Potatoes. Yum.

Dear peeps,

How else to title this post?

I know the drill about white potatoes. But boy do I know how I love cooked potatoes sliced thin and browned in an iron skillet in olive oil with some camp seasoning. Yes ma'am.

Some of you might remember this picture from my lost blog. My feet as I walk through the garden. I love this photo.

Jason and I took our guitars to see a friend in the hospital. We played a few songs for him. It was good to make him smile. He is a dear friend of ours who had a stroke, was working to recover, and then almost exactly a year after the stroke he fell and broke his hip and femur. My heart just breaks for those who are sick and suffering. There is so much more that I can and should do for others.

Well I gotta go eat my potatoes. Was just waiting for the chicken to get ready!

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Working on a painting...

Dear Peeps,

I love working with acrylic paints! I love discovering what one tiny brush stroke of white can add to a painting. I am currently working on a painting, experimenting more with colors, sometimes using a very narrow palette and recently experimenting with bright colors. This painting is not finished but I am liking the way Mr. Guitar Man is turning out. I have never had any art lessons, and I definitely consider myself an amateur painter, but I am just in love with the process of trying to put depth and light and shadow on a flat surface. I will share this painting again when it is finished.

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

A Lovely Face From Long Ago

My dear friends,

Suddenly, I am me. I just am not sure how to even say it, but it is like there is light. I have many areas in my life where I need to improve, including the amount of quiet time I spend with God, but I have such a sense of "everything is okay." Finally.

I have acquired over the last few months literally dozens and dozens of old photos. Many of the ones I have purchased lately are from the 1800s. Small photos. The faces seem to have so much to tell, but they are mostly somber. The attire looks stiff and hot, but very proud and modest. I found a tiny photo the other day, and the girl's face was so faded, you almost could not even make it out, but I scanned it and applied an effect or two in a photo editing app.

Isn't it amazing? If only her name had been written on the back. I wonder, oh I wonder who she was!

The next photo is not old, as I am sure you will instantly know. I wore one of the vintage hats for awhile in the shop on Saturday. It was a fun thing to do, and a hit! I sold 11 hats over the weekend! I rolled my hair up in the back and rocked a pillbox hat.

Isn't it cute?

That is all for now. Jason and I are about to practice our guitars. I have not really practiced in days. Ugh. I should be practicing 5 hours a day to get to 10,000 hours!! You know they say 10,000 hours means mastery!

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Music, Music Everywhere -- Blues Music in Durham

My dear peeps,

Dang. I sort of feel like something is missing sometimes, and I guess this is it. I miss my peeps. Tumblr is a nice platform for visual but not really easy to interact with others. The big pain with blogging for me right now is putting pictures on the posts. No desktop. Just the iPad, though Jason says I can use his anytime. But I just hate using other people's stuff. You know? It is his. I guess I'll figure out a way to do it quickly. My life is going by too fast to spend two hours putting up a blog post. oh, you all are worth it but there are not enough hours in the day!!

I have enjoyed so much wonderful music lately. What a privilege to get to see Frazey Ford earlier in the week at Motorco. She is one of my favorites!! Amazing songwriter and very one-of-a-kind voice. She's a soulful singer. I just love her!




Right on the heels of that we saw (at the Blue Note Grill) Ruthie Foster, another wonderful performer, a woman who sings the blues! She actually has a strong gospel influence in her music as well. I am only scratching the surface with my descriptions, so please forgive me.



A few weeks ago Jason and I performed at a benefit to raise money for Susan G. Komen. A friend of ours has had stage IV breast cancer for over 6 years. She has an attitude that just cannot be beat. And a husband who is just absolutely her biggest support and friend. The Komen foundation had a lot to do with one of the meds that has worked so well for her. Her husband, who has taken some lessons from Jason, also played and sang with us. Jason and I played Chemical Vessel, a song that I wrote; Old Fashioned Morphine, a great song by another of my favorites, Jolie Holland; and, 4 and 20 Blues, a great blues song that Redbird does. I sang the first two and then Jason sang the third while I sang backup. When our friend Mike played with us we did Don't Be Cruel by Elvis, wherein I did the background be-bops; we did Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly, and Mike sang that; and then, at Mike's request, I sang Let It Be Me by the Everly Brothers. It is a song that Mike meant for his wife. It was a great evening!





I really believe it went well. Onward and upward!

Finally, we saw Tony Joe White together for the second time. The first time we saw him I had just started playing guitar. Tony Joe has a sexy voice going on people! He's a great guitar player and performer. We just thoroughly enjoyed it all. Now I have new guitar fever. Ha ha.



Enough for today. Stay tuned for the latest pictures of Sidetracked.

Enjoy this day.

Coffee and Chocolate

In case you Peeps are wondering about my morning coffee.

It is a very difficult job, but someone has to work on this bag of Ghiradelli chocolates! I volunteered, knocking everyone else away, shielding them from the danger ahead. There are only a few left in the bag, so I think I have everything under control.

Whew.

The shop was so pretty on Saturday, prepared for Valentine's Day. It was a good day! And speaking of Valentine's Day, my dear sweet friend Jason bought me a baby guitar for the shop for Valentine's Day. It is small enough to carry into the shop and not take up too much space. "Baby" guitar gives the impression of a child's instrument, but many companies now are making baby and mini guitars that have great tone and are perfect for travel for adults.

I tried out a Martin,a Yahama, and a Taylor. It came down to the Taylor and the Yahama. The Martin was set up to play with an amp, and I did not need that. Also, I was not sure how I felt about the thickness of the neck of the Martin. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the tone of the Yahama, and the price was perfect, as far as I was concerned! Not that I think Yamaha is bad by any means. It is just that Jason has a baby Taylor himself, and I already knew how great it sounded, so I had already set the Taylor on a pedestal in my mind, I guess.

I love this little vintage tray. Made in Italy. Currently in the shop.

And these old fabric flowers. Ahhhhh.

Now, some things that have inspired me this morning.

Beautiful altered couture.

Source

A perfectly perfect greenhouse screen door.

Source

Be still my heart! Heart-stopping boots.

Source

With that, enjoy this day!

Lynn

My One-Word Tuesday Blog Post

PRACTICING

Enjoy this day! Lynn

"Relic-ing" A Guitar

Dear Friends,

I am tired this evening. I hate to start a post with a complaint, but there you have it. I have missed some sleep lately and I am certainly the kind of girl who needs 8 hours a night. If I don't get it, I feel it. As I have gotten older I find that I am sometimes okay with 7 hours but under 7 and I turn into Evil-lyn.

About the post title, maybe some of you will remember when I got the Fender two years ago and started playing. Well, that Fender is a very introductory not-expensive guitar and it had been damaged and repaired at some point. I love the guitar and won't part with it, but it does not sound as good as something a little nicer. These days I play only my (Jason's) Martin. I love that guitar. Yes. It was with wild abandon that I set about this afternoon distressing the Fender.

Peeps, I would NEVER do this to a new guitar. The fact that the Fender has some structural issues made me feel very comfortable with messing around with it. I am not done yet but maybe you can see a bit of the pink vibe I am going for. Speaking of guitar, I need to do my two year progress video soon. Has it really been two years! I cannot figure out how to embed a video with the iPad but here is the link to the one-year mark.

year 1 progress video

I need to practice more! I feel I should be so much further along than I am but I am not going to stop. I guess I will figure out something to play and do the two-year video soon.

In other news, I wanted to share a picture of Greyson watching Sponge Bob Square Pants. (Love that show!)

He reminds me so much of his dad and yet Joe was not this stocky at this age. He was maybe taller but definitely thinner. It could be that Greyson is just as tall as Joesph was at this age. It is hard to tell due to the weight. Anyway, Joseph is the biggest of my three boys, er uh, men. It will be interesting to see how Greyson grows.

Now, my other boy, Vlad, is pretty big too. He weighed in at 16 pounds last week. Goodness. I call this shot of Vlad "Put Me Down." Vlad's sister Lucy weighed in at 12.2, so she is no featherweight.

She is a pretty girl.

Finally, I wanted to share another recently scanned photo. Look at her collar and the cross and the flower pinned onto her blouse. I would love to see the whole outfit. Again, I wish I had more info.

I am off to practice a bit and then to bed.

Enjoy this day.

Lynn