Beethoven hair study suggests lead poisoning

By Martha Irvine (Associated Press writer)
(Article appeared in The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, October 18, 2000)

ARGONNE, Ill. – An analysis of a lock of Ludwig van Beethoven's hair suggests lead poisoning could explain the erratic genius' lifelong ailments, his strange behavior, his death, maybe even his deafness. 

The four-year analysis of the hair – apparently snipped after the composer's death at age 56 in 1827 – has turned up a concentration of lead 100 times the levels commonly found in people today, according to researchers at the Health Research Institute in suburban Chicago, where the hair was tested.

That means it is all but certain that the composer suffered from lead poisoning, also known as plumbism, the researchers said.

"It was a surprise, but it stood out like a sore thumb in the analysis," said William Walks, director of the institute's Beethoven research project.

Scientists initially were searching for mercury, a common treatment for syphilis in Beethoven's day. The absence of mercury supports the recent consensus of scholars who believe Beethoven did not have syphilis.

On the net: Center for Beethoven Studies http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/

Blogger Christmas Piano Recital

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I've been busy....as you can see.







Thanks for watching!!!

Blogger Piano Recital just for you!

In case you didn't know it, I'm a pianist. I began taking piano lessons at the ripe young age of 6 years old. My parents didn't have a piano for me to practice on at home so my mom would walk me the few blocks to the church we were attending at the time so that I practice on the sanctuary piano. That Christmas, my parents purchased a studio console Baldwin. I remember the evening it was delivered. My piano teacher, Mrs. Thelma Addison, was there with her oldest daughter who played a few classical pieces on it. I was in awe! It was such a pretty piano! I remember my teacher telling me not to touch it or practice on it without washing my hands first. It was very important to take care of it! My mother still has that piano, however, it also has a few knocks and nicks here and there. The middle C key looks kind of funny. Some of the bass notes sound like the string is broken. We still play on it though at Christmas and my girls love to practice on it.

In light of all that, I have been practicing some pieces here at home that I would love to share with ya'll. This first piece is called "Beboparology" by Noah Baerman from a student jazz book.

This piece is called "Boogie Gumbo" that is also out of a student jazz book. This one was played on a piano that I gave to a student at Oxford University. It had a stuck key.



This last piece is "Princess" by Suzanne Ciani. It isn't perfect because I was hurriedly recording it while my Kangaroo was taking a nap.



I hope you've enjoyed my little Blogger recital. Stay tuned for more!

Whew! Whadda Day!

Yesterday was a long day for me. I was so tired that by 8:30 p.m. last night, while sitting in my recliner rocking my "babies" I fell asleep! My snores woke me up, along with my Kangaroo patting my cheeks saying, "Wake up Mommy!". So I managed to get them ready for bed, all dressed in pj's, said prayers, tucked in, and then I got into my own bed. I managed to read a page or two of the last little book that I'm trying to review, "Jesus Calling". Then I fell asleep. I didn't know another thing until 6 a.m. when hubby got up to drive The Teen to his driver's ed class. I went BACK to sleep and slept till my snores again woke me up. I sat up abruptly and looked at the clock. Noticing that the clock read 8:25 a.m. and remembering that I needed to have Little Bird at her first Music Camp 30 minutes away at 8:30 a.m., I jumped out of bed and hit the floor running.

Hubby had long returned from his errand and was sitting at the dining room table doing his weekly reports for work. I run into the kitchen, toss some cold cereal into the bowls, holler for the girls, throw some milk on top of the cereal, holler for the girls again, set the cereal on the table, holler for the girls, and run back into my bedroom to get dressed while they inhale their cereal. Upon my return to the kitchen, I grabbed the clothes I had previously set out for them to wear today.

During the drive to Little Bird's music camp, Kangaroo began crying that she wanted to go to Music Camp too. However, she's too young for this one at this time so I promised her a visit to the local library storytime while her big sister was participating in Music Camp. That idea seemed to soothe Kangaroo and she dried her tears.

Upon arrival at Music Camp, I was informed that due to Little Bird's age it was required that an adult stay with her for this first day....just until she got comfortable with being in a new setting with people she didn't know. Since I just happened to have DQ with me, I sweet talked her into staying with Little Bird so I could keep my promise to Kangaroo.

SOOOOO, to the library The Teen & I go. The summer theme is Kings & Queens. We participated in a lot of dancing around to get the wiggles out, sitting down to listen carefully as stories were read to us, and then decorating a little poster board crown to wear to each storytime for the summer.

Following storytime, we headed back towards Music Camp to pick up Little Bird and DQ. However, on the way, I rec'd a phone call from hubs.

"Hello?"

"Hey, are you gonna pick up The Teen from Driver's Ed?" (by this time class had been out for 15 minutes and I was still a good 20 minutes away!)

"Ummm, yeah, I'll get him. I don't have to be back at Music Camp just yet so I'll go get him and then get them."

After a little route adjustment, I arrived at the Driver's Ed class to find that The Teen had started the 8 mile walk to the house!!! Upon discovering that he wasn't where he was supposed to be, I thought he might make the attempt to walk home so I drove that route for about 1/2 a mile when I found him.

He got into the surburban, I yelled at him for not letting me know what he was going to do, then I told him that for the rest of the week just walk to the local burger joint and I'll meet him there. At least that's air conditioned! Having got him retrieved, I backtracked to pick up the other two passengers, DQ and Little Bird.

Once all buckled in, DQ and The Teen both announce that they are STARVING!! It's not obvious to most people that my children are mal-nourished but since they're STARVING that must be the case. I asked them what they would like to do for lunch and I rec'd the local listing of fast food joints....Mc'D's, Burger King, Sonic, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, etc. Little Bird said she didn't want any of that and Kangaroo mentioned homemade ham sandwiches. Since I'm the driver and holder of the much coveted debit card, I chose to go to Piccadilly. My choice announcement was met with a chorus of groans and moans but they eventually relented.

Over lunch, we discussed new movies coming out and on a whim, I decided to surprise the gang with a visit to the movie theatre to see Disney's newly released, "UP". What a sweet story! I cried! *** sob ***

After the movie, we headed home where the girls exited the surburban and ran straight to the trampoline where they are currently getting some more wiggles out before we settle down for the evening.

Looking around the house, I still have much more to do but I think I might just let it wait until tomorrow. For today, I've just enjoyed being with my babies, all 4 of them.

5 lbs. of Possum

The Teen got up early this a.m. and went out to check his grandpa's traps. My dad is hoping to trap a raccoon for dog training purposes. The Teen returned in record time with his catch. However, it was not the ringtailed bandit he thought he'd have. Instead, it was this very attractive critter.

My girls were quite mesmerized with the animal. I had to warn them SEVERAL times NOT to touch the cage!!!

Finally, when The Teen was satisfied that the girls had their fill of the possum, he took it back to the woods and turned it loose.

And for the rest of the day I had this lovely little song reverbing through my head. I looked it up on YouTube and this is the clearest video I could find of the song. I don't know this fella but he's got a nice voice doesn't he?

Anybody feel like some possum stew?

Good Friday

Why is this day called Good Friday? That has never made sense to me. How could a day be Good when it was the day that Christ was crucified!? At our church tonight, we had a service depicting the Last Supper, betrayal, and the walk to the cross. Congregants participated in the Lord’s Supper (or communion) and reflected on the meaning of Good Friday.

I had to play the piano for this service. I played 2 pieces for the choir accompaniment followed by 2 more solo pieces for the Lord’s Supper. I performed an instrumental piece called “Come, Follow Me” by Sally DeFord for the passing of the bread (follow the link and then scroll down to the title and links to listen to a streaming MP3 of this tune) and a Lenny Seidel arrangement of “Jesus Paid it All” for the passing of the wine (or grape juice for us Baptists). I can't seem to find an online performance of Lenny's "Jesus Paid it All" so I'll record it myself on YouTube later on.

I play the piano every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday choir practices. During both solo pieces I messed up badly but recovered well. Later, a fellow musician mentioned how pretty the pieces were. I asked her if she noticed my mistakes and she said “No and as musicians we usually pick up on that stuff!” I was glad to hear that.

I don’t know why, but for some strange reason, I was particularly nervous about my performances for this service. I just tried to tell myself and that the only thing within my control was to play my best for Him. So, I like to think that’s what I did even though in retrospect I think I could have done better.

The important thing is that my talents are to be used to bring others into His presence and I think that was accomplished on Good Friday night even with my mistakes.

Third Week of February Stuff

Gosh, have I neglected my blog for a week? Oh my! I'm so embarrassed!! Let me see if I get get ya'll updated. This means I have to remember what I did last week and then post a separate blog about certain things and link it to this one. Oh, Geez!! What a chore!!!

Well, first of all, for Valentine's day....we did nothing. The entire family had the flu. The rest of the week involved recuperating.

Hubby felt well enough to pull the camper out of it's hiding place and we commenced to preparing it for our Disney World vacation in June. Lemme tell ya!...Washing the windows in that thing was a JOB! However, it is all nice and shiny clean. We're planning on taking it down the road for a week long stay at Tickfaw State Park. We can't go too far because hubby still has to go to work. But at least we'll still FEEL like we're camping.

On Thursday, I attended a luncheon with my mom. She did a painting demonstration and devotion and then she sang a song to go with the devotional. I had to play the piano for her to sing. My thoughts on her devotional and scripture will be in a separate post shortly.

I've gotten the Geocaching bug again and have been trying to collect as many finds as possible. I set a personal goal of 200 finds for this coming year. I'm happy to report that I'm on a roll with 20 finds this weekend alone!!! My Mardi Gras geocaching will have it's own post shortly.

At this very moment, I'm sitting in my living room, typing on my little bloggy thingy, watching....um, no, listening to Handy Manny while trying to keep my eyes open. All that geocaching has got me worn out and I'm so very sleepy even though I got about 9 hours of sleep last night! I actually went to bed at a normal hour!!! Go figure!

Later ya'll!

My Husband Rocks: Our 1st Valentine's

The first Valentine's that DH and I spent together was really pretty cool. At the time, I had one of those 9 - 5 jobs. I had mentioned to him how much I enjoy musicals and I think I had even hinted to him that there was one I wanted to see on stage at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. As it turned out, The Phantom of the Opera was playing.

It was Friday, Feb 10, 1995. My older kids, DQ and The Teen, were going to stay with their biological father for the weekend. I left work a little early in order to get to the front of the herd on the interstate and get the kid's to their dad's house. I got back to my apartment and prepped for a shower. I was STARVING for dinner but knew I wouldn't have time to eat anything AND get dressed. Just as I stepped out of the shower I heard a knock at the door.

I donned my robe and opened the door. There stood my date, dressed in a suit and tie, with a bouquet of roses and a styrofoam dinner box. He had arrived early! Leaving him in the dining room, I retreated to my room to finish getting dressed. I had chosen a sweet little short sleeved black dress. The dress was a solid black tank style dress with lace sleeves decorated with a little bow on the outside. A matching bow was at my waist. When I returned to the dining room, he had set my plate, lit a candle, and put the roses in a vase. Wasn't that sweet?

Still concerned I wouldn't have time to eat, he insisted that I sit down and partake of the meal. He said he had already eaten and we wouldn't have time to stop on the way to New Orleans. As we drove, I actually leaned my head back to take a nap! I was so tired from not sleeping the night before due to my excitement!

Upon arrival, we found a parking garage, parked the truck, and proceeded on to stand outdoors (it was cold!!!) to wait until the doors opened so we could get to our seats. We went in, found our tiny little theatre seats, and sat. Since it was my first time ever at the Saenger, I was looking all around admiring the architecture and decor of this old building. Then I noticed the ceiling. I kept staring at it trying to figure out if we were outdoors or indoors! The ceiling was dark and had little twinkling lights on it that looked just like the night sky. It took me quite some time to figure out that we were indoors and the ceiling was just decorated to look that way. It was beautiful!

I really enjoyed see the Phantom of the Opera. When it was over, we had to leave. I really didn't want to but I had to work the next morning so getting home was a bit of a priority for me. We got back to the truck and headed on our way. DH asked me to get a small box out from under the seat. I reached under to get it and pulled out a small, gift wrapped package. He said, "Happy Valentine's Day! That's for you!" I was thrilled that not only had he fed me and taken me to see one of my favorite stage musicals, but he got me a little gift too!

Turns out it was a CD of the Phantom's songs! I popped it into the CD player and relived the evening all over again on the ride home. What a wonderful First Valentine's together!!!

Happy Valentine's Day ya'll!

The Hager Twins

I got online tonight to write my Date Night blog and sadly discovered an article which stated "Jon Hager of the musical comedy duo The Hager Twins on Hee-Haw has died."

I remember watching Hee Haw every Saturday evening before The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. After watching our Saturday evening programs, we would go to bed and dream sweet dreams of barn dances, romantic cruises, and lush tropical isles.

I've recently been enjoying Hee-Haw reruns on RFD.TV which I get by satellite. The jokes are so hokey and juvenile. My kids love the show. I'm reminded of my recent visit with my long lost sister when we were all discussing Hee Haw. During our conversation she looked at my other siblings and I like we were nuts. She asked, "What's Hi-Ho?" I had the immediate desire to educate her poor soul. Since then, I've emailed her many Hee Haw video links from YouTube.


I especially enjoy Archie Campbell's twisted fairy tales like "Beeping Sleauty", "The Pee Little Thrigs", and "Rindercella". Unfortunately, Hee Haw genre has given way to American Idol. Thank God for Branson, Missouri where we can go get our corny vaudeville show fixes anytime we want! Well, after careful travel planning, of course.

Stupid Christmas Songs

I didn't realize how long it had been since I've posted. Sorry about that. I've been busy with a Thanksgiving wedding and other Christmas activities. During my runnings around I have had my surburban radio tuned into to 96.1 for all their Christmas tunes. Last night, they played that catchy little tune "Last Christmas". My 21 y.o. daughter turned to me and said, "That is the stupidest song I think I've ever heard". I have to agree with her. If you listen to the lyrics, it's just stupid.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away.
This year, to save me from tears,
I'll give it to someone special.

Ooookaaaayy, well, didn't you do that last year? Gave your heart to someone special? And then they went and gave it away.....so you're gonna do it again this year? COME ON!! This song has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Christmas spirit.

Just my little old opinion.