Some time with John

Today I went over to John and Cynthia's house and spent some time talking with them on their patio. The weather was ideal, and it was so lovely sitting there in the shade, visiting, listening to the bird songs, enjoying the setting there. A lot of our conversation was around a video they made which again features the puppet, Clover. Cynthia had made several of these for her students. Clover, I am told, has become quite a star. This is a 20-minute video in which Clover interviews John about how he became interested in nature sound recording. Turns out that decades ago, when John was a seven-year-old or so, I used a Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder at the A-frame (our Vermont summer cabin) to record the sound of frogs in a nearby pond, and then played the recording for the family both at normal speed and then at 1/4 normal speed, which sounded very spooky. John was fascinated and a seed was planted which has sprouted and grown in recent years. In the video, Clover explores this with John, and then John takes Clover on a walk into the woods where John has attached a recorder to a tree which is on a timer, so it can record both the dusk and dawn bird chorus (and other sounds). John then plays a minute of that recording and identifies the sounds - a veery, an oven bird, a woodcock, peepers, etc. It's a wonderful video! If you want to see it - go to YouTube, put in a search for "Pug Librarian" and click on "Lucky Ducky Story Hour - A Listening Walk." You will be charmed, I'm sure.

John being interviewed by Clover

This evening we had a nice session on Zoom with River Singers. Mary Cay plays the parts of a song on the piano - while we are all muted - and then she plays a recording of the song and we sing along with the recording (still muted). Part-way through the session, we break out into small groups and then we can un-mute and talk with each other. It's not the same as a live session, but it is fun and great to see others. I think that is the way it will have to be for some time to come.

What River Singers can't do for a while yet

Meanwhile, other members of our family are also making videos using puppets! Katie Tolles, Ellen's sister, for years has done a program at the Shutesbury Library called Tales and Tunes, for children in the pre-school/kindergarten age-range. That has been closed down by the pandemic, so she is doing it on-line, and they are equally charming. She sings, plays the guitar, and tells stories, assisted by a puppet, Chipsey-Chopsey, a chicken, manned by Brendon, her grandson. You can see them also - go to You Tube and search "Tales and Tunes." The most recent is #10. Here is a still shot:

Katie Tolles, Chipsey-Chopsey (at left) and a chickadee - which is what the song is about

None of this would have been created had  there been no pandemic! As they say, "It's an ill wind that blows no good" !!