The Zenith

We have reached the pinnacle and glory of the reason people have rhododendrons in their yard. For the next 2 weeks, the flowers are in their showy best. Much of the year the rhododendron is kind of non-descript blaisé shrub. They have their function for being in the background but now they grab our attention and demand that we notice them for awhile. Last year a pilot stopped by the house because he saw the flowers as he was flying over our house. He came for a better look.
Tomorrow I'll post some video.

Day 9 and 10 Slowing down the blooming train

Day 10 Day 9

The blooming train has slowed down a bit with the cool, rainy weather. It's difficult to decipher the difference between day 9 and day 10. Fortunately, the blooms are not in their full bloom glory because rain can ruin a good display. The weight of the water on the petals makes the petals fall apart. Rain would be devastating next week, especially the amount that we had overnight. There were some loud thunderclaps yesterday.
I am most amazed at how late the Rhodys are this year. Some years they are past their prime on Mother's Day. We have a week to go before they are fully on display.

Rhody Day 9 It's almost there

What a difference a couple of nice days make. The bee's are buzzing now. We weeded under all the Rhodys to get out of the way of the bees. This is almost my favorite time to see the Rhodys because of the anticipation of what they will look like. I am glad I got my camera back from the Black Tie event ( see blog two days ago.)

Rhody Day 8 Now I know why I have a new camera

Since I haven't retrieved my camera yet, I had to take a picture with our old digital camera that has 2 pixels. If digital cameras had rods and cones I'd say that the rods and cones are shot. I now know why we purchased a new camera. This picture doesn't show the fact that I mowed the lawn.
What an awful time to be cameraless!!! With the gorgeous day yesterday and the way the day is starting today, the Rhody is making great strides in the blooming process. Does anyone have a name for my Rhody? Is anyone even reading this?

Rhody Day 7

Oh no. I left my camera at the event I presented a program. I was able to entertain at a fundraiser for our local hospital foundation, Monroe Valley Hospital Foundation. Enough money was raised to complete an emergency call system in patient emergency rooms. It was a very nice black tie event.




My audience has never looked so good!
With this being said, my Rhody picture for day 7 is on the camera. I'll post the picture tomorrow.

Day 6 Blooming on the way

It's a sunny day. There will be a lot of progress today. The bees are starting to check out the blossoms but don't spend much time yet. The blossoms are now beginning to shed their "husk," similar to a caterpillar's cocoon. There are quite a few "husks" on the ground. Again, I have to go play my harp (work). I really enjoy playing the harp. It's the carrying of it and all the other paraphernalia that is a drag for me. I am often asked masked as a funny line, "have you ever thought of playing the flute?" I think I am going to show up with a flute sometime to see how they like it.

Rhody Day 6 (be sure to double click on the picture)

Day 5 Progress

Progress is being made. Remarkably so for the cold day. I take the Rhody picture everyday at 7:30 in the morning. I adjusted my camera this time for better exposure. I think it looks better now. Believe it or not, I had to work today so that is why my posting is later than normal. What do you think I have to do all day.....watch the Rhododendrons bloom?

Day 4 Slow Blooming

It's Day 4. I'm waiting for some of the promised global warming. It snowed yesterday only 1000 feet above my head! By the time the moisture hit it was a cold rain. Not conducive for blooming Rhodies. The good news is that I can enjoy the plants longer while they are blooming. I like Rhodies a lot but there's not a lot to them when they aren't blooming. They just kind of "sit there" (that is what I have in common with them). It is supposed to rain this afternoon and overnight but the weekend should be nice. I predict that the Rhodies will be a blazing, brilliant pink by Sunday.

(be sure to double click the picture to make it larger)

Rhody Day 3

The pink just keeps coming. Even though it was cool yesterday and overnight, the pink becomes more and more present.

Rhody Day 2

Not much changed, but there probably won't be a lot of change day by day unless we get a warm day. It's cool and drizzly today.

Day 2

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! I have had the privilege to have been raised by a wonderful mother. And now I have the privilege to be married to a wonderful mother of our sons. I wish you happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that are reading this.




We have awesome Rhododendron's in our yard. I can brag about them because the spectacular blooms that the bushes produce are not a result of me. They just occur on their own without water or fertilizer. God does it all. To brag about the Rhodies is to brag upon God's handiwork. I am privileged to have them blooming in my yard.We have 14 bushes of the same variety in our gardens. When they are in full bloom the yard is brilliant.



The backyard










The front yard





Mother's Day is when they are in their zenith. But this year they are behind because of the cool weather we have had. My idea is to post a picture each day until they reach their climax. I am going to take a picture of the same Rhodie each day. It will be a sort of time lapse photography session of our Rhodies.



DAY 1
Check back daily to see this Rhody become more and more brilliant

To have the opportunity to present concerts, promo material is always being requested. In the "old days" jobs were obtained by who you knew. Now, jobs are obtained by how good your DVD is! We are already having to send in promo material to concerts associations for our 2010-2011 season. It's only 2009! Talk about making time rush by. I am living in 2011 when I haven't had half of 2009 yet.
We had a great producer of our video and crew headed by Ryan, who is seated at the harp.

Though the end result is a great recording only 19 minutes in length, there is a great amount of prep work. For 19 minutes, it took 8 hours to record.

Progress in the yard

We are often asked what it is that we do when we are not doing music. We find enjoyment spending time in the yard and the garden. It inspires us to dig in the dirt.

The season has been cool here in the Northwest. We have a view across the valley. New snow fell on the top of the mountain while spring blooms were emerging on the flowering plums that line the driveway. The winter and spring season were in a battle.

My chopping of the wood has almost been completed, the woodshed is almost full.

We are home

We had a blast! We enjoy life. We love being on the road meeting people but enjoy being home equally as well. The experiences that came along our way are special and will not be forgotten. I have found that there are good people all over this country. No one spot has a monopoly on high quality kind-hearted people. We look forward to touring the country once again in the fall of 2010.
We had a visitor to our yard while we were gone. A bear wandered to check out the place to see where we were. Some people have Watchdogs. We have Watchbears!
There is a lot of work to do now that we are home. When we don't perform, we enjoy to work in the yard. After not tending to the house for over 6 weeks and the fact that the winter has not been kind here in the Northwest (where is the global warmng anyway?). We had a dusting of snow here, this being April 3rd. Even though when we are away it is our livelihood to be performers, it is much like a vacation. There is no housework, cleaning or cooking.
Spring is around the corner. When you think if us, I will be chopping wood or Katherine will be getting the yard in shape. The pictures are the "before" picture. Check back in awhile to see the "after" picture.

Fort Benton and Highwood, MT

For personal reasons, Fort Benton was our highlight. We performed in Fort Denton specifically to see our friends from Sultan, Peter and Molly Wilson and there 4 month old son Tobias. Peter and Molly have performed with us at our Christmas concerts. Peter is part of our church family in Sultan. His parents are good friends of ours. For you country fans, Peter's mom is Gretchen Wilson. I must admit that she is not THEE Gretchen Wilson. But I am not THEE Journey (for you long haired rock fans).
Peter and Molly played with us at the concert in Fort Benton. They are both amazingly talented. This is Peter's first year of teaching music in Highwood, MT. We were delighted to bring the harps to Peter's school where his music students delighted us with our own personal concert. The school was presenting a concert for the parents in the evening we were in Highwood.
Here is a photo from our Christmas concert that Peter and Molly played with the other musicians as well.

A Blizzard en route to Montana

We didn't believe the weather man. There was a blizzard going on in Kansas, the direction we needed to go. So we headed north from Belleville/St Louis through Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, MO and into Iowa. We didn't have an opportunity to sightsee. It wasn't heaven (see blog post of two days ago). It was raining heavily all day. The skies cleared by the time we made it to Western Iowa. We spent the night in Sioux City, IO, a city that is in three states; South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.
It was a warm day when we started in the morning as we made our way through South Dakota on Interstate 90. We of course had to stop at the famous Wall Drugstore as we counted the miles down. There were weather reports of snow ahead of us. When we stopped for coffee in Gillette, WY we were told the local report was for snow to start falling at 6:00PM. It was 5:30 at the time and didn't believe the weather report as we walked back to the van, comfortably without wearing a coat, and with our latte in hand. When we left Gillette we hit the cold front and the snow. We stopped earlier than we wanted in Sheridan to spend the night. It was a fortunate thing for us we were able to follow a semi truck through the blinding and thickening snow.
It had snowed all night long. The snow was on the wetter side, as expected for March 30th. The good side of that is that the snow did not blow as much as it would have had it been colder. The down side is that the roads were icier than normal. The roads were closed heading east on Interstate 90 from Sheridan to Wall, SD. We were glad we made it to Sheridan. The roads became increasingly better the further west we drove to Billings. In Lewstown, MT the nice white van was a disaster!

Belleville, IL March 27th

The United Church of Christ in Belleville, IL has a fantastic music series organized by a group of music loving volunteers. A lot can be done with enthused volunteers. The church presents over 8 concerts durng the season of high quality.
Ron Steen is the group's leader. I am always curious as to how people stumble upon my name and music. Ron "met" me through a local tea shop that plays my music. He was having lunch with his wife Dawn at Rachel's Garden. Rachel's Garden carries my CD because of a former CD distributor of mine who is no longer in business.
The world is connected in so many ways. We do not live in a world of isolation. It's quite impossible to be isolated. Music connects us all in so many ways.
We were quite amused when we stumbed upon a buffet with my name on it. What kind of buffet would it be if it was an actual "journey" to get through it. Unfortunately we could not patronize the restaurant because there was a labor dispute occuring which closed the facility. There was a large banner on display saying unfair Journey is. It was odd seeing someone accusing me of being unfair.
We enjoyed our time in Belleville. The hotel room at the Drury Inn that the music committee furnished for us was one of the best. The weather was warm in the St Louis suburb, but snow was predicted the next evening. We didn't believe it.

On to Belleville, IL

We enjoy traveling when we can stop and see a sight or two along the way. I have had an interesting conversation with my mother-in-law. My idea of Heaven will be that no one will be wearing watches. We won't have to keep track of time. Katherine tends to lean the same direction. My mother-in-law's view is that is what going to "the other place" will be like. "Everyone will be late" is what she believes. That would not be her idea of Heaven. For me, traveling when there is no schedule is my idea of Heaven. We had a heavenly day driving. I think Katherine enjoyed the time as well, even though I wasn't paying too much attention to time. There is no more "heavenly" spot on earth than Hershey, PA where the famous chocolate is made. I don't think it would be too bad to wait around for someone at a chocolate factory.
The Hershey's were tremendously benevolent people. The Hershey's founded a boarding school for kids who came from disadvantaged circumstances. The Hersheys's were more focused towards the school than the chocolate. The Hershey's used their fortunes from their chocolate empire to fund the school. There is a tremendous lesson for me to learn from the Hershey's. They are an inspiration. It is a good place to visit.
We made a stop in Maryland in the Appalachian city of Cumberland. I was most impressed with the churches in the city as I was in many of the eastern towns. Cumberland is located at the western end of the canal that originated in Washington, DC in the Potomac River. The Cumberland Canal is the only canal remaining that one can walk along it's bank the entire way.
We drove through West Virginia spending the night on the Kentucky line.
Have I mentioned that Daniel Boone is a relative of mine? While driving through Kentucky we stopped at Daniel Boone's gravesite. I am royalty in Kentucky!
While driving through Indiana, we visited Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home. He too is an inspiration. I wonder if our elected leaders have visited these sights?
We arrived in Belleville, ready to present a concert the next day.

Lebanon, PA 3/24

If Chambersburg was short, Lebanon was even shorter. We only stayed one night in Lebanon. We awoke in Chambersburg and drove to Lebanon Cedarcrest High School to present a program for their music appreciation class and a few band and choir members. The students were engaging and asked good questions.

Our program went very well. It was a melancholy one for me as it marked the end of our community concert season. We had good experiences but best of all were friendships we made along the way.
George is no exception. He is the president of the community concert association in Lebanon. He has overseen the growth of the membership from 300 to over 600. He is a retired teacher who taught in a school in Hershey, PA that gives opportunities to students who come from one disadvantage or another in life. (More about Hershey in my next blog).

Sue Drazba and her husband were in attendance. They found me on iTunes and added my music to their website. It was an honor to meet them.
After the concert we were able to join George and his wife Carol for a Chocolate Sundae and for some brief but nice conversation. George grew up in the entertainment field and continued with his own children. At times the family presented themselves as clowns and at other times they were musicians. Whatever appealed to the audience.

Chambersburg, PA 3/23

We enjoy performing in historic theaters. The Chambersburg theater is historic! Unfortunately we did not have an opportunity to explore the area, rich with Civil War history. Chambersburg is the only Union town burned by the Confederate Army. There is a memorial fountain in the town circle dedicated to the Union soldiers for their sacrifice.
Shirley Jones, our board member host, gave us a tour of the theater after we were at Corpus Christi School to present a program for the students. To be honest, I was apprehensive when a request was made to go into the schools as much as we have done. To be honest once again, it is the highlight whenever we are in a community to go to the schools. It is rewarding to say the least when a student has been touched by the music.
The president of the Chambersburg association had one of the best ties I have ever been in the presence of. I have never been "in the presence of" a tie before!

We had the privilege of Rick running the sound for us. His daughter, Cory, was an inspired lighting tech helping out her dad. The lighting during the show was done to perfection. When Katherine was featured in a song, the lights highlighted her. And when I was featured, the light highlighted me. Cory is 15 and just had her Wisdom teeth removed! Ouch!!!