Not Easily Broken

Daisy's Revenge

To understand this blog, you must read the one before it titled, "Christmas Time's a Comin." 

Oh, and due to the graphic nature of the photo in this blog, viewer discretion is advised.

In my last blog I ended with how I did not know how our cat, Daisy, puts up with us after forcing her to don a mini-Santa hat.  She wasted no time in getting her revenge. 

The very next morning was a busy Sunday morning.  I was racing around trying to get the girls ready for church when I realized the "hair box" (the box with all the girls' hair fixins) was out in the car.  I whipped open the front door ready to dash into the rain to get to the box when I stopped short of tripping on Daisy's hunched over body on the doormat.  Wondering what she was doing and why she didn't scatter away, I took a closer look only to discover THIS...

 

Eating vermin on my front doormat is her best revenge. And this is the biggest vermin she has caught yet.  Quite impressive--she never gets squirrels.  Sorry, had to share. 

At this point, I am thinking she won, and no more mini-Santa hat.

Hope to see you at Great Wolf Lodge from Dec. 21-23 6-8 pm. OR Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach Christian Conference Center in the Tinhorn Town Cafe Dec. 26-28 5:15-9:45pm!!!

Pepe is Here

Pepe the Tarantula arrived last week in time for Caleb's 13th birthday.  Caleb is so excited.  He is enthralled with Pepe.  I don't think Pepe is as enthralled with him as Pepe constantly sits under a rock and won't come out.  Actually, I am fine with that.  Anyway, Pepe is only about a half inch big, so I don't feel too nervous about him yet.  It will take 5 months for him to get to nightmare size. 

Now that Caleb is 13, that makes FOUR teenage boys living in my home.  Wow!!  I have always believed that there is a special place in Heaven for moms of four boys (or more).  And I am guessing that wherever that special place is, there must a special cook appointed to us.  No, really, other than seriously cooking ALL the time, having four teenage boys is a HOOT!  I am loving it and am enjoying every bit of it.

Practicing Christmas music now...getting ready for Great Wolf Lodge on Dec 21-23 and Warm Beach "Lights of Christmas" on Dec 26-28.  See you there!!

Bluegrassing with Kenmore and Canyon Park Jr. High Students

Wow!  We just finished up a bluegrass camp with Kenmore Junior High and Canyon Park Junior High orchestra students!  What an experience! 

Pictured below is the group of students I had the privilege of working with during the camp.  They were part of the 92 students who attended.  They called themselves Second Breakfast Band.  This is pretty much the only pic I took while we were there because we were so busy and I just didn't get to it (I do that a lot).  I wish I had more pictures of the people there.

 

Last summer, music teacher Karen Cramer invited us to come up to Cedar Springs Camp in Lake Stevens to teach her junior high orchestra students some bluegrass.  I immediately connected with her vision for the October camp and wanted to talk with our fam about taking the opportunity.  BUT the big question was whether Clayton and Camden would be available to do it. 

Clayton would be just getting into his first year of college at UW, and we weren't sure what his life would be like with a demanding school schedule.  Would he be able to miss a Friday of school? 

Also, Camden would be playing frosh football at WHS, and we didn't know when his football games would be.  We waited as long as we could to see if those issues were going to make it impossible for us to do it, or not.  Things were working out fine with the football schedule, but we still didn't know how it would work for Clayton. 

So, we just decided to go for it and figured his schedule would work out. Things were working out fine until about a week ago when Clayton came to us and said he was feeling overwhelmed with school and didn't think he was going to be able to miss class on Friday.  Gulp.  Really? 

We rely heavily on Clayton for his ability to play banjo, show us all what to do and just be a fun and positive force in the band.  How could we do it without him?  We knew none of us could teach banjo, so we would need to find another banjo player to teach the students. 

As far as performing without Clayton, we knew it would be a challenge, but also a reality as he is becoming more and more busy with his new college life.  His new chapter in life is taking him outside of our home more and more. We are all coming to grips with the reality of his growing up and having his own life apart from ours.  Ben and I knew that this was coming some day, but our kiddos did not see it coming as much and are sad as they face it now.  However,though we are missing his daily presence in our lives, it does make the times we do have together sweeter.  Also, it gives our older kids a chance to relate differently as the roles change amongst our kids with some being considered "the older ones."  The changes are a normal part of family life, and it is all good...but a little awkward and sad at times too.  We don't know how much time we will have with him in the future, but for now we enjoy it when we can get it.

Anyway, we did end up finding a banjo player to take Clayton's teaching spot for the daytime jams on Friday.  Chris Luquette of Northern Departure took the opportunity and joined us on Friday to teach a group of the student musicians some banjo and bluegrass.  Chris is an incredible musician and friend.  We so appreciated his help and the students learned a lot from him.  Chris was not able to stay for the Friday night concert because of another performance that he had with his band.  But Clayton was able to return by that point and join us for the night.  So, it all did work out well, and we all had a great time teaching.

We were also joined by fiddler, Stephen Burwell.  I have written about Stephen and his brother, Seth, a few times in our blog.  Stephen is an AWESOME musician and we love hanging out with him.  He was an excellent addition to the team! AND we found out that he and most of his family enjoy "What About Bob?" too!  That is probably our most favorite family movie.  We often quote it and noticed during the camp that Stephen was quoting it too!  After the camp, Stephen came back home with us to enjoy some Little Caesar's pizza and a viewing of "What About Bob?"--twisted minds think alike!

Back to the camp... The schedule for the camp was a lot like the Wintergrass Youth Academy schedule where the kids break into instrument specific groups the first meeting, and then they break into bluegrass bands for the rest of the time to learn a song together and perform it in a concert held the last night of the Academy.  While the Wintergrass Youth Academy has two full days to work on learning the music, this camp really had only a day.  BUT the kids were older and also orchestra students, so they were able to pick it up very quickly and even went on to learn more songs! 

While Clayton has taught at the Wintergrass Youth Academy for the last two years, the rest of us (other than Chris) were not so familiar with teaching bluegrass in this format.  So this was a stretch of our comfort zones.

However, we didn't need to worry a bit about the teaching.  The students were so enthusiastic, courteous and skilled that they picked it up quickly and were performing like pros for the Friday night concert!

We are so glad that we took this gig and hope we can do it again sometime.  I found that I really, really enjoyed working with these kids about as much as I enjoy cooking--and that's a lot!  I expected that I would be kind of tuckered out after it was all over, but really, it was quite energizing.   Since Katie is now five and probably ready to join the Wintergrass Youth Academy, I am thinking now about volunteering to help there this year.  I have been working with my own kids and music for awhile now and though I have many years left of that, I am excited to think that there will more opportunities to work with kids and music even after mine have grown and left home. 

Thank you to Karen and to the students who attended the camp.  You made our time with you a joy and we loved working with you all! Karen has struck the perfect balance between being fun, keeping everyone in line and also inspiring meaningful learning.

Also, there were other volunteers/parents who helped and taught with us.  These folks made our jobs so much easier as they brought their music skills to help with the students' learning. They also ran all kinds of errands for us, like looking for medical tape for the bass players' fingers and even taking Katie to the restroom for me. Thank you so much!!  With parents like these, it is no wonder why their kids were so great to work with!

It was an amazing couple days of camp. We hope that as these young musicians continue to enjoy music that bluegrass can be added to their list of favorite genres and memories. 

Coming up in December, we will be heading to Great Wolf Lodge to serenade Santa as he visits with kids there.  The dates and times for that are December 21-23 from 6-8pm.  Also, we will be playing at  Warm Beach Christian Conference Center for The Lights of Christmas in Stanwood, WA.  The dates for that are December 26-28th at the Tinhorn Town stage from 5:15-9:15pm.  Hope to see you there!

 

Happy Birthday, Camden!

Today, October 11th, is Camden's 15th birthday!  Happy Birthday to Camden!  Here he is with his birthday breakfast...a super doughnut from our new favorite doughnut shop, Factory Donuts, in Kingsgate.  Clark bought him a Coke to go with his doughnut--good thing birthdays only come once a year, or we might have to worry more about his twice a year dental appointments!

This week, we will be helping Kenmore Junior High music students learn how to play some bluegrass up at Cedar Springs!  We are looking forward to working with the kids and seeing how they take to bluegrass!

Cottage Lake Park

Thursday, July 28th at 7pm, we will be playing at Cottage Lake Park in Woodinville for the Upper Bear Creek Community Council's "Music in the Park" concert series.

We are excited to play at Cottage Lake because it is one of our favorite parks. Not only is it in our hometown, Woodinville, but it is also where my kiddos swim, fish, canoe, climb, play, and hangout all year-round. We have spent many evenings and early mornings there in our green canoe and float tubes fishing its waters in search of "the big one."

In fact, it was in the parking lot by the fishing dock that I began writing Clark's song, "Just One More Cast." Back then, it was common practice to drop Clark off for a couple of hours of fishing on the dock, and then come back later to take him home. I would whistle to him to let him know that it was time to go, and the answer was always, "Can't I fish a little bit longer? I haven't caught anything yet and I know I am close!" Thus the song, "Just One More Cast."

Back three years ago when we were first beginning our family band endeavor, we played for this same music series. We are thrilled that Nancy Stafford invited us to play for the 2011 series. We are looking forward to playing again, and hopefully, we will show some improvement since then!

One thing I do remember from our Cottage Lake performance three years ago...we seriously were stretching ourselves to be able to play for a whole 1.5 hours! Fortunately, this time it was not a stretch to have enough songs. After four years of learning new songs and playing, we have a lot more songs.

One more thing, Camden is selling tickets for a carwash fundraiser for the Woodinville High School football team. Camden joined the WHS football team this spring and is enjoying every minute of it. When I asked him recently what he thinks of playing football, he told me with passion in his eyes, "Mom, I really like knocking people down." Yeah, your brothers noticed....

Anyway, the carwash is on Saturday, July 30th at two locations: Kirkland and Bothell Discount Tire Company. Tickets are $10 each, remember, it is a fundraiser. If you buy a ticket, you are automatically entered into a raffle for a $250 giftcard for Discount Tire Company. The money earned from the sales is being used to send Camden and his teammates to a football camp in August.

So, if you are interested in helping the WHS football team, grab Camden at the concert and buy your ticket. If you are not interested in helping the WHS football team, avoid him like the plague, otherwise you will be guilted into handing over $10.

Make time to come out for an evening picnic with live bluegrass music at Cottage Lake Park, and make sure you come up and say, "Hi" afterwards. We love visiting with folks and especially those from our neck of the woods! See you there!

Bellegrass 2011

Saturday, June 25th we will be performing for Bellegrass 2011. 

Bellegrass 2011 is a fundraiser concert for the Japan Disaster Relief Center at Westminster Chapel in Bellevue, WA.   For Clayton's senior project he has been helping Greg White produce this event. We are hoping to raise money to help the relief and rebuilding efforts in Japan. 

Some of you may not know this, but Ben and I lived in Japan with the Navy for our first 4 years of marriage.  Clayton and Clark were born there.  We loved Japan and the people of Japan, so it is with great joy and anticipation that we participate in this concert. 

There will be 3 bands performing for the event: Not Easily Broken, Scenic Roots, and Northern Departure.  If you are reading this blog, you know our band Not Easily Broken and so you need no explanation. 

The band, Scenic Roots, is a sister duo from Concordia, Kansas.  I am so excited to meet them and see them perform! I am betting Katie and Kelli will find them inspiring!  And I am looking forward to making some female bluegrass friends.  I keep finding myself totally outnumbered by all the guys in bluegrass!  You can check them out on their website, http://www.scenicroots.com/.

Also, our friends, Northern Departure, will be playing too.  If you are from the Northwest and you love bluegrass, you have to know who Northern Departure is.  Check them out at http://www.northerndeparture.com/

The concert begins at 7pm. We've had some challenges getting ready for the concert with Clayton's travels, then Ben's travels and now Camden's.  Camden is out at Eastern Washington University, near Spokane, at a high school football camp.  I am going to drive out Saturday morning to pick him up and bring him home in time for some practice and then onto the concert!

Friday morning, the 24th, Clayton will be on the radio with Scenic Roots if you want to catch their interview.  Just tune into 1150 AM at 10am and you can hear a pre-concert interview.  We will be tuning in here at home with Grandpa and Grandma as my folks have been visiting from Illinois.  They get to join us for the concert as well.  

Bellegrass will be a great concert and we hope you can make it and help out our friends in Japan.  Check out more info at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellegrass-2011/213665058660166.  We hope to see you there!!

Folklife 2011

Hey!  Tomorrow we will be performing on the Fisher Green Stage at Folklife at 12:20pm.  We hope to see you there!  For more details, go to www.Folklife.org. 

 

A Weekend Full of Bluegrass

May 13-15 was the Bluegrass from the Forest Festival in Shelton, WA.  The festival was being hosted by one of our favorite bluegrass bands, Runaway Train.  After hanging out with Runaway Train at the Hometown Hootenanny earlier in the year, we decided that we wanted to go to this festival.  Even though things have been busy, busy, busy with school stuff, we decided to take off for the weekend and getaway for some bluegrass indulgence.

At the Shelton festival there was going to be camping on the grounds of the festival, BUT it is May.  And it is Washington.  What do we know about May and Washington?  We know that it rains a lot in May in Washington.  So, since we do not have a camper, we decided to visit the Shelton Inn for dry accommodations.  It was a good thing we did too!

 Though the weather was incredibly sunny and warm for most of Friday and Saturday, at about 5pm on Saturday there was drenching rainfall (a term we learned from Canadians on a family camping trip years ago).  Fortunately, the Shelton Inn was waiting with the light left on for us, and we slept dry and cozy that night instead of being in our non-waterproof tent.

Anyway, there was much more to this festival than just rain.  There were great bands, like The Boxcars.  There were great friends, like the Dewhirsts.  And there was great food, like the garlic fries.  There was also a Youth Academy that my three youngest youngsters really enjoyed.  Caleb had his own one-on-one lesson with a Dobro lover there!

Clayton entered the banjo contest.  Clayton practiced some during the week and was able to take home $100 and a first place title.  We were so proud of him! Here is a video of his "victory lap."  After winning first place, he had the opportunity to play a song on the main stage...

 

There was a band contest too that we entered and took second place.  The first place winner was a band called Wayward Vessel.  

 I would put some video of us playing in the contest on here, but, honestly, we kinda choked....  It all started when we were getting on stage and as Cam climbed up on stage, I knocked his tuner off his guitar with my elbow.  The tuner's back popped off, he tried to recover it and while all that was happening, it threw off Ben and Clayton and Clark as they were getting ready to start right off with "Double Bluff."  We looked kind of buffoonish as we scrambled to reassemble the tuner.  It was not such a good performance as there were a couple of other things we did or didn't do too.  I'd show you the video, but some videos should just be deleted so that the memories heal! We still ended up with 2nd place and so we are happy with that!

After the contest, because of the continuous and heavy rain, I could not cook dinner under our canopy at the festival. So, we headed out with our winnings for some carne asada at a local Mexican restaurant.  Mmmmmm!   Clark stayed back and opted for McD's takeout.  He was enjoying some jamming.  We were going to go back and jam and visit some, but the younger kiddos were tired, and really, so were the rest of us.  The call of our cozy Shelton Inn room was too strong and everyone except Clark went back to the room and crashed!  Very untypical of us!

After hanging out in Shelton for a couple nights, we went up to Warm Beach Camp for a performance at an event honoring volunteers at Warm Beach.  It was a wonderful dinner and program.  Everyone knows Warm Beach for their Lights of Christmas extravaganza.  But there is so much more that Warm Beach Camp does.  We loved hearing all about it and being able to play for the people being honored.  It was a special evening and we loved being a part of it.   We get to play for the Lights of Christmas  next December at the Tinhorn Town stage...we are looking forward to that!!

Monday, May 30th Folklife Fisher Green Stage at 12:20pm!!  See you there!!

We are having performances every weekend in May!  Wow!  How did that happen?  With baseball playoffs, school finishing up, Debate Nationals, a fishing trip in Kentucky, a 20 year wedding anniversary, and our first kiddo graduating from high school, and grandparents visiting in the next month...whoa!  When does summer vacation start?????

Keeping at it....

A Bass Decision, Finally!

Last Friday, we brought home a new bass.  We purchased it from Hammond Ashley in Issaquah, WA.  Not long ago, I wrote about how it was time for me to buy a new bass.  We have been able to save up and over time buy each band member a nice instrument.  It was my turn to have a new instrument and the big question was, "Electric or acoustic?" 

The reason for the question was because of the difficulty of traveling with a bass.  There is no question that an acoustic upright bass sounds best.  BUT it is not easy to travel with an acoustic upright bass.  Especially if you want to be on an airplane.  You can't bring one on an airplane.  Travel is definitely something we like to do, and so we thought it might help to have a bass that can travel too.

I tried the XRT NS Designs upright electric bass for a few days.  It is common with bluegrassers and is a good choice for an electric upright.  Indeed, it felt like a bass on the neck and was easy to play, but the rest of it was not like an acoustic. 

The bass itself was affordable, but to get an acoustic sound out of it was going to take a bass amp which would raise the price.  We didn't actually try it with a bass amp--just one of our amps,  so I don't know how the sound would have improved with the nice bass amp.  We were told it would be better, but I didn't bother to find out because, well, I just didn't like it anyway. 

 Fiddling with knobs and dials is not what I like to do.  I just want to play.  I could see the pros of ease of play and travel, but the rest was so unappealing that I quickly decided that I wanted to stay with acoustic upright.  Some fam members were disappointed (the boys couldn't keep their hands off it), but took it well.

 

An acoustic upright bass is like a fine piece of furniture.  All that wood looks so pretty. Really!  I use mine like a desk.  I even put post-it notes of set lists and hard-to-remember lyrics on the topside of mine and there they sit, on my desk-like bass.     

 

 

 

After ruling out the electric bass, I moved on to evaluating acoustic ones.  To make a long story short, I ended up with a previously-owned, blonde Engelhardt from Hammond Ashley.  They were selling it on consignment and the owner came down on the price enough that we could afford it.  It is nice because it was ready to go and needed nothing.  We picked it up on Friday, and I played it Saturday night at the Maltby Jam and Open Mic.  I really like it!

The travel issue is not resolved, but we are trusting that if we have the opportunity to travel by plane, then we will figure out a way to either bring mine, OR rent, or borrow one at the destination.  Or, maybe more band funds will go toward one of those Kala basses that are becoming popular in bluegrass  now (although playing horizontally would take some serious getting used to...I am upright minded).

 

 

 

 

 

Also some of you might remember that I wanted a brunette, or better yet, a CHOCOLATE bass.  But, I just couldn't find any at a price we could afford.  Hammond Ashley had the blonde Engelhardt and the price was right.  I had to come to terms with that somehow.  Finally, I made an important realization...some of my best friends are blondes.  Why not my bass too?  That realization clinched it, and the blonde Engelhardt became a new and dear friend almost immediately! 

 

This weekend we will be in Shelton competing in the Bluegrass From the Forest Festival band competition!  Clayton is taking a break from his busy school schedule to compete in a banjo contest there too.  It should be a lot of fun and hopefully we will do well with the competitions.  Give us a cheer if you catch us performing there!

 

 

 

   

A Visit to the EMP

We have lived in Seattle for almost 15 years and have not made it down to see Mt. St. Helens.  So, when a friend asked me last week if the kids and I would like to join her and her son on a day trip to see it, the answer was, "YES!"

A couple days before our big adventure, my wise friend thought it might be a good idea to check out the website for Mt. St. Helens.  She was disappointed to find that the park does not open until May.  So, our outing was postponed until later this summer when the park is actually open.  Still, we had a day open for a field trip that the kids earned by working extra hard on school work.  We needed to come up with a Plan B.

It is not easy to span interests across the ages of 4 to almost 18 years old.  Some kids wanted to go to the Seattle Aquarium, some did not--I mean REALLY did not...like, "If we go there, then I am not going" not.  Other kids wanted to go shopping at Bellevue Square and get a pedicure then lunch with friend (Okay, I'm not a kid...I just thought as long as we were brainstorming).  Then, other kids thought a movie would be fun (Really?  How unimaginative).  Someone mentioned a day-long alpine hike in the Cascade Mountains...ummm, hello?  The parental supervisors for this outing are mothers--not dads.  Notice the aforementioned choice of Bellevue Square).

We ended up going to the Experience the Music Project in downtown Seattle. 

The EMP, as it is called, is a sort of museum that explores popular music and its roots.  It often features different kinds of music and bands.  As you can see in the picture, the building is rather strange.  It is supposed to be compared to a melted guitar.  It features the largest collection of Jimmy Hendrix memorabilia.  EMP has a lot of interactive displays. 

 

 

 

Basically, the kids went there and jammed on electric guitars most of the day. 

At one point the boys and friend decided to participate in a sort of pretend rock band performance.  They could choose from 4 different songs to perform:  "Purple Haze", "I Love Rock n Roll", "Wild Thing", and "Twist and Shout."  Once they chose a song and band name, then they could go onto a simulated stage and play for a simulated crowd.  Afterwards, they would be able to watch a video of the performance and even purchase it for $25. 

The boys had a hard time choosing a song since they weren't so familiar with any of them.  As they were discussing song options, I was sitting back and watching previous performer videos.  One video had a mom and her elementary-age son performing.  I noticed how ridiculous that mom looked as she tried to look like a rock star and how the camera angle did nothing for her appearance.  It added 15 pounds to her.  I was so glad that I was only going to be watching from a corner as the boys made their video.

That relief lasted a brief second. 

The boys were arguing back and forth about song choice and how none of them knew the songs well enough to perform them.  They had halfway decided on "Twist and Shout" when I decided to jump in with some motherly encouragement, "Come on guys, you know 'Twist and Shout!'  It's a famous Beatles song."  Then I proceeded to sing a bit for them.  That's when they all turned on me and said, "MOM!  You know it!  You can sing it!"  Ugh.  No way.  Images of that ridiculous mom replayed in my mind.  No way.

In the end, my boys and their friend talked me into it on the grounds that it was going to make them soooo happy and make such an awesome memory for them.  The things we do for our children.

We performed "Twist and Shout" before an gigantic, wild, simulated audience.  I was, of course, the only one who even attempted to twist and shout during the song.  The boys concentrated only on their instruments and stood planted solidly on the stage never so much as twitching a muscle on their waists.

We exited our simulated stage to watch our video.  Fortunately, we were boring enough that they will not even think of using it as an enticement to other would-be pretend rockstars.  Hopefully, the delete button was hit after they played it for us.  And yes, it did add 15 pounds to me. 

After awhile, we left the EMP and had a chilly picnic lunch by the musical fountain in the middle of Seattle Center.  Many of our kiddos were soaked by the fountain (I dont' think my kids will ever outgrow jumping into that fountain).  

  We also ran an experiment on what kinds of foods seagulls will eat.  We tested with Dorito chips and carrot sticks. Even though both food items are orange in color, the seagulls could detect a difference and avoided the carrots while gorging on Doritos...our kids did the same thing.  They even fought over the bag like the seagulls...hmmm. 

We went back to EMP and finished up with trying to visit the Sci-Fi Museum that is connected to the EMP.  However, it was closed.  The museum is gearing up for an "Avatar" display.  Kelli was very disturbed about not getting to see the "Star Wars' display there, but soon got over it.  We did get to see a "BattleStar Galactica" display while we were there.  As a kid, I remembered "BattleStar Galactica" as a sort of disappointing offshoot of "Star Wars." I was surprised to find a remake of the series in 2003-2004. 

We went home and decided to get a treat of Drumsticks (ice cream cones in a box) for fun--Drumsticks after the visit to EMP.  Netflix had "Battlestar Galactica" on instant play, so the kids watched that while dinner was prepared.  The dads joined us for dinner.

We had a lot of fun on our outing to EMP and study of pop culture. However, we always find that the best part of any outing is the people you spend it with--thank you Melanie, Tim and Jonathan, for a day full of fun and laughter!

Changing subjects...We hope you all have a blessed Easter.  If you are looking for a place to worship on Easter morning, you are invited to worship with us at Bellewood Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, WA.  We are going to be enjoying a pancake breakfast at 9am at the church and then an Easter service at 11am.  If all goes as planned, Not Easily Broken will be performing a song for the worship service.  Looking forward to it!