Thanks to our West Coast correspondent Emily Gatch we have the following byline from Autrans, France. (If the following link doesn’t appear refresh your page please…)
Does this seem far fetched? Not at all. Consider the following post from the Punjapit blog May 2010:
“While it seems incredible to play music to cows, breeder Guo Zhixin actually hires a musician to play music to his dairy cows for one hour every morning, saying beautiful meledies can make his cows produce more milk.”
“Guo, who raises 860 cows on his farm in a village near city Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province, says playing music to cows brings forth one more kilo of milk from every cow, every day, resulting in 700 yuan’s more worth of milk every year, reported chinanews.com on Monday.”
“Guo began offering music sessions for his cows last March, when he learned the idea from a foreign cow magazine.”
We also know that one version of the lyrics of Bessie Smith’s tune Hot time in the Old Town Tonight resulted from Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s cow kicking over a lantern in her barn resulting in the great Chicago Fire of 1871 (see Wikipedia here). Another Smith, Sarah, of Wilmette Il sings a particularly hot version of this tune…
Hat tip to Emily for her agro-musicological update!
The Kalishes have provided the lion’s share of today’s catch-up. Late last summer Eleanor and Ralph hosted a pool-side reception for Molly, Gareth and Alicia Wynn Owen, who traveled from Yerevan (capital and largest city of Armenia) to introduce Alicia to her St Louis cousins. Here are a few snapshots of this visit, including a couple taken at a Card’s game. Who would of thought then that the Cards would do what they did? The Wynn Owens clearly brought some good luck. Go Cards!
Alicia and Aunt Jennie Quick
John, Ralph and Gareth
Molly and Zel at Redbird Game
Alicia and Madeline
Anne and Madeline, Sarah and Alicia
Grandpa Bill with Alicia
Cousin Powell with Molly
Molly and Alicia
Molly, Gareth, and Alicia
Poolside
St Chamberlain of AugustaSt Gregory the IlluminatorPatron Saint of Armenia
Here is a 4th of July (morphed to Columbus Day) Kalish family newsletter. Special thanks and best to Manning Kalish who is serving in the US Army in Afghanistan. We’re proud of you and Cal Boy Gatch, who is also serving in the US Marine Corps.
Before Will and Christina’s afternoon wedding this August, several of us were able to make a quick visit to the beautiful Princeton Museum of Art. Featured prominently in the lobby was the Sue Williams piece shown below. Somehow this painting, titled Day Glow Special, captured perfectly not only the spirit of Williams’ painting but also the very special ceremony and celebration that was to follow.
As promised, here is a collection of wedding photos taken by Liza Halcomb
The attendees wish to thank the Parajons and the Skinners for hosting this terrific celebration and the clan at large wishes the very best to Will and Christina.
Weddings, Engagements, Hurricanes, and Earthquakes… a veritable whirlwind of family happenings to report. For now, we’ll file a brief update with more detail to follow once this observer has recuperated fully from the end-of-summer festivities.
Last weekend, Will and Christina Skinner were married in an extraordinarily beautiful and fun weekend-long celebration in Princeton NJ. There was a large family turn-out for the event which took place at the beautiful Princeton University chapel. Select photos (thanks to Liza Halcomb) are shown below with many more to follow. Will and Christina are honeymooning in Hawaii at this writing. All our best wishes to the newlyweds!
Christina and Will, Wife and Man
The (newly configured!) Skinner Family
The magic of the moment proved contagious with Will’s sibling Suzanne succumbing to the entreaties of suitor Stephen Forster, a wonderfully resilient young man who withstood intact the rigors of a full Category 5 family gathering. Stephen and Suzanne hereby announce their engagement!. The usual suspects, final picture below, eagerly await a repeat of last weekend’s spectacular. A warm welcome as well as congratulations to Stephen and all of our very best wishes to Suzanne.
On Deck, Stephen and Suzanne (center in melee)
Usual Suspects Locked Down during Skinner Wedding
Final (for now) alert. Molly and Gareth Wynn Owen and new clanswoman Alicia will visit the family headwaters in early September, when Aunt Eleanor and Uncle Ralph are hosting a party in St Louis for the Armenian trio. We hope to post photos of that visit for the family at large.
Fanfare!!! Birthday Greetings to Sophie (Florence T Gonzales) Skinner. Note: Not all clanfolk have birthday acknowledgements – only Goddaughters!
The extended Chambers’ family sends Kim and David Pentland our sympathy on the loss of Kim’s mom Mildred who died on July 27th. Kim and David cared for Mildred at their home during the past several months, providing for her during her difficult final illness the same kindness that Kim provided her for many years owing to Mildred’s chronic disabilities. We admire you both Kim and David, and our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Both the Alicia Withers’ Memorial and the annual Skinner migration to Missouri coincided this Memorial Day Weekend, bringing together an especially large contingent of clansmen. Thanks to Bill (Doc) Cromie we have great still and video coverage of the weekend that we post here. Highlights of the weekend included Aunt Sarah Fehlig’s Sunday luncheon at Moone Athy on the 29th of May, as well as the Jack Cromie trail walk. The family visited Jack’s memorial site where a bench in memory of Rebecca Hollo has been placed across from Jack’s Spinning Cycles triolet.
Rebecca Hollo’s Bench
Jack Cromie’s Triolet
Video highlights and a photo ‘wall’ from the weekend follow. If video and photo wall do not appear, refresh this page on your browser
No. 177
