Twirly Whirly…

Blog #1

Hi! I’m Georgia- the Twirly-Whirly Mama behind the music of Spiral Up Kids. Since our magical music project began a few years ago, the little ones (Ruthie & Jonah) who entered us into this wild trip of parenting have moved beyond babyhood and into the brilliant but beastly pre-school years. (My wickedly wonderful little imp Ruthie is snatching the mouse away and poking the keys right now as I try to write this.)

Last week, we, in the Hudson Valley, had the pleasure of what Accuweather dubbed a “snowicane” which left us without electricity for 5 days out here in the apple orchards. While initially we were ready to jump ship and head for Grandma’s, with the help of the miraculous generator, it turned into a rather enjoyable adventure (well, most of it anyway- the shed collapsing in the backyard with the riding mower and bicycles in it was not a highlight but we’ll dig it out as the days grow warmer and assess the damage.) The snow was incredible and reached over 3 feet high and certainly portrayed that beauty can be found within the beast. (Can you tell we are into princesses around here?) The culprit of all the power company’s havoc, bringing down wires and trees, was the same enchanting creator of a wonderland, especially as seen through the eyes of a little girl not much higher than the snow drifts.

We spent our days painting a tea set and hosting numerous tea parties, building a fabulous snow fort, like the structures I remember constructing in my childhood, and cuddling up under blankets with books- “Fancy Nancy” tops our list these days, along with classics like Robert Munsch’s “Paper Bag Princess” . These would’ve been perfect days for baking cookies, but heat, water, and a few lights were our luxuries- no oven! We even wrote a little song- “Electricity- Come Back to Me!” but I’m not sure that it’ll merit being on our next album! Ruthie did call out “I miss my TV!” a few times but overall we fared well and made it through. This late February blizzard certainly left us full of gratitude when the lights did come on and full of eagerness for Spring to melt the snow away and bring on the sunshine! I’ve started dreaming of the golden prize that lays beyond what we hope are the last few cold days ahead… the afterschool romps at the playground, the local farmers’ markets, the flowers springing up in our yard, and even the mud puddles!

With Spring on my mind, I’d like to share with you the story of “Ducks” (Track # 9 on our album). Believe it or not, it’s mostly a true story. I wrote the lyrics to “Ducks” about 2 ½ years ago, when we were still living in Beacon, the land of Pete Seeger, and Ruthie wasn’t 2 yet. Beacon was just beginning it’s renaissance as a town and as much as I now love living out in the country amongst the apple orchards, I loved living right near town with our favorite “hotspots” like the Wee Play playground, http://www.weeplayproject.org/, the natural market, http://beaconnaturalmarket.com/, the ice cream stand http://beaconcreamery.com/, and of course the Hudson River.

We had a Sunday morning mother-daughter ritual of heading down to the riverfront park which houses the train station. In our little family, my husband & I have very different tastes in bread, which always leaves us with plenty to share with the ducks at the end, or in this case beginning of the week. So Sunday mornings were for the farmer’s market http://www.thebeaconfarmersmarket.com/, where we always tried to buy at least one thing from every vendor and danced on the dock, and feeding our friends the ducks, my little girls’ favorite. In fact, it became such an important part of our lives that sometimes, we’d stop and buy a loaf of bread for the ducks, if we didn’t have any extra growing stale in our kitchen. At this particular spot on the Hudson, we would carefully climb down the rocks and sit and throw ripped up slices of bread into the river as my little girl giggled with glee when the ducks swam over to gobble it down. We always tried our best to get some to the “little guy” who couldn’t seem to get there quick enough. Of course, we usually were met by the Canadian geese, who also got a share of the loot, but we’d been at our routine several weeks before my little girl got her first glimpse at the violence of nature and survival of the fittest. I don’t remember the exact details of the day, but I know the lyrics of the song came straight from whatever happened. We must have witnessed a duck attack- biting and fighting, seagulls swooping, pushy geese, and absolutely no sharing of the bread, which I’m sure was plentiful. I do remember my daughter’s shock and surprise at the birds’ aggressive behavior and boldness. After all, those geese were probably bigger than she was or at least about the same size.

And so… “Ducks” (with Tim & Darren’s musical alchemy) was born. Now these boys are two of my favorite people, but in the many years I’ve known them before becoming “Mama”, I never would’ve dreamed of seeing them “Quack” on stage and they’re so good at it! Of course, I never would’ve dreamed lots of things in the time pre-dating my beautiful “Ruthie Rainbow” who turned four last month. Being a mama- and a twirly-whirly one- has brought so much wonder and magic into my world and as I dream of warm spring adventures, I am anxious to get out to the fabulous pond on the SUNY New Paltz campus to search out some ducks amongst those big white honking geese that I find mildly frightening. Perhaps this spring, the ducks will learn to share. Here’s hoping Spring arrives soon!
We miss you, Mr. Sun!

Georgia

What are you looking forward to this spring?

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