quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:

Do you have a smartphone of any kind? I used to keep pdf's in my old smartphone.

Ooo thanks! I somehow I hadn't thought of that! Just put the "Quincy" on my phone so maybe now when I drag it around, I can actually get it finished!

Back to regularly scheduled programing..

Do you speak any other languages?

Have you always lived in PDX?

quote:

Originally posted by BeeLady:
Back to regularly scheduled programing..

Do you speak any other languages?

Have you always lived in PDX?

I speak rudimentary schoolgirl French, but it was enough to get us around Paris several years ago. I loved that moment when I realized that my brain had switched over to French as "normal" and was translating on the fly.

I know a smattering of Cantonese, mostly things that adults would say when they didn't want the kids to know what they were saying about us. When I try to think in Cantonese, my mind fills in French for the words I don't know. Foreign is foreign!

I've lived in PDX for most of my life. Eugene for college, five summers in Alaska for cannery work during college, and nine years in New York while Mr. AM worked for the NY Mets.

Cannery work sounds like it could be pretty grueling. Was it a fish cannery? What were your duties there?

Please relate a little more about your family. I think I recall a trip to Asia a few years ago and a marvelous picture of you, your sisters and your mother together, but I lose track after awhile.

Tell us how you feel about NY, having lived there. I've only been a visitor and I'm not terribly enamoured of the city.

Are any of the original compositions for church published or otherwise available for others to use?

Big Al

Hi, Big Al:

Yes, it was a salmon cannery. I worked in the egg house, processing salmon roe to ship to Japan. Long hours, (40 to 80/week, depending on if there was fish coming in), boring, but we had ways of amusing ourselves!

The salmon roe was brined, and then sorted on conveyor belts in grades 1 (best) through 4 (passable). I sorted 3's and packed 4's. I'll post up a few pix. We were on the southern end of Kodiak Island; it was very pretty. There was nothing else at our site, just the cannery and the bunkhouses where we lived. A small store run by the company, for us and the fishermen.

I live with Mr. AM and theTeen, who's a senior in high school. Older son (CollegeGrad) has moved out of our basement (he stayed for the summer after graduating) and lives nearby. You have a good memory! We went to Vietnam and Tokyo last summer (2009) and would love to go back. It was a quick trip and deserves more time.

I'm second of 4 kids, one older brother and two younger sisters. Yes, there was a picture of us on a cable car in SF. (girls weekend)

New York: I love it, to visit. We were younger and poorer when we lived there! Both kids were born there. We lived in Little Neck, Queens, as far out as you can go before it's considered Nassau County/Long Island.

As far as songs go, we're not published anywhere, but happy to share. I'll post links to some mp3's and you can let me know if you want lead sheets.

Thanks for asking!

Oh, I forgot to mention: At the cannery, there were Japanese workers in the egg house. They spoke a little English, and taught us some rudimentary Japanese. Very fun! Their company was part of the same company that makes Maruchan ramen.

Here's the cannery, approaching by seaplane. The furthest mountain to the right is Mt. Alitak, for which this cannery is named.



You can climb the mountain and look down at the cannery. Water comes from the reservoir/lake above the cannery.



Fish comes in by tenders, which are bigger boats that buy from the fishermen.


Here's the beginning of the sorting line for roe. This particular roe is from pink salmon (also called humpies, because they get a humped snout when they return to fresh water/rivers from the ocean).



Here's the egghouse crew. See the boxes behind us? Full of salmon roe! That's me in front in the red sweater. I believe I'm 16 years old.



Here are pounders (1 lb cans) all packed up and waiting for a cargo ship to come to take them "down below" to the lower 48. We packed for Bumblebee.



And here's the cannery at Moser Bay. Some of us spent a week there while waiting for a new bunkhouse to be finished at the beginning of the season(one had burned the year before. my first time on a bucket brigade) There were bears!



We went by fishing boat. Love this wheel!

fascinating A M! Wonderful pics.

Back to music. Here are a few songs that I collaborated on with my friend Kirk. He writes music; I write lyrics. These are all recorded in church with my Zoom H2.

Love Comes Down

Called

Sing to the Lord

PM me if you want pdfs.

I don't claim to be a great singer, but I really love singing with my friends.

Oh, one more: This is me and my friend Claudia singing an old-time bluegrass song. I'm singing the melody; she's singing the harmonies. She's fab.

Turn Your Radio On

What flavor of church do you attend? Does your whole family go?

How are the kids doing?

What is the one thing you've done in your life that you are most proud of?

How does one get a job in Alaska? And 5 summers? What did your parents think of it?

Thanks for sharing the music!

RF: We go to the United Methodist church that is a block and a half from my house. I work there, too. My kids used to go, but now only go when I ask them to, which is usually when I'm singing. Mr. AM is not a church-goer.

Kids are doing great. Younger is trying to decide where he's applying to college, and I guess he should hurry up! He's a senior. Elder is working half-time after graduating from college, and looking for more work.

I don't have one particular thing that I'm most proud of doing. Life is a journey, and I'm pleased to be enjoying it and doing things I love along the way. I'm generally willing to try new things, and usually like them and am happy to have done them. I will say that I'm glad I'm not the painfully shy child that I used to be!

BL: My uncle (Mom's brother) was (and I think still is) a foreman at the cannery. My brother and two sisters each went up and worked there to pay for college, and that worked out well. Uncle's kids did, too. My parents were happy that we could do this, since they didn't pay for college for us.

quote:

Originally posted by musicasacra:
Thanks for sharing the music!

You're welcome!

Very interesting so far, AM.

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

If you could have had any job/career you wanted, what would it have been?