...going to the dogs, Renaissance style

as my regular readers are aware, I sing with a Renaissance group...
and recently purchased a bass recorder to play in the consort...
we have separate instrumental & vocal rehearsals...
since Bassodude doesn't play recorder...
& Rhythmgirl plays percussion & recorder...
but doesn't sing...

so last Saturday, we had a recorder rehearsal at SilverSops house...
she has 3 small dogs who regularly attend all our practices...
they all love to lavish attention, not to mention their tongues...
and generally position themselves so TrumpetMan can scritch their bellies...

we all get attention...
they like to lick my shoes or toes...
and have tried to jump in my lap...
but I don't have much of one, yet...











Tony, seen here...
trying to keep the beat with his tail...
has his eyes on TMan's lap...
but if you look to the right...
you'll see the edge of my new toy...
it's an old trombone...
which I'm turning into a sackbutt...
[as always, dbl-click on photos to enlarge...]



which along with my bass recorder...
will give me greater agility to provide a bass line...
I found an old clunker mouthpiece to help tone down my normally full sound...
& even TMan agrees that it's pretty close to the authentic sackbutt timbre...

the comedy portion of the rehearsal occurred...
when Tony was fascinated with the workings of my slide...
until, that is, I had to extend to 7th position & bopped him...

that moment had SilverSop in stitches for a while...

but I digress...

as the rehearsal progressed, punctuated with doggie antics...
I had numerous chances to take pictures...
as I don't always play...



here we have brother & sister, Tony & Gina...
[rescued from an abusive neighbor]
along with Edith...
reacting to 3 soprano recorders play very shrill notes...

but that was the "money shot" of doggie group cuteness...
the rest of the time was spent by the canines in more earthy pursuits...



Edith getting her belly rubbed...



then commandering Tonys' bone when he left for "other" goodies...



such as being cuddled in TMan's lap...



but Gina was in SilverSops[Mom] lap...



and pretty soon, sibling rivalry got the best of him...



and SilverSop ended up with them both in her lap...

even while she was playing... for a bit anyway...

for my money, her attempts to play recorder with 2 dogs in her lap...
was the real comedy epitomé of the day !

but having "friendly" lap dogs is not too bad when you consider the alternative...

I know if it were MY house, there'd be yowling along...
and SneakyPie in the middle of things...
not to mention Molly, who by size is NOT a lap dog...
but it never stops her from trying...

which are just a few of the reasons why we'll never rehearse there...