Oh my. The last serious blog post I wrote was in June. My apologies. It seems my life since June has been a continuous and massive effort in multi-tasking. On top of my home activities I also happen to work for two non-profits. One is a local cooperative of non-profits dedicated to the education about our area’s fresh water. The other is a local branch of a national non-profit that trains teachers how to play guitar and integrate this learning into their classrooms, Guitars in the Classroom. I started the local branch of this music non-profit and have been running it for two years. All of this still equates a “part-time” job that sometimes seems more than full-time in actuality. Once in a while I think of how much simpler, (in many ways, but not all) it was having a steady teaching job pre-recession and before my layoff. However, my life is now full of constant surprises. The continuous flux can be tiring at times but overall, although it often seems I’m working more hours for less money and no benefits, I’m having a lot of fun.
This summer, on top of the “usual” things we also decided to have a music and camping festival at our house. It was a great deal of fun. The first night, torrential rains forced all inside my husbands woodworking shop for a tight-fitting yet fantastic concert. The second night we had several bands play. I didn’t see my children much the entire weekend because they were running with the 20-something other kids around the property the entire time. Little did I know at the time, that organizing and executing this festival would be great preparation for what was to come.
In late September I received an email from the Guitars in the Classroom headquarters that George Winston, (one of our affiliated artists) was going to be in town and wondered if I’d like to organize a benefit concert for my local program. Of course, my answer was yes. I spent a great deal of time organizing this late September through mid-October. The solo guitar concert, (yes, solo guitar, George did not play piano this time around…next time) was a great success, nearly a sell-out at a venue that seats 525 people. George was also a great deal of fun to be with for three days. He’s quite kind, extraordinarily generous, good with kids and a hoot to be with. I enjoyed every minute of the planning, preparation and execution of the concert as well as playing host to George for the three days he was here. By the way, the pictures of George below were taken my friend Tracy at Karuna Photo.
So, with that, a running re-cap of the summer and fall is in order…with pictures, (these pictures are somewhat out of chronological order but the general idea is here…)
-
- The kid’s favorite baby goat jumps the fence and breaks her leg!
-
- Taking turns signing the cast
-
- Signing Oreo’s cast
-
- A bald eagle in a tree near our house
-
- Helping me make a lovely fall apple pie!
-
- Getting one of the last garden shares ready
-
- George Winston pre-solo guitar performance
-
- This one makes me laugh. BIG Guitars in the Classroom, little me. 🙂
-
- George and I having a pre-performance discussion
-
- Late summer veggies
-
- One of the many lovely lake-trip sunsets
-
- Watching the water at the lake
-
- A wonderful river kayak/canoe and camping trip
-
- A garden share
-
- Matt wires one of his custom electric guitars (Root Custom Guitars)
-
- Baby goats are born! (This is Oreo…who now has a red cast on her leg)
-
- A 5-gallon bucket full of sour cherries!
-
- At the lake
-
- A kiwi inside a kiwi…crazy!
-
- An early summer salad mix from the garden
-
- Wild strawberries!
-
- Watering the peas
-
- Radishes
-
- Many bottles of vanilla syrup made for the market…
-
- A bluebird egg that was blown from a nest in a windstorm. We incubated it and watched it develop.
-
- Dancing outside during the 2nd night of our music festival
-
- A plate of food from our community meal during the festival
-
- Night #1 of our music festival, forced indoors by torrential rains
-
- A fridge full of food for our music/camping festival!
-
- George Winston and I after a workshop he did at a local middle school.
Confessions of an EVERYDAY ECOTARIAN 