Hey B.Ross, there are two bearded guys with plaid shirts in that video. 
Ooops, the other one is Steve Taylor, our bass section leader ... my shirt is red.plaid. HIs hair is grey, and if you could hear him individually you would hear a North of England accent.
Got my second dose of Moderna yesterday. Sandie is on track to get her second Pfizer shot in about two weeks. Ontario is opening up gradually ... patios opened last night just after midnight for al fresco dining, and so forth.
Our community choir released our 2021 final concert video on Youtube about a week ago ... I'm the bearded guy wearing a plaid shirt in the three new songs recorded remotely.
That is amazing, Strumelia!
Closest I have ever got to that sort of work was in 2003 when I was still working as a receiving dock porter at Mt Sinai Hospital here in Toronto ... folks whose supplies I delivered were fighting the SARS outbreak in our hospital. I did my part, you are doing yours, it's all good.
Well my condition with having COVID-19 is getting worse and I think I am going to a hospital
Yes, please do! The new variants are even faster than the first variety ...
For a long time our grocery stores would not allow us to bring our own bags in to the store. I think that restriction has ease now, although the last two times I went to the grocery store, it was only to pick up prescriptions.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
That has happened up here in Ontario, too, Ken. The city was actually tending towatrds a ban on single-use plastic bags until the pandemic started, then they switched to recomending them, and now we have switched back. Trudeau the Lesser had said he wants a nationwide ban on single use plastics sometime soon.
Hi ... I finally got my first shot of the M vaccine on Tuesday. Sandie got her shot of Pfizer on Sunday afternoon. In each case the line was not long. (In between us the age-based eligibility for a shot went down from 75, me, to 70 and over, her.)
We'll be doing some snow blowing and shoveling here tomorrow too, Bill!
I'm pretty excited- tomorrow I am getting my first covid vaccine! Will be driving to a Walgreens about 45 minutes away, but well worth the trip i think! 
Drive carefully!
What are you all doing to stay healthy at home, or to keep from going stir crazy?
We have a set of stairs in our house that I normally make about 9 or 10 trips a day on, since my office is upstairs. I'm trying to double up lots of those trips now so that Im doing 15 or 20 sets of stairs in a day.
I'm also doing various yoga-like stretches whenever I can, to help counteract all the desk sitting I do.
My husband and i occasionally pull out a board game (bored game? lol) to break up the routine. Our favorites are Qwirkle, Bananagrams, and Pente.
I get out and walk every day, even in the snow. Sandie not so much, as she is in a wheelchair and asthmatic to boot. I am keeping busy online as a local official of my provincial and federal political parties, and our chorus have been rehearsing via Zoom since September. I believe I may have said so earlier ... the husband of one of our section leaders is editing two song performances together,so far, for one of those multiwindow Youtube videos, and we are going for two or three more over the next few months. Tons of fun singing my baritone part to a click track and recording myself on my cell phone.
And we finally got it together to subscribe to Netflix ... The Crown, Bridgerton, The Dig and Blown Away are all fascinating in their own various ways.
Oh, and the National Hockey League has started, with no cross border travel we finally have an all Canadian division. No spectators in the seats, but the games are good. Our Maple Leafs are doing good. No football in our apartment, though ... we do not watch the No Fun League.
My middle brother's second ex-wife's mother succumbed to Covid late last month, in Tennessee. Closest family so far, that I know of.
Dusty, I have attended one funeral for a close friend's father, last year, by Zoom. Not easy but better than one-way streaming on Youtube. His family members could speak to it from all over south central Ontario.
As to getting any vaccination, we are at the mercy of events elsewhere ... both Pfizer and Moderna have production delays in Europe, and in Canada we have NO vaccine production. At all. For anything. The Conservative federal government under Brian Mulroney sold it off in the late 80s. And the Liberals under Trudeau the Lesser have only today announced that they will try to get something of a production going ... by a year from now if we are lucky.
Sorry for the politics intruding into this discussion, but 'fore G*d I will NEVER vote for either of those parties. End rant.
Hi, all, up here in Ontario we are locked down again. We are finding that deliveries of the Pfizer version of the vaccine are going to be delayed a bit because of changes in production in Belgium. So the Provincial health authorities are talking about delaying second shots to 48 days after the first. Not happy about that, because of course the clinical trials approvals were as far as I know predicated on there being 3 weeks between doses. Lots of disagreement on that in the medical community, (which I follow because I worked in the hospital system up here for 35 years.) The only other vaccine approved by Health Canada is the Moderna. Johnson and Johnson is possibly going to get approved, no idea when. Astra-Zenica will be coming from Britain if it gets approved, but they are now racing the increased-contagion variant so who knows when.
Since I am retired from the hospital for 11 years now I am no longer covered by the health-system workers line, so no injection for me yet. At 74 years 5 months I am just a bit under the Group 1 line too, but that may change. Sandie is younger by 2 years but asthmatic. We will see if that makes a difference.
At this point, frankly, I would take the Cuban, Russian or Chinese versions. The wait is killing people!
I drove by our neighborhood community center today and there was a long line of cars trying to enter the parking lot. Why? They were giving out free face masks. I don't know who sponsored that effort, but what a great idea!
Hope they were good ones, Dusty! Washable ones should be three layers, cotton-cotton-water resistant, and cover from above the nose to below the chin, according to our city's Chief Medical Officer of Health.
...
My plea is that we all would act with consideration toward others and wear our masks, limit our gatherings, keep our distance and stay home when we don't need to go out. We can limit the further spread of the virus by following the advice of the scientists who are studying this beast. Let's just do it!
Right on, Richard. We have one friend from our knitting circle who got infected right out of hospital while recovering from a broken hip. Her physiotherapy was wasted. She has recovered after a month on a ventilator but now has to try to do her rehab at home as an outpatient; and she lives alone.
Musically speaking, our folk chorus have been doing online rehearsals since September, and right now our video editor (the husband of one of our section leaders) is putting together a video of all of us singing into our cellphone cameras on the Temagami Round. If we go public with it I will post a link here. We have more planned. This year, thanks to doing it remotely, we have members from Nova Scotia to Michigan. (Usually, we only have members who can get in to downtown Toronto physically.)
Yes, Robin ... the City of Toronto and Peel Region to our west (Mississauga, Malton, Brampton etc.) are being hit extremely hard so far by the second wave.
On the other hand I have a look at the maps of what is going on in the States and almost the entire country was in shades of red yesterday, except Hawai'i. I fear for my family, in Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and California, and my myriads of friends down there.
It is kind of a cliche to say so, but in my nearly 53 years up here I have actually found Canadians slightly more disciplined about accepting authority than my and Sandie's fellow Americans ... it is not always a good thing but right now there is less resistance to masking up etc. and that, friends, is really a good thing.
::A-hem:: Dr Fauci has no jurisdiction. Everybody North of the Lakes knows that the Canadian border in the Arctic extends right to the North Pole ... Santa even has a Canadian postal code. H0H 0H0.
Hugs.
Sounds as if you may be less lonely than my lady and I in our little apartment in midtown Toronto, surrounded by people ... but as of Sunday midnight going back into lockdown. We have our holiday lights up already, keeping our living room window ablaze with twinkles.
Dusty, things are getting like that all over this Fall. Most of the US is confronted by rising infection rates, and here in Canada we are too.
Good for your lady, that reduces the personal risk.
Keep smiling. keep playing.. we will get through this all together or not at all.
Hi, all, it has been a while since I poked my head in here ... Sandie and I are still alive, and living in the middle of the 4th largest city north of Mexico. I have not played much at all in the last while. Our community chorus scrubbed its season in March and we have only done the occasional online singing since. The COVID-19 pandemic has not hit us anywhere near as bad as it has our neighbours across the Lakes, but it has hit our elders in Long Term Care really hard, plus the personal care workers who look after them.
But I am back, and hope to pick up the dulcimer again! Glad to see the rest of you too.
Sandie and I mask up when venturing out, and I get out a lot more than she does. She is asthmatic. Masks are now required in indoors public spaces like malls, stores, etc. Bars and restaurants are now open only for outside service, patios etc. Pro sports are still on hold, and the federal government have decided not to allow our baseball team to play their home games here ... keeping cross-border travel to the essential minimum. Hockey may resume, with all games played in two Canadian cities, Edmonton and Toronto, no cross-border travel involved. I am wondering whether the same will happen with the Canadian Football League.
There were some shortages for a while, particularly TP and bakers' yeast! Since I use a bread machine that got to be a hassle for a while but it is coming back now. The Province is opening up gradually, much more slowly than some of your states are (I hope that is not too political, LOL).
Travel is difficult. I have an annual conference later this summer that is going to be online instead of in person because it is just not going to be possible to get to Ottawa safely. So it goes.
Stay safe, all!
That would be dulse , Benjamin, with an s, not a c. [Scottish Gaelic duileasg , from Old Irish duilesc .] at The Free Dictionary , it's not got anything to do with sweetness.
Benjamin W Barr Jr said:
Wow! What an interesting thread! I should sharpen up my linguistics should I have a mind to enter into this tale that is being woven.
I recall trying to search out the meaning or origin of dulcimer. Somewhere (perhaps it was over the rainbow?) I read that the word dulce was German and meant sweet. I suppose it could be Latin and Greek as Goschi states.
Anyway, I think that I concluded sweet for Dulce and that the other half would be music, so I like to think of it as "sweet music".
However, to throw something else that I don't know the exact origin to is that my cousins from New Brunswick, Canada call seaweed Dulce. I have tried it and find it is anything but sweet! Of course, my cousins look at me as if I"m kinda strange
, especially not only because I don't like "dulce" but that I don't drink my tea with milk!
Well, that's my tale and I'm sticking to it...until a better one comes along!
My little Flip video camera does not have much of a field of view, and it is hard enough to get the instrument in the picture. Also its microphone is none too good and I have to be fairly close to get the sound in! If I get a better camera, I'll shoot better videos. Promise!
That's odd, I never thought to name my dulcimer ... my bike is Madama Butterfly, because she is an Italian/Taiwanese hybrid (a Bianchi Boardwalk, built in Taiwan about 1987.) I probably ought to name the dulci. Hmmm. It's a stock Connecticut-built 1989 Folkcraft cherry teardrop.
Cherry Poptart? Yeah, right. 
I'd second Marc's recommendation of MusEdit. Excellent programme for MD, freeware now, and runs well on all versions of Windows (and Linux and OS X if you install it in Wine.) Doug Rogers is travelling in Asia now and is really hard to contact for support, but there is a user group on Yahoo which has provided me with some help in the past: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/musedit/
I would not know anything about tabs for the HD, I've never seen one.
That is so pretty! I can't wait to hear yours.
Mandarin Orange Muffins
Although the recipe calls for canned mandarin oranges, you can also use fresh tangerine or clementine orange wedges, or even loquats for an equally tasty treat. I usually make a double batch, either as muffins, or baked in a 9x13 pan to make a fruited bread.
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
Topping:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350F. Place muffin papers in muffin tins or spray tins with vegetable oil. Drain oranges and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, allspice, and sugar. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Whisk together egg and milk. Pour into flour mixture and stir with a fork just until combined. Do not over-mix. Carefully fold in mandarin oranges. Add a little extra water if the batter seems too stiff.
Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until centers test done and muffins are lightly golden. Alternately, spread mixture in a lubed 8x8 pan to make a fruit bread.
While muffins are baking, place melted butter in a small bowl. In another small bowl, whisk together sugar and cinnamon.
When muffins are done, dip each hot muffin first into the butter and then into the cinnamon sugar. For bread version, brush melted butter one top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Let cool.
Yield: 12 large muffins or 24 mini-muffins.
Looks and sounds real good. I'm more used to Moros y Cristianos being mixed up together, though. Yours seems more like Hoppin' John, but with black beans.
Reuben-esque Thighs
6 Boneless, skinless chicken thighs 1 lb Sauerkraut (drained)1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced thin2 Tbsp White Wine (or water)1 Tbsp Brown Sugar1 Tsp Caraway Seed6 Tbsp Thousand Island Dressing3 slices Swiss Cheese, cut into stripsBrine the thighs 30-45 minutes. Drain, Pat dry. Spray or oil 12 non-stick skillet. Heat to med-high. Brown meat on both sides, 5-7 minutes per side. Remove from skillet. Add sauerkraut, green pepper, wine, sugar caraway and 2 Tbsp dressing. Top with thighs. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook 25-30 minutes. Spoon remaining dressing over chicken and top chicken with cheese strips. Cover and cook another 2-3 minutes until the cheese melts.Serve with: Grilled Cole Slaw 1 head Red Cabbage, cored and cut into 8 wedges3 Tbsp Olive oil, for brushing4-1/2 Tbsp Mayonnaise4-1/2 Tbsp Cider Vinegar3 Pickled Peppers (jalapeo, banana, or Italian) seeded and minced2 tsp Pickling Liquid from the pepper jarSalt & Pepper to tastePreheat the grill. Dont want to fire the grill? Use your ovens broiler with the rack set to the highest mark.Brush cabbage wedges with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill cabbage until it starts to char and blacken - about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a work surface. When the cabbage is cool enough to handle, finely slice it crosswise with a sharp knife.Whisk together the mayonnaise, cider vinegar, and pickling liquid. Toss with the shredded cabbage. Season with salt and pepper and toss again.
Are those chorizos? Might be the same sausage, but I would like to make sure. (Should there be a cedilla under the c, as in chourio, I'd be more sure.) Ken Hulme said:
Since "sumer is icumen in", I thought y'all might like to try this gourmet sandwich recipe for your next bike trip, boat ride, or day playing dulcimers in the park. I won first place in the Boating TV "Best Boating Sandwich" with this version of a Nawlins' Po Boy. Gaspar Sausage was the co-sponsor. I won 25 pounds of their very good chourico and linguisa. The chourico is nice for those who don't like much spice. You could also substitute any of the Hillshire Farms style ring sausages...
Shrimp & Chourico Submarine
The perfect boat sandwich is submarine of course. In this case a New Orleans style Po Boy sub with traditional hard crusty baguette bread, not a soft hoagie type roll. Hard crusty bread can stand more time at sea before becoming mushy and soft. Po Boys can be undressed or dressed.
Undressed:
1 fresh French Baguette, about 24 long
1/2 lb Shrimp, 16-20 count, peeled & deveined
1/2 lb Gaspar Chourico or Extra Hot Chourico
1 Tbsp Creole/Cajun spice blend, to taste
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Red Bell Pepper, cut into strips
3/4 cup Kalamata Olives, pitted (or regular pitted Black Olives)
Dressed:
All of the above, plus
1 large Dill Pickle sliced into thin strips
2-3 Roma Tomatoes, sliced into rounds
1-2 long leaves of fresh Romaine lettuce
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise mixed with 2 Tbsp Lime juice
1/2 Red Onion, sliced thin
Salt & Pepper to taste
Slice the bell pepper and roughly chop the olives. Set aside.
Slice the chourico diagonally to make long oval pieces about 1/8 thick. Saute the chourico in a splash of oil on medium heat to brown it and bring out the flavors. Remove from pan and reserve. Toss shrimp with spice blend and saute them in the same skillet, adding more oil if necessary. Cook just until the shrimp turn pink, remove from pan and cool.
To assemble the dressed sandwich:
Slice the baguette lengthwise, but leave it hinged. Brush the insides of the loaf with the lime-mayo. Fold the romaine leaves lengthwise along the center rib. Place in the baguette, with the lettuce ribs running along the bread hinge. Inside the folded lettuce, arrange slices of chourico, the shrimp and red pepper strips. Top with slices of tomato, pickle, onion and additional shredded romaine if desired. Add a dash of salt & pepper and serve.
Can be assembled and wrapped in plastic wrap ashore; or the individual components can be placed in zip top bags and stored in the cooler until lunch time, and then assembled. Serves 2-4 hungry boaters.
My Bad!
And this thread reminds me of Rod. We only ever met online but I miss him.
That is lovely!