Crazy weather we are having these days? Have you noticed? Are you digging out of snow and ice? Are the temperatures hovering south of zero? Here in California it’s been warm and dry. Scary scary dry. Listening to the news this morning on my clock radio, the in-depth NPR report compared the drought in California’s central valley, the fruit basket for all of us who like to eat, to the Dust Bowl.
All of a sudden the politicians are talking about it. Freeways signs implore us to conserve water because we are in a serious drought. Which makes the oranges I received from a friend (and Mother Earth), an even more poignant and cherished gift.
Tom is one of our ukulele players in The CC Strummers and he makes frequent driving trips to the central valley around Fresno to visit his mother. His 97 year old mother. And her boyfriend… (You go girl!!!) The boyfriend just turned 100 years this month, still rides the tractor and works the family farm. They grow the fruit that we love to eat. Tom was just there with the extended family to celebrate the Big Birthday. The boyfriend got $100 bills as gifts. Not too shabby. He plans to spend them at “the casino.”
The family has a prized orange tree in front of the farmhouse. It was planted 100 years ago, about when the boyfriend was born. The tree is their private reserve and Tom brought me a bag of oranges from this very tree. A la natural and treasured. They are the size of grapefruit and taste like sweet, gooey orange sugar. Just think of everything that makes just one of these oranges possible—a hundred years of sunlight and soil, of people, generations of people, caretaking the tree and each other.
And the water… It’s all there in each bite.
Well, thanks to Tom, I’m getting plenty of Vitamin C this week so I’m feeling fortified for a really fun evening at Dave’s Island Instruments on Friday, February 21, 6:30 to 8:00 P.M. in Lakewood, California. This is a “good vibes” music store that sells not only ukuleles but all things “island-y.” You should see the exotic “drums”! Better yet, you should tappity-tap the exotic drums. Every month Dave and his fellow Island Music lovers invite a “special guest strum-along leader” to do a mini-concert and ukulele workshop. This month I “got tapped” for the job!
Admission is only $5 at the door and there is room for about 30 people. I will bring a handful of charts to share so we can make music together. We’ll talk about creating grooves on the ukulele and pumping some rhythmic intensity in our playing. What fun. Please join us.
Dave’s Island Instruments is located at 4115 Los Coyotes Diagonal, Lakewood, CA 90713. It is near the intersection of Carson and Los Coyotes Diagonal, behind the gasoline station. Lots of free parking. Phone: (562) 706-1719
BYOW! Bring your own water…
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