Arnold & the Crucidoolers

July 7th got busy after church was out.  The bluegrass gang from Roslyn, SD was playing in Havana, ND - but that will be another post.  After that gig was finished, I drove home ( hour and a half trip ), swapped out the car for the van, picked up my lovely wife Penny, added my Guitar to the mix of instruments I was carrying and we were off to the next musical engagement.  A quick stop in Watertown for some chips and other provisions and we were soon headed south on I 29.

But we need some other passengers to complete the group so we stopped at Arnold and Helen Johnson's place to add them to the mix.  He's only 91 and she is 85, but both are fine musicians and more importantly - good people.  If Arnold is in the car, you will never lack for conversation.

We soon arrived at Jerry and Nancy Anderson's place and got everyone and everything unloaded safely.  Helen, Arnold and I started playing some music ASAP.  Jerry was grilling while Nancy and Penny were getting everything ready so we could eat and then go back to playing some more music.

It was the first time we had all gotten together since winter ended so we had a little rust to shake off.  Arnold was playing some beautiful old tunes that I had never heard.  Thankfully Helen was helping me with the keys and chords, so I survived the first session.

Jerry finished the grilling and we had a wonderful meal.

Then we played some more music - round 2.  Helen on guitar, Penny on piano, me on mandolin and Jerry and Arnold on fiddle.  Sounded pretty good except Arnold was just not satisfied with his playing.  He kept muttering something about "crucidoolers".  "Can't get those crucidoolers right"  Penny finally had to ask him what in the world a crucidooler was.  "O", Arnold said, "that's just a word I made up for the fancy ornamentation in these fiddle tunes." 

I love the sound of that word - crucidooler especially with Arnold's Norwegian accent.

We didn't get Arnold and Helen home until 10:45.  When I mentioned that they shouldn't be keeping me out so late, Helen's voice piped up quietly from the back seat, "You called us I believe."   What a great time.

Now, if you will excuse me I need to go learn "Mother's Waltz"