Travelers Rest Resort
Dade
City, Florida
Thursday,
February 18, 2016
70s,
sunny
Last
night TK and I went to the TRR Link Union Concert at Busch Hall,
thanks to Gene and Jeri’s generosity (they could not use their tickets). We saw
this group at TRR before—a professional musical family from the Ozarks who make
their home in TRR while they tour Florida in the winter. The mom taught all
five children how to play the piano. Once they heard bluegrass, the four
brothers and sister all learned how to play at least 18 more musical
instruments, including the mandolin, the cello, and the fiddle. They moved on
to gospel, folk, old time, Celtic, and rock and roll. Their mother took them to
sing in restaurants and nursing homes for practice. I believe the singers range
in age from about 17 to 28 years old and have been performing professionally
for about 13 years. Now the wife of one
of the brothers sings with the group too. The dad drives their big tour bus. http://linkunion.org/
Link Union Poster
One
of their first songs that I loved was an instrumental that reflected their
genetic/musical origin— from English, Irish, Scottish, German, Prussian and
their ancestors’ journey to America on to the Ozarks of Missouri. The family seems to have so much fun
entertaining as they draw on their musical heritage. The family writes a lot of
its own music/songs.
When
they did “Dueling Banjos,” they truly dueled it out with a cello, violin, banjo, an
electric guitar, a 6 string guitar. “Amazing Grace” was an amazing instrumental
with a violin and a penny whistle. “Losin’
Some Snoozin’ Over You” was a snappy tune about one brother’s baby who keeps
him up all night. Sister Rachel wrote “Not the Girl” about emotional abuse she
experienced with her former husband. “Little Stream” was a ballad about a
stream they played in on the farm in Missouri where they were raised. Their
finale was “When the Devil Came Down to Georgia,” which really drew a standing
ovation. For the encore they played their version of Elvis Presley’s American
Trilogy, with “Dixie,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “Hush Little Baby.”
Rachel
complimented TRR’s garden and mentioned how they used it often for quietude and
writing. I certainly agree!
At Bette S. Walker Discovery Garden
A portion of the many gardens
We
saw ginger, variegated jasmine used as ground cover, False Japonica, Cape honeysuckle, the
European fan palm, tiger grass (not really a bamboo), Sumatra red cherries (I
tasted the edible sweet pumpkin-shaped cherry), and now my little note paper
just blew away in the wind and that is end of that.
"Huge" Bromeliad
In the center is a banana tree flower bud
My notes flew away, but this is a beautiful flower anyway!
I think it is a variety of ginger
Sumatra Cherry
Foxtail Fern in foreground
After
the great garden tour we all went to nearby Plummer Family Restaurant. Even
though there were 21 of us, we had the best service and the best food! Grilled ham
and cheese, fries, pork chops, perch, Reuben sandwich, and best lemon meringue pie.
We
ended the day with family and new friends at the Cabana Street “Happy Hour.”
Probably 40 people contributed vegetables and other foods for a sort of “stone
soup,” the traditional fare each Thursday at 4 p.m. when the TRR cabana people
get together for about an hour. Of course there were desserts and other
accompaniments.
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