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Page 12 - The MalakoffNews - Friday, September 15, 2006
Escapades of Emily
The music still sounds as good
Words of wisdom inspired
me for a long time, those
words about talent - "Use it
or lose it." Well, where that
advice was wise in my
younger day, s, I'm beginning
to see the other side, I can
play' the piano, not as an
accomplished pianist or a
child prodigy', but I play' well
enough to accompany large
groups of singers. I'm not as
good as I once was, but ]?or
one song I might be as good
&s I ever was.
Today I lose my place
looking at music and have to
improvise for a short time of
panic, and when playing as
someone else plays on the
organ, I cannot hear well
enough to know if that per-
fomaer is ahead or behind
me. l'm too short to see over
my piano to send fhcial signs
to the organist.
I took three years of piano
lessons starting at 9. Then
my beloved teacher moved. I
discovered 1 could play, in
small fashion by' "ear," and
from the age of 13 I began
playing the piano or organ
somewhere. Once or twice I
was borrowed tbr recitals in
a nearby' town. Lately people
have noticed a dearth in the
piano-playing department
those growing to maturity.
Even with my blunders, I
find myself a rarity.
When we moved lock,
stock and all we had in our
next to last time fh0 and
stayed in that town for 28
years, ! became the tempo-
rary pianist for a church 26
or 27 years.
Our children were small,
2, 4 and when 1 began
Emily
Lundy
playing the organ or piano in
1.972 in this town and were
left to their own while I
played and Dad ushered. The
children grew up, repro-
duced, and grandchildren
discovered fun in sitting
under my baby' grand piano,
hidden from the audience by
the altar railing.
Because I taught in the
public school of this tovm for
20 years in high school, 1
was asked to play for wed-
dings often. Would I be paid
or not? I would never speak
up and expected to perfoma
free for relatives and good
friends. Sometime they paid
more than anyone.
Next a daughter-in-law
began singing solos to
recorded music or my
accompaniment at many
wedding. We were a team.
At a large wedding in Pa ae
Springs, this young woman
was to sing to a recorded
tape. I was given two min-
utes' instruction on how to
operate the sound box.
Rotate one button and push
on another. I must have
reversed the instructions
becattse the solo modulated
rhythmically in volume. Oh
the looks I mttst have been
getting from my son's
but I didn't dare look up.
"Trumpet Voluntary" and my
own rendition of "Canon in
D." Awway, my" in-law was
too embarrassed tbllowing
the wedding to go to the
reception. We went home,
Some time later, the bride's
mother came by to pay' us/br
our services. We knew she
had not had time to view the
wedding video.
As we sat visiting, I
noticed a roach going up the
wall behind our guest. For
some unknown reason, I
immediately stood up to go
to the kitchen, grabbed a
magazine, and slapped the
soup out of that bug, scaring
the guest enough to make her
jump. After she left, my
daughter-in-law said, "Why'
did you do that? She would-
n't have kmovm a roach was
there if you hadn't hit it." The
two of us laughed until we
couldn't stand.
I've played for my last
wedding now. I lost the nice
payment in check. Blame my
retirement on my eyes, my
ears, my brain-hand coordi-
nation or my age, but l,m try-
ing only to hold on to the
bench at a small church play-
ing with at] organist "at the
same time," supposedly.
Sunday a song was
announced, the organist
started the intro, and I
noticed the book with the
song lay on the floor beside
me. Apologizing to the
organist later, she said, "Oh,
don't wor j. Maybe some
thought we planned it that
way."
I tried to concentrate That'smy, mantra these
doing the Bridal Chiorus days: "Make plans but
flawlessly. I even learned expect anything."
Accepting
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- The Old Fogy
getting tired of heating
I listen to TV ads about
Medicare Plan D. I see a
woman whining, "I'm just a
poor, little old lady, too old to
understand Plata D. I'm con-
fused. I'm too old and stupid
to decide which plan is best
for me by May 152'
It's a personal prejudice but
I get tired of hearing, "I'm
confused." As a teacher of
mathematics I really got tired
of hearing, 'Tm confused."
The phrase doesn't mean that
the person is confused; it's a
catch phrase for an almost
total lack of knowledge or
interest. 'Tm confused," is a
whiney, poor me phrase. "I
didn't understand what you
said," is a stand up, to the
point phrase. I would tell my
students to say, "Indeed,
Socrates, I do not know" if
they didn't know something.
(It comes from a dialog
between Socrates and Meno.)
The elderly woman could
have said, "What's this time
limit crap? What's this penal-
ty for not signing up in time?
Do you think that all I've got
to do with my time is sit at a
computer and go over differ-
ent versions of Plan D? Give
me some slack, Jack."
Being a person in their 70s,
I rather resent being por-
trayed as a wimp. I presume
the woman in the ad was an
actor, in which case she is a
senior who is quite different
than the woman she portrays,
a bit of irony.
I must admit up front that
my choice of Plan D was
made for me by the
University, of New Mexico. I
Jeff
Davis
studiously avoided looking ,at
the myriad plans and haven't
been curious enough to look
at the plan and see what it
has. i've got better things to
do with my time.
Another phrase I'm getting
tired of hearing is "national
security." I was listening to a
play I wrote in 1980 and I had
a fictitious senator say that
learning calculus was a threat
to national security'. I hadn't
realized that "nationN securi-
ty" had been used as a shib-
boleth for so long.
I suppose that "national
security" as a general concept
is OK but when in every,
speech I hear in the Congess
there is the avowal of the
prime importance of "nation-
al security." The speaker
points out that '"national secu-
rity" is more important than
any'thing he or she, as the
case may be, might talk
about, but, "We do have to
look at tort reform, social
security, health care and
Education, even if they do
pale in significance compared
to "national security."
Immigration, defense, agri-
culture, energy.', transportation
and NASA are obvious
"national security" concerns.
Indeed "national security" is
the font from which all policy
springs.
There was a time when the
Universal justification was,
"The Devil made me do it."
Now the universal justifier is
"national security."
But when something so
obvious as "national security"
is harped upon, over and
over, I begin to wonder if
"national security" means
what I thought it meant. I
thought that it meant to keep
our national honor secure, to
keep our national ideals
secure. Now I'm not so sure.
Where did Jesus say' that it's
OK to respond to insult by
taking your ball home, where
did He say that it's OK to
respond to injury' with cruise
missiles? Where He say that
torture is OK.
V q]at does it profit a coun-
try' m gain security but lose its
honor and ideals, lose its
sotd?
Thus Spake The Old Fogy.
322 East Main St. Gun Barrel City 75156
887-0236 Fax (90 ) 887-7619
1
Administraton Karen Abbe, RN
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