GIG PREP......Post Views......11,478

     

 Thursday, it was off to the local "big" music store to buy equipment to make my first gig possible.   I had considered different scenarios to bring about the moment, but wasn't sure how to make them a reality.  I need something that Grandma G can handle on her own for when there is no "roadie" available.   

    Return trip from the music store.....
Ready for any gig.....Now to get it all into the house....and anywhere a gig might take me.....



Friday was set up equipment day....


        What is this thing????
     A folding keyboard stand....
    I can't figure how to unfold it 

   and set it up...found the good solid one from the Midwest....

Trying out the workable scenario...

 speaker to go with my "sound system".

Most of the day was occupied with last minute details of the songs I am going to play and sing. 

Took some time in the afternoon to get my hair and nails "cleaned up".  

Saturday was another "last minute prep" day.  Realized a song accompaniment that I planned to use was unavailable because it was on the clavinova and no way for me to run it off.  Maybe Grandma G should have thought about that a few weeks ago.  I have heard that necessity is the mother of invention.  Well, this isn't an invention but I think it will suit my needs.  I took a video of the accompaniment.  YEP.  A Video.   See, the nice clerk at the music store threw in (sold me) a "Stereo Interconnect 3.5 mm TRS to Same" cable.  He sure did.   What that means is that I can play music from my iphone into the sound system.  There.  I told you it will suit my needs.   What?  What I hope is that I can play the accompaniment from my phone.  WOO!  HOOT!   Come back soon to find out how that went.....

"Roadie" Zachman, helping me transport and set up for Sunday's gig at the park club house.   

     

     

      I am 95% ready for tomorrow.  Guess that is pretty good.  

     What I have been asking myself the past few days is......"Why am I doing this?"  It is so much work.  What if I'm really not any good?   I feel rather foolish being a one woman composer, musician, producer, director, advertiser, performer and set up person.  I guess its the same answer to "Why did the chicken cross the road?"   Whoa, wait a minute....wrong lesson.   "Why do people climb a mountain?"   Because it is there.   And the human spirit strains toward a challenge and victory.   

    I want the opportunity to share a creative gift that God has given me with others.  

 And a musician just has to express music.   

     This has been a good 3 "last minute prep" days in the life of Grandma G. 

     "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.  I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples."  (Psalms 57:7 & 9)

I Heard It, I Did......Post Views 11,444

      I heard it!   I really did!!  The first time since moving out here almost 2 years ago!  THUNDER and more THUNDER.   It has probably thundered before, but I didn't hear it.  A number of storms with heavy rain and some wind have passed through all day, but this is a first for me...didn't see any lightening, though.  That's OK.

 Beautiful Roses.....

They are in MY yard...
Zach planted them for me last summer....

     3 DAYS UNTIL SHOW TIME!!

       I am busy this week tending to last minute preparation for my first full length piano program of my original music.  I am excited and nervous at the same time.  There is fine tuning (pun?) to be done on some of the selections.  I'm not quite sure what I am going to use for a keyboard.  I'm guessing that is a major issue.  There is a piano in the club house.  The managers just had it tuned.  However it is not well placed and really not the quality to make me sound grand.  Need a grand piano for that.  (Bad joke)  I have a small digital piano here at home.  I will probably use that.  Now to find a couple men to move it for me.  It's still a bit awkward, being a single senior lady.  

     I also need to find a speaker for the microphone I already have.  Need to make a run to a music store tomorrow and see what I can find.  

     Other than finding a cord to fit my camcorder (so I can charge the battery) and buying a tripod. And figuring out how to fix my printer that isn't printing from the computer.  And deciding on what to wear.  And getting my hair colored and nails done.  And figuring something for intermission snack. And going to the store to buy that snack.   And folks to help me move tables and set up. And rehearsing verbal descriptions to introduce 12 songs.  And a bit more practice.  I am all set!   I am..... And maybe finding a nice long furry monkey tail...

 This has been a good 3 "getting ready for program" days in the life of Grandma G.  

    "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."  (Proverbs 16:3)

  

  

Memorial Day Weekend.....Post Views....11,412

 Memorial weekend Saturday as it is meant to be......if one is not camping, cooking out, going to parades or traveling......

This ONE spent most of the day, after water aerobics, working in her yard, spraying a patchwork of weeds that aren't suppose to grow in her pebble yard.

 IS she tending to rose bushes or playing hide and seek with the rabbits?

Grandma G's personal space all cleaned up and ready to be enjoyed






Continued into Sunday afternoon....picking old blooms off while enjoying the mild weather....

Noisy marauders across the street....
          crows having a feast meant for others....












     I had several possible plans for the remainder of Sunday, but fatigue from Saturday cancelled all of them except to take a nap, practice piano and watch the Memorial Day National concert from Washington DC.  And blog.

    This will be a busy week coming up.  One does need to careful how one advertises.....taken from our monthly newsletter....

    I will be tending to last minute preparations and continuing practice.....check back as the week progresses.....

   This has been a good 2 Memorial weekend days in the life of Grandma G. 

     "The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.  The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them."  (Psalms 145:17-19)

                                                                                                                                          

Where are the Meteorites? Post Views...11,381

     I stayed up until midnight Friday to watch the spectacular meteorite "storm".  At 11:30 the sky looked hopeful with patches of clear between patches of clouds.  By midnight the sky had become a milky film.  Probably won't be seeing the meteorite show of the year, but will try once more before going to bed.   
   If folks can have Throwback Thursday, I can have Flashback Friday.....
   Even if recent flashback....Last Saturday Carole and I had an outing to SHORTY's... a plant nursery near by.  We each had been given a $25 gift card from there for Mother's Day.  Now it was time to cash in.  Walking through their spacious property was an adventure in wonderland.      

I want to plant a monkeytail tree--some people call them "monkey-puzzle" tree.  
These baby monkeytail trees were too small to leave their mother.....the full grown one on the right is actually the same green as the baby ones and the needles, kind of triangle spiky...just can't see it on the picture...
     I did find a just right size holly tree.....paid for it with my gift card.....
 red holly berries in the fall..... 




Beautiful anthurium......had to bring it home






_________________________________________
     When's the last time YOU were kissed by a llama? 














I was last Sunday.....this is Rojo, a therapy llama, from a llama farm nearby.  I sense the making of a fun outing to Mountain Peaks Llama Farm....



A lady friend and I went to the Senior Expo in downtown Vancouver last Sunday afternoon.  My very first one ever.  It was fun but after an hour I began to question if I was old enough to be there.  I didn't win any drawings, but did come home with pens to last the next 12 month. 

This is what Grandma G wants for Christmas.....the piano? the man?  both?  I did play one song on the piano.  Great fun....

______________________________________ 
     Thursday was an evening away with the Millers for Jake's Lacrosse game in Aloha, Oregon.  I thought Deb's phone made a wrong spell check when she texted "Aloha".  There really is Aloha, OR.    

I am just starting to get familiar with the game, Lacrosse.  


Beautiful tree!! Observe the car under it.

Hey, Micki, give us a smile!!!!







     This post has gone from Friday night backwards to the Sat and Sunday the week before and then back to Thursday. Sometimes my life just rotates that way. In between on Tuesday was a "new patient" visit to a local ophthalmologist and on Wednesday, first time to take Ted to get fixed...or serviced...or maintained...however one says it.  He is doing quite well for 107,000 miles.  Needs some rust removal and interior cleaning and new rotors.     


   
                                               This is Ted....




 This has been a good "backwards week" day in the life of Grandma G.   

     "I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  (John 10:10)

TBT......Post Views...11, 364

THROW BACK THURSDAY.......
       Green and orange were "in" colors back in my day....
So was this.......Sept. 1977

Debbie, Burt, Angie, Gerry,

Louie, Chuck, Al, Georgia, Bill

     Gerry posted this on Face Book for "Throwback Thursday".  I don't know where or when TBT started but it is fun to see "old" pictures.   

      This photo presents a whole chapter of Geolou Schmidt family history.

      If you look closely at this 8" by10" picture you will see that it is cut across into 3 pieces....right through the forehead of the little guy in yellow...Chuck.   Al, in blue, is older than Chuck.  When Al got to go to kindergarten and Chuck didn't, Chuck was mad. He somehow got a pair of scissors and cut this picture into 3 pieces.  I don't remember if that was before or after he dumped a box of spaghetti all over the kitchen floor and poked a pin into a soccer ball.  I think it was the first time Al got to do something and Chuck didn't get to also. 

     This photo was taken on the day Bill was baptized.  Later that afternoon he and I were in Marshfield hospital 150 miles away.  Bill needed emergency surgery for strangulated hernia. That is probably why he does not look happy on the picture. (The doctor in Park Falls scolded me for waiting so long to bring him in.  I had taken him the first notice of a "lump in the groin".) In Marshfield hospital the nurses could not get a tiny IV into Bill's arm or leg so he ended up having in his scalp....hard on mom to see.  We were there 5 days. When Lou came with the rest of the kids to pick us up, all Debbie

could talk about on the way home was wanting to stop for pizza.   

     Back to the day of the baptism.....Lou had a terrible toothache (maybe it was a headache).  He was on pain killers and was no good for anything getting the kids ready for church, for party in the afternoon and then Bill and my trip by ambulance to Marshfield. 

    Baby Bill made our family complete.  He was the 7th child, born on the 14th day of the 9th month of  year 77.  The 9th fits there because that is how many are in our family.  (In Bible numerology, 7 is the number of completeness.)  I'm not necessarily into numerology, but it fits this situation.  

     Thanks, Gerry, for this "throwback" to Sept, 1977.   Not all those memories are fond ones, but they are history.  

 36 years later.......Oct. 2013 Grand Canyon....

Burt, Chuck, Bill, Debbie, Gerry

Al, Lou, Georgia, Angie

(We all survived.....)

     This is a good Throwback Thursday in the life of Grandma G.

      "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread."  (Psalms 37:25)

  

Razor clams....Post Views.....11,347

          WHAT is that?........Following the clues......

                                                                                                                                                           mysterious "crop" circle?


hint of a razor clam















Fearless clam hunters.....diggers

       freshly caught razor clam.....

      A new experience for this former Midwesterner......

Last Friday I had a senior trip to Seaside, an Oregon coast tourist town.  The wind was cold, so while most of
my fellow travelers opted for the shops I went walking on the beach.  

"The end of the Lewis and Clark Trail....

While walking along I started noticing little mounds of dirt here and there, then round marks in the sand.  I followed them quite far up the beach, then saw 3 men and a dog....the dog made me halt for a moment....but fearless Grandma G was caught up in following clues of strange things.....I went right up to one of the fellows and asked what they were doing.  I did.....He said they were digging for razor clams.   After a few questions I found out that the state of Oregon has seasons when conditions are just right to allow folks to get a license and dig 6 (I think) clams.  Little holes in the sand give clue to where they are.....unless the diggers aren't fast enough and the clam scoots off  to parts unknown.  I am not a clam eater so them there razor clams are safe around me to scoot off and reproduce little baby razor clams...for the diggers to dig some coming year.  

Kids on a school outing

Happy selfie.....

almost a complete sand dollar....                          school kid art....

the gulls pick out the critter inside...

                                             Seaside "stuff"....

     This was a good Seaside, Oregon day in the life of Grandma G.

    "Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea;  it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure."  (Genesis 41:49)