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Lauriemac |
… 2008 was a mixed blessing for the
Early November I was in town one Sunday afternoon, that be Lexing-to(w)n… and had been working hard all weekend timber framing a sweet little potting shed to be auctioned to raise money for our local woman’s shelter, Project Horizon’s, Lisa’s House. Feeling quite tired & satisfied, I found my way into a local art studio that was having a little reception. Several friends were there jamming away. The community, the late day sun, the old time tunes shared after working wood all day with handplanes , chisels & mallets… could not have been a more romantic, warm & eneveloping way to cap my day. I declared, out loud, to 2 friends, that 2009 would be the year I learned a stringed instrument. Elizabeth asked," Oh yeah? and whch stringed instrument might that be?" Still waffling on which, it would be, I said," don't know, but I'm sure it will come to me...2009 is right around the corner!"
One month later, on a Sunday morn, I received a call that Odell McGuire had passed away. I whelmed with emotion, even though Odell had not had much of a presence in my life in the past many years. An occasional bump into, at the grocery store. We’d talk about his goats, he’d tell me that I hadn’t changed since the day I set foot in Rockbridge… I’d say to him, "Neither have you, your still cantakorous…" he’d pause in his special way, and say,” your probably correct.” And the last ‘Event’ being his 80th birthday celebration at Zollman’s Pavillion on a BEAutiful Spring weekend in April of ’07.
Yet that Sunday morning my very first meeting with that cantankerous ‘old man’ flooded my memory. The welcoming to
On December 21st, the, Winter Solstice, a day in the calendar year that has been my families holiday for celebration close to 30 years, was the afternoon of Odell’s memorial service at Lee Chapel on the Washington & Lee Campus in
On February 1st 2009 I had my first banjo guidance (lesson) with David Winston. One of Odell’s, ‘next generation’.
(installment #4) stay tuned!
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