March Madness disappointment

The TarHeels are done! After their heartbreaking loss to Duke in the ACC tournament, there was some question as to whether they would even make it into the NCAA Tournament. They did not get into it right off- they became a bubble team that had to play a "first four" game to be seeded in the regular brackett. They were given an 11th-seed and played 11th seeded San Diego State for their slot. They played brilliantly against SDS - one of their best games ever! So they made it into the brackett and then played Ole Miss, a 6-seed team, in Round 1. They were behind 21 (or something like that) at the half, fought back to within 2 points late in the second half, but couldn't make it into the lead and lost in the end by 7 points. Sigh! Many teams would have been thrilled to have a 23-win season, which they did, and get to play even one game in March Madness, but the Heels were hoping for better than that for sure. It was the last game as a "Heel" for R.J. Davis, their award-winning player who broke a lot of records in his career. At least he had the SDS game to go out on a high point. He's only 6'1", so he may not be big enough for the Pros. They'll have a good team to field next year, I think. They had 2-3 outstanding freshmen this year. Duke may well win the championship this year. We'll see.

UNC TarHeels Men's Basketball team, 2024-2025.

A new shower set-up!

Thanks to Andy Davis, we have a safer shower in the bathroom next to our bedroom. For the past fifty years, I have been showering downstairs. My study is downstairs, and my dresser and clothes closet are downstairs also. The shower downstairs is not in a tub, it is rustic stall shower we built when we built the house. It has not had any grab bars, but is narrow enough that I can brace myself against the wall. Since the advent of Parkinson's in my life, this has been workable, but has become increasingly problematic for two reasons: (1)I have come to live my life primarily on the main floor where the livingroom and bedroom are located. Taking a shower has thus involved going down the long stairway to the ground floor and back up again. (2) Standing while showering has become increasingly difficult. To "solve" this latter problem, I put a stool in my shower, and also put a building jack inside the shower that I could grab on to when getting up and down off the stool, and to steady myself while showering. That helped, but was not ideal. And it was still downstairs. I think I reported here that a few weeks ago I responded to an ad I saw on the internet for a walk-in shower upstairs. This involves taking out the tub and putting in a tub-sized shower stall which is easy to walk into and has a seat built-in and grab bars. A young man representing his company drove over from Albany, NY, looked over our situation and gave us an estimate. I was shocked by the price: $18,000 if we agreed to buy it that day. $20,000 if we bought it within 30 days,and $22,000 if we bought it this year. Obviously, there is sales pressure built into that three-tiered price system. But there is no way I was going to pay even the lowest price for a shower! Andy Davis was here when that sales rep made his pitch, and after he left, Andy said he thought he could do better. And he has. He has built a waterproof wooden bench that is built into the back of the tub and extends outside the tub so that I can easily sit on it, using the bathroom sink to brace myself as I get down and up off the bench - very much the way I currently use the sink to help me get down and up off the toilet. Once I'm on the bench, I can easily slide over into the tub. Andy installed a new shower head which is at the end of a six-foot-long flexible hose and can be hand-held while sitting on the bench. It has a "pause" setting, so I can easily turn off the water while I soap up. This means I can be seated throughout the entire shower. Ellen has to help me set the water temperature using the faucets and also adjust the shower curtain, which is fine. Otherwise, I can do everything on my own at my own pace, and do it feeling safe. And all for a few dollars! Yay Andy! This set-up also works fine for a regular stand-up shower in the tub. A grab bar in the tub would be useful - I think we can figure that out.

An example of the sort of shower I was being asked to pay $20,000 or more for.

The bench Andy built. It is handsome. It can easily be lifted off the tub and stored somewhere if needed. It has flanges that fit over the side of the tub so it is super solid.

The new flexible shower hose and head that easily reaches to the bench.

Scrabble game

Last evening there was nothng compelling on TV so we played a game of Scrabble. We both like Scrabble - we both are "word people" - and I think of Ellen as being the better Scrabble player. i very often have very bad luck in drawing letter tiles, most typically drawing lots of vowels. I remember a game in which I rhink I had four "e's" on my tray one point. But last night I had better luck, both in my draws, and in makng words. In one play, I drew a "q" and in the same draw, gor a blank tile. Thus I was able to use the blank as a "u," and was able to put the "q" on a double-letter space in a word that included a double-word space, thus making the "q" worth 40 points. I had some other lucky plays that gave me a final score of 314 against Ellen's 279, or something like that. Fun game!

Last night's completed Scrabble board. ******************* You might notice the word "Yo" in the lower left corner. I played that, and Ellen did not challenge it, though some might have. She was right not to - it is an acceptable Scrabble word, and I learned later when I looked it up that it is a particularly popular greeting in the Philadelphia area, which is where Ellen grew up.

A fantastic musical event!

Yesterday evening, we (John and Cynthia, Ellen and me) drove over to Bennington College to a concert put on by Alash, a group of four Tuvan Throat Singers who live in Siberia and are currently touring the U.S We met Mary Anderson (who lives in Bennington) there at the concert hall. The hall was packed, and no wonder; Alash was fabulous. They were beautiful and astounding at the same time. Throat singing involves making sounds one does not usually hear coming from a human. If you have no idea of what kind of music this is, here is a link to Alash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK0npp2NLaY John and Cynthia first met Alash nineteen years ago when they came to Bellows Falls, and they actually hosted them for an overnight in their home. So they feel a personal connection with them. It was a full concert with a lot of variety, and the audience was wildly enthusiastic. The concert was opened by a Bennington College group playing Turkish music - they were good, even though they have only been in existence for a month. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get in and out of the hall in a wheelchair, but it proved to be okay. I would go again.

Top: Alash; Middle: The Turkish music group and Bottom: Part of the audience.

Alash - photo from their website. ****************** And here is a description of throat singing from the same source: "The Tiny Republic of Tuva is a giant when it comes to mastery of the human voice. Tuvan throat singers can produce two or three, sometimes even four pitches simultaneously. The effect has been compared to that of a bagpipe. The singer starts with a low drone. Then, by subtle manipulations of his vocal tract and keen listening, he breaks up the sound, amplifying one or more overtones enough so that they can be heard as additional pitches while the drone continues at a lower volume. Despite what the term might suggest, throat singing does not strain the singer's throat. The Ancient Tradition of throat singing (xöömei in the Tuvan language) developed among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Asia, people who lived in yurts, rode horses, raised yaks, sheep and camels, and had a close spiritual relationship with nature. Throat singing traditionally was done outdoors, and only recently was brought into the concert hall. Singers use their voices to mimic and interact with the sounds of the natural world—whistling birds, bubbling streams, blowing wind, or the deep growl of a camel. Throat singing is most commonly done by men. Although custom and superstition have discouraged women from throat singing, recently this taboo is breaking down, and there are now excellent female throat singers too. A Unique Concept of Sound. The Tuvan way of making music is based on appreciation of complex sounds with multiple layers or textures. To the Tuvan ear, a perfectly pure tone is not as interesting as a sound which contains hums, buzzes, or extra pitches that coexist with the main note being sung. Tuvan instruments are designed and played to produce such multi-textured sounds as well." The various sounds a throat singer can produce are all illustrated on the website. Take a look: https://www.alashensemble.com/about_tts.htm

Wow!! 92 years!

Sunday, March 2, was my 92nd birthday. Amazing! Since we had a BIG party at the church a year ago for my 91st, we had a small party on Saturday at the house this year: John and Cynthia, Katie and Brendon, Andy and Robin, Ellen and myself. We had a lovely supper , a beautiful birthday cake (a carrot cake), Katie had written a MadLibs about me, and we took turns filling in the blanks, and then we played Salad Bowl, very familiar to Katie and Brendon, Ellen and me, but not to the others, It was fun. We laughed a lot. A very satisfactory party.

Birthday photos.

A very nice day at home.

Today was a "blank day" - i.e., no appointments. I slept well, got up late, came out to my chair, had my "fave" breakfast, did the spelling bee puzzle, checked email, just enjoyed "futzing around" on the net. I did my exercises while Ellen went to the store, Andy came by to check out the shower measurements. Now it's time for the PBS Newshour and supper. An enjoyable day.

My usual breakfast.

The big day approaches!

i can't quite wrap my head around the fact that almost a full year has gone by since my big 91st birthday party at the Guilford Church. I'll be 92 in just 3 days! No big party this year. A small gathering here at the house on Saturday. That's fine. Will there be a 93? We'll see! Not impossible! Meanwhile, it's River Singers, Hallowell Rehearsal, Retired Clergy, a Deacon's Dinner at the Dummerston Church, TarHeels on the radio, looking out at falling snow, listening to Ellen read Huck Finn, PBS Newshour, Peter Falion and Andy Davis staying with me on Wednesdays, exploring making the upstairs shower safer, etc. I'm reading about the early history of the Syrian church after learning that Cynthia has ancestral roots in Syria. It's a chaotic history that is not familiar to me. Which makes for interesting reading.

At a Hallowell rehearsal; Mike Mayer standing. *********

Town Meeting is next Tuesday. Sugaring should start soon. Spring is only 22 days away!