Request for prayer...and a Harp.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    I know this isn't about organs...but does anyone know where I might find a 40 string L&H Prelude for three thousand or less? Or totally in the realm of fantasy... a decent pedal harp for that budget?

    Related to that question...if you think of it and are so inclined...could you all keep me in your prayers?

    For better time management specifically? School has started and I'm trying to make sure nothing slips through the cracks, whether that be at home (we need to get the cow bred, fix the pasture fence and I'm still homeschooling six of the children), at church (I'm the interim music director at the moment), or at school (classes include geology, composition, computer-specifically how to use Adobe In-design so I can publish worship aids, harp, organ and piano). I feel like I'm juggling chainsaws and feathers...and the chainsaws are ON!

    On the other hand, thanks to everyone on this forum who has been supportive and encouraging about me going back to school at my age. I truly feel that I have a vocation to sacred music and without this forum and the people here, I might not have ever discovered that.

    Higher up and further in...
    Thanked by 2expeditus1 CHGiffen
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    God bless and prayers here for you, Wendi! Wow! I thought homeschooling in the suburbs was tough; I can't imagine dealing with livestock as well. What animals do you have? Do you farm as well? I only have my 12 y/o to teach at home now; the other three are at college and my two teens take classes at community college; I have to do a lot of chauffeuring from one school to the other since they're all local, but it's better to be busy than twiddling one's thumbs I suppose.

    Best of luck with your classes, too, and watch out for those chainsaws.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    Prayers and best wishes, since it sounds like you have your hands full. I am not ready (never will be) to homeschool or deal with animals. After years of teaching, I had enough of the kids/animals. LOL. Hopefully, the harp comes some time from now, if I don't go to the other place and get an accordion.
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    And for those who weren't reading the funnies back in the '80s:

    image
    Thanked by 4expeditus1 Ben CHGiffen Cailín Ceol Naofa
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    I have a huge book with the Larson cartoons. They were great! I especially like the one about the ornithologists mating dance in a bar.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    Oh that cartoon is awesome...and I think I vaguely remember it.

    Julie, we have a dairy cow, a breeding sow, a dozen ducks, 4 chickens and 3 cats in the menagerie at present. Come spring we'll have piglets, meat chickens, turkeys and a calf that we will raise for beef. We don't farm per se, we just raise most of our own food. It's cheaper and I don't have to worry so much about food allergies or asthma (everyone except my husband has one or both of those issues).
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    I request some lamb, please.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,325
    Wendi, we just had our first baby on Monday, so I've got a lot in my plate, but get in touch with me privately about where to get a harp. My wife is a harpist and we have concert grand Venus at home, in addition to a LH Prelude like you described. Your reward will be great in heaven :)
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Wendi dearest, don't tell me you wake up in the middle of the night hearing the "dreadful screaming of the lambs?" (My best Anthony Hopkins' imitation.)
    Prayers from CA with all the hubbub, going thru a bit of it now meself.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    Yeah, Charles. We are hearing about earthquakes and fires from CA. Hope you are not in the midst of it.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    We, CDub, in the Central Valley have the MOST dangerous air content in the whole USofA, bar none.
    Earthquakes are pro forma, tho' not to be taken lightly, not common to our region. But God help everyone from Eureka down to SF/San Jose/LA/SD on the San Andreas and Hayward faults when the BIG ONE rumbles through.
    And the fires in the South are always devastating, and SF area is having some.
    We're in the midst of the worst drought in four decades.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    Prayers for all of you in that area.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    No Dearest, I don't...We don't have sheep. The Ducks on the other hand make quite a racket when they are displeased.

    Irishtenor...I remember the new baby stage. Eventually the baby will sleep through the night...or at least you'll be so tired that you will. :) My Beloved and I always take turns so we get a full night's sleep at least every other night. Our current youngest is four, so at least I don't have the whole sleep deprivation thing to add into the mix. For which I'm mostly grateful. (Yes...call me odd, we'd like more children.)
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Wendi, sounds like you're living "the abundant life" and I admire you raising most of your own food. That's a real challenge for us suburbanites. We get grass-fed beef from Massachusetts and our eggs, poultry, pork and dairy from upstate NY. It requires a bit of doing, but we've been finding and using alternative food sources for years. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that in the most important areas of life (education, food, and even the liturgy) it if it's cheap or convenient or easy to access in any way, it's probably not that good.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    It's not nearly as bucolic as it sounds. Quite frankly it's a lot of bloody hard work, and in February I look at my very suburban sister with a great deal of envy. Especially when I'm tired, I wish I had the money to pay someone else to go out to the barn at 6:00 in the morning to milk the cow.

    Most of the time however, I'm glad we fled to the country. My children don't have obesity issues although they all have extremely hearty appetites. (It quite shocks people sometimes to see the amount of food they can consume in one sitting.)
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    My sympathies on the critter front! We have 5 goats, ca. 50 chickens in 2 coops, and rabbits. My wife does the chores on weekdays, but when she was in the hospital, I was visiting her, commuting home (1.5 hrs), doing the chores, falling into bed, rinse, lather, repeat. And there's the garden in summer. I'm sure you'll find a system that works for you,
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    Other than my one acre to mow, and my small vegetable garden to tend, I have no outside chores. Being vegetarian, I am not into the animal thing. Supposedly, vegetarians live longer and some research seems to indicate as much. Just think of how many more people you can annoy and torment with the extra time. ;-) LOL
    Thanked by 2JulieColl Wendi
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    What is your field of study, Wendi?

    I can't offer you a harp.....:)

    .....but I can offer a prayer up for you.
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    JulieColl,

    While I am not into farming, I am interested in getting a beehive and raising bees so that I can get honey. I hear that this food can last for a long time.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    I am enclosing a link to some pictures taken by a Russian mother of her farm, children and animals. The photography is unbelievable. Enjoy!

    http://www.boredpanda.com/animal-children-photography-elena-shumilova/
    Thanked by 3JulieColl expeditus1 Cailín Ceol Naofa
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Thanks for that link, Charles! I'm keeping that for future reference. Just enchanting. The simplest things are the best things.

    Paul, I'm very fascinated by beekeeping as well. It doesn't look that difficult and apparently greatly enhances your vegetable and flower gardening.

    At my son's college (Farmingdale State) they have the most amazing self-sustaining vegetable garden into which they've incorporated composting, and companion planting with flowers and vegetables, augmented by bees. At the height of summer when we visited, you wouldn't believe how alive the atmosphere and the air itself felt. Everything was flourishing, and the heirloom tomatoes were enormous. We had a shortage of tomatoes on Long Island last summer since the commercial crops were struck by some kind of blight, but the tomatoes (and everything else) in that garden were epic.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    My official major is music education. Unofficially I'm studying whatever will better help me serve the church...with the exception of harp. I'm studying harp because I'm in love with the instrument. If I had to stop playing organ and piano I could do so with no regret. I could live with it if I lost my voice. If I had to give up harp however...I would never recover.

    No bees. I'm allergic. I know a beekeeper though and he keeps me in local honey.

    Julie, we don't have a lot problems with blight, but I only use heirloom seeds and I don't use synthetic fertilizer or chemical pesticides. We handpick a lot (especially potato bugs) companion plant and once in awhile if we get a particularly bad infestation I resort to things like bug juice and soapy water...beer traps for the slugs, etc...I compost that animal waste and put that into the garden too, and we rotate what we plant where. I also give the garden a sabbath every seven years.

    Charles, I tried being a vegetarian...couldn't do it. I like bacon too much. :) My daughter-by-marriage is a vegetarian, she's a sweetheart.



  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    Mine started as a way to avoid cholesterol lowering drugs. I have this philosophy about drugs - don't take them! Over time, I lost any desire or taste for meats. Add that to seasonal Byzantine fasts, and it hasn't been a problem. There are some vegetarian bacons on the market but I don't know how good they are. Now desserts are another matter altogether. I am a follower of the Dessert Fathers. ;-)
    Thanked by 2JulieColl expeditus1
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    My brother-in-law keeps the strict Orthodox Lenten fasts and uses meat the rest of the year very sparingly, and still he manages to eat like a king. If I could cook like he does, I'd happily be a vegetarian, too, but I don't think my family would like it too much. : )
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    "Dessert Fathers". :)

    I am a huge follower of the "Dessert Fathers" as well. :)
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    For me, instead of the harp, the instrument I plan on studying for the love it would be the double bass or the cello, I haven't decided which.

    The cello has an attractive sound, and on a practical note, can fit more easily in my car (I have a Dodge Dart), and I can also lug it up the stairs to my apartment (loft style).

    The double bass also has an attractive, rich sound, and can also be used in a multiple of ensembles including both the orchestra as well as the concert band, the latter I understand can use a bass to fill in a luscious woodwind segment?

    The viola comes in next in second, after a tie on bass and cello.

    I do not like the solo sound of a violin (think "Sanctus" from Faure's Requiem--I do not see how that solo adds any redeeming features to the movement).

    Pardon the derail of this thread--the OP wanted a harp?
  • Cailín Ceol Naofa
    Posts: 38
    Sorry Wendi but no harp to give but my heart in prayer. You really have a full plate and must be incredibly organized to keep it all straight. You are so right about this site being an incredible blessing and fount of knowledge.
  • Mysticalharp
    Posts: 3
    I know this is an old post, but wanted to comment! Have you seen Lyon & Healy's certified pre-owned page?
    http://www.lyonhealycpo.com/categories/All-Harps/
    Also, you can occasionally find something on eBay, but I wouldn't recommend buying a harp off of there without first trying it in person.
    I have a 40 string Lyon & Healy pedal harp I bought used for $7,00 which I thought was a great deal. I saw several preludes listed on the Lyon & Healy CPO site. Anyways - just stopping by to offer some fellow harpist advice! Hope you found a harp!
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