Yesterday 774 visitors showed up at this blog. This time it was apparently Duluthians who showed up and not a bunch of Rooskies. Thank Goodness.
For you new visitors let me tell you that this is sort of my refuge. I post my musings about politics, books, history, family and whatever I feel like writing about. It also has tons of my thoughts about the big political events I’m involved with like the Red Plan fight and running for political office. But even I need a break from that so here’s a change of pace.
A couple days ago I got an email from a shirt tail relative of mine through my Mother’s Mother, Winona McLatchey Robb. We have exchanged voluminous information with each other despite my preoccupation with campaigning. A few days ago he asked me to send him a picture of my Mother’s piano because a relative had enjoyed something I’d written about it on my old www.snowbizz.com website. I took a picture of it this morning and sent it to him with the following email:
Shane,
As promised a photo of Winona’s piano. We never put the hood up and it usually has a few odds and ends placed on it but it does look glorious when its set up as in this photo. It was made by C. Kurttzman & Co. from Buffalo, NY. It was piano # 50128.
An ancient piano tuner looked it up in a book he had and could tell us when it was built. He said the company made good pianos.
Winona bought the piano used with her own money in the Twenties. It might have been four years old at that time. I believe it was built in 1918.
The piano could used use a little work. Its sunburned from being near the window. The old tuner urged us to move it away from the window.
I think my Mother’s older more assertive sister Maryjane refused to take lessons and it fell on my Mother to take them as the more compliant daughter. Her teacher was the preeminent piano teacher in Topeka who taught Governor Alf Landon’s daughter as well as my Mother the State Auditor’s daughter. Alf’s daughter became the US Senator from Kansas Nancy Kassebaum.
My Mother was never a great pianist but she played Christmas music we all gathered around in our Minnesota home to sing. She also played from an American song book and I would sing the words of lots of old classics while she accompanied. Today I visit her once or twice a week in her full time residence. She has Alzheimers and we can no longer converse so I go in and sing solo with her or to her.
When I was about in fifth grade I remember my Mother taking me for a ride in Topeka to share her anguish with me over her Mother’s growing dementia. She told me her Mother told her “Georganne I’m going mad.” Its not a line easily forgotten. A friend of my Grandmother’s told Mom she had to stop taking Winona with her to hear the Kansas City Symphony concerts she loved because Winona was beginning to hum and sing during performances.
My Mother always dreaded the prospect of becoming demented herself. Now it is my turn to worry. I’m running for our school board again so I have more to worry about than ever. As Mark Twain said, “First God created idiots. That was for practice. Then he created school boards.”
Harry
