Ukulele number 3 was meant to travel , at least that’s why I bought it. It wasn’t actually made for that. Then I discovered the Outdoor Ukulele that is designed to travel because it’s designed to withstand the bumps and temperature changes of travel. Welcome number 5. It is an “American made composite polycarbonate instrument developed for backpacking, camping, and traveling. They’ve been played in the Arctic Ocean, paddled down the Amazon River, and hiked both the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails.” MIne hasn’t gone that far, but it goes on just about any trip I make and played often at home as well, hanging conveniently on a curtain rod in the living room.
Ukulele Number 4
A friend showed me his banjolele, or should I say played it for me and I was hooked. Then I saw a picture of George Harrison playing one. What better way to learn a new instrument than to turn one you already know into one. I found the Luna Banjolele online and really liked the design. The clear head shows off a nice panel inside which I correctly surmised could easily be changed as well! I’m less happy with how it plays and have trouble keeping the strings from breaking and so don’t often play it. I solved that problem a different way as you’ll see in later posts. Still, I like how it looks and I want to like how heavy it is, but I don’t always.
Magical Mystery Tour Bethlehem
April Fool’s day came a day late when our Magical Mystery Tour plans were a bit altered, but not cancelled. Some outside stops, though listed here, where not made and the cemetery tour was a drive-through, although we were briefly convinced that the gate we had driven through was locked behind us.
Craig takes a ride in the propane exhibit.
Duncan checks out the big machines at NMIH.
- Benchwarmer’s Coffee, West Reading
- Hoover-Mason Trestle
- Visitor Center at Steel Stacks
- Millenium Folk Arch and Art Enclave – snow cancelled
- National Museum of Industrial History – our primary destination where we also witnessed the moving of a Linotype for a new exhibit there in May.
- Nisky Hill Cemetery – link shows a few interesting markers we found just driving around.
- Fegley’s Brew Works
- Moravian Book Shop
Magical Mystery Tour Lancaster County
On June 26 Craig, Duncan, and I traveled to the following locations to see the sites and some graves of my ancestors who lived in those areas.
The Postcard Bldg
- Beiler’s Donuts
- Boehm’s Chapel
- The Postcard Building
- Silver Mine Park
- Conestoga Area Historical Society
- Noah Wade, my Great, Great, Grandfather – Conestoga Methodist Cemetery
Newcomer’s Corner
- Edwin Wade, my Great Grandfather – Conestoga Reformed Cemetery
- Conestoga Indian Town Marker
- Newcomer’s Corner
- Abraham K. Newcomer, my Great Great Grandfather – Habecker’s Mennonite
- Newcomer Homestead
- Martin Chartier Marker
- 40th Parallel Marker
- John Wright Restaurant
- Jim Mack’s Ice Cream
- Columbia Crossing River Trails Center
- Tollbooth Antiques, or some other shop nearby
Jefferson / Thoreau Shelves
In my upstairs reading nook on a small pine double shelf that I made I have a collection of books about and by Thomas Jefferson and Henry Thoreau. In addition to the books on the shelf there are four Ephrata Cloister buildings. On the top (L – R) are the print shop and the academy and on the bottom shelf the Saron (sisters house) and Saal. A paper cutout of Thoreau stands behind the Saal. On the wall to the right is a tide clock with a face made from the nautical map of the Bath, Maine area.
Jimmy DiResta
Photo from a couple years ago when I met Jimmy DiResta at the World Maker Faire in NYC and we compared “makers’ hands”. I was reminded of this recently and had to look for the photo so I could preserve it here. Jimmy DiResta among other great things, has a YouTube channel here.
Ukulele Number 3
After taking Uke 2 to Massachusetts for the Thoreau Gathering I decided I needed something that could be knocked about more to travel, but I definitely wanted one to travel. There’s a Music & Arts store in Vernon, outside Hartford Connecticut where I found this little soprano Kohala cheap that sounded pretty good. It was difficult to keep from playing a new uke, so the next stop at a roadside rest provided some opportunity. Replaced later by a plastic uke for traveling, it now finds a permanent home at my training center for breaktime when I’m working there alone… not during classes.
Ukulele Number 2
My second ukulele was bought at Funky Frets in Boyertown, a great place for string instruments, but especially ukuleles. As I said in Ukulele #1 I actually stopped to get a new set up tuners for #1 but wound up buying the set of tuners attached to a uke.
It’s a Lanikai concert LKP-C with Koa top, back, and sides, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and gold plated tuners.
The hat next to it came later. It’s as perfect a ukulele hat as the ukulele is a great instrument and just as fun. They both sit next to my desk in my basement office for easy access at breaktime.
Rokusuke & Hachi Take Over
Piperoid samurai robots take over my mac.
Magical Mystery Tour Baltimore
We departed from our usual Monday tour and went on a Tuesday in order to visit the Museum on Industry in Baltimore and see the Linotype there. It was, in fact, a relatively normal tour, normal in the way that it was NOT like our usual… unusual spots tours. It was non-the-less a great day pretty much spent in two museums that are very much worth the visit. It was especially good visiting the B&O with Craig in tow, who has become a walking database of train history and who was able to answer our questions and point out unusual aspects of the collection even better than the local docents there.
We visited: