Life as a Spectator Sport

Sometimes a thing comes into your hand so perfectly that you know it was meant to be there.

This morning started off with a fizzle. We ate breakfast, drove back to Milton, West Virginia, from Barboursville, where we stayed last night, and parked in the Blenko Glass Works visitors center parking lot. And then we discovered that Blenko Glass Works has no handicapped access. You can get into the visitors center with a wheelchair, but that's as far as you go unless you can climb two flights of stairs. Nothing in their advertising or on their website warns the visitor about this, and I was vocal in my dismay. The clerk just gave us a look and said shortly, "Well--sorry."

So we drove away from there in a pretty bad mood. Yes, perhaps I should have called ahead to make sure. But Clarence and I have visited a lot of tourist-type places over the last few months, and they were all handicapped-accessible. Every single one. We would have visited some other places too, but their advertising, and their websites, warned that they were not accessible, for various reasons. So I think we can be excused for assuming that this one would be.

With no other specific plans, we went back to the hotel, packed up the car, and headed home. Just east of Beckley, I noticed a sign for Tamarack, and on impulse, suggested we check it out. Tamarack is an arts-and-crafts place selling mostly West Virginia handmade items, and has a reputation for high-quality products. I had meant to visit there before, but all my previous trips into West Virginia were on a timetable that didn't permit personal stops, and I suspected the prices were beyond my comfort level.

Well . . . the prices are consistent with the quality, which is usually the case. I bought something for Kate for Christmas, and looked with interest, but no motivation to buy, at a lot of other things. We were about to leave when I heard what I thought at first was recorded violin music, lovely and haunting. But the melody stopped, and started again. Real music? Real people playing music? I followed the sound like a hound on a fox trail.

It turned out to be Tish Westman, who with her husband Greg makes bowed psalteries and other folk instruments. I had wanted a bowed psaltery ever since I saw and heard one the first time, but had never had the money. Tish finished playing and thrust the instrument into my hands, no doubt noting the gleam in my eye. "Would you like to try it?" she asked. Well, of course.

I fished about for something I remembered, and came up with that lovely old Alfred Burt carol, "Some Children See Him."

Some children see Him lily white
the infant Jesus born this night
Some children see Him lily white
with tresses soft and fair

Some children see Him bronzed and brown
the Lord of heav'n to earth come down
Some children see Him bronzed and brown
with dark and heavy hair.

There are other verses, but you get the idea. I sang it first in high school in my mother's chorus, and had always liked it, so it's not surprising it came to mind. Coming to hand was another matter, but the music just flowed from the instrument, with only a single missed note.

I found myself standing there amazed and mortified, so choked up I couldn't speak, tears running down my cheeks. Everyone was terribly solicitous, patting my back, trying to figure out why I was so affected. I don't know myself. Perhaps it was the unexpected facility with the instrument, though there are few from which I can't coax at least some recognizable melody. But this sounded, if I do say so myself, as if I knew what I was doing with it.

So I came home with a handmade 25 note bowed psaltery and its accessories. I did balk at buying a case for it. It's so beautiful I intend to leave it on top of the piano. I went out to West Virginia with the expectation of buying some art glass, and ended up buying a musical instrument instead. Sounds like a good tradeoff to me.

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RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002