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Carol H Tucker

Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan

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beladona Memorial

Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...


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a song in the heart and on the lips

Today is the 4th day of the 44th week, the 2nd day of the 11th month, the 307th day of 2016: 
  • All Souls' Day
  • Cookie Monster Day
  • International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists
  • Look for Circles Day
  • National Deviled Egg Day
  • National Eating Healthy Day
  • National Traffic Professionals Day
  • Plan Your Epitaph Day
  • Practice Being Psychic Day
ON THIS DAY:  In 619 a qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate was assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu.  In 1671 Intendant Jean Talon opened the King's Brewery, Québec City's first brewery.  In 1868 New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally.  In 1898 cheerleading was started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team.  In 1947 Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.  In 1959 Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he had the questions and answers in advance of his appearances on the TV game show "Twenty-One."  In 1960 Penguin Books was found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.  In 1988 the first Internet Worm was released by Robert Morris, Jr., a Cornell graduate student -- Morris also received the first felony conviction in the US under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act although he claimed he wasn't trying to do any harm, it was just an experiment gone wrong.

I never really learned to recite poetry, instead I learned a multitude of song lyrics.  Singing ran deep in our family – Grandmom Hughes was the daughter of a Welsh coalminer and that family would sing as quickly as talk.  I remember Sunday afternoons, after the dinner dishes were done and before desert [or fun supper as my kids knew it], while the menfolk were in the other room watching sports, smoking, and/or napping, and the kids were playing elsewhere, we would be sitting around talking, and if the conversation died away, Grandmom would just start singing and we would join in [ “You are my sunshine” was Aunt Blanche’s favorite song].  I sang while walking to school, while taking a bath, while doing chores – sometimes at a considerable volume.  I sang with the school chorus and in the church choirs.  I didn’t have a great voice and never got picked to do a solo, but my voice was strong and clear with a three-octave range and I had almost perfect pitch.

Never learned to read music though, I sang by ear.  I went for a tryout one year at Towson and the choir director was very dismissive – when he handed me a sheet of music and told me to sing, I admitted that I had never heard that piece and couldn’t read music.  He made the mistake of asking why I thought I could sing with them if I couldn’t even read my part -- I pointed at the piano and told him if he played the melody, I would sing the song and he immediately started, and I did.  Even when he added embellishments, once I had the melody I could hear it and half way through he stopped and told me I was in, but that I was never to tell anyone else that I couldn’t read the music.

When my kids were growing up singing was part of their lives as well -- we sang when playing, while driving in the car, while taking a bath.  Every night each kid had their own lullaby --  my son’s was Wynken, Blynken and Nod and my daughter’s was Puff the Magic Dragon.    When my son went off to the Navy, he took with him a cassette tape we recorded of us singing together, one side had the fun songs like Star Trekkin’ and I love Trash and Found a Peanut. and the other side was our favorite Christmas carols.

In the mid-80’s Grandmom died, and it was a while before I felt like singing again, only the lullabies remained constant.  Then when Frank died, the cone of silence descended as I learned to live alone.  It has only been recently that I have tried to sing again and I hardly recognize my voice anymore.  No longer clear, it quavers, the pitch is often off, there is no range, and I cannot sustain a note.   In short, I find it difficult to listen to myself.   Despite that, I sing now and then when around my granddaughters – the toddler’s song is the Unicorn Song and I have been singing Don’t let the rain come down to the baby – but I find it difficult.

Maybe my voice will come back – I hope so because singing is an essential part of what makes me “me”.   


Permalink | Wednesday, November 2, 2016