Hi Folks and Happy New Year! Everyone always says that it's hard to believe that ten years have passed from the Y2K Millenium mark, and you know, it is hard to believe! It was a decade of lots of firsts and I won't go into them here because lots of writers have spent the Christmas holidays writing about them and summing everything up. For me, gosh, it's hard to remember everything that happened, but there were many big things this last decade. And now that I look back over it all I see how much was accomplished and I think a big "wow."
In 2000 I became a recording artist with The Eight Hand String Band on their release "Simple Truth" in January of that year. It was great and life-changing for me and made me want to do more recording. In 2001 Steve and I were married and our dog Megs came into our lives as a gift from good friends the Wright family (for Steve's birthday in April of that year). We did a bit of traveling during the decade, first to the Virgin Islands, to St. John's for our honeymoon, and really fell in love with our cottage "Aerie" built on the side of a hill facing the Coral Bay, up in the trees, designed and built by a local artist. My solo albums were made this decade: "Home On the Hill" was released in 2002 and I was lucky to start my friendship with Jean Ritchie (photo above from the Solstice Festival here in June of 2002). We lost our precious Lily right at the same time the album was released. That same year Steve and I started working with Rob Carlson and we formed the Hilonesome Band to showcase Rob's original songwriting. We spent 2003 woodshedding his songs and playing out, and 2004 working on the new album which would become "Blue Eyed Darlin'" released in early 2005. Also in 2005 the Eight Hand Band recorded and released their soundtrack album in conjunction with our work for the new Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois, called "Listen to the Mockingbird: Songs from the Civil War Era." "Blue Eyed Darlin'" was released in May of that year, and Steve and I also embarked on our further adventures with Jean Ritchie with our retrospective tribute show on Jean's life and work "Singin' The Moon Up: The Voice of Jean Ritchie" which we debuted at Penn State University in September of 2005. In 2006 I visited London and the Grand Canyon for the first time, in 2007 I started working on the album "Green Kentucky Blues" with Laurie Lewis, and released it in the spring of 2008. I also lost our precious Sassy that year, right before her 15th birthday (photo above). In 2009 we headlined again at the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest, opened for Billy Bragg, traveled to Australia, and had our first band road trip in September, traveling to the Napa Valley and Bay area for shows. Zowie!
And now we're here at the 10 year mark in the new century. My world is full of blessings, especially the friendships Steve and I have, our good health, our home, communities, our love for each other and good luck on many counts. I hope for you that God's blessings come to you and your families, and that good music is always a part of it. I'm privileged and honored to sing for you as the years go by and I hope you will keep listening. I can think of no higher calling.
I end with my recipe for New Year's Luck Greens. May they bring you good health, good luck and especially, good eats!!
For Collards, Curly Kale, Mustard or Turnip Greens:
Fill a large stockpot with water and heat to boiling. Fill a large sink full of cold water and stem the greens by holding each green by the stem over the water and with a sharp knife (I like to use a boning knife), slicing down the stem (machete style) so the leaves fall into the water. Discard the stem (or give to the hogs) and repeat with each stem of your greens. When the sink is full of greens, stir them through the water to wash the leaves. Put the greens into the boiling water pot and cover and boil for 6 minutes. When done, drain the greens, fill the pot back up with cold water and plunge the greens into the cold water to stop the cooking process. When cooled, pull the greens up by the handfuls and squeeze all the water from them and place on a cutting board. Spread them out and coarsely chop. In a sauté pan put 2 tablespoons of olive oil, chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. Heat on medium and when the garlic is sizzling, add the greens. Turn them in the oil and when coated with oil, cover them 3/4 of the way with chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes and serve. You can also add raw rice (it will cook in the broth), meat of any kind (ham works well) and beans of any kind (I used black eyed peas for New Years Good Luck!).
Fill a large stockpot with water and heat to boiling. Fill a large sink full of cold water and stem the greens by holding each green by the stem over the water and with a sharp knife (I like to use a boning knife), slicing down the stem (machete style) so the leaves fall into the water. Discard the stem (or give to the hogs) and repeat with each stem of your greens. When the sink is full of greens, stir them through the water to wash the leaves. Put the greens into the boiling water pot and cover and boil for 6 minutes. When done, drain the greens, fill the pot back up with cold water and plunge the greens into the cold water to stop the cooking process. When cooled, pull the greens up by the handfuls and squeeze all the water from them and place on a cutting board. Spread them out and coarsely chop. In a sauté pan put 2 tablespoons of olive oil, chopped garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. Heat on medium and when the garlic is sizzling, add the greens. Turn them in the oil and when coated with oil, cover them 3/4 of the way with chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes and serve. You can also add raw rice (it will cook in the broth), meat of any kind (ham works well) and beans of any kind (I used black eyed peas for New Years Good Luck!).
With love and blessings and hopes for prosperity and health for the New Year!
Susie
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