Only in Nashville can you go to a neighborhood dog parade, have a nice chat with Emilylou Harris, and then listen to a street performance of Sam Bush, Rodney Crowell, Mike Farris, Emilylou Harris, John Hiatt, and Buddy Miller.... and all before lunch. Happy hearts.

Grrrrrrrrrrr

Family

 

Always so nice to hang out with my family. Sorry we missed Uncle Paul...Thanks again to Jim and Linda for hosting supper and to Mom and Dad for the football tickets. I love you all and wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Joan

Lutherpalooza!

My friend Steve, and I played this afternoon at a Christian Music Festival, put on by the Lutheran church, hence the name "Lutherpalooza". They invited praise bands from all the local churches to play 35 minute sets. Since my Presbyterian church, nor Steve's Catholic church have praise bands, we did our own thing. For instance, we played "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" with a country Patsy Cline feel, a bluegrass version of "Are You Washed In The Blood of the Lamb/I'll Fly Away (I play mandolin on that one), an Amy Grant song, and Peace In The Valley. Steve was surprised to learn that Peace In The Valley was written for Mahalia Jackson, not Elvis Presley as he thought! He sang it Elvis style though (sometimes he can't help himself). We did 7 songs total, on a really big outdoor stage. It was fun, I think we surprised some folks, we weren't what they were expecting! Always keep 'em guessing!

Nothing else on the musical horizon for now; Steve wants me to audition for a Christmas variety show with him...we'll see.  So there you have it, girl with guitar!

Acoustic Junction...again

Last Saturday night I played Acoustic Junction again, back by popular demand. I had another 25 minute set, my buddy Steve played/sang with me on 2 songs, and another friend Ruthie, sang harmony on 2 other songs. The guy with the video camera was not there, so no movie to share with you. It was a good show and the other talent was way better than in June! As always, I had a good time!

Camp Nelson

This week was Camp Nelson for 5 year old Brody (son of Andy & Kristin) and 9 year old Sofe (daughter of Carole & David). They camped in the living room and thought that was pretty cool. We knew we were going to have our hands full with these two, so Jenna (Gene's daughter that lives in Hong Kong, but who is in KS for summer break) came with the kids. Another set of eyes is always a good idea.

Pop Gene took the kids to a local creek where they caught frogs and chased crawdads. This is a small part of it, there are pools along the way that the kids could swim in. They loved the mud! We also boated to Sandy Beach where everyone swam and floated around on noodles. Jenna even decided she'd like to ski, so she did!


Sofe forgot her belt, so Pop Gene made her a hillbilly belt. It works.

This was one of the funniest moments, Lawrence was "relaxed" and "things" sort of just drop down, which Brody noticed. His reaction was priceless! I tried to explain this to him, as best I could to a 5 year old, and when I reminded him that he had one too, he yelled "BUT NOT LIKE THAT!" Gene is still chuckling over it.

They brought home 2 big catfish from the trot line. Suddenly Sofe realizes just where food comes from. She did not eat fried catfish that night. We enjoyed ours!

What's camping without  s'mores?!

Everyone had a good time and I'm sure the kids will be back next summer. We were exhausted!

I'm on youtube

A few weeks ago I played at a showcase called Acoustic Junction. Local/regional performers are invited to participate and I was invited. This is the link to some clips from the evening. I've already been asked to come back in August. Nice being appreciated! At the beginning, I'm singing with Steve, then after a kid, I'm playing again, so don't quit after the first bit. Now I see that more videos have been added, so after you click on the link below, you'll need to scroll down a bit until you see Acoustic Junction and my picture, then click there.

www.youtube.com/gearycountycvb

Horse Camp

 I know I've told some of you about the catfish that Gene and the neighbors have been catching, well here's one days worth of fish. There were 11 on that trot line and Maddy and Kate were mighty impressed!

 The first riding lesson of the week started bright and early this morning, followed by picking fish off the trot line. Then of course, you have to go bait fishing so you can re-bait the trot line tomorrow! The girls had more fun playing in the creek mud than bait fishing, but that's okay too. Then we took the boat up to Sandy Beach for swimming (I'm not allowed in the lake this summer due to my toe surgery so I just looked like a dork on the beach with a sock and shoe. Can you say "loser?")

After showers, the girls helped me prepare a pasta supper while Grandpa Gene napped. Now it's time to head everyone off to bed so we can do it again tomorrow!

Joan

Nashville trip

 This photo is specifically for Uncle Paul, who has been waiting to see John's shop. It's really quite something, he's managed to fit a whole bunch of stuff into a small space and it's so tidy! I'll email Paul a few more shop photos.

 This was the setting for Rachel's graduation party, Jeff Fisher's place in the country. It was beautiful! Melinda puts on quite a party!

  Melinda's brother, Mike along with Joe and Mary. It was good to spend time with them and get to know Mike and Christie too.l

Finally, the big day and Rachel is a high school graduate! It was a very nice ceremony, fortunately it was indoors. We had a great time visiting and will definately go back (next time we'll fly!)

Women On Target

I spent all day yesterday at the gun range at an event put on by the women of the N.R.A. It was called Women on Target and we were instructed how to safely use archery equipment, shotguns, rifles, muzzle loaders and hand guns. This target that I'm showing off is from the rifle range, I also did very well in the other disciplines. On the archery range, I totally took out a pig and turkey foam targets. I liked the shotgun because they had one of those target flingers, so the moving target was fun. I'm certainly not ready to go out and purchase a firearm, but I feel quite a bit safer just knowing how to handle them.  Today, my right shoulder is a little ouchy from the rifles and shotguns, but you gotta be tough to be a Woman on Target!

9 more days of High School. Love for you to join us!

Cute Girls

These are Carole's girls, Kate on the left, Sofe's the redhead and Maddy is laying down. Just as cute and as nice as they can be!

Joan

Kitchen cabinet facelift

After 15 years, the kitchen cabinets received a much needed facelift. We hired the same couple that painted the house, rebuilt the deck, painted the bathroom, well, you get the picture, they're pretty handy! The cabinet behind Birdie's dishes used to have louvered doors which were dust magnets, so Roy built new doors. Trim was glued onto the door fronts for architectural interest, and some hardware was replaced. The lower cabinets are slightly darker in color.

Roy added glass to 3 doors, the 2 you see and the one that holds glassware on the other side of the sink. It really looks good, reflects light and sparkles. Now I just have to keep them clean.

So that's what we've been doing! Time to start on the garden...

Joan

Harveyville tornado cleanup

Harveyville is a small town, southwest of Topeka. They were hit Tuesday night by a tornado that wiped out 60% of the town. Gene and I went yesterday (Friday) to volunteer through the American Red Cross. The photo above is Gene and his trusty chainsaw working on a row of Osage Orange trees that were completely laid down flat. The good news is, the tree line probably saved the house from more damage.

This is downtown Harveyville. I took this through the windshield. See the white pickup truck on the right? Right above it is a white pile, that was an RV. I watched a little girl, probably 7 or 8, picking up debris and she was wearing her nightgown and a parka. That's probably all she had. We emptied the trailer at a makeshift dump behind the fire station, which was still standing. Amazing how quickly they organized things. Topeka restaurants are taking turns feeding people in the firehouse.

This is the first house we stopped at. You can see they're missing the roof on the left side. Across the road was a hay field where I picked up bits of their lives, a coffee cup, pages from a year book, a sprinkler head.

We came home tired and dirty, but we came home to a house that's still standing. We were certainly reminded to count our blessings.

Joan

Antiques & Garden Show

Just wanted y'all to see the most recent garden I worked on! John too, he used his hammer and nail gun to help construct. So fun! Oh, yah, and we won "Best in Show!" Love to you all.