My bro-in-law, a singer/songwriter, or as he would probably reverse that billing, I will simply refer to as David, sent an e-mail reporting an upcoming house concert at their place October 4th. As I visited the house concert website, I found this photo taken the last time this same artist, Heather Waters, performed there, and I just love this picture!!!!! Lori, my sister, has an excellent flare for decorating, as you can see, and the photographer used the light so very well for the room. I had an opportunity to be in WI when they had planned a house concert last year but opted to skip going back to their side of WI before catching my plane out of Milwaukee for home. My loss! David has been practicing making deep-fried cheese curds to serve this musician and I happened to be at their home when Lori made the first batch in her frypan. In my opinion, those were delicious and perfect but David claims they have moved beyond the frypan and are into the fire---actually a deep fryer on the deck! Of course, I had to chuckle because in the e-mail, David had to remind folks that the Packer/Viking Game is NOT on the same day as the house concert, but on Monday night, so no excuses for not coming!!!
Lori and David's living room is set up for the concert. They host several a year and puts David in his happy place! By day, he is runs production at WinCraft in Winona, MN and every other spare moment is wrapped in his music. Lori works at her church as Director of Education and runs the house, devours books and designs/creates jewelry into the wee hours of the morning. Their son, Dustin, just moved an hour and a half away to attend college. I do not think this household will not suffer from empty-nest syndrome any time soon!
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Before beginning my day at this keyboard, my "instrument" of choice, as compared to the guitar or dulcimer, I got out my trusty Clorox wipes to clean the keys and mouse. Somehow, my keys get sticky and crumbs fall between them, and the mouse feels grungy. It might be because I eat at my desk---ya' think??? Cheese popcorn and computer keys are not a good mix, nor are the white pages of a book...
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The mistake I repeat week after week is stopping to get my mail, which results in bringing yet more paper into my house, onto my desk. Much of it goes into the wastebasket without even opening the envelopes but some must be filed or in some way dealt with. Which means, piled on the desk! Overflow goes on my "organizer" (ha!) next to my desk. My nightmare would be a terrible storm coming off the river and breaking my windows, blowing my papers all over the room. THEN, I would have to actually do something with them. The rest of my home must be neat and orderly but somehow this rule applies not to the desk!
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Yesterday afternoon I spent time finishing a book I was reading while also watching a tear jerker movie, "P.S., I Love You". Gerard Butler is the male lead and Hillary Swank, the star of the movie "Freedom Writers" which I enjoy so much, plays his wife. Wow, talk about a double-whammy! I had seen the movie with Lynn when my family was here visiting at CHRISTmas in 2007 while the others went to a different non-tear jerker movie. Never had I a desire to visit Ireland until I saw the scenery in this movie. There is a line in the movie where the young couple first meet each other and "Holly" is freezing as she walked down a road in Ireland. She did not have a coat along because, as she told Gerry, "The paper said it was going to be warm." He said, "It is warm, warm for Ireland..." I get that, I get that!!! Warm for WI is cold for me, often. And that is why I wonder if I would ever pick Ireland over the Greek Isles.
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Last night was choir rehearsal, a good one, although one important alto voice was noticeably absent. We have a wonderful communion hymn we are rehearsing which will be sung a cappella and we surprise ourselves by sounding halfway decent. Afterwards a group of us recessed to the Fellowship Hall to put up "bulletin boards" without any boards. Thanks to the teachers in our group, colored paper sheets were applied with staples to the walls with corrugated ruffled edges to look like a frame. Voila! Janet had punched out giant-sized letters at her school that day so we have one area for posting "Activities" and one dedicated to the Sunday school! Talk about adding some color to the room. Teachers really have the best ideas! And best resources!
