The Baby Steps Edition

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all comin' to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you, than I have before. Sure as I know anything, I know this. I aim to misbehave. Captain Mal Reynolds in Serenity We took Gracie to her first movie, Joss Whedon's Serenity. She was a dream, made nary a peep. We had sort of a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend here last week. Sunday we ventured to Tim and Lesley's for a turkey dinner which was quite yummy. Quin and Leah seem to really enjoy the baby as does Uncle Tim There was also some discussion about Tim's affinity for playing his "Jew's Harp", and I was tasked with finding out a little history of the instrument, so, mostly for my father-in-law, but anyone else interested... History of the Jews Harp (from Wikipedia) The Jew's harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Called variously a jaw harp, juice harp, khomuz - Siberia, kubyz, koukin - Japan, kumbing - Philippines, mungiga - Sweden, gewgaw - England, cacciapensieri - Italy, munnharpe - Norway, drumbľa , genggong - Bali, maultrommel - Germany (which means "mouth drum"), doromb - Hungarian, dambrelis - Lithuania, trump, morsing, guimbarde - France, vargan - Russia, temir-komuz, ooz-komuz - Kyrgyzstan, drymba, aura or vasang among other names, it has no particular connection with Jews or Judaism. More than 40 different names are known in different cultures. Its appearance in many cultures of the world, and ancient roots, attest to the magical essence of this simple instrument. It was and is a common instrument in shamanic rituals, because the vibration of jew's harp sound can induce the condition of light trance. The instrument is a lamellaphone, which is in the category of plucked idiophones: it consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note. The note thus produced is constant in pitch, though by changing the shape of his or her mouth and the amount of air contained in it the performer can cause different overtones to sound and thus create simple melodies. There are many theories for the origin of the name Jew's harp (see the external links below), one being that it may derive from its popularity amongst Eurasian steppe-peoples like the Khazars, perhaps being introduced to Europe from that direction. A likely explanation is that it is a corruption of "jaw harp", while a less likely explanation espoused by some is that its name comes from "juice harp" from the amount of saliva produced while being played. It could also have been named as a pun based on the stereotyping of Jews as costive, i.e it's about as cheap a 'harp' as they come and would thus be the choice of a Jew looking to play. One example of the Jew's harp in modern music is in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give it Away" on the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik Monday we headed to Waterloo for Shelley's family baby shower. Dad Snyder, Tim, Quin and I went to a Kitchener Rangers OHL hockey game while the ladies ooh'd and ahh'd over Gracie. She was finally able to meet both her Great-Grandmothers and I was able to take the photos I've wanted to take for a long time... 4 Generations of Amos women.. 4 generations of Snyder... Great-Grandma Amos and Snyder with Gracie... There were tons of wonderful gifts and much congratulations sent our way. One of the best things was getting to see Renee and Jeff, as they get closer to their big arrival. Jeff took great advantage of Gracie as he prepared for his journey into fatherhood...just a few more months to go Jeff!! Then the next day we took Gracie to the University and showed her off to more friends. Since I wasn't able to snap a pic of Gracie and Trish at the shower, we went to Trish's lab and she got bonus baby time... Gracie is spending more and more time on her tummy learning to raise her head. Tonight we took a baby step (pardon the pun) toward getting Shelley back on course to the studio, by giving Gracie her very first bottle. Finally, Daddy gets to bond with baby too!!! I think it was a tad tramatic for all involved, less me than everyone else, but still it was a step. She did very well for her first bottle, and we all sat up in bed afterward and laughed and played and filled out some of her baby book that Auntie Les gave us. It's been 4 weeks now. She's changed so much in such a short time. She smiles now, makes some eye contact, responds to different sounds and flashes of light. She likes to watch the Simpsons late at night when she's fussy. And earlier this evening she led the room, with daddy's help, in a rousing rendition of the Notre Dame Fight Song...since it's the big game with USC Saturday! (Also she cooed a lot when I sang Bridge Over Troubled Water to her tonight) Shelley took this picture of her today, the expression is priceless, and it is my current favorite photo... There was some sad news in Toronto this week... The voice of the Blue Jays, Tom Cheek passed away. Tom and his broadacst partner Jerry Howarth (Tom & Jerry) are the voices so many of my Canadian friends grew up listening to. Cheek broadcast 4,306 regular season games from April 1977 until early last year without missing a game. His streak was broken when his father passed away and he missed a game to attend the funeral. In the wake of his father's death, Cheek had a physical and they found a tumor on his brain. Ten days after burying his father, Cheek underwent brain surgery. His year-long plus battle with cancer, left him unable to broadcast but a few games after the surgery. He passed away Sunday morning in his Florida home at the age of 66. There is a wonderful website Tribute To Tom in his memory, where you can, among other things, donate to cancer research, and by clicking the Media Gallery link you can also hear some of Tom's most famous calls, including the one people in Toronto kept requesting over and over again this week- the walk off home run by Joe Carter to win the '93 World Series. Godspeed Tom. And to you my friends, a wonderful week ahead. Til next time, Cheers