Vampire and Music

Hello Mr. Vampire. Just a little bit more of Fall/Halloween delight!
Fall Echo's--- Marching Band final concert. This is such a fun way to end the marching band season. Love hearing the band perform their regular football field half-time show. My son is the middle snare drum player. He is percussion leader this year.
Rats...a little blurry, but you get the idea. The sound is so massive and cool in the gym.

And, a little surprise!!! Fall Echo's includes the senior band members choosing their favorite song from over the past 4 years. They chose, In The Stone...Journey. We were more than a little bit surprised when our son left the percussion section, ran up to the conductors stand, and led the band in this piece of music. Really super fun.

Wish I could have gotten all the band in this picture.

And, a final farewell to the seniors....(our son is 4th from the right) their names were called out along with their parents, who proudly stood to honor their child, and vice-a-versa. Sigh! WE swallowed hard and worked hard to keep our eyes dry. Proud of our son and these kids, but, sentimental about the conclusion of this era of time.

New Tastes

I've been in a weird mood lately. There are times in my life when it feels like a small earthquake is going on inside, when my personality cracks and the templates of who I am shift and former mountains become valleys and vis versa. I always enjoy when this happens because for a few days or weeks the monotony of life's every day repetitiveness gets a make over and fresh air blows through the regularity. At the same time, like when an earthquake disfigures familiar landmarks, I have to get to know these new land masses and make them a part of me and align and expand the beliefs and traditions and habits that have been governing my every thought and action since consciousness.

This long deep glimpse into my soul (haha) is simply an introduction to a new line I've recently discovered in London where they have the most fabulous and INTERESTING shoes....

Bacon and Eggs

Cortesan Floral Bar

Daddy's Girl

Duke the 2nd

Oriento Sun So

Can't Touch This

I probably never would have looked at them twice had this shift in nature not occurred bringing on these new tastes. These names alone are awesome. I can see myself ordering a pair and when it arrives in the mail exclaiming, "My bacon and eggs are here!"Or if I've lost them, "Has anyone seen Duke the 2nd?"

Along with new, weird tastes in fashion this out-of-no-where life altering has brought a gratifying awareness to a new singer, Adele. Have you heard of her!? Sooooo good! Here is one of my favorites, although beware, it's so beautiful it always makes me all teary:




Have a happy weekend!

And The Rain Came Down....And There Was Music!

Whew! Seeing a little more water than usual in our neck of the woods. But, there is much worse flooding in other States in our country.

As the sun shone this afternoon, this little beauty stopped by to take a little walk in the left over rain water in our meadow.

Slowly, slowly.... and I do mean slowly, we are "greening-up" and enjoying a very cool spring.

Some beautiful artwork ahead, in one of the fun parks on the edge of town. The community garden is just about to open for the season. Although, it did frost last night.

So pretty and fun to explore this art. Eager to get out and see other art exhibits in our community this spring and summer.

Busy day as we made our way to our Middle School for our school districts
music fundraiser....Mardi Gras.

WELCOME!
Silent auction. All sorts of goodies and services. Two of the all time favorites to bid on are, conducting the high school band during a concert (one song only) and sitting with the band on the stage during one of their concerts. Very fun.

Families and friends gather for the evenings musical events. Popcorn, pop and pizza are on hand for those who care to eat and listen to all types of music.

Busy hands...loads of beads being sorted.

Down the hallways of our middle school, you can find different small groups doing their thing! Oh, and anyone and everyone can make a Mardi Gras mask for themselves. Recognize this little group? They added in a few other pots and pans to the original bucket sound...my favorite---a pizza pan.

And, this was the outfit style the boys decided to wear...shorts and a dark shirt. So simple compared to girls, eh? Oh, and let's clarify--- boys do not call their clothing "outfits" either.

Switching chairs around and a little more of the original "Clean-Beats" sound. The crowd sure liked these boys and their music. They performed twice...once here and once on the BIG stage, as the closing act.

It was a good day from start to finish.

What will you be up to today? Besides my regular "to-do's", I will be making button holes for my son's suit vest for Prom. Crossing fingers for nice, even button holes. The tie turned out super great and ever so easy to make. And, then helping hubby, this evening, to finish putting up the new chicken wire around our coop. The baby chicks have outgrown their "warming" box, and need to move on to the great out-of-doors. Pictures to come. xo

Twas A Lovely Weekend!

The weekend started like this......brrrrrrrr!

My passenger window in the car! Cold, but somewhat beautiful! We headed to our high school where our boys percussion trio qualified (last February) for State Solo and Ensemble Competition. Here the boys are listening to the judge who said he was... "totally blown away and did not know what to say". Yep, a proud moment for us parents. The boys took "blue" and best trio in our region of State competition. They now have been asked to record their drumming piece to be sent for an overall State-wide competition. Very exciting!

Then, our friends came for a visit. Divine! I cannot say enough about this family. They are the dearest of friends. We met at our favorite Chinese Restaurant, as they pulled into town from Indiana.

Look at this little beauty! She is a marvel and makes being 6 magical. Never a dull moment. Loving her snuggie! I think that is what it is called.

And, man oh man! The piano got a good workout. Reminded me of when Jenna would play and play and play, when she lived at home. He is quite good and just made me smile hearing him play.

My hubby was heading to the garage to cut basement ceiling tiles. But, stopped to play a few games before heading to the workshop.

A few hours later....ha! Still playing and having a blast! Work can wait! Time to play and enjoy being together.

Loved cooking bigger meals for us all. I loved the Fajitas on Saturday. My friend, Suzy, tipped me off to a fast and easy way to make Fajitas. Bought baked chickens from the store, shredded the meat into my big pan, and added a McCormick Chicken Fajita Seasoning packet. Easy-pie!

It was good to sit down and eat together. Even made some jello which I have most likely not made in a few years. Made for fun. No picture, but, it was delightful to sit and have a nice crowd for an after church Sunday meal. We ate lasagna. Hit the spot. So fun to eat and visit.

Love this family. Aren't they fantastic? Hated to see them go, but, they will be back in May. What a treat. Made saying good-bye not so sad this time round. And, if you ever need a true-blue friend, Kareena is it! Not only did she visit, stay with us and bright up our weekend, she took time to go to her old neighborhood and visit, care for, help and listen to her neighbor who was in a terrible accident this past Thanksgiving and is still in recovery mode. Talk about bringing joy and happiness and a little boost to a friend in need. She did not go just once, or twice, but three times to support and cheer this friend. Now, that is amazing and just how Kareena is!

So, see ya in May. And, thanks for such a great visit. It was a lovely weekend!

What did all of you like best about your weekend? Do tell!

p.s. Genevieve...missed you this weekend. Let's look forward to a time we can all get together. Would love it!

Tis The Season for........

The Nutcracker Ballet! Have you ever been? So glad we got to go this year. I have such fond memories of going to The Nutcracker with my Mom, sisters, Aunt and cousins. We would dress in our Sunday best and oh how we loved the super-duper large dress costume...loads of little children would be hiding beneath the dress. As the dancer would lift the edge of the very large- circular dress, 4-5 little children would run out onto the stage. This would happen over and over until all the little ones were out from underneath the dress. They exited in the same way they came onto the stage...under the dress. Sigh! Love it!

Have had some really yummy warm meals lately. It has gotten quite chilly here in Michigan. It was time to make some homemade bread sticks. They are easy and quick...well, somewhat quick. Depends if you let the dough rise or not. Sometimes we just mix and bake. Check out the recipe.


2/3 cups warm water. 1 teaspoon salt. 2 cups flour. 1 and 1/2 teaspoons yeast. Mix all ingredients together and knead until dough is soft and smooth. Then, just like most all of us use to do with play-doh, grab some dough and start to roll out "snakes". When my children were young, they just loved rolling out the dough into long snakes...or worms. Can let rise until double in size or just bake at 350 degree's for around 12-13 minutes. I keep a close eye and usually end up adding a little more time to just get the tops a little brown. Right out of the oven, I brush the bread with butter and add a little salt. Ready to serve.

We ate our bread sticks with this yummy, cozy meal.



I love this old fashion, Christmas-winter wonderland fabric. I just finished working on this flannel blanket for my sweet, little grand daughter. It will be nice and toasty warm for her this holiday season.

I finally pulled out our Christmas Carol books. I grew-up singing carols out of this book. My Mom , bless her heart, bought books for all of us to have in our own homes with our own families. Such a treat and brings back such happy memories.

So much to enjoy and celebrate this holiday season. May all your dreams come true!

Thursday nights!

Thursday evening, I headed to Sounds and Sights. Hubby had to work late, so, I headed out for the last Thursday night of the Sounds and Sights season.

You can catch a dog, drink and chips for $4.00 or hit our town deli, cafe, ice cream shop, market,
or restaurants to add to your fun evening in town.

Of course, my favorite group...Clean Beats. Great bucket group. Very entertaining. They have some fun routines.

New attire this week...shirts, beanies/handkerchief and sunglasses. And, a little hurt knee for the first drummer on the left.
Ouch!!!

They look so serious-ha! Next gig...Clean Beats will be playing at Ladies Day at the Fair.

I wandered around listening to a few of the other bands around town. So relaxing! This band was down by our new Clock Tower Plaza. Music was great. In the crowd, I spotted a group of women, who looked like they were their to stay for the entire evening. Maybe so. They were sitting on benches listening to this band, while they were knitting and crocheting....only in our town.

Another great sounding band. Loved their jamming stances!

This band was down by the ice cream shop and were also excellent. They sounded terrific, as well. It was so nice to just wander from band to band and hear all kinds of different types of music. I ran into friends at this point and did not make it around to 3 other bands. That's AOK. It was great to see old friends and visit.

A few other fun places.... our train depot. Not used as a depot anymore. It is a small museum and the main body of the train station is used for gatherings, receptions, etc.

Our very, very, very old Farmers Supply. Located right across the street from the train depot. It is a great little place, if you want to step back in time to a slower paced life, while shopping for seeds, animal food, muck boots, gardening stuff, baby chicks, etc.

As luck would have it, a train came barreling down through the lower edge of town, horn blowing and all.

And then it was time to wrap things up...... past the Jiffy plant, saying "good-bye" to another great summer of Thursday night Sounds and Sights-----until next year.

p.s. Soon as the sunsets, you can see a family movie projected on a huge wall of a building downtown. This happens each and every Thursday night---and free! Just bring your blanket, chairs and snacks and sit back and enjoy a movie with family and friends.