The Tone-deaf Daredevils

Who, you ask, are The Tone-deaf Daredevils? That's our kitchen party band. We have ten members who get together as often as possible with as many of us as possible. We may have as many as eight or ten of us, or as few as two of us, making music.




We have the oddest collection of instruments and it could be any combination being played together on any given day. That's the advantage of having members who arrange music. We can make any combination of instruments work. Our member's instruments include the following: guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, harp, flutes, saxophone, clarinets, trombone, tuba, oboe, recorders (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) harmonica, accordion, and piano ... I think that covers it, oh, yeah, and Muggins who will howl along once in a while. Most often, you'd hear fiddles, sax, and guitar, or trombone and clarinet.














This past weekend, our two newest members were in attendance. Instruments involved were fiddles, guitars and mandolin. As the evening wore on, it dwindled to two guitars and a mandolin, then the kitchen got quiet for an hour or so, with only the music of chatter and laughter.




However, somewhere in the wee small hours, after more beer and scotch, two guitars rang out again.








It's been a long time since I saw 2:30 in the morning.

Granny Has A Tea Party

So many people are so busy all the time that the finer things in life are slowly disappearing. Afternoon Tea, for example, is seldom something one does any more. Granny decided to change that and have a Tea Party.

Including Granny, there were 14 people on the guest list. So there was lots to be done in preparation.

All the bone china cups and saucers were washed, and the tea cups were married up with their saucers. Look at all the lovely patterns. There’s nothing like drinking tea out of a proper cup and saucer; mugs are just a bucket with a handle. A cup and saucer is delicate, pretty, light weight and when you put the thin edge to your lips to sip the tea, it’s magical.

After much planning, Granny was pleased with the menu. First, tea sandwiches, you know the kind, thin slices of bread in fancy shapes, with the crusts cut off. This is exactly what Granny wanted to serve for her Tea Party. She baked fresh loaves of bread and sliced them very thin, then cut some into fancy shapes. Then she filled the little gems with delicacies like Tomato and Basil, Pear and Blue Cheese, Cucumber and Dill, Chopped Radishes with Spinach Leaves, and Cucumber and Mint. For dessert, she whipped up a batch of scones, not the North American version, the kind you get when you go out for Cream Tea in England (thank you Carole, for the recipe). To top them off, strawberry jam or some lemon curd, whichever you prefer, and after many hours of sitting on the stove top thickening up, clotted cream.

All the guests arrived and admired the cups and saucers, and all the plates of lovely sandwiches. With relaxed smiles, we filled our teacups many times over, and spent many happy hours laughing and nibbling. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, and with such special friends.

Granny learned a couple of things this afternoon. Tea Parties are definitely not a thing of the past. Ladies today enjoy them as much as their grandmothers did. And most importantly, red wine does NOT stain teacups.