The Positive Thread...

John C. Knopf
John C. Knopf
@john-c-knopf
3 months ago
385 posts

We're proud to "have you on the bus", Nate!  You have some amazing ideas.  Thanks for sharing them with us.

NateBuildsToys
NateBuildsToys
@nate
3 months ago
238 posts

With the loss of such a positive support beam in the dulcimer community, it reminds me to express my gratitude to y'all. I am very grateful to have found this community of kind, helpful, non-judgmental, encouraging, and inviting folks who I can share the dulcimer with. You have all had a tremendously positive impact on me, and I'm grateful to be able to interface with all you great folks.
I love you all,
God bless all,
Nate

dulcinina
@dulcinina
3 months ago
87 posts

Hi Ken, Your Christmas activities sound lovely.  I forgot about the film A Child's Christmas! Adding it to my list of movies to watch.  I know you're a gourmet cook so your goodies will be delicious.  I just saw a recipe for Wassail that I want to try.  Our Christmas will be quiet, too. Just the way I like it.  Merry Christmas. Nina (from the Berea meet-up)

Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
3 months ago
2,111 posts

Quiet home Christmas mostly.  Sally's daughter is coming down from Baltimore so 4 of us for the traditional English Christmas Dinner. 

Later this week we're going with some friends on a 1/8 scale mini-train Night ride around our favorite walking park -- Lakes Park -- where we volunteer with the bird patrol and trash pickup.  The train museum goes all out decorating with lights and such long the several miles of track through the park.  

We're also hosting our annual friend party to watch the classic Denholm Elliot version of Dylan Thomas'  A Child's Christmas In Wales.  I'm making mince tarts and apple biscotti for both events, with Apple Cider and non-alcoholic Wassail Punch.

Jan Potts
Jan Potts
@jan-potts
3 months ago
399 posts

I'll be donating food and warm winter clothes to the homeless.




--
Jan Potts, Lexington, KY
Site Moderator

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke
Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
4 months ago
1,415 posts

@john-c-knopf I'm grateful for the music she left behind-- it continues to enrich my life! 

John C. Knopf
John C. Knopf
@john-c-knopf
4 months ago
385 posts

Robin Thompson:


Jean Ruth Ritchie was born 101 years ago today in Viper KY.flower


She's probably pickin' dulcimore with the angelic host!  God bless her and her family.

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
4 months ago
1,415 posts

Jean Ruth Ritchie was born 101 years ago today in Viper KY.flower

steve c.
steve c.
@steve-c
4 months ago
66 posts

Our Christmas will be quiet as well…well as quiet as my granddaughters can be.  We will attend Christmas Eve services and Christmas Day.  I’ll dress for my grandchildren as St. Nicholas, (the one that really lived and still lives with Jesus), this Weds. on the feast day of St. Nicholas and tell his story.  


updated by @steve-c: 12/04/23 01:36:07PM
Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
4 months ago
1,073 posts

This will be a quiet Christmas at home. I played at our local historical society's museum for our annual Festival of Ice the first weekend of this month. I played Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday music. We will visit our daughter's family after Christmas and help them pack up the first floor of their home which will be renovated in January and February. We will attend our usual service of worship on December 24th in the morning and the evening Christmas Eve service. For the most part I'm avoiding crowds until after mid-January as I will have cataract surgery on December 14 and January 4.I don't want to catch a cold or the flue and have to reschedule.  I'll be at home most of the time playing dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."


updated by @ken-longfield: 12/04/23 01:17:56PM
Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
4 months ago
231 posts

Thanks for the suggestion Strumelia. My family and I will celebrate Christmas from the perspective of the Biblical record, with praise and thanksgiving. We look forward to the Christmas fellowship at church and then the Christmas Eve candlelight service. It will be different this year as we lost my wife's dear sister passed due to cancer in September, so time will be spent to remember her.  We will share Christmas dinner with close family. Our daughter and her family will be with us for a day or two. There will be visits with family and neighbors. I will be making a homemade gift for my brother in law.  As of now I need to get started baking about 30 dozen cookies to share with many friends and some local businesses in the small town where I am. My list is growing so it may be more. I will play Christmas music most every day on the dulcimore.

Then as the Christmas Season passes into the New Year, we will continue to enjoy the birds which visit our 6 feeding stations daily. We also feed the wild deer, Canada geese, squirrels, an opossum we call Polly, a racoon we call Rocky,  and a few ducks that have taken up over the years. Some nights we listen to the call of the wild coyotes across the way.

Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
4 months ago
2,246 posts

In the Positive Thread... I'm just wondering what some of you are doing for the holiday season!  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukka, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, or you just 'do cozy things'...  tell me what plans you have to make winter meaningful or enjoyable.
Are you looking forward to a family gathering or cooking a special meal?  Do you have a musical event planned or going to a cool concert?  Are you getting a new instrument to play?  Adopting a pet?  Reaching out to an estranged relative?  Traveling to a place far away?  Knitting some festive socks or making some other homemade gift?  Working a double shift so others can enjoy the holiday?  Having the neighbors over?  Honoring the memory of a loved one?  Setting up bird feeders for wildlife to enjoy?
Tell us how you add something positive to your December/January. ☃️ 🕯




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

updated by @strumelia: 12/04/23 08:52:41AM
austinpmckenzie
@austinpmckenzie
6 months ago
4 posts

Omg, this thread idea is amazing. I need positivety in my life! Hope everyone is having a fun safe Saturday! 

MacAodha
MacAodha
@macaodha
9 months ago
33 posts

Best wishes to all at FOTMD.

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
9 months ago
1,415 posts

Happy birthday, FOTMD! dulcimer cake

Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
11 months ago
1,720 posts

Everybody is a mother and/or has a mother, so Happy Mother's Day, FOTMD! inlove joyjoy sun dancetomato jive




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Alegre1
Alegre1
@alegre1
11 months ago
30 posts

Just saw this thread; what a great idea! In between playing dulcimer, if you have Apple TV, I can highly recommend Ted Lasso if you haven't seen it. Also, here is a photo of some happy chickens! 

Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
last year
2,246 posts

Those sound like positive developments and omens, Leo. music
I was surprised to see a huge bald eagle flying over my village a few weeks ago. They sometimes hang out at the Hudson river which is near to us, but are seldom seen actually in our village. I saw one in a corn field here about 15 yrs ago while riding my bike. Snowy owls are equally majestic! I think i read there was one in NYC's Central Park last year.

I'm wishing positive new things for all FOTMD friends for this new year! grphug




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
Leo Kretzner
Leo Kretzner
@leo-kretzner
last year
35 posts

Well, Happy New Year to all!! 

I have to say, mine has had an auspicious start 'on steroids': Copies of my new album, 'Mixed Colors,' arrived 12/31 and on New Year's Day I saw the wonderful snowy owl, an arctic circle bird making the NYTimes etc for being in Southern California. Yes I am a birder too. AND, so over the top, I saw a rainbow on the way home from that. 

So, I'm either going to have a really good year, or I'm being set up by the fates for a big sucker punch! (Time will tell...)

I'm starting to put some of the tracks from the new album on YouTube, and am working on it 'streaming' and such. My YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9OT1F765UQHoyaB2ChzxeQ  

I can also tell you there will be a '4-Equidistant Strings Dulcimer Day' on March 11 and 'read all about it': https://4-equidistant-dulcimer-day.simplerosites.com/     More information coming on all this.

Let's hope for another great year for mountain dulcimers!! 

Leo 

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Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
2 years ago
231 posts

Merry Christmas to all of our dulcimer friends.

Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
2 years ago
2,111 posts

Thankful for friends & family who survived Hurricane Ian whether they lost everything else, or nothing; thankful the dulcimer which has brought me so much joy over the years; and thankful for having been alive for nearly seventy-five years and having seen the changes, good and bad which have taken place around the world.

John C. Knopf
John C. Knopf
@john-c-knopf
2 years ago
385 posts

I'm thankful for a warm, well-lighted home to live in, family and friends, a meaningful job, the dulcimer that has brought joy and peace to thousands of folks worldwide, and like Richard, this Christmas season, I'm thankful for Christ stepping down from Heaven's splendor to be born as a baby, to show us God's love and the gift of salvation.

Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
2 years ago
231 posts

I am thankful for the Christ Whose birth we celebrate this time of year, for His love and peace and joy given to all who accept His gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins.

John W. McKinstry
John W. McKinstry
@john-w-mckinstry
2 years ago
50 posts

Things I am grateful for:

I am thankful for the many friends I have met through  the Friends of the Mt. Dulcimer website. They have sent me many touching messages of encouragement that I cherish.

 I am also thankful for the mountain dulcimer itself which produces such sweet, soothing music.

I am also thankful for family who take time to record my videos and encourage me to enter this larger world of sharing.

What a blessing to have found such a community that offers such peace, joy, and encouragement!

Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

List 3-5 things you are grateful for right now. 🙌🏻  🎄  💕




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
2 years ago
1,073 posts

You're correct John. I think it was in the $2,000 to 3,000 range, but I may not remember it all that well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

John C. Knopf
John C. Knopf
@john-c-knopf
2 years ago
385 posts

I don't remember this "Jeopardy!" episode, but I do recall the "Antiques Road Show" episode with the old Virginia dulcimore on it. The appraiser valued it way high, it seemed to me.

Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
2 years ago
1,073 posts

Good point, Dusty.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

The trick, Ken, is to record the show, memorize the answers, and then ask someone to watch it with you.  When you yell out all the answers they'll think you're so smart!nerd




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
2 years ago
1,073 posts

Haha, Dusty. I'm glad they repeat those old shows. Sometimes the second or third time through I can get the right question for the answer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

If I'm only four or five months late, that's not bad.  I think of new music as anything played since the invention of the steam engine. oldman




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
2 years ago
1,073 posts

Jeopardy has been offering video and photo clues for years. That's nothing new. Also, this show is not new either. It was first broadcast in July of 2022.

Kwn

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

Whaaaat?? I didn't think they showed picture clues on that show! Seems crazy.




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

As the question was asked, they showed a picture of a dulcimer, so the banjo answer was less informed than you might have thought.




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

That's actually pretty impressive!  Especially also considering that "mountain banjos" are actually a defined type of banjo.




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

On Jeopardy today:

Answer: The mountain this is the Kentucky state instrument.

Question: What is a dulcimer?

The first contestant to answer guessed a banjo, but the second one got it.




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

omg Dusty, too adorable!  catdance




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

Do you love cats?  Do you love music?




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
2 years ago
231 posts

Glad to see you active again. Looking forward to your participation.

shawn wright
shawn wright
@shawn-wright
2 years ago
7 posts

I've been gone a long time.  Hoping to get back to trying to play again.

Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

Hey friends, I created a new discussion entitled International Appalachian Dulcimer Day in the General Mountain Dulcimer Forum.  Let's move our discussion (especially the posters!!) over there and leave this space for other positive news.

Thanks.




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

Steve, I'll send you a private message through fotmd.




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

updated by @strumelia: 02/24/22 09:43:31PM
steve c.
steve c.
@steve-c
2 years ago
66 posts

Strumelia, If you can send me an email address, I will send you a copy and you can edit as you wish.  Any help is appreciated.

robert schuler
robert schuler
@robert-schuler
2 years ago
252 posts

Great poster!!!. Absolutely love it, the old timer sorta reminds  me of me😊....Robert.

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

I'm with Richard at thanking you for your original suggestion which got things rolling, @dusty-turtle! sun

Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
2 years ago
1,073 posts

National Guitar is February 11.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
2 years ago
231 posts

Thanks Dusty for your original post. Now when is national guitar day? Seems that drifted off with the wind in all our talk of an International Dulcimer Day.

Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

Hey everyone, I just want to say how wonderful it is that an off-the-cuff comment I made on National Guitar Day has led to a consensus here about International Appalachian Dulcimer Day.  When I get a chance (and recover from a long day at work) I'll create a new discussion somewhere else on FOTMD specific to IADD. We can share resources like Steve C's poster and, when the day arrives, share photos, videos, or just descriptions of what we do on that day.  (IF someone wants to do that before I get a chance, please go ahead.)

This is a positive outcome of a discussion on the positive thread!




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

updated by @dusty: 02/24/22 06:22:16PM
Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

I can adjust the contrast for the white text areas by deepening the yellow and pale blue background colors just a little, if anyone needs me to. Then it would be nicely readable if printed out or copied in greyscale.




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

updated by @strumelia: 02/24/22 05:02:43PM
Dan
Dan
@dan
2 years ago
180 posts

Like those?

steve c.
steve c.
@steve-c
2 years ago
66 posts

Thanks Stumelia!  I fixed it will try to get it re-sent

Strumelia
Strumelia
@strumelia
2 years ago
2,246 posts

Great poster!

Note: the word "holding" at the bottom has a typo.

Also- many folks would be printing/copying this out in greyscale, and it'd be good to bump up the contrast between the lettering and the background colors so it's easy to read. ...making the background colors behind the white text just a bit darker. Here's how it prints out on a blk&white printer as it is now:

0001_grey.jpg




--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

updated by @strumelia: 02/24/22 03:23:21PM
Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
2 years ago
231 posts

Great poster Steve

Ballad Gal
Ballad Gal
@ballad-gal
2 years ago
34 posts

Good job on the poster, Steve!

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

Way cool from Steve C! 

Dan
Dan
@dan
2 years ago
180 posts

..and from Steve Carney...


updated by @dan: 02/24/22 04:54:52PM
Dusty Turtle
Dusty Turtle
@dusty
2 years ago
1,720 posts

Looks great, Robin!

P.S. Someone should copyright the name "grassroots celebration" before some corporation does.




--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

In the way of many who have gone before us, I used what I had on-hand to make a little sign.  


updated by @robin-thompson: 02/24/22 10:36:58PM
steve c.
steve c.
@steve-c
2 years ago
66 posts

Robin Thompson:


I'm wanting thoughts on going ahead and putting this picture on my Facebook page.  


original


looks great!

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

My apologies for the big photo-- I've tried to re-size it yet don't really know what I'm doing (obviously)!

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

I'm wanting thoughts on going ahead and putting this picture on my Facebook page.  

original


updated by @robin-thompson: 02/24/22 09:07:32AM
Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

We aren't an off-shoot of worldwide Play Music on the Porch Day.  It's a totally different thing.    

International Appalachian Dulcimer Day is its own thing-- just a day set aside to celebrate however you choose and in some small (or large) way, our favorite instrument.  (I live in an old coal mine village and everything we do here is on a small scale. nod  )   

Ballad Gal
Ballad Gal
@ballad-gal
2 years ago
34 posts

I'm fine with it (assuming we are celebrating indoors--it will be cold where I live). Good to have an easy to remember date!

steve c.
steve c.
@steve-c
2 years ago
66 posts

Being that the date will change yearly it will make it possible for others to celebrate if not this year then next.  It will not be a fixed day. 

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

@marg I didn't check the date here or internationally.  My thinking was it is not a day which would interfere with anything (unless one were on silent retreat or some similar event) yet, rather, a day to celebrate what many of us do every day-- play mountain dulcimer. dulcimer1

marg
@marg
2 years ago
615 posts

That's fine, just checking if that date was good  Internationally.

Skip
Skip
@skip
2 years ago
359 posts

'Block or street gathering [party] day' for dulcimers on an annual basis.grin

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

@marg I was advocating for using "International" because the spread of the fretted dulcimer is across the globe and the membership here at FOTMD reflects this.  

This is to be a grassroots celebration on only one day.  (This is how I understand it.  No committee with officers, a budget, etc.  More like a flash mob, maybe?  If I'm on the wrong track, somebody can jump in and point the way.)  Even if a person just wished to post a special still photo for the day or make an elaborate video or a piece of artwork or anything in-between, assigning a day is a simple way to celebrate the boxes with strings we all love. dulcimer  


updated by @robin-thompson: 02/22/22 02:12:49PM
marg
@marg
2 years ago
615 posts

(International - last Saturday in March) 

Did anyone check if this date is ok for different countries - That their country doesn't have that as a special date? Did anyone discuss just (Appalachian Dulcimer Day)

Skip
Skip
@skip
2 years ago
359 posts

@dan  yes   Or 'MD Day".

OK  for me although 'Appalachian' sounds a bit 'puffed up'.  Reason, I'm used to referring to it as a mountain dulcimer .shrugger   Baaaaaa

{No need for a poll.}


updated by @skip: 02/22/22 11:18:26AM
steve c.
steve c.
@steve-c
2 years ago
66 posts

Go for it!  

Richard Streib
Richard Streib
@richard-streib
2 years ago
231 posts

Sounds good to me for International Appalachian Dulcimer Day  on the last Saturday in March.

Go for it.

Robin Thompson
Robin Thompson
@robin-thompson
2 years ago
1,415 posts

@dan Yeah, we'uns know! grin

Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
2 years ago
1,073 posts

Not exactly good for outdoor activities in my part of the world, but I have no objections.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dan
Dan
@dan
2 years ago
180 posts

How many do we need for a consensus, can we just stop and agree at the conspiracy level?

P.S. You'ins do know the Black Sheep will refer to this as "Dulcimore Day"...just sayin'

 / 5