Tipper, Chitter, Chatter, and Paul – January 2020
As you might have guessed the whole COVID-19 thing has decimated our calendar of performances. The year 2020 was looking to be our busiest year yet, until the virus hit.
The photos in this post are from a performance at Hiwassee Dam Community Center we did back in January.
The girls have performed twice online while social distancing.
The Folk School started sharing a virtual morning song once a week and the girls were their first performers.
Last weekend they did an online concert for The Strand Theater in Waynesville, NC. We were excited about playing at the venue for the first time, but at least with today’s technology the girls were still able to perform albeit from a distance.
We’ve missed traveling around together, but mostly we’ve missed the camaraderie we feel with the audiences. There’s always a big dose of laughter, stories, and conversation to go along with the music we make.
Tipper
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Sorry you have had to miss several performances but glad a couple have been seen online. The pictures are much appreciated! Even tho I live states away I feel like I am acquainted – your posts bring a warm feeling!
Like some of your other readers I could be a hermit…IF I had phone & iPad & TV & mail. It would be nice to give & receive hugs. I ‘feel’ smiles & love over the phone.
We are so much more blest that our pioneer ancestors who left home & family for an unknown territory. Just imagine spending a winter snowed in a sod hut…
Agree with Glenda B.: Hope we’ll come out of this a kinder, gentler people!
Tipper,
I went to Ingles and to the Dollar Store today. I wore my Mask, so I wouldn’t look Stupid. I saw a lot of people with them on, but we ain’t got much problem here. I talked to My oldest daughter at Chapel Hill and she said there were about 700 in her county and the one next to it that had Covid-19. I said “they must get out more than we do or something.”
I stopped at the Drivers License Office and he wasn’t there. A sheriff car pulled in behind me and asked if he could help me. I told him that my Drivers’ License was about to Expire. His badge had Hodge on it and he said “we ain’t giving no tickets, just stop by here in a few days and you’ll have to make an appointment.” I thanked him and went on my way.* …Ken
You know this Covid-19 stuff hasn’t had much of an effect on me personally. Yet! I have pretty much been doing the sanitizing and social distancing stuff for several years. I don’t attend any events. I don’t go to bars and restaurants. I guess having health issues has advantages in that one doesn’t expect a lot from life. I’ve learned to live with what I got and be happy with it. One thing that I have that gets every day started is a daily blog I read. It never fails to give me something to think about throughout the day. It provides new recipes and new ways to do things. It reminds me of things that have sunk below the surface of my memory. It reminds me that there are still some good people left in this world.
There are a few YouTube channel I subscribe to but yours is the only blog. I can only hope and pray that you can continue to comfort me with your words and pictures as long as I stay here!
Yea this has changed a lot of ways we think and travel, we’re fortunate enough that we live close enough to have groceries delivered thru instacart, we can order from krogers, or publix, or even Aldi’s if we like, and we live a good 10 miles away and it comes in handy not to be out in the crowds if you don’t have to.
How life can change so suddenly! I know you are missing your gigs and your audiences miss you. This goes doble for my sons (bassist and sound tech) and other folks I know. Hopefully, we are all stronger and better on the other side!
First of all I have to say that is a beautiful picture of “ya all.” It created a smile on my face as the screen opened up. This is a tough time for us all and in some areas it may be a new normal when we do get back to business. Adaptable is what we are and we will get through this as our parents and great-greats got through tough times. I am sheltering alone and while it is nice to be alone sometimes, it can be lonely when it is day after day. Missing my dear husband makes it worse but I thank the dear Lord every morning that I can get up, walk, talk and take care of myself. – what a blessing! I don’t really feel that old but I am in my late 70’s so I guess I am to be more careful when we are allowed to get back to business. I did work out at a gym but I think I will be doing that at home and I am ordering my groceries something I have never done before. I have been sewing a lot of masks as I belong to our church group Sewing Servants. Our team has sewn hundreds of masks and donated them to health groups, disaster relief, and hospice groups. Today I hope to finish 16 masks and mow two acres of grass and I am really so thankful I can do it, but I sure miss my neighbors coming in for a cup of coffee and a chat.
I think Ron stated it well that “virtual is no substitute for actual.” Case in point – our Pastor retired and preached his last sermon this past Sunday streaming it into our homes. It was wonderful that we could see him and hear the sermon each week in our homes but it was sad too because we couldn’t be there to give him and his wife hugs as they will be going back to their home in North Carolina. We sent in love and thank you cards that they made into a video for them and I know they appreciated that but it is just not the same when you can’t be there in the flesh. I do believe “This Too Shall Pass.”
Thanks for sharing the photos of your smiling faces. I know your family will get through this just fine, and when the time is right, the Pressley Girls will be back on the road bringing their own kind of healing and joy to their audiences. We have all had to learn new ways to do what we want and need to do. Being adaptable is important right now and accepting what we cannot control. I feel so blessed that I live where I do and that I am self sufficient enough to get by for now. With my brother hospitalized miles from his home and no family can even visit him, I worry about him and would give anything to be with him and be his advocate as I know he needs one at this time. Yes, I thank God every single day that I am OK and feel that we will get through this if we are all careful and practice social distancing or self-quarantine. I also thank my friends and neighbors for their kindnesses to me. Maybe we will all come through this a kinder and gentler country.
I hear the May concerts at the Old Courthouse in Blairsville have been cancelled. I am scheduled for July 3rd. We’ll see what happens I guess. My friends who are still performing for their supper are hurting…
I thank God every day that I live where I do. I can go outside and walk in nature. I now have the cleanest closets and drawers in Murphy. I am catching up on books I wanted to read and U-tube songs by the BP&A gang. Each day is what you make it. I dance around the dining room table alot and sing along with you and the gang. I hope no one can hear me.
This too will pass.
This week would have been busy with Derby festivities we looked forward to even if we didn’t attend them all. The Pegasus Parade, Thunder Over Louisville, The Derby Fashion Show and the Derby itself are all postponed until later this year. I’m glad they were not canceled, just postponed. We will surely need the economy boost come September.
It’s the high school seniors that have missed out on so much due to the virus. When the girls finally get back on that stage, the folks missing them will show up in droves!
I expect different people feel the distance differently. I could be a hermit without much trouble. But I know I am way out on the fringe compared to some I know. I guess we each and all need people around us to take us out of ourselves in some degree.
I think maybe your post illustrates that virtual is no substitute for actual. While the technology exists, just because we can doesn’t necessarily mean we should when we have a choice. I know we BP&A readers feel at least acquainted and I think, if met in person, most of us would become friends. I personally kinda get hung up a bit between “would be” and “are”. I can’t explain it well. I posted once before that I think there should be a new word for that relationship; better than acquaintance but not a close friend.
COVID-19 has sure put a cramp in a lot of things, but it will end and we will be back to life as usual, and I sure hope it will end sometime soon. I can’t go to the gym or buy groceries. I didn’t have much of a social life but now it’s a big fat zero. There, I’ve had my pity pot. Now I am on to looking for ways to fill my world. So, I walk a couple of miles and do some exercises at home. Spring is here and I can get out in the yard and work! Tipper, you are kind enough to let me order groceries with you, and you deliver them to my door…how cool is that!
We Appalachians are an adaptable people, we will get through this and when we do I hope we, I, will take a moment to be grateful for the wonderful lives we have even in the midst of COVID-19!