WSHSO Gigs Galore!

Photo by Nuala Purcell, used with permission

I've not mentioned anything about the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra (WSHSO) since our big Symphony Space concert last October. Lest you think nothing's happening, just let me tell you about the whirlwind of performances we've given lately.

Pre-St. Patrick's Day events:

• On February 1 we appeared with Dan Milner, one of our singers, at the South Street Seaport Museum's monthly folk concert. This particular concert celebrated the release of Dan’s Irish Pirate Ballads CD on Smithsonian Folkways label. Several songs on that CD are part of the WSHSO repertoire.
• On February 6 we appeared with Dan once again, this time as part of the Blarney Star concert series at Glucksman Ireland House.
  
• On February 23 we played at a book launch party for Tom Coyne's book, A Course Called Ireland.
• On March 3 we appeared with Mick Moloney at the Lolita Bar in a memorial for writer/historian/musician Daniel Cassidy, author of How the Irish Invented Slang.
• On March 5 we appeared at Glucksman Ireland House, again with Mick Moloney, to celebrate the launch of a book Mick co-edited on traditional Irish dance in America - Close to the Floor: Irish Dance from the Boreen to Broadway.

The "season" of St. Patrick:

• On March 12 we joined Mick Moloney and Friends at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan for the annual Irish Heritage Concert.
• On March 14 we played at the reception following the annual Irish language mass at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral on Mulberry Street in lower Manhattan. A blogger in attendance noted our appearance and included a picture - click here to check it out.
  
• On March 15 we played at the St. Patrick's Day party for residents of the Mary Manning Walsh Home.
  
• On the same day, March 15, we played at the Irish American Historical Society's gala St. Patrick's day event. The picture at the top of this post was taken at that event. Here's another one which will give you a glimpse of the party's ambience.

Photo by Nuala Purcell, used with permission

This star-studded occasion received New York Times coverage in which our banjo player Dan Neely was quoted. The party was mentioned in NY Insider TV, which also carried pictures of us!
• On St. Patrick's Day - March 17 - we provided music for the Irish Consul General's St. Patrick's Day party. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were able to play outdoors on his penthouse balcony. And don't I just look like the cat that ate the canary, with the Empire State Building in the background there?
  

Photo by Daniel Neely, used with permission

Post-season engagements:

• On March 23 we played at the Irish Consulate at the book launch of Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh’s new book of poetry entitled Péacadh. Ailbhe was the Irish Language Fulbright scholar this past year at Lehman College.
  

Photo by Thomas Ihde, courtesy of Scott Spencer

• On March 26 we traveled to the Bookcourt in Brooklyn to play at the book launch for Robert Sullivan’s new book, The Thoreau You Don’t Know. As a result of our performance there, we were mentioned several times in blog posts. (1) Photographer Eric Etheridge submitted these two short posts from his iPhone while the event was in progress! Every Reading Should Have a Band and Robert Sullivan Reads from his new book on Thoreau (2) On March 28, Robert Sullivan cited Eric's posts on his own blog post entitled Captured, then (3) on April 2 Robert posted a video of the entire event (about 1 hour) which includes one set of tunes at the beginning and all of the music we played after his 30 minute talk.
• On April 5 the WSHSO was the featured guest of the New York Packet, South Street Seaport’s resident folk singing group at the monthly folk concert held in the South Street Seaport Museum. We presented about 45 minutes of music.
  
• On May 5 we will play at the Airneal na Bealtaine, an evening of traditional music by NYU students and WSHSO in celebration of Spring.
• On May 16 WSHSO will perform in Battery Park City - watch our Myspace site for details.

In addition to these official bookings, we often support each other at sessions around town when various people in the group serve as session leaders in local pubs.

Needless to say, after all these appearances, our playing is very tight right now, and we are thoroughly enjoy playing together. We are all grateful to Mick Moloney for his sponsorship and guidance. Global person that he is, he can't make all our gigs, but when he's there, he adds his own distinctive spark to our sound.

This post brings you up to date on my 2009 St. Patrick's Day Irish music adventures. In keeping with all these great memories, let me wish you a belated Happy St. Patrick's Day. Looking at the clock, maybe I'd better quickly say Happy Easter too, before that holiday passes by as well!

© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Little Carlin

Photo from the Wikimedia Commons,
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Several weeks ago, around 3:15 pm on a Saturday afternoon, I saw a badly injured squirrel lying on its back, alive but twitching as if in the throes of death. One of his front paws was really, really swollen and obviously part of his ailment. I said a silent prayer that death would come quickly and returned home.

Later that afternoon I left the apartment again on another errand and darned if that squirrel wasn't still outside in the same spot, alive and twitching. He seemed no closer to death's door than he had been an hour earlier. It would be dark soon. The temperature was dropping. High winds and snow were predicted. How much lingering agony was I willing to let him endure? Apparently I was going to have to do something. But what?

I returned to my apartment and googled "wildlife rehab NY" on my computer. A long list of names, addresses, and phone numbers appeared on the screen. I left telephone messages with the rehab people who lived the closest to me.

While I was waiting for my calls to be returned, I clicked on the Google link for The Squirrel Board. The first message thread in The Squirrel Board Forum was entitled Emergency (Life Threatening) Help Needed. Perfect! I posted my predicament, or rather, the squirrel's predicament. I wondered how long it would take for someone to notice my new post. Within only 2 minutes, someone responded. "Can you scoop the squirrel into a box or a container of some sort?" If I could catch the squirrel, this person seemed willing to help. Using an old cat carrier, I was able to slide the squirrel inside. He squirmed during the maneuver but had no real control over his body, so it was pretty easy, actually. By 5:30 pm I was the nervous guardian of a dying squirrel in a cat carrier. I put the cat carrier in our warm bathroom, covered it with a towel to calm my patient, turned off the light, and closed the door. No worries about him escaping though. He couldn't really move at all, except for that occasional twitch.

After more message posting and several phone calls, a rehabber from about 30 miles outside NYC arrived around 9 pm to take the squirrel to a veterinary hospital. He died before the vet could do anything for him, but not before the rehabber gave him a name -- Little Carlin, a Celtic name meaning Little Champion. Somehow the fact that the rehabber gave him a Celtic name, without any inkling of my connections to Irish music, was confirmation that I was meant to try to help him.

The vet's autopsy revealed that Little Carlin had a missing front left foot and a severe de-gloving (skin ripped off) injury to the leg exposing the bone. The entire leg was infected and necrosis (death of the cells) had begun. The leg injuries looked at least 5 days old based on the bone. There were lacerations to the face near the eye, with some eye damage. The internal organs looked normal. There was no sign of poisoning. The twitching and inability to control his body had apparently been due to his very advanced infection. The cause of death was trauma.

I wondered if Little Carlin had an encounter with a red-tailed hawk (yes, we have those in NYC) or an off-leash dog. Or perhaps he got his leg caught in the spokes of a bicycle ridden by one of the many carry-out food delivery guys who speed through our apartment complex. Maybe he was hit by a car. I'll never know. Despite his severe injuries, though, the veterinarian felt that if Little Carlin had been treated right away, he could have been saved. Bummer.

This squirrel episode haunted me for many days. I've rescued animals before -- cats mostly, but also a few dogs, a pigeon, a baby squirrel, and a ferret. My rescues have nearly always had happy endings. I can remember only one other time when the animal died. Why did God put this poor miserable creature in my path when all I could do was give him a warm place to suffer and die?

I decided the reason had more to do with teaching me than with saving him. Little Carlin's "rescue" put me in touch with several wildlife rehabbers in New York City. I found The Squirrel Board, a wonderful resource with all sorts of information. After reading what was posted there, I went on to read other informative internet sites about squirrels and wildlife rehabilitation. Hopefully the things I've learned and the people I've met will help me to be more effective in some future situation.

I recommend everyone check out The Squirrel Board, even if you have no intention of scooping up injured squirrels. Read up on all the things squirrels eat and enjoy the wonderful pictures. The Squirrel Board Forum has over 3600 registered members, and probably many more readers. (Anyone can read the message threads, but only registered members can post.) So check it out - bookmark it. Whether you live in the city or in the country, you never know when you might find yourself in need of assistance with a squirrel. You think it won't happen to you, but you just never know...


Other Squirrel Resources:

Articles offering general information about squirrels
Tree Squirrels (by the Humane Society of the United States)
Squirrel (Wikipedia article with lots of sources)
The Scholarly Squirrel (a website that describes itself as "a definitive online resource for the squirrel enthusiast")

Squirrel Rescue & Rehabilitation
The Squirrel Board
Squirrel-rehab.org
Squirrel Rehab (a set of photos on Flickr)

Squirrel Books
Squirrels at My Window: Life With a Remarkable Gang of Urban Squirrels, by Grace Marmor Spruch (I read this enchanting book years ago and loved it.)
Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide, by Richard W. Thorington Jr. and Katie E. Ferrell

Squirrel Blogs (yes, of course, blogs!! How could I resist!)
The Squirrel Cam
Squirrel Chatter
Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels
Grey and Red, a Squirrel Journal



© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Turtle Troubles

It's been a while since this blog has seen news of my turtles, so I think it's time for an update. As you recall, I have two male Red Eared Sliders. In my post entitled What's in a Name? I recounted our difficulties in naming them. Based on their recent behavior we have reverted to the names my son originally gave to them: Dinky and Doofus. As you might expect, Dinky has always been the smaller of the two, his carapace (shell) now measuring 5" from head and tail. Doofus is now 6" long. Here's a pair of pictures to illustrate how much they've grown.

May 2006: Notice that both turtles fit between the supports
of the floating turtle dock.

September 2008: Now they fill the entire dock!

At five years of age, Doofus and Dinky are solidly into their adolescence and hormones abound. The courting ritual for aquatic turtles begins when the male turtle positions himself face to face with the female and extends both paws so that they touch the sides of the female's face. As the male flutters his paws, his long toenails stroke the sides of the female's face. This fluttering is a definite turn-on and leads to mating. Unfortunately for Doofus, the suitor, no amount of courting will entice Dinky, the wooed, into a role for which he is simply not equiped!

This behavior began some months ago. Doofus would flirt for a while, then get distracted and swim away. But just after Christmas we noticed that the courting had intensified. Doofus seemed unable to do anything else. He chased Dinky around the tank, fluttering those paws like a hopeless, lovelorn idiot! Dinky would occasionally snap back, but when even that response failed to drive Doofus away, Dinky withdrew into his shell and sank like a rock to the bottom of the tank. We tried separating them for brief periods, relegating Doofus to a 20 gallon tank. This strategy did nothing to discourage him. The amorous Doofus resumed his relentless courting whenever he found himself back in the 55 gallon tank with Dinky.

Realizing that courting behavior between two males is an attempt by the aggressor to establish dominance, we came to grips with the fact that Dinky's quality of life was doomed if he continued to live with Doofus. The turtles would have to be separated permanently. Separation meant finding one of them a new home or getting a second tank. Being more fond of the turtles than much of the furniture and miscellaneous nonsense that crowds my apartment, I threw out an old desk and some other useless items to make room for another tank.

I devoted my 3-day President's Day weekend (February 14-16) to Doofus's new home. On Saturday morning, with the help of my husband and son and a U-Haul panel truck, we moved all the stuff I had purchased from a Craigslist seller in Brooklyn to our Manhattan apartment. Saturday evening I cleaned and re-sealed the tank. Sunday I cleaned the 2 Eheim filters which were included. Monday I had new hoses installed on the Eheim filters, and by Monday night we filled the tank and put Doofus in his new environment. Voila!


The new tank is still a work in progress. At the moment, as you can see, it has only the necessities of life -- water, filtration, UVB lighting, and a floating turtle dock for basking. It looks pretty bare right now. I'll post more pictures when it's all decorated and finished.

Finally, the turtles are at peace. They show no signs of missing each other. In his 90 gallon tank, Doofus has room to dive deep and stretch his legs. He basks happily under his lamp and begs for food whenever I pass by. Dinky's 55 gallon tank seems more spacious now that he's the only one in it, and he often plays happily in the current of the output hose. He can bask on his dock or sleep on his brick without being knocked off every time he gets comfortable. What pampered turtles they are! Of the two, however, I can't help but think Dinky is the luckier one. Not only did I save him from the fate of most red eared sliders, from shell rot, and from drowning (see Lucky Larry), I set up another tank to free him from harrassment. What next?

© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Menno House 50th Anniversary

Photo by Lowell Brown, used with permission.

Sometimes around Christmas I do a post about the Lessons and Carols service I've organized for my church, Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship (MMF). This year I didn't work on Lessons and Carols. However, earlier in the year I spent months helping to organize the Menno House 50th anniversary celebration. Since I'm chairperson of the Menno House board of directors, I was up to my ears in the planning of this three-day event. That's not a complaint though. As a project manager by trade, I was happy to use my skills on a project that had nothing to do with software used in the financial services industry. I found that projects in the nonprofit sector require a somewhat different approach. But that's another post altogether! What I want to tell you about is the Menno House event itself.

September 19-21 marked the 50th anniversary of Mennonites at 314 E. 19th Street in New York City. The four-story townhouse on this site is currently known as Menno House. Since 1997 Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship (MMF ) has owned and operated Menno House as a home for Mennonite Voluntary Service and Mennonite Central Committee volunteers as well as students, interns, and workers at local service agencies. This continues the House’s 50-year tradition of sheltering Mennonite service personnel.

On Friday night, when the 125 current and former residents began to gather to celebrate the occasion, the House reverberated with the spirit of reunion. Mike Erb of Waterloo, Ontario (2006 resident) provided music which set a festive atmosphere in which to view the recent work of MMF painter Jayne Holsinger, whose paintings of rural Mennonite life were on display.

After a typical New York breakfast of bagels and cream cheese,

Photo by Lowell Brown, used with permission.

Saturday’s events offered a session on the history of 314 E. 19th Street.

Photo by Lowell Brown, used with permission

Saturday afternoon included a luncheon for former Menno House managers, a guided tour of Menno House, and a tour of Anabaptist sites in Lower Manhattan led by Dan Ness (1961-62 resident) of Lancaster PA. At 4 pm attendees reconvened for a rousing hymn sing led by North Bronx Mennonite Church pastor, Ruth Wenger (1977-78 resident). Pianist Francesco Lecce-Chong and violinist Amy Kauffman, regulars at MMF, performed a Brahms sonata.

The after-dinner presentation was the highlight of the Menno House 50th Anniversary Celebration. Singer/songwriter Gina Holsopple (manager 2001-03), performed original songs. Myrna Burkholder, Menno House manager from 1977-1982, was honored with an original calligraphy for her vision in implementing the residential structure that still guides Menno House.

Penn State professor Julia Spicher Kasdorf (resident 1983-85) read selections of her poetry set in the immediate neighborhood of Menno House.

Photo by Kyle Dean Reinford, used with permission

Professor John Rempel of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN, who served as MMF’s first pastor from 1989 to 1999 and led the congregation in the purchase of Menno House, presented the keynote address.

Photo by Kyle Dean Reinford, used with permission

Sunday’s activities started with a morning brunch during which former MMF interim pastor Stan Bohn of Newton KS led the group in reflections on peacemaking in our time,

Photo by Lowell Brown, used with permission.

and Michele LaRue, actress and theater writer-editor, read from the works of Mennonite writer now deceased, Warren Kliewer.

MMF’s 5 pm Sunday service concluded the celebration. Stan Bohn preached and Pastor Shirk Charles offered a touching re-dedication of Menno House.

By all accounts, the weekend was a huge success. On October 6, 2008, Mennonite Weekly Review, an inter-Mennonite newspaper published weekly since 1923, ran a very nice story which I helped to write.

Menno House Celebrates 50 Years in New York City

On October 9, 2008, the Town and Village, an independent community newspaper, ran a story on my involvement with Menno House. That story and a big picture of me at Menno House were prominently displayed on page 2! That paper isn't online, but you can see a pdf of the article by clicking on the title below.

Mennonites Celebrate 50 Years of Peace and Low Rent

On October 21, 2008, The Mennonite, a semi-monthly magazine for members of Mennonite Church USA, also made mention of the event.

Menno House Celebrates 50 Years

I am very pleased to be involved with the Menno House. It has enabled many people to do a lot of good. Planning this event was certainly a huge amount of work, but it was very rewarding. Since this blog is the place where I share such things, I wanted to include, albeit belatedly, the 50th anniversary celebration of Mennonites in 314 East 19th Street.

© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Turtle Ornament from Lauscha

My husband and I have been collecting Christmas tree ornaments for many years. This past Christmas our new ornament was a glittery, gold hand blown glass sea turtle purchased in a Greenwich Village gift shop. The store clerk thought it was made shortly after World War II in a German town called Lauscha.

Lauscha has long been famous for glass production. By 1597 glass blowers from Swabia who settled there were making drinking glasses and bulls eye panes. Legend has it that around 1860 a glass blower, too poor to afford real apples and nuts to decorate his Christmas tree, made painted glass replicas. While we can never know if poverty was the motivating factor, surely the invention of the glass mold was the enabling factor, and from 1860 onwards glass ornaments became increasingly popular. In the years that followed, toy wholesalers from Sonnenberg began exporting Lauschan ornaments all over the world. Around 1880, F. W. Woolworth, founder of the first chain of discount department stores, brought Lauchan ornaments to his store in Lancaster, Pennslyvania, and by 1900 Woolworth's business was such that he could order 200,000 ornaments for sale in America.

World War II and the split of Germany created difficult circumstances for the continuation of hand blown glass, where molds and methods were passed down from generation to generation. Some of the glass blowing families remained in Russian occupied East German Lauscha, while others moved to the American occupied region of Neustadt. East Germany's need for commerce dictated that hand blown glass ornaments made by artisans be replaced by mass produced glass ornaments made in state owned factories. By the time German unification arrived, times were hard in Lauscha, and the glass factory with its 1300 employees was languishing. In the early 1990's Krebs Glas, a leading West German manufacturing company, gained control of the business from the state. Krebs returned to the historic hand blown methods, opting for quality over quantity. That decision returned Lauscha to its rightful place as the "world's capital" of hand blown glass ornaments. Prosperity has returned, and most of the people in this small village make their living from the glass businesses.

I didn't know anything about Lauscha or the history of blown glass ornaments, so I found all this information fascinating. Also, I'm intrigued by the idea that someone in a landlocked, mountainous region thought it would be cool to hang a sea turtle on a Christmas tree.

I'm not sure how to confirm the age of my ornament. Given the history above, it's more likely that the ornament was made in the 1990's than in the late 40's or early 50's, so maybe it's not really an antique. However, googling around the internet has convinced me that my glittery, gold hand blown glass sea turtle is definitely unique. I found other turtle ornaments, but nothing quite like my little guy. I'm sure I'll look forward to his appearance on our tree for many years to come.

Photo by Michael B Hood, used with permission

Facts for this post were drawn from the following websites:

1. German Christmas Ornaments History by Chrysta Baker
2. The History of Krebs Glas Lauscha GmbH
3. For a Special Christmas, Glass Ornaments from Lauscha (great pictures)
4. German Christmas Ornaments
5. The History of Glass Christmas Ornaments from Lauscha
6. How a Christmas Ornament is Created!
7. Lauscha Glas Creation (ornaments for sale)

© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

2008, in summary...

Photo by Michael Hood, used with permission

Happy New Year! I've chosen to start 2009 with a few reflections on my third year of blogging.

The Truffles category – representing my vegetarian aspirations -- did not have a single post this year. I am, however, still a vegetarian. Participating in Farm Sanctuary and Humane Society of the United States email campaigns for better treatment of farm animals, I've learned much about how meat and poultry are raised and slaughtered. At home I'm using more cruelty-free products (products not tested on animals). I plan to have more Truffles posts in 2009 because vegetarianism and treatment of farm animals has become a more focused interest in my life.

The Turtles category – representing my interest in animals, particularly turtles – saw 4 posts in 2008. I was very pleased and gratified to be mentioned in one of the newsletters that Anita Salzberg (The Turtle Wife) distributes. There will be more Turtles posts in 2009, guaranteed, because I want to move my turtles to a larger tank and set up a small tank for growing aquatic plants as food for them. Expect pictures as well!

The Tunes category – representing my interest in music – grew by a whopping 14 posts. Yes, I had a good year, musically. The decisions that accompanied the order of my new flute accounted for many posts. Whenever I could find time, I continued taking flute lessons with Mike Rafferty and on September 30 posted a tribute to him. I was very pleased that Brad Hurley included a link to that post on his site, Guide to the Irish Flute. And remember last year's goal of attending more sessions around NYC? Well, I now attend a session nearly every week. As for performances, in 2008 I performed with 3 different Irish groups, but the vast majority of the performances were with the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, sponsored by Mick Moloney and New York University. This group has become the mainstay of my music life. Musical standards are pretty high, and as performances increase I find myself spending more time on the music at home in addition to the weekly group rehearsal. Next year holds the promise of more and better performances and the arrival of my new flute, so look for many Tunes posts in 2009.

Altogether I wrote 25 posts in 2008. 18 were classified as either Truffles, Turtles, or Tunes. The annual New Years post added one more, so that's 19. I wrote a Copyright post after doing some reading on copyright ethics as they apply to blogging. Now we're up to 20. The other 5 posts were in the new Technology category. 2008 saw a technological revolution in our household. I converted to Mac, purchasing a MacBook for my husband and an iMac for myself. I also switched our DSL carrier and installed an Apple Time Capsule which does automatic backups while serving as a Wi-Fi base station for our wireless home network. I hope to extend my Mac expertise in 2009, so I'm sure there will be more Technology posts.

So what categories were not present in the posts of 2008? Books, Travel, and MMF. I'm embarrassed to say I started about 6 books and haven't finished any of them. I did some US travel which I intended to write about and may still. I performed less music in worship services at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship, but I was very involved in Menno House activities. As a matter of fact, I have a Menno House post under construction right now.

When I expressed frustration over fewer posts this year, a friend responded by saying that I spent so much time living that there wasn't much time left to write about it. While I think there's some truth to that, I'd like to strike a better balance in 2009.

Overall, nobody is sure what to expect in 2009. We hope we won't lose our jobs. We hope President-elect Obama will make a difference here and in US relations abroad. On a less political note, may we all stay healthy, find avenues of growth and enjoyment, and discover ways to work towards a better world.

© 2009, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

Flute Choice Refined

As you may recall from my May 9 post, I ordered a keyless boxwood flute from Seattle flutemaker Peter Noy. At the time I placed the order, I told Peter I would confirm later whether or not I wanted an E-flat key as well as my preference regarding finger hole size. Recently, I had started to feel like my final decisions were a bit overdue.

I sought advice from Ben Power, an Irish musician I met in NYC who now resides in San Diego, California. Ben pointed out that each maker has his own design, and what one describes "large" or even "huge" finger holes might not be so big, comparatively speaking. Ben asked if there were any way I could play some of Peter's flutes. Since I don't actually know anyone who has a Peter Noy flute, I spoke to Peter about my dilemma. He agreed to send a couple flutes with the two finger hole sizes we talked about on the phone. Perfect!

On November 18th I received a head joint, a foot joint, and two middle joints. By swapping the middle joints I was able to experience both the small and the large holed models. The smaller finger holes were very comfortable, but it seemed to me that the flute's sound was freer and fuller when assembled with the large holed middle joint. Most importantly, I was pleased to realize that my hands are not too small for Peter's large holed design, so that's what I'll be getting.

The flute pictured below is Peter's large holed model, made of grenadilla wood with silver rings and a mother of pearl blow edge on the embouchure. That's an E-flat key on the foot joint, and it works the same as on a silver concert flute.


The discussion about finger holes brought up the question of keys. I was surprised to learn that ordering keys doesn't add much time to the waiting period. After talking to some flute players in the October 12th Mercy Center Benefit concert (Ivan Goff and Shannon Heaton), as well as to Ben Power and Linda Hickman, I decided to go for it! I'll be getting six keys: G-sharp, F-natural, E-flat, B-flat, and two C-natural keys.

My worst fear was that having Peter's flutes on loan and playing them for nearly two weeks might bring on a bout of second guessing about my choice of flute maker. After all, Peter Noy is relatively unknown here in NYC. Most of the serious players here either own a flute made by Patrick Olwell or else they're on his waiting list. However, I took the large holed flute to a few sessions, and everyone who played it said really good things about it. I was certainly happy with it. Trading flutes with people in sessions bolstered my confidence as well. I'm satisfied now that the Peter Noy flute I've ordered will be worth the wait.

© 2008, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

New Aquatic Turtle Species Found in Scotland

With apologies for my long silence on this blog, I'm back with news of the discovery of a new species of aquatic turtle! Called Eileanchelys waldmaniare, this new species dates back 164 million years to the Middle Jurassic period. Turtle remains found on the Scottish Isle of Skye provided the basis for this discovery. After months of painstaking work extracting turtle skeletons from the rock in which they were embedded, four of the skeletons emerged nearly intact and represent the best specimens to date from this period.

Actually, in the past two years scientists uncovered two other new species from the mid-Jurassic era. Those came from Russia and Argentina. Previously, scientists hadn't known that aquatic turtles existed before the Late Jurassic period. Now they're able to date more accurately the period during which land turtles dating to 210 million years ago (in the Triassic era) evolved into water turtles. Differences in the turtles' skulls provides crucial information which distinguishes the two types. Since these turtles found in Scotland were in such remarkably good shape, they confirmed theories offered when the turtles in Russia and Argentina were discovered.

Scientists believe that the turtles found in Scotland lived in shallow bodies of fresh water. They base this theory on the geological qualities of the rock in which the fossils were found (shale and limestone containing layers of mud) and the fossils of sharks and salamanders found with the turtles.

Appropriately, the name Eileanchelys waldmaniare incorporates the Gaelic word "eilean" meaning "island." Translated, Eileanchelys waldmaniare means "the turtle from the island."

As keeper of two aquatic turtles, I'm thrilled to learn more about their ancestry. And as a fan of traditional Irish and Scottish music, I absolutely LOVE the fact that the new species has a Gaelic word rolled into its name!

This post highlights information from the sources listed below. Please click on the first two, as they contain some rather amazing copyrighted pictures which I know you'll enjoy.

(1) "Ancient Turtle Discovered on Skye," BBC News website, 19 Nov 2008, as viewed online on 21 Nov 2008.
(2) "Earliest Aquatic Turtles Found in Scotland," Natural History Museum (Tring, England) website, 19 Nov 2008, as viewed online on 21 Nov 2008.
(3) "A New Stem Turtle From The Middle Jurassic Of Scotland: New Insights On The Evolution And Palaeoecology Of Basal Turtles," PubMed, National Center for BioTechnology Information website, 18 Nov 2008, as viewed online on 23 Nov 2008.
(4) "A new, nearly complete stem turtle from the Jurassic of South America with implications for turtle evolution," PubMed, National Center for BioTechnology Information website, 23 Jun 2008, as viewed online on 23 Nov 2008.


(Scientists involved in the discovery of the Scotland turtles were associated with University College London (UCL) and the Natural History Museum in Tring (about 35 miles northwest of London). Their report has been published in the journal entitled "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences." The Scotland turtle fossils are housed at the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh. The project was funded by the National Geographic Society.)

© 2008, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement