Vapor Ki backpack. Man that pack was sweet. She let me try it on and I loved where all the straps fell. I’ve been wanting to get a lighter weight pack, but still wanted one with an internal frame. This one is perfect. I love the outside pockets that were made out of stretchy wetsuit material, I loved the cushioning on the hip and shoulder straps. It just looked and felt great on. I’m going to be saving up my pennies for this purchase!

After ohhing and ahhing over all of Sunny’s gear, Joan and Maggie finally show up. We load up into Kelly’s car and head back out to the cabins. I say my goodbyes to everyone and at 3:30pm, I’m pulling out of Helen GA and headed home. Another wonderful trip with the Trail dames. The weather was perfect, the views were great, the company was wonderful, and even though the trail kicked my butt, I got to be outdoors. I couldn’t of asked for a better weekend. Til next time… GET OUTDOORS!!!

Georgia With the Dames- Part 2

Continuation of SweetPeas’ s Adventures……

Georgia with the Dames (Sat.) – Part 2

At 9:45am we step foot on the trail and start our 1 mile climb up. I hadn’t hiked since the Shennies trip in early October so I was worried I’d fall behind. Luckily, my trail legs didn’t disappear! Joan and I hiked together for the rest of the day. She was kind enough to wait for me on top of the climbs and we would hike down the trail together. At the top of the first climb we caught up to Crystal and her dog Buddy and we all stopped to enjoy the view and take some photos. Crystal and Buddy were just out here for the day and it was Crystal’s first hike. She seemed to be doing really well. Buddy was loving it. She had her tail wagging the entire time and just raced up and down the trail. She would stop when she couldn’t see Crystal and wait for her, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of her mommy, she raced down the trail again. It was so cute. It made me miss my dogs. I learned that Joan was really into the plant life. It was actually pretty cool having someone point out things and teach me something. Like when we hiked by some bamboo plants, normally I would of just walked on by and not thought a second about it, but Joan schooled us on the fact that it was a bamboo native to only the GA mountains. See, I learned something! Joan’s from Oregon, but is a professor at University of GA, where she also does some genetic research. She would sometimes get off the trail to check out an interesting tree or flower. I kept wanting to give her the trail name “Dexter”, like that Hanna Barbera cartoon about the little red headed scientist in the white lab coat. I think the cartoon’s name is actually Dexter’s Labratory. Anyways, we continue on together and see the sign for the shelter. We were told there were some stellar views, so we dropped our packs and decide to hike the .3 miles up the nicely graded trail to check it out. We arrive and notice an open privy on the left and as I yell back to Joan and Crystal to check out the privy, it dawns on my that there’s a pair of boots peaking out from it. Oops! Seems as if we stumbled upon someone doing their business. We quickly look over the shelter, then head back to the view to give the fellow hiker some privacy.

It was a great view, I would highly recommend stopping at Tray Mountain shelter just to check out the view. As we get back to our packs, we see that most of the group has arrived as well as 2 Southbounders!! Buffalo and Eecreats (spelling?). I find out that Eecreats will be the first ITALIAN southbounder to finish the AT. You KNOW I had to ask him about my favorite country on the planet. hahah! He’s sort of a celebrity on the trail, at least that’s how we treated him. hahah! Picture 12 women just oohhing and ahhing over these two southbounders. They were loving it! Sunny offered to get their picture and we all clamored around them for the photo. OH, and I found out the dude in the privy was Rootbeer, another southbounder hiking with Eecreates and Buffalo. So after the photo op, Joan, Crystal, Buddy and I continue down the trail for a couple miles. We decide to have lunch at the top of one of the climbs, which looked to be about 1/2 up. Well, a mile later we were walking down into SWAG of the Blue Ridge Gap where we met some other hikers, one from England and one from Ireland. They were nice enough to take our picture at the SWAG sign 🙂 Well, you all know where there is a GAP, immediately after, is a climb. So we climb up some mountain and climb down into Sassafras Gap, where Joan and I decided to get water at a blue blazed spring. Little did I know I would need some repelling gear to climb steeply down .3 miles for some water. (The down really wasn’t that bad, it’s coming back up that I dread. And it’s especially bitter when the miles don’t count. hahaha!) So we left Crystal up with our packs and we rappelled down to the spring. It was actually a nice, clean, running water spring. Joan and I took turns pumping water thru the filter and finally climbed back up to our packs. When we got to the top, there was no sign of Crystal or Buddy. We think she just decided to finish up since she was just day hiking. So Joan and I continue into camp. We look at our watch and it was only 2:30pm when we arrived into Addison Gap.

We split up to pick some nice camp spots. I choose a couple of nice trees, set up my tarp, hang my hammock, and sit in it a while to relax my feet. About an hour later, in walks Sundai and Diana! They looked pretty worn out so Joan and I help them set up their tents. I realize that their backpacks weigh a ton and that’s why they were so wiped out. Around 4pm, Laura and Lynn walk in, followed by Maggie. The Dames are starting to trickle in. While everone is setting up their tents, Diana decides to pick up some logs/sticks for a campfire and Joan and I go off to hang a couple of ropes for bear bagging. She’s never done it before and it’s one of my least favorite camp chores to do, so… yeah. I take advantage of the situation and tell Joan she should practice. hhahah! Seriously, after she weighted down one end of the rope with some twigs, she had 2 bear bag ropes up in less then 10 minutes. It was so cute to see how excited she was to get it over the tree limb. We high fived after each successful toss and she had the biggest ear to ear grin. When we got back to the campsite Diana had a nice little fire going. I helped her stack the logs around to keep the fire going and to create some really good coals. By 5:pm, I was getting a bit worried about SHOE and her group. SHOE, as the leader of the trip, held up the rear and made sure everyone made it safely to camp. It was almost completely dark when they finally pulled into camp. By this time, everyone else was pretty much set up and starting to make dinner. She went off to get water, while Joan and I put up another bear bag rope. This time I threw one up and it was pretty sloppy. Instead of redoing it like we should of, we let our stomachs take over. So off we went to make some dinner. I was starving! As everyone was making/eating dinner (SHOE and Kelly filtered water)guess who night hikes with her headlamp on into camp. Mud Butt! YAY! She is in such a cheery mood, it’s hard not to smile when you hear her. The best part, she brought in everything you need to make S’Mores!!! Whoo hoo! I walk over to hug and say hello. While she is busy setting up her camp, I go and bear bag my food.

As we are enjoying the S’mores 🙂 and chit chatting around the campfire, Jen and her family hike in. Jen works at Mountain Crossings Outfitters and attempted to thru hike last year. After they set up, they start making dinner. Talk about a yummy dinner. SHOE and I looked at one another and she says, “we are doing that next time we’re in the Smoky’s” and believe me, we are SO doing that. Jen had marinated some steak, skewered it, and cooked it on the campfire. After a while, the fire started to die out and most of us called it a night. I didn’t realize how warm the fire had kept me until I started walking back to my hammock. I checked my thermometer and it said it was around 35-40 degrees. Chilly night! I slipped on my down vest, jumped into my warm hammock, and drifted off to sleep. I slept sooo good that night. The next morning I woke up around 6:30am and just laid in my warm hammock til I heard some of the others moving around. Stay tuned for tomorrows adventure. Til then, GET OUTDOORS!

Stay tuned for part 3!!

Georgia With the Dames- Part 1

Post written by one of our favorite Dames, Sweetpea!!

Once again I zipped down to Georgia for the Trail Dames annual backpack trip! After work on Friday I hopped in my car, and headed to Kelly’s cabin to meet up with the dames. I whirled up the mountain roads up to Helen GA and this time the weather was clear, crisp, and all around perfect for a backpacking trip. (If you’ve never been to Helen,GA it’s the cutest little Alpine village type town. It reminded me of a little ski resort in the Alps.) I called SHOE to let her know I was close by and she gives me directions to the cabin. Well, Kelly has three cabins and wouldn’t you know it, I went into the only empty cabin to wait for everyone. So typical of me. hahaha! Everyone else happened to be in the first cabin. SHOE came over to rescue me and then introduced me to everyone. I met Crystal and her dog Buddy, who will only be day hiking the first section with us, Kathy and Sunny (who is really into ultralight backpacking and gave me so gear tips), Kelly, who owns all three cabins, Lynn and Laura, (mother and daughter), and Diana, whom I met last year at the Hike Inn in GA. We chit chat a bit, but since I rolled in late, everyone was ready to go to bed. SHOE and I stayed up a while just catching up. We finally decide to call it a night around 10:45pm b/c the rest of the Dames were coming up at 7:30 in the morning. I pulled out my sleeping bag and stretched out on the couch for a good nights sleep. SHOE said I must of slept well b/c she could hear me snoring away. Oops 🙂

I woke up the next morning around 7am and started packing up my stuff when a new group of Dames walk in. Sundai, Nancy, and Joan drove up this morning. In total there will be 16 of us backpacking. (Me, SHOE, Kelly, Joan, Sundai, Nancy, Kathy, Crystal, April, Mudd Butt, Sunny, Diana, Lynn, Laura, Maggie, ) Everyone finally arrived at the cabins, (except for Mudd Butt, she had to work and was hiking in to our campsite later that evening.) we loaded up all the packs and shuffled three cars up to Tray Mt. Gap. The ride up Tray mountain was on a narrow, steep, gravely, dirt road with tons of pot holes, which made for an interesting drive. 🙂 We made it to the trail head, parked the cars, got everyone situated, took the obligatory “before” picture, and started our trek to Addison Gap. Only 6.2 miles away. Tune in tomorrow to continue our adventure! Til Next time GET OUTDOORS!!!

Stay tuned for part 2!!