It seems that there's beauty everywhere and we're only in the middle of our glorious spring.
Yesterday Jon moved his dahlia tubers out of storage from last winter and they're now planted in the ground. I can't wait to see the blossoms in August.
Our Lilacs, Iris and Columbine are blooming. The Peonies are next.
Rhubarb blossom.
This has to be the largest rhubarb leaf I've ever seen seen. It is huge!
I've moved my houseplants onto the front porch for the summer. They love it there.
My Snow-on-the-Mountain is kind of out of control.
The Hostas - on their way to being huge. We're going to have to move the fence since some of them are pushing up against it. The fence is necessary otherwise the deer will eat everything down to the roots.
Miss Lady is not much of a digger, but for some reason she did decide to make a hole in front of this Hosta plant earlier in the spring. The Sweet Woodruff spreads pretty easily and should fill it back in by next year.
Last year Jon and I transplanted some Sweet Woodruff and Creeping Jenny to the other side of the lawn on the east end of the house. The grass just doesn't want to grow there because there's not enough sun and too many trees. It's coming along nicely.
According to my friend Marianne there's a golden hour for taking photos. I think she's right.
I was thinking about yesterday's post and remembered that the soloist who sang "You'll Never Walk Alone, also sang, "Old Man River". It is a challenging solo. I loved accompanying vocalists and small vocal groups. Rehearsing the songs and making adjustments to enhance the music was an enjoyable experience and time well spent.
Old Man River, from the musical, Showboat. Two great songs from it, Can't Help Lovin' That Man and Old Man River. It seems like the right song to listen to this morning.
This blog is in response to remembering singing just one song. That's how much music has affected my life. It's a bit wordy, and I've added videos of several songs, so bear with me.
When I was in high school, I was very involved in all of the music department activities. I have zero athletic ability, so sports as an extra-curricular activity was out. Not to mention the fact that in those days organized sports for girls was "slim pickings". There was a lot of 4-H, which I did participate in, but I sucked at that as well. I can't sew worth beans and my crafting abilities are seriously lacking.
I sang in the choir, which probably had about 90 members. Small groups, the Triple Trio, Barbershop Quartet and the Madrigal Choir. I wish I could remember everyone who sang in the Triple Trio, but I don't. I do remember the Barbershop Quartet members though, Carol Wilson, Tabby Beat, Barbara Green and yours truly.
I started out learning to play the clarinet in the 5th grade, moved to the bass clarinet and finally to the percussion section, where one had a chance to play a lot of different instruments, the bell lyra, tympani, different drums, cymbals, triangle, maracas, marimba and last but not least, the standup bass. It was a lot of fun.
I played the piano and accompanied a lot of vocalists and also played piano duets with my friend, "Frank" Leslie Delashmutt. We spent hundreds of hours rehearsing and I needed to because Frank was more talented on the keyboard and I needed to keep up. Our first piano duet was when we were in the ninth grade. We performed the Theme from Exodus, which had been made a hit on the charts by a piano duo, Ferrante and Teicher. That meant that we could buy piano charts for duets they played, so we followed that piece by playing The Theme from The Apartment, Malaguena, Tonight, from West Side Story and an excerpt from Rhapsody in Blue.
Frank and I played The Theme from Exodus on one piano. When I listened to this performance of it today, it made me incredibly sad. So many deaths on both sides. It's a beautiful performance.
Our senior year we bent the rules at our performance at the district-wide music competition because we didn't play Rhapsody in Blue from memory. It was a real challenge for me and I don't know that I could ever have memorized the piece. We were lucky because the judges were merciful and we still received a superior rating of "1".
Rhapsody in Blue
As I said, music was a big part of my life. I was in the 6th grade when I became the pianist for our church's summer bible camp and then on Sundays for Sunday school choir. Years later I moved on to accompanying the congregation and learning to play the organ for Sunday services. A lot of Sundays. I know the lyrics to a lot of hymns, because I played them over and over again.
Frank was a member of the Congregational Church. That was how I had the chance to play a Hammond B3 organ that had two Leslie Speakers. The pastor allowed Frank and I the opportunity to practice on the Hammond. It is without a doubt the most incredible instrument. I can hardly believe that I have one in my basement.
This is a performance from St. John's Episcopal Church in College Park, GA. They have page turners and it's not a hymn. The Theme from The Apartment.
This recording is a little muddy. I think they had the pianos "miked".
As far as being a vocalist goes, I loved singing and although I sang in the choir and a lot of small groups, my voice is just one of those so-so voices. I can hold a pitch and a tune. I still love singing though.
I was reminded of that when I came across a Youtube video of a young choir singing "Give Me Your Tired and Your Poor, by Irving Berlin. The lyrics based on the poem by Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus. It's etched on the tablet held by the Statue of Liberty. I have never forgotten the words.
As I wrote in a previous post on my Facebook page, I don't understand how so many in our country have lost compassion and empathy for others who have so little. Music is a part of me and expresses who I am.
Finally, I remember accompanying a soloist at the district music competition who sang this song. Once again, I can't remember his name, but I think he also received a superior rating. He had a beautiful baritone voice. There are a lot of recordings of this song. Elvis, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Barbara Streisand, The Three Tenors...
Today I am honoring some of our family members who served in the military. My father, Jon's father, both of my grandfathers and uncles, nephew Tanner and also my husband, Jon. There are many more. My cousins, there are dozens of them, and also friends who served in Vietnam, Mark Heisel and Ray Salinas.
Jon does not have many photos from his service in Vietnam. This is one he took while on patrol. The soldier in front of Jon was Ross Donnell. (Ross came to visit us in 2003). Jon was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division with military intelligence as an interrogator. Before going to Vietnam, he spent a year at the army language school in El Paso, learning the Vietnamese language.
Jon's father, Jim was with a tank unit in WWII. His tank was blown up in Italy. He had shrapnel in his leg for the rest of his life. He received a Purple Heart. After being in the hospital in Italy, he was sent to one in Utah to finish his recovery. That is where he met his wife, Lois Coulthard.
Jon's father with his younger brothers.
Grandpa Jim's Purple Heart award letter.
My grandfather, Roy Reineke, served during WWI.
Jon saw more action that he cares to talk about. Our friends, Mark and Ray would probably say the same. I believe that Mark was a machine gunner, who carried 60 caliber machine gun and Ray was with an artillery division.
One of Jon's missions was after he had interrogated a prisoner who knew where a VC base camp and an NVA hospital was located. The prisoner couldn't read a map, but Jon had talked to him about the terrain.
Was there a creek? A dry creek bed? Up on this ridge? How far? etc.
The prisoner knew where there was a helicopter that was blown up on a mine and that helped. Jon was then able to figure out approximately where the Vietcong were on a map. He went with his prisoner and a company (3 different platoons) to find it. A very spooky situation.
First, Marine jets blew off the top of the mountain so that helicopters could land there. The platoon that Jon was with headed down the trail while the other platoons were on different mountains. From the top of the mountain it was about a kilometer to the site.
They were ambushed as they started hiking down a dry creek bed. His prisoner had told them they shouldn't go single file down the trail because they would get ambushed, so the platoon spread out on line. They came to a spot where a tree had fallen across the trail and that's when they encountered enemy fire. They responded and when there were no more shots, they found a dead NVA soldier near the tree.
When they got to the base camp, the Vietcong had fled - very shortly before their arrival because there were empty beds in the hospital where the VC had evacuated wounded soldiers. The jungle was so thick that you wouldn't know you were standing next to it. You could only make out the door. Inside the headquarters there were white strings hanging on a wall. The strings had been cut.
Later they found a cache, high up on the bank of the dry creek bed they had walked down. In it they found lots of documents, but also what was hanging on the wall, a communist flag about 3'x4'. We have the flag.
My grandpa, Jude Phillipps, also served along with his brother, my Uncle Bum.
Left to right: My dad, Roy "Jay" Reineke, his dad, Roy Reineke, his youngest brother, Jerry, who served in Korea and his older brother Dick. My dad was in the navy. They sent him to Farragut for his basic training. He was young and had really never been anywhere. His family had a ranch near Ericson, Nebraska. He told us that when it came time at basic camp to learn how to swim, they just threw them in the lake. It was sink, or swim.
Tanner Champlin, who served with the Marines and the evacuation in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of Tanner in uniform. This is a photo from the 4th of July parade in Clark fork. Both Tanner and Collin are wearing one of Jon's uniforms.
A quiet time for Jon in his hootch. He was and is an avid reader. No shoes, no shirt, but yes, their was "service" It was hot and humid there. At Christmas in 1969 his parents sent him a small, "real" Christmas tree with decorations. Service members from miles around Camp Evans came to see his tree.
May 18th, 1980. A significant date. More on that later.
It's been some time since I posted so here goes.
Things have been constantly happening around here and it's almost all connected to health issues and the getting older experience. Jon has been dealing with a very long blood clot in his leg and it is now about half healed. I finally had my sinus surgery but not without the "complications". I won't go into the details because it's just TMI.
We are both beginning to "see the daylight" and I finally had enough energy to mow the lawn. Yes, I know. All I had to do was sit on the mower, but even that felt pretty challenging right now.
Yesterday was the window for getting it done since the rains came back last night and it's really wet out there now.
I have planted one pot of flowers for our hummingbirds and it's in place next to the feeder. We're now in the middle of the "it's so green" time of the year.
I'm posting miscellaneous photos and this is a great one of Dylan.
Our first Idaho Goldthread. Coptis occidentalis. Photo taken in April.
Lady is doing a good job keeping the deer out of the yard. They're starting to realize that they can only be in the pasture otherwise she's going to chase them out. She has great recall and as border collies will do, she "comes home" when called.
My perennials are starting to come up, especially the lilies and iris. Also, our lilac bushes will bloom soon. Maybe by the end of the week.
We're still having our weekly music sessions and that certainly lifts our spirits. Music is good for the soul.
Jon thinks this is the only song we play because every time he comes to the basement to listen to us, it's what we're playing.
It's Only a Paper Moon.
Today is Sunday, May 18th, 2025. Jon and I are both remembering that Sunday 45 years ago. We had a pool at Murphy's Lounge and we're trying to remember who won the bet. I think it was the owner, Dale Snodgrass, but neither one of us is sure. It was a once in a lifetime experience.
This is a great video. Thank you science and scientists. All of you. Every where.
