Dual Biography

Not long after I began looking into the life and career of Dr. Marjorie Strawn, I realized I couldn't possibly write about her without writing about her husband and life partner, Forester Bill Strawn. Every action and snippet of story involved the two of them, either directly or indirectly through supporting each other. 

So I set out to write one book about two people. I researched to see if this had been done before. Of course it has. It's called a dual biography. Most often the two subjects are connected by birth or marriage, although I have found a few that were connected by eras and perhaps never even met.

When the Strawn family uploaded photographs for me to pick through, I was drawn to one in particular. It was taken at the wedding ceremony of one of their sons. 

This is a picture of contentment, of happiness, of joy in each other and in the occasion, the very emotions I needed to introduce the reader to this amazing couple. I set about obtaining permission from the photographer, Bruce Pick, and he graciously agreed. My go-to person for photograph technology, Mark Strawn, helped me isolate the two of them from the background clutter. 

So there it is. The cover portrait. 

Since the two of them were wearing black and white, I needed to surround them with color, which is exactly what I did using Matt Strawn's painting, Linn Cove. 

Coming soon on this blog: Cover Reveal.

Coming in exactly four weeks, BOOK LAUNCH!!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Let the Countdown Begin

One more month to launch. 

Book Launch, to be more exact. My latest book will be toasted October 7 with a grand First Friday Event in the Red Awning Gallery at the HUB Station. (Hudson Uptown Building in Hudson, North Carolina) I can't wait for everyone to read this book. It's a biography, actually a dual-biography about a couple who impacted not only my community, but the entire state of North Carolina and beyond. More about that in a later post, but now I want to reveal part of the cover, the background. 

 Ta-Da....

Looks a little empty without the title of the book, but I did see possibilities when I was envisioning a cover. This is a painting titled "Linn Cove" by Matthew Strawn, who just happens to be one of the children of the subjects of my book, Marjorie and Bill Strawn. Like me, he's a member of the Western North Carolina Society of Artisans. We display and sell our products in the Red Awning Gallery. I saw this picture hanging in the hall and knew it was exactly what I needed for the cover background. 

Title of the book - The Physician and the Forester - and there you have the forest, drawn from an actual spot not all that far as the crow flies from my house. The proportion of empty space to forest fit my requirement for inserting title, subtitle, photograph and backflap items. Perfect. 

Matt agreed and here it is! 

Coming soon....Cover reveal. 

Catch of the day, 

Gretchen

Not There Yet

I've taken dulcimer lessons now for several months and I'm feeling a little more confident with each song I attempt. The fear of newness has worn off, and my fingers have developed significant calluses, enough at least for a pain free lesson.  We only meet twice a month now, so in between I am on my own to fiddle with what I have learned. 

ASIDE: If I'm fiddling with something, I'm goofing around, messing with it. So if I'm using a dulcimer instead of a fiddle, then am I dulcimering around? Just asking.

Our teacher fiddling around
Okay. Our teaacher dulcimering around

Class meets in the Caldwell Arts Council room at the Hudson Uptown Building, or the HUB as it's known here in town. We choose a song to work on each Saturday and our teacher goes over special effects we can adapt to add a little pizazz to the song. I'm not there yet, sad to announce. I am lucky to string out the basic song without getting left behind. But I am trying. Every so often I can insert a little flair.

Each week our esteemed teacher treats us to a mini concert. I recorded this last time we met:

 

It's a far cry from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and although I'm not there yet, I have something to strive for. I'll get back to you on that and maybe post my own mini concert, in a few years. 

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Dulcimer Sightings

Since I started dulcimer lessons, I've been noticing dulcimers more, like when I was pregnant and seemed to see pregnant women everywhere. 

I was watching Jeopardy a few weeks ago, my must-see-every-evening show. The answer was "The Kentucky state musical instrument pictured here," and a picture of a dulcimer filled the screen. I shouted out the question, but the first to buzz in didn't hear me. He guessed wrong. So did the second, despite my increasing the volume of my shouting. The third surely heard me because he got it correct, "What is a dulcimer?"

I took this picture of the dulcimer at a gravesite.

The next Saturday I attended a SCV ceremony, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in case you are wondering. Strange situation - I felt like a spy since my Pennsylvania ancestors would have fought against these very men they were honoring. Yet there I was, watching with an honoring kind of spirit as the town where I now live dedicated a plaque at the grave of its namesake, Rev. Gamewell Tuttle, a rebel soldier turned preacher. 

A member of the Tuttle family spoke about the history of the family and the story about Rev. Tuttle, who died  at the young age of twenty-four from a disease contracted during his service to the cause. A member of the Pettigrew Camp of the SCV spoke about his wartime history, being captured and imprisoned. The camp's commander installed an Iron Cross memorial at his grave.

With dulcimer strings accompanying us, we sang On Jordan's Stormy Banks (also known as Promised Land). We waited silently as the 26th Regiment of the Confederacy reenactors gave a twenty-one gun salute. 

The final song was one I knew well. I sang it with my fourth grade social studies students every year, our North Carolina state song, The Old North State. Singing it in a graveyard surrounded by gray clad soldiers certainly was different than anything I had experienced before. I felt a sense of melancholy, a sadness at the way things turned out for this long dead soldier and the many others beside him in my church cemetery. The haunting drone from the dulcimer echoed my feelings.

Life goes on.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Strumming Right Along

Since we missed the last two Saturday lessons of dulcimer class, we spent the Lesson Three ENTIRE hour today reviewing one song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star that we learned in Lesson One. 

Who would have guessed one little childhood snippet of a tune would comsume an hour's worth of time, but it did. Oh, yes, it did.

First we reviewed basics, changing frets. 3,3, 7,7, 8,8, 7. Got it in a different key, but still, got it. And not a one of us had to read a lick of music notation. In fact the word of wisdom passed along to us was "There ain't no notes on a dulcimer. You just play."

That relieved the pressure and by the third or fourth rendition we were all doing quite well. Lesson review in strumming came next: bum, ditty, bum, bum or down, down, up down, down. Of course the teacher had to drop by my stand and review with me to hold my pick so that the point end strummed against the strings. Not the flat side of the triangle, ma'am. 

Then we added harmony. Horrors. I had to use my fingers since I had to press two different strings at the same time (did I mention those strings are made of metal???) and that's an impossible task with a short dowell stick that I normally use. A few sore fingers later, I was making music. And when we all played together, my what a heavenly sound. No wonder our teacher grinned from ear to ear. 

It's hard not to appear like a genius after an hour on the same song.

Next week. An hour of harmony with Mary Had a Little Lamb. Angelic music, for sure.

Catch of the Day,

Gretchen

Dulcimer Lesson Two

Second lesson: Mary Had a Little Lamb, and then, I about had a cow figuring out how to do a scale. But at least it's a step from Twinkle, twinkle, and that shows I'm coming along. So are my sore fingers, thanks for wondering.

I am a little better at tuning the strings as well, bass string at D, middle string at A and the two strings closest to me an octove higher at D. There's an app for that, by the way.

No class (or report) next week due to Easter, nor the next due to teacher being  a planned AWOL, so lesson three's report will have to wait.

Until then, I'll keep practicing.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Dulcimer Lesson One

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!

Or

Zero zero, four four, five five, four, in dulcimer beginner talk, down to the basics

That's fret talk for beginners, too.

What I didn't know, my fingers would be sore when I finished from pressing the metal strings. No one warned me!

So between now and next week I have to toughen up the pinkies.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen