On the uke, I'm learning several pieces of music from the 1920's and 1930's. I am amazed at how happy a lot of that music is. Life couldn't have been easy, with wars and depressions and discrimination, yet they cranked out things like "Sunny Side of the Street," and "Accentuate the Positive." Peppy and fast, and they sound good on a uke. And the old songs trail a ton of history all of which is magically available online. The piece we were learning last week in uke class, "I've Got a New Baby," has covers by Ethyl Waters, Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet, Lionel Hampton, Django Reinhardt, among others, plus a great cover by an impossibly young Pete Fountain. My other uke teacher is James Hill on the ukulele way who provides great arrangements with video, audio and sheet music with tabs. From him, I'm learning an open string arrangement of "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes," "St. Louis Blues," and "Ja Da." There's plenty to keep me learning all winter.

 
On one of our Melissa's-Day-Off adventures, we visited the Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson, Maine. I wanted to see how they used dock pieces as bog bridging. It is an elegant and durable solution, if initially expensive. We went there by way of Winsor (and Hussey's), and back by way of Damariscotta with lunch at the Damariscotta River Grill, which I can highly recommend. This mild and snowless November has been great, especially compared to last year when it started snowing on November 2 and didn't stop until April. I'm still drying clothes on the line. The dock is in, the new kayak is strapped to the beams in the basement; we are ready for it.