I'm out of toothpaste!

"I can't believe this!," I said to my travel bud.  We had spent the night in Vernon, France, near Monet's Giverny Garden. And I needed to get the taste of the Russian army marching through my mouth overnight brushed away.  I was able to get a little, no more than the essence of toothpaste, out of the old Colgate tube and that had to do the job. And it did, sort of.  Normally I'd have gone down to the local Wal-Mart and got a new tube.  But, no...this was France and no Wal-Mart. I was sure we could find some somewhere. We asked the lady of the bed and breakfast at which we were staying where to go and she said there was a store nearby.  At least I think that is what she said.  My travel bud understood the particular version of the English language she was speaking much better than I did. 

So away we went in our search for toothpaste.  The sign over the storefront said, "Villafrance Marche", and through the windows I could shelves of neatly stocked goods.  I found a selection of things in toothpaste like tubes.  Upon one of the tubes was the word "dentifrice", I thought this probably had something to do with teeth and unless it was adhesive for dentures, I was in luck.  I had horrible thoughts of getting hemorrhoid medication by mistake.  We picked up a few pieces of fruit and headed for the checkout counter. After paying for the goods, which was a lengthy process due to my ineptness in counting Euros, we found that the store did not provide bags for your purchases.  Later, we found this was not the case in all stores. Service was friendly and courteous at Villafrance Marche.

Actually, this emergency, if it can be called that, allows insight into local culture. Only by doing things the locals do can you gain any insight into their culture. Many times we have seen tour buses with loads of tourists stop at an attraction, tour it with their guide and leave after a visit to the gift shop, of course.  They never see anything except what they are shown. We, on the other hand, tend to get of the trodden path.  In non-English speaking countries we rarely eat at a restaurant that has a menu posted in English. We haven't eaten anything unrecognizable, yet, but the food in the Dominican Republic was debatable!

We traditionally use bed and breakfasts for lodging.  The homes seldom have more than three rooms for guests and this leads to a closeness with your fellow travelers. Breakfast conversation is always interesting.  An Israeli doctor extolling the virtues of Minnesota's Mayo Clinic or why it's extremely dangerous hunting mountain goats in the Alaskan mountains.  We've found our hosts to be founts of knowlege on local lore. We would never have seen the Durham, England cathedral had it not been for one of our hosts. Nor would we have found the site of Hadrian's Wall. Unfortunately, no one told us to be aware of sheep dung.  Sometimes there is an immediate connection to our hosts. Once our hostess was a widow lady who shared her experiences with my travel bud (aka wife) who had experienced the same loss. And I can ne'er forget enjoying a breakfast of kippers overlooking a loch in Scotland while our host presented his collection of musical instruments that he played.

While our favorite mode of transportation in rural areas is the automobile, driving in large cities in the British Isles or on the continent can be a less than good experience.  We favor public transportation in metropolitan areas. Buses, trains, subways, and trams are for us.   Not only are these methods less expensive than taxis, but you get to meet interesting  people that way.  On the early morning train from Paris to Vernon we saw a band being formed.  At each stop another musician with his instrument would get on board.  Eventually there was a group made of two accordions, a saxophone,and a trumpet.  They played in the doorway, and a girl in her early twenties slept through the entire performance.  While on a bus in Edinburgh, I found myself seated beside an elegant elderly woman who extolled the virtue of Barack Obama at great length. Although she was charming and I delighted at her Scottish brogue, I bit my tongue for fear I would cause an international incident. And another thing about the city bus transit, you can get a really good tour of a city if you find the right bus. One caveat, beware of extremely crowded conveyances, I once found a twelve-year-old's hand in my pocket on the Paris Metro.

Travel seems much richer when you get a bit off the beaten path and get to know the local folk a bit. Unusually meaningful and lasting experiences can be found there.  And yes, I have missed some opportunities, such as not dancing with the natives in Homer, Alaska.  But maybe next time.

M I M

Jake Shimabukuro's tenor ukelele is displayed in the Artist Gallery.  This Gallery Displays instruments made famous by specific people or events.  Here you'll find guitars played by Eric Clapton, Dick Dale, and Carlos Santana as well as a drum set of the Black-Eyed Peas.  The is a drum from the Olympic Games held in China and the piano used by John Lennon when composing Imagine.

M. I. M., the Musical Instrument Museum of Phoenix, AZ, uses unique wireless technology to inform you about exhibits.  As part of the ticket price is an electronic device, about thesize of a cell phone you wear around your neck.  The device is activated  when you come near an exhibit.  Not only to you see the instrument, you hear it as well.

The carved head of a sitar

A thumb  piano, a mbira.

Almost every exhibit has a flat screen video display about the instrument you are viewing. Some show the actual manufacture by primitive methods of the instrument. And of course there are many performances by native people and ethnic groups.

The museum has other galleries designated Geo Galleries which is to say therein are the instruments for music making from various countries of the world. It is fascinating to see some other instruments of primitive cultures hand crafted with primitive tools. In

one instance the manufacture of a thumb piano begins with the felling of a tree in an African forest. All parts are fabricated by hand with crude tools.  A video of guitar manufacturing from the Martin Guitar Company shows modern manufacturing methods used to produce musical instruments. In these Geo Galleries are also displays by musical instrument manufacturers such as Fender, Martin and Steinway as well as providing insight into cultures from around the world.

The Experience Gallery allows visitors to gain first hand experience with some instruments. There are guitars, drums, harps, xylophones and other instruments to play.  The gong is always a favorite. I suppose the loud sound feeds some primeval need in young boys and old men.

Also in this 190,000 square foot complex there is a special exhibition area, a music theater, classrooms, gift shops, and cafe. It is not a place for a quick visit. We spent the afternoon there and felt we should have planned on a longer visit.



Vielle a roue (wheel organ)

Rouen, Upper Normandy 18th c.

 There are more photographs or the Musical Instrument Museum here.
Check out the M. I. M. on line and the National Music Museum

Chili Monday

On days like this with the rain a comin' down it's a good thang to have a good ole pot of chili cookin'.  I'm not much on scratch makin' chili, I just brown up the meat, add beans, tomato sauce and some seasonin'.  I used to try to season the chili myself but the I got this race car drivers seasonin's.

There was a coupla fellas down in Texas that had some land they wanted to get rid and so they came up with a chili cookin' contest to promote the land sale. One of those fellas used his own recipe for his chili and his name was Carroll Shelby.  Yep, the same fella that was a sports car race drive until he decided to stuff a Ford V-8 into a little  bitty Brithsh A-C Bristol sports car.  Well the rest his history the car won a lot of races and were eventually known as the Ford Cobra. Shelby went on to design many other fast cars but his recipe for chili seasoning is still on the market and I use it every time I make chili. 

One little hint:  When you brown your ground meat add some water to it.  It makes it separate better and you don't have big chunks of browned ground.

Grit and Mo' Grit...

I found the new True Grit film by the Coen brothers quite entertaining but not without flashbacks to the original with The Duke.  No one will ever fill The Duke's boots, but this new western is very well done. Both pictures follow the same storyline of a young girl out avenge her father's death. The Coen brothers film is more accurate in depiction of the the time period and has better actors.  Glen Campbell was a great guitarist and singer, but acting wasn't one of his skills. It's good to see Matt Damon excel in a co-star role as well as Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper plays a very convincing villain. Jeff Bridges does Rooster Cogburn as well as it could have been done. Bridges has made the transition from the leading man type to the crusty old curmudgeon character well. It's been a long time since The Fabulous Baker Boys. My favorite scene in either movie is when Rooster puts the reins of his horse in his mouth and meets the villains head on with two guns blazing. The delivery of period dialogue requires careful listening and I found the use of classic southern Baptist hymns for portions of the soundtrack fittingly appropriate.

I think that the 1969 True Grit will always be known as a John Wayne film, but the current film will be known as a Coen brothers film.  It was, after all, a film about Mattie.  Films usually tend to tell us more about ourselves than we would like. The same story filmed  and viewed at different times in our lives tells us a lot about how we've changed.    Or not.

A little music, please!

I think that music is a big part of most people's lives.  Usually, more that they realize.  For me I've always liked music, though I have no particular talent at it.   In my family the music gene missed me. This is an old video of my ex-wife's youngest son that she says looks a lot like me makin' some music.

And my nephew, Trevis,an accomplished pianist/organist on the accordian early on.

This play list will be up dated, check back occasionally.