I'm paralleling the same route that we took 15 years ago in the Citabria. Right after I left the Navy, we piled into the little two seater and flew, pretty much at highway speed, east to my Mom's place in West Palm Beach. Right out of the California hills, we hit a bit of turbulence, which may have given Janet, or at least her tummy, second thoughts. But at an Arizona FBO, we met up with the couple who ran the place. While the husband showed me his biplane he was working on, his wife plied Janet with ginger candy. Airsickness disappeared immediately. Janet was in love. With the candy, and I suppose with me, too, or she wouldn't have made it that far.
Come evening, we landed in Deming, NM, where I'm writing this. The cabbie who took us into town told us it was the land of clean water and fast ducks. The town is set on a spring, and every year, they have a duck race. Later, we'd discover they used plastic floaty ducks, much to Janet's disappointment. She always did like ducks, maintaining that the best part of the Disneyland Jungle Boat tour was seeing real ducks nesting on fake crocodiles.
That evening, we found ourselves watching Sesame Street. Hey, it's better than most of the other stuff on TV! And I remember this song coming on:
We waltzed around the room, singing "Batty batty bat bat bat bat" until we got tired and went to sleep. Or something like that.
I won't be somber, but just before she passed, I held her up and we waltzed as best as we could to that song, then finished with an Arbeau pavane. But in deference to M. Arbeau, I think Janet liked the bats better.
Bat bat bat bat bat...
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Beethoven Bear
Janet's teddy from when she was six. She thought he had the same scowl as old LVB. Flower was a gift from a student, although I'm afraid I can't remember which one.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Tunes
For the last couple of weeks, I've been busy tracking down some of Janet's old performances. Josef Kucera, the recording engineer UCSD (among a few thousand other hats) retrieved the recordings done at university performances and mastered them for me. So I've got four CDs of her music now, as well as a DVD of her Master's recital from 1994. I've put most of the last up on YouTube now, as well as all of the Apparatus and Goliard CDs.
With those and the UCSD recordings, there should be enough to put together a decent amount of her work up on a memorial site. In the meantime, if you want to watch and listen, they're over at http://www.youtube.com/user/DPW1889
Perhaps it's the early musician in me, but this is my favorite, a pair of 14th century madrigals she performed with Kristin Korb. This is how I like to remember Janet, in full on performance mode, the life shining through her.
And cute ears. They always seemed to poke through her hair like she was some sort of Tolkien elf. But don't let that distract you from the music.
And wickedness prompts me to tease her about the ever present kleenex she'd wad up and leave in her pants/skirt pocket. At least she didn't drop it on the stage.
With those and the UCSD recordings, there should be enough to put together a decent amount of her work up on a memorial site. In the meantime, if you want to watch and listen, they're over at http://www.youtube.com/user/DPW1889
Perhaps it's the early musician in me, but this is my favorite, a pair of 14th century madrigals she performed with Kristin Korb. This is how I like to remember Janet, in full on performance mode, the life shining through her.
And cute ears. They always seemed to poke through her hair like she was some sort of Tolkien elf. But don't let that distract you from the music.
And wickedness prompts me to tease her about the ever present kleenex she'd wad up and leave in her pants/skirt pocket. At least she didn't drop it on the stage.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Flutes
Janet always described her medieval flutes as "basically just a tube with holes in it". It's literally true. Even the basic taper bore (which helps upper octave intonation) wouldn't appear until the 17th century. I think. She was the flute nerd, not me. And what a flute nerd she was. The expressiveness she'd pull out of those simple instruments was amazing, as was her ability to come up with weird fingering for the accidentals, and still stay in tune. I've been playing her flutes lately, and truthfully, there's a couple that are essentially unplayable. By me, that is.
Janet's old enemy Rheumatoid Arthritis kept her from playing baroque period flutes for the most part. Their length required too much of a finger stretch. It's a crying shame, because she had a hard plastic baroque flute that she could rip away on in her early twenties, before RA showed up. I remember her entering an SCA music contest (a medieval/renaissance themed group). I know, sounds like slumming, but the organization actually has a number of good early and folk musicians in it. Still, as one of the judges told me later, the discussion about the winners started with "Okay, everyone's agreed on the girl with the flute, right? Now, let's decide on the runners up..."
She did have a special baroque flute made for her by the instrument maker Jim French, who also made that deerbone flute she played on the Goliard album. It required her to bend every note up or down up to a quarter step. Even for Janet, it was pushing things, but it did allow for a closer finger spacing. She'd haul it out from time to time, though. I'm pretty sure she's the only one who was ever able to play it. Call it the Excalibur of flutes. I have it, and it's beautiful. But it just can't sing without her.
Janet's old enemy Rheumatoid Arthritis kept her from playing baroque period flutes for the most part. Their length required too much of a finger stretch. It's a crying shame, because she had a hard plastic baroque flute that she could rip away on in her early twenties, before RA showed up. I remember her entering an SCA music contest (a medieval/renaissance themed group). I know, sounds like slumming, but the organization actually has a number of good early and folk musicians in it. Still, as one of the judges told me later, the discussion about the winners started with "Okay, everyone's agreed on the girl with the flute, right? Now, let's decide on the runners up..."
She did have a special baroque flute made for her by the instrument maker Jim French, who also made that deerbone flute she played on the Goliard album. It required her to bend every note up or down up to a quarter step. Even for Janet, it was pushing things, but it did allow for a closer finger spacing. She'd haul it out from time to time, though. I'm pretty sure she's the only one who was ever able to play it. Call it the Excalibur of flutes. I have it, and it's beautiful. But it just can't sing without her.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Car Talk
The more time I spend without Janet, the more I realize just how much less annoying the world was with her around. For one, she was the mistress of "fixing the little stuff". Perhaps that's a reversal of traditional gender roles, as I was the cook and tidier (not that I was ever allowed to touch her desk)(desk loosely defined as the office, office floor and dining table), and she was the one who would deal with things like wrestling with the taxes and buying cars. But, as Clint Eastwood once said, a man's got to know his limitations.
I was thinking about this as I was getting the alternator fixed. That's my former "airport car", that is, a car capable of usually making it to the airport and back. Janet always boasted about how she got it for $400, as she'd found out about a California smoggy car buyback program. Our beloved Tercel, "Mel", had finally failed the annual smog check. It was a sad day, as that beast had been with us since the day we started out "not dates", me driving her to the grocery store in exchange for flute lessons. 330,000 miles later, we'd traveled across the country multiple times, east to west and north to south, with side trips to Canada and Mexico. But Mel had acquired the car equivalent of old man smell, and we had to put him down. But thanks to Janet, the state gave us $1000 for doing so (California residents, look it up, but you have to be fast-- usually they run out of money just a few weeks into the fiscal year).
Consulting with our mechanic, Janet was able to find another car for $1400, for a net of $400. She always did the bargaining, again something she was good at. I remember the car dealer who sold us the car before that telling me that she was a toughie. Car dealers say lots of things, but he looked so mournful that I believed him (perhaps tellingly, the dealership went out of business shortly thereafter) . Janet's schtick was to look up all the local prices on that model, bluebook, etc, then go in with her price in mind and a mechanical checklist. She didn't put up with nonsense, either. No, you can't have her keys-- not unless you want her teeth in your arm.
So, she got her "$400 car", and danced her usual "Yay for me!" dance. Then she asked me to make Fred, our mechanic, a cake for all his help. Lemon bundt, if memory serves. Well, hey, I can do some things. And hey, Janet also knitted and I drink beer. So it wasn't as if we were adverse to some traditional gender roles. But we'd never let it get in the way of getting a good deal on a car.
Never could get her to change the oil, though.
I was thinking about this as I was getting the alternator fixed. That's my former "airport car", that is, a car capable of usually making it to the airport and back. Janet always boasted about how she got it for $400, as she'd found out about a California smoggy car buyback program. Our beloved Tercel, "Mel", had finally failed the annual smog check. It was a sad day, as that beast had been with us since the day we started out "not dates", me driving her to the grocery store in exchange for flute lessons. 330,000 miles later, we'd traveled across the country multiple times, east to west and north to south, with side trips to Canada and Mexico. But Mel had acquired the car equivalent of old man smell, and we had to put him down. But thanks to Janet, the state gave us $1000 for doing so (California residents, look it up, but you have to be fast-- usually they run out of money just a few weeks into the fiscal year).
Consulting with our mechanic, Janet was able to find another car for $1400, for a net of $400. She always did the bargaining, again something she was good at. I remember the car dealer who sold us the car before that telling me that she was a toughie. Car dealers say lots of things, but he looked so mournful that I believed him (perhaps tellingly, the dealership went out of business shortly thereafter) . Janet's schtick was to look up all the local prices on that model, bluebook, etc, then go in with her price in mind and a mechanical checklist. She didn't put up with nonsense, either. No, you can't have her keys-- not unless you want her teeth in your arm.
So, she got her "$400 car", and danced her usual "Yay for me!" dance. Then she asked me to make Fred, our mechanic, a cake for all his help. Lemon bundt, if memory serves. Well, hey, I can do some things. And hey, Janet also knitted and I drink beer. So it wasn't as if we were adverse to some traditional gender roles. But we'd never let it get in the way of getting a good deal on a car.
Never could get her to change the oil, though.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Janetism #8
"Computers are not intrinsically interesting."
Janet was completely capable of wrestling with computers and bending them to her brilliant but cute will (and yes, she'd occasionally say "Bwah ha ha" at evil overlordette appropriate moments). Anyone who can write quasi-AI programs that improvise music with a human player knows something about computers (for you computer geeks out there, she wrote that one in Forth)
But to her, they were a tool to an end. She never could understand the fascination some computer hobbyists had with the device itself. She viewed that as akin to being fond of vacuum cleaners. Actually, come to think of it, she liked her Roomba better than her computers. It was sort of a pet that did housework, much like our dog would mop the kitchen floor.
Janet was completely capable of wrestling with computers and bending them to her brilliant but cute will (and yes, she'd occasionally say "Bwah ha ha" at evil overlordette appropriate moments). Anyone who can write quasi-AI programs that improvise music with a human player knows something about computers (for you computer geeks out there, she wrote that one in Forth)
But to her, they were a tool to an end. She never could understand the fascination some computer hobbyists had with the device itself. She viewed that as akin to being fond of vacuum cleaners. Actually, come to think of it, she liked her Roomba better than her computers. It was sort of a pet that did housework, much like our dog would mop the kitchen floor.
Friday, August 12, 2011
All the music
I've finished putting all of the music from the Goliard CD up. Eventually, I'd like to get a website where her music will be available for download (free, or perhaps a donation to the ACS or some such). But in the meantime, youtube it is. I listed it as Creative Commons-- I would be delighted if people used it elsewhere.
The Youtube link is below (my video channel), but I'll post the videos here as well. The Deerbone flute is probably my favorite. It really shows off her improvisatory chops, as well as her ability to play almost anything vaguely flutelike.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DPW1889?feature=mhee
8th Century Deerbone Flute
The Youtube link is below (my video channel), but I'll post the videos here as well. The Deerbone flute is probably my favorite. It really shows off her improvisatory chops, as well as her ability to play almost anything vaguely flutelike.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DPW1889?feature=mhee
8th Century Deerbone Flute
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