Pictures!

Family photos really bring the personality out, don’t they?

Here we kids are with our cousin…

Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree

Fun day in Franklin

Wah ha ha hoo!!!

Since when did they stop using real tires for tire swings? This thing was HARD plastic!

Zip-Line!

Here is my little Macushla…

It’s Been a Long, Long Time…

Hello, again! It’s been a while, I know, but my blog simply doesn’t rank as one of my top priorities.

I’ll give an update, a sketch, and a favorite song that I’ve worked on.

Here are some of the highlights of the past few days… weeks… months:

On the 4th of July, I and my family went to Smithville for the fiddler’s jamboree. That was so much fun! I entered two contests, but didn’t place anything. It was my first competition with my fiddle, and I enjoyed every moment of it!

A few weeks later, my fiddle teacher, along with a friend of his, finished my new fiddle!!! Only, it’s far from new, really. It’s over 100 years  old. I LOVE it! But, being left-handed, I realized when I played it for the first time that the pegs were put in the wrong order (right-handed), making it a bit difficult to play in B flat. Oh, well. Back to the shop for a while…

On July 25 (I think) we went to the Daniel Brantley Foundation. We had a blast! We met in the Tullahoma Civic Center and enjoyed a high-action auction (it would be impossible to explain. Come next year and you can see it for yourself! ), lots of bluegrass from various folks, including Dailey & Vincent. Gotta love ‘em! Here are some pictures:

Mr. Brantley and Friends…

When I mentioned the “High Action Auction”…

And Dailey & Vincent!

Adam Haynes, Jeff Parker, Jamie Dailey, Darin Vincent, and Joe Dean…

Now, I’ll skip a few more days and move on to the day before yesterday. I bought myself a pretty little Jersey Heifer from a man in Monterey. Everything’s going splendidly, so far. Macushla (that’s what we decided to name her) is 4 months old, a little shy, and beautiful. Funny, I remember thinking 5 or 6 years ago how weird it was that some people actually thought cows were pretty. Now, after being around a bunch of cows for a few years, I understand. I’ll try to post a picture of her soon, so you can see for yourself. Now… Does anyone know of another cow named Macushla? Think “old movies” and see if you remember. It’s one of our favorites. But, even apart from the movie, I like the name. It means darling, or dear one.

When Daddy and I, along with my little brother, got home with Macushla, Mama had picked up my fiddle. It’s finished! They put very pretty pegs in and gave it a gorgeous case.  Yep. I’m happy.

Now, for the sketch:

Nothing much.

And as for the favorite song, I’m not sure. I like so many of them! I really enjoy playing Fisher’s Hornpipe and Ragtime Annie. Those may be my favorites at present.

Until next time!

7 Things I Did Last Year

I was tagged and must write a list of 7 things that I did last year.

A book I read: Biblical Economics

A moment I will always remember: Um… I forget…

A new skill I acquired: Swing Dancing (a little bit)

A movie I watched: Singing in the Rain; Call Me Madam; the new Sense & Sensibility; the new Pride & Prejudice; Amazing Grace; part of Lorna Doone; Arsenic and Old Lace; OH! Just one movie… sorry…

A lesson I learned: Wow, let’s see. I learn things all the time from lots of people, but I can’t think of a good specific lesson at the moment.

A new place I visited: Mayfield Dairy

An inspiring verse or quote: Romans 8:28

Last Year’s Goals

Last January I decided to set a goal of reading a book a month. To some, this may sound like a lame goal, but it was definitely a big deal to me. Reading was less than exciting to me, unless I happened upon a thrilling romance novel, or something.

So, I set out on this goal and worked at it fairly regularly. Reading in general slowly became more enjoyable for me and now, after keeping a list of the books I’ve read since this time last year, I can say that I met my goal and even got a couple of extra books read. I plan to keep this goal for 2009 as well.

Here is my 2008 reading list.

1. The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Orczy
2. Beauty for Ashes – Grace Livingston Hill
3. Patricia – Grace Livingston Hill
4. Persuasion – Jane Austen
5. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
6. The Enchanted Barn – Grace Livingston Hill
7. The Substitute Guest – Grace Livingston Hill
8. Because of Whinn-Dixie – Kate DiCamillo
9. Faraway Summer – Johanna Hurwitz
10. The Obsession of Victoria Gracen – Grace Livingston Hill
11. A Child’s Garden of Verses – Robert Louis Stevenson
12. Biblical Economics – R.C. Sproul, Jr.
13. Raising Maidens of Virtue – Stacy MacDonald
14. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Okay, so, some of these may not be considered great literature or anything, but I still met my goal. And for the most part, I enjoyed each book. Some more than others, naturally, but I was a little surprised to find that I actually liked most of them.

I had set other goals last year, too, but I can’t really say how I did with them. I had hoped to get to where I could play piano for church more often, which I am doing, so that, I suppose is good. However, along those same lines, I believe I had planned on figuring out how to play Liebestraum, but that certainly didn’t happen!

As for the other things, I’m not sure. I had set a goal to actually complete one of the novels that I’m writing, but that didn’t happen… And, it probably won’t happen for awhile.

Perhaps I’ll just post annualy now, to show how my new year’s goals are working/not working out. So, until next January!

Just kidding…

Happy New Year!

I’m going to bed now.

Quick Post

After having a great Thanksgiving with our family and ending the week with some wonderful fellowship with our church family, we actually had a little snow! It snowed last night and it’s been snowing off and on today. However, when I say we got a little snow, I really mean a little. It melts as soon as it hits the ground. But, hey, we can enjoy it. My 6 year old brother went out right after eating breakfast and made two snowballs. He was a happy little man!

15 Things I’m Not Afraid to Admit…

1. I’m a Reformed Presbyterian.
2. I’m bad at running and always have been.
3. I’m bad at most any sport.
4. My left arm is about an inch shorter than my right arm (I broke it 5 years ago. Long story…)
5. I don’t know how to drive a car (at least, not very well).
6. I speak with a Southern accent and am proud of it. As a matter of fact, I often wish my accent was thicker and less effected by whoever I’m around at the time.
7. I get ticked off pretty bad when people make fun of Southerners (and the Southern accent in general), bluegrass, and… other things, too.
8. I can be made to cry pretty easily.
9. I can’t play violin.
10. I don’t stay organized well.
11. I’m extremely dramatic.
12. I’m not as confidant and bold as I should be with my music.
13. I get distracted easily. Very easily.
14. I’m often too hard on my siblings, and probably friends, too. Sorry.
15. I love where we live, but I can’t wait to sell it and move away…

I’ll tag just two folks for now:

Daniel

Camille F. (just do it on a comment if you’d like.)

I guess that’s it. TTFN!

Ah, Picture Season Again – Take 2

So, after showing the rather comical/bad/awful pictures below, I’ve decided to make up for it with some better pictures. The last photo, especially, in my last post, was awful!!! My sister doesn’t even look like that. Here, I’ll show you some better ones.

This is still sort of a silly one, but, that’s what you get when you try to get a 6 year old to pose.

 

Even this picture doesn’t do her credit. I don’t think I’ll be able to find one that does.

 

Ah, Picture Season Again

I think these photos will pretty well speak for themselves. I’ll go youngest to oldest. See what you think.

Music Lessons

Lately, though not regularly enough, I have been doing piano/singing lessons with my 6yo brother. I’ve been trying to find ways to make it as interesting and as fun as possible – the last thing I want to do is make him hate piano, singing, lessons or even music in general. I’ve seen it happen to some people and it’s just sad.

So, since we’re entering the Advent season, I decided to go through my huge book of Christmas tunes and pick out a few fun ones that he and/or I could sing. We picked Silver Bells this morning. I don’t know if he’ll stick to it, but I think he likes the fact that both of us can sing it together. He’s so cute! I sit him up on the top of our piano and he sits there watching me as I play and sing, and, this time, as I try to teach him a few of the words.

“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in Holiday style…” I began, and he tried to follow along. But, he stopped me to say something like,

“Oh! I thought it said ‘Three disciples, down the sidwalk, dressed in Holiday signs…”

Gotta love him.