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Hello to our lovely and loyal audience! In my short biography, I mentioned that my husband Charles and I both love to travel and that we both play handbells. We have managed to combine both loves on many wonderful trips and plan to continue doing so, once travel becomes safe again. In an ideal world, where money and time present no obstacles, we would travel every month to the far reaches of the world, and playing handbells gives us the perfect opportunity to do just that while seeing the world.  Come with us as we plan our dream year of traveling and ringing — and given the year we have had, we need this, even if it is just a fantasy.

Let’s start our year off with a quick weekend trip in January to western Massachusetts for the Area 1 Winter Workshop, featuring two intensive ringing tracks for handbell musicians who want to stretch their ringing skills. As a bonus, Amherst in the wintertime is beautiful. 

March 18-21, 2021, we head to Clackamas, Oregon for Coppers Classic, run by Area 10 of the Handbell Musicians of America. Like Distinctly Bronze, musicians purchase their own music and learn their parts on their own before getting together as a group for rehearsals and a final concert. Organizers provide detailed feedback to participants during and after the event.

We will stay local and attend state Spring Rings in April.  Each year, our state chairs put together an amazing day of ringing and workshops.  In Festival Conference years, it also gives groups an opportunity to practice the music we will be ringing as a massed choir. These events are always a good opportunity to ring and to socialize with our local handbell friends throughout New England.

Our favorite trip of the year happens in May, when we travel to the Tuscan region of Italy with Resonate Tours. It is open to people of all skill levels, and spouses are welcome to come along and enjoy sightseeing, food and other adventures. Again, you get your music ahead of time, and practice on your own before coming together for two days of final rehearsals before heading out on tour.  Those two days aren’t all work… we always enjoy a cooking class at a cooking school in the mountains near Lucca, as well as local sight-seeing and plenty of gelato. The tour focuses on traveling to lesser known regions of Tuscany, where our audiences often know very little English, and don’t usually see a lot of tourists. More importantly, Resonate Tours treats each meal as a culinary adventure, so you can be rest assured that you are eating authentic and unique Italian meals cooked to perfection. I’ve even started learning Italian so that I can feel more comfortable speaking with audience members after the concerts.

In June, let’s join up with Witte Travel for a handbell festival in Poland, The Czech Republic, and Slovakia.  Last year, we travelled to Spain with this group, under the direction of Deborah Rice.  We played concerts in some of the most famous landmark churches in Spain to standing-room-only crowds every evening.  During the day we took in some of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine, and tours of historical and architecturally important buildings throughout the country. 

In July, it’s time to attend National Seminar! Occurring July 13-17, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona, National Seminar is Handbell Musicians of America’s annual event for all handbell musicians.  The four-day event offers classes and activities for directors, ringers, educators, worship leaders, and composers.  It also features two amazing concerts every day by handbell choirs from the region that audition for the opportunity.  In 2019, we traveled to St. Louis along with several other Merrimack Valley Ringers – Sue Lee, Karen Leonard, Carlene Ruesenberg, Jennifer Stack, and Kim Whitehead.

August brings us the International Symposium, which takes place in even years, and is held in a different country each year.  In 2022, the International Symposium will be held in Nashville, Tennessee! In September we take a break, since that is when community and church choirs start back with rehearsals, and it’s time to focus on learning our new music for the fall.  

In October, we head to the suburbs of London, for UK Bronze! Four fun filled days with Fred Gramann, ringing beautiful music with ringers from across the United Kingdom, plus a few friendly faces flown in from the US.  The event is modeled after Distinctly Bronze, and there is always plenty of time built in for sight-seeing and a show.  In 2018, Sue Chamberlin and Holly Cerullo joined us, and we saw The Book of Mormon in London’s theatre district. 

Join us for another Distinctly Bronze event in November, this time in the west!  Distinctly Bronze West takes place each year in Portland, Oregon.  You will need to audition for this event, unless you’ve attended a previous Distincly Bronze event, but again, it is totally worth it. Portland is lovely this time of year. 

That brings us to the close of our year, where we will enjoy attending the concerts put on by the many community choirs and local church groups in New England throughout December. And maybe, just maybe… we will pop over to France for Christmas, and attend Christmas Eve services at the American Church in Paris, where Fred Gramann directs the church handbell choir, and has been known to arrange a new handbell composition written specially for that night.

Safe Travels to all! I can’t wait to see you at one of our concerts and learn about where handbell travel will take you.

Let me first try to explain my headshot. Think I was about to sneeze. It doesn’t look like me. Carlene tried to reassure me, by saying her photo was worse. That worked, not because her photo actually is worse, but because her words brought to mind the truly welcoming nature of MVR ringers.

This post is intended to expand on the bio, which already recounted highlights of my music career. Furthermore, Covid (temporarily) dashed the previously touched upon travel plans. A lengthy, yet restorative physical therapy commitment, after simultaneous double knee replacement, put the Masters Swimming on hold. (The knees warrant a separate post.) The best part’s still going on: enjoying life with husband.

My husband’s parents savored watching TV during dinner. After each nightly cooking spree, I’m queried, “Honey, would you like to dine, or be my parents?” More often than not the reply is, “Oh, let’s be your parents!” Nightly dinner theatre has updated us with The Crown, Bosch, Game of Thrones, Ratched, Ozark, True Detective, Westworld, Chernobyl, Treme… the list goes on.

Cooking is quite a sensual retreat. Friends know they can text me various ingredients, such as disparate farm share veggies, and then I’ll text back what to make with them. Sometimes this even inspires unusual kombucha flavors. Once I got stumped! Someone texted a photo that was more suggestive of a large, smooth turnip with a navel. Turned out to be a jicama. Who would have thought, especially in agricultural zone 5? Anyway, when binge-watching and doomscrolling (and addictively wolfing down potato chips) gets old, cooking becomes the healthy pastime.

The “garden” here is more of an obsessive, environmental mission. Our entire property was a serious fixer-upper. It had Japanese knotweed, about 10,000 square feet, and invasive phragmites grass in a large pond, all replaced now with native elm, birch, dogwood, viburnum, blueberries, sweetfern, etc. I had to get good at driving a large Kyoti tractor. The animals here largely have to fend for themselves, unlike Dianne’s lucky wild charges and Colette’s family’s fortunate ducks and chickens. Aside from fostering their plant community, we do little for the bunnies, turtles, frogs, snakes, otters, herons, weasels, groundhogs, foxes, ducks, birds, etc. See my blog, landremedy.com. (Because Covid times have been so demanding, I’ve been trying to wear the fact that it needs updating like a badge of honor.)

The blog is not exactly current, partly because like many of us, I’m often tethered to my computer. Instead of seeing students, conducting choirs and leading hymns, I’m teaching online, chairing virtual creative meetings, performing Zoom piano/vocals and producing music videos. Here’s one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lERYG5HfjWU

And now, instead of being chained to the computer, I’m going to go outside and blow leaves off the paths and back into our planting beds, using a battery-operated leaf blower. It’s free mulch, perfectly crafted for its purpose. Nature has been powerfully healing during the past year. I hope you all have a patch of healthy native plants and/or wildlife nearby, to walk through, be inspired by, and to enjoy. May you stay happy, healthy and safe!

So, how are you doing since the world stopped March 16, 2020? Did you start a new hobby? Take up ringing? Dancing? Covid social distancing?

As a family we are surviving and thriving. As a mom, I gave in to my 8 year old daughter in April 2020 when she said, “Mom, the ducks are soooo cute. Can we get them, for me? I will take care of them.” 

What do you say to your wonderful daughter— “yes, we will get these ducks. And these chickens of course.”  

For real, why would any sane person buy ducks when you just walked into the hardware store to get a flashlight. So….we bought and hand raised 4 ducks and 4 chickens. But where did they stay? In our bathtub of course. because that is the perfect place to have ducks and chickens for 8 weeks. And, everyday we had the “walk of the ducks”. In the morning, I directed them outside and they waddled out the door and down the steps. Now when I come home and the ducks hear my voice they squawk and want me to come and play.

We have also done a lot of hiking, biking and camping over the past 7 months. As I’m sure most everyone has. Outside has become an extension of who we are. It is our second home. I am so thankful that Brian bought a camper, it makes going away on the weekends so much easier. 

As a teacher, it’s been a bit interesting. I have had to learn a ton of new technology. I have had to buy a ton of new technology. My hours of work have tripled. For a 30 minute online phonics lesson, it often will take me 2 hours to build the powerpoint and jamboard lessons to teach it. I can’t wait to go back completely in person, or rewind to January 2020.

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I mentioned in my bio that I live with a tabby cat named Perch- but she’s just part of my indoor family. Caring for her is easy- fresh water and dry food in a couple of bowls around the house, cleaning the litter box, and petting her in my lap.  Outside in my back yard, however, I have another family that comes and goes with the seasons, and some who live here full time- and caring for them can be a full time job!

I love animals, and when I moved into this house 16 years ago I started feeding a feral cat who lived out back.  Our neighbors below us had been able to take in her kittens, but she wouldn’t come in, and when they moved away I made sure she was still fed and had shelter through the winter.  Word got out in the neighborhood (and by this I mean communication among the animals), and ever since then I have had a full menagerie to care for!  Once animals find a safe place to stay (and in many cases to have their babies), they tend to return each year, so I have had several litters of kittens born in and under our shed, and lots of possum and raccoon families take up shelter there as well.  I’ve been able to trap/neuter/return almost all of the cats to make sure they don’t have MORE litters, and several of the kittens have been adopted while they’re still young enough to socialize.  The wild babies?  I tend to leave that to Mother Nature

Feeding this crowd in the summer months is quite an endeavor.  Right now I have 4 feral cats who come regularly- one I’ve been feeding for 10 years!- 3 skunks, 2 possum, a woodchuck, and in the height of the season there were 2 raccoon families of SIX cubs each, not to mention the usual squirrels, birds and an occasional fox.  In these sad days of restaurants closing because of lack of business, my backyard outdoor dining is fully operational and constantly at max capacity, and I am the hostess, the cook, the waitress, AND the dishwasher!   What’s on the menu?  Friskies, Meow Mix, Fancy Feast Creamy Delights,
sunflowers seeds, peanuts, water, and half and half.  

As long as there is enough food available, everyone gets along for the most part.  I can look out at dusk and see a skunk, a feral cat, a possum and a couple of raccoons eating within inches of each other, quite politely.    Two of the ferals and both families of raccoons come for a second feeding on our upper deck, and during the summer once the cubs are out, they are an unending source of laughter as they roll around wrestling, climbing and trying not to tip the water bowl over. I’ve learned that all species love to drink half and half, that possum prefer wet cat food and skunks dry food, and raccoons will eat just about anything!

As I write this in early October, all but 2 of the raccoons have gone, there are still 3 skunks and a possum, and my ferals are waiting for me to update their individual shelters in the shed for the winter.  Soon it will be just me and the cats, ready to tackle the cold and hunker down until Spring when it all begins again.  The Circle of Life!

In 16 years I’ve missed a handful of feedings, and I can count on one hand the number of times I haven’t brought food out at least once in a day- usually because of snowstorms.  When my husband and I are away, we have 2 stalwart friends who stand in for me, and I know the first time they saw the list of who gets what and where to put it all, they probably wanted to rescind the offer….but I’m grateful they understand that’s it’s all about consistency.  These critters depend on me, and I won’t let them down as long as I am able! 

Here is a gallery of my outdoor family over the years:

Oh, and I also love event decorating, designing Christmas cards, and creating gifts for my ringers- but that’s another blog altogether!  😊😊

Diane Burke

If you have been following MVR for a while and reading our bios in the programs, then you already know that I live on a lake in NH, I have been ringing bells for almost 40 years, have rung in Japan, Italy, Israel, and England, and I worked for Schulmerich bells for a while after I retired from teaching math. But you might not know that I also enjoy a number of different crafts – from the general category of “building things” (it is not polished enough to call it woodworking) such as this kayak rack that I made this summer, to knitting and sewing.

I knit one sweater since COVID started, and have almost finished a second one that I started a long time ago. I have been working on a quilt – both of my kids have a quilt that I made for them when they headed off to college and another one that was a wedding gift. I have made a lot of wall hangings, several baby quilts, but my current project is the first bed-sized quilt that I’ve made for myself. One more border to add, and then make the “sandwich” and quilt it!

But I have another project that will delay getting the quilt finished – every other year we get together with our kids and grandkids for Christmas, and I have been making Christmas pj’s for those gatherings. This is the picture from 2018. It is time to get started on that project for this year!