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African drums, a broken wrist, and watermelon rinds
Sunday, July 25 2004
Our social calendar today called for us to attend two events. The first of these was a ceremony at a Stone Ridge art center for our friend Kristen's new baby. Since this baby's father (Kristen's husband Mustafa) is an African drummer, the ceremony's principle characteristic was West African drumming. (Indeed, I've never been to a ritual involving these guys that didn't showcase relentless drumming as a primary feature.) The drummers mostly stayed together in the stage area at the head of the hall, beating their drums while the non-Africans sat around talking and eating a variety of African dishes (as well as a number of non-African dishes that had been brought as part of an overall pot-luck). Gretchen had slaved for hours in our kitchen making a number of tarts for this event as well as the one we went to later.
Since the Africans are all Muslims, there was no alcohol. This pleased Allah greatly.
[REDACTED]
The second event we attended was at the top of Eagle's Nest, at the residence belonging to our friends Mr. and Ms. Eagles Nest (not to be confused with Larry, the guy with the fucked-up house lower down on Eagles Nest). The Eagles Nests were having a party to wish their daughter well on her way to grad school in Denver. The Eagles Nests know lots of people, and this party had an impressive turnout. A good fraction of the people there were actually other people with houses along Eagle's Nest, some of whom expressed interest in my demonstrated skills as a handyman. But there were many others, including at least one other person who'd been at the earlier "Africans Relentlessly Drumming About A New Baby" ceremony in Stone Ridge.
Unlike past gatherings here, this one took place mostly outside, with people in several different areas, including an overlook with a spectacular view of the distant Mohonk tower, which from Hurley is backwards from the way it is in New Paltz.
The party was going well until some woman seated in a plastic Adirondack chair scooted back an inch or so and one of the chair's legs went off the edge of a low eight-inch-high platform she was on. The chair fell backwards, she reached out to break her fall and pltzzz! She broke her wrist. It was a huge deal at the time. Everyone suddenly became serious and all the dogs (yes, everybody with dogs had brought them) were ordered to be on leashes. Someone called the Hurley ambulance, whose distant siren started up immediately.
Not wanting to put Sally and Eleanor on leashes, I used some white meat (turkey or pork) to lure them down into the ravine behind the house. I found the hillside down there covered with watermelon rinds. These must have been tossed by the Eagles Nests, who eat enormous amounts of watermelon. I wondered if these rinds attracted many bears.
I found a delicious article today about Disney's
failed attempt to make a movie that provides an upbeat counterpoint to Fahrenheit 9/11. What's next, a widespread insurrection against the Family Circus?
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?040725 feedback
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