Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Boo!

Fall is definitely here. I always look so forward to the leaves changing... and love them while they're in their Fall glory..... and, then, all too often, we get a storm.... it gets windy and Poof! They're all gone. Just like that.

I still have Maples, though, that are just now starting to change! They'll be my last chance for photos. :)

This tree is downtown, in historic McMinnville. It looks so beautiful down there right now! My only complaint... if I had a complaint, which I don't, really... is all the overhead wiring! You go to take a picture of some lovely group of trees and there are all these wires going across them! Ugh! Photoshop would take care of that, probably, wouldn't it? Well, some day I'll have that. Not today.

Here's a little something that I put together for the dining room table.

And, Halloween is right around the corner!!! I mean, that corner is only four days long now! I'm *so* not ready for Halloween.... and probably will not have a costume because of that, but so be it. We've had sickness in this house for a week and a half. I need to make our front porch look not-so-scary. No, you don't understand.... our porch looks scary in the real sense, not in the Halloween goblin and ghoul type way.
Blackberry vines went crazy while I was busy working on the garden, in the backyard, over the summer! You turn your head for five minutes and those little buggers run amok! "Amok", now there's a word. And, here I thought that "awry" was my favorite word. Today it might be "amok". Did I spell that correctly? It's starting to look funny now. Ah, I just looked it up. It can be spelled like I spelled it... or "amuck". Oh, my. It also says this:
(among members of certain Southeast Asian cultures)..a psychic disturbance characterized by depression, followed by a manic urge to murder. Wow. I didn't realize that word was so intense. Well, I'd still say the blackberries have run amok.... they'd like to take over the world!!
Enjoy the day!
~ Teri

















Monday, October 19, 2009

Reuniting with old friends!



























So, here I am, first singing a duet at the Spring Concert, in May of 1976, and then at my 8th grade graduation, June 10, 1976. I've recently reconnected with some of these people; people that I played music with and many of us are still playing, and doing music professionally, which is really great to see! We owe a lot to the man in the first picture, Gary Fredrick(s?), who was our guitar instructor. He did so much more for us than simply teach us how to play the guitar!! He put together different groups, a "Mariachi Group", which I was in, and a rock-band, which my friends were in and some of them backed us up, too. But, the cool thing was that he booked us to play in public places!! We started out going to nursing homes, that kind of thing... then, we were doing a bank opening/ribbon-cutting ceremony, then we started playing in pizza parlors! He took all the sound gear and set it up, ran it, etc..... I *so* appreciate all the work he did for us *now*!! It was such a great experience for 12/13 year olds!! We never got paid.... I don't think it occurred to any of us to be paid! We were just having fun and I'm sure the pizza parlor enjoyed having us there, for free! :) We did bring some people in for them and we benefitted in so many other ways! The Chorus teacher, Mr. Orlando, was equally wonderful. Those were easily the best years of my school career, which is what all these other people have said, too. That's partly because it was a small school, but also because of these two great men and their love for music. They've both left the planet, so to speak, unfortunately. But, I'm sure they touched many more kids' lives than just ours, over the years. I'm so thankful for both of them. I'm sure they're both smiling down upon all of us right now. Rest in Peace, you two.