The Back Forty and Weekly News...

Marcy and I ate out on doctor day.

Our nephew, Toni, met us at the doctor's office.

Stormi, Toni's daughter joined Aunt Marcy (cancer free), Toni and me for lunch.

Zander, my youngest grandson, graduated Kindergarten the 22nd. He's headed to Big School for Big Kids.

Hubby found me an amazing rock and delivered it to my water/rock garden.  That guy knows the way to my heart!

Bonnie, the pit bull and Sir Loin, the meat giver, have become fast friends.  They are now exchanging licks! They say never name an animal you are going to eat but, alas, we did.  Marcy carries him fresh clover and we all pet this bull calf.  I will remember to thank Sir Loin for his gift to us when I bite into that first meat.

My other sister, Beverly, and I keep on working every day at the shop. The farm keeps us busy, too.   I wondered what happened to retirement??

Editing Dummy Here...

I am working on a clip so you can finally hear Andrew play.  I have no idea how to begin but just know I am trying.

I, the photographer, am fired. I have fired myself.  Andrew has practiced twice with the new 289 Band since they have changed things up.  Two old members remain four were added.  

Andrew was the only invited "special guest" with the band.  The Izard County Consolidated High School opened this act with their school band.  The entire band played well.  I'm a sucker for sax and horns...they were great.

The theme for this show was the history of rock and roll.  Chuck the writer/announcer/guitar player told the story as we traveled from the forties to the present.  We heard Beatles, Sonny and Cher, The Turtles, CCR with John Fogerty, The Carpenters, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nix, Booker T and The MGs, Janis Joplin, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Lynyrd Skynyrd The Kinks and many more I can't remember...not because they weren't good but because I forgot!

Andrew played three solos I think and was on stage playing back up the entire time.  He had been there since one o'clock and the show ended at nine.  He was tired but still had energy to get phone numbers

from some fans.  A young lady wanted him to join her in a talent show.  She sings.  He plays.  That's all I know.  Andrew ain't talking!

The crowd was great.  Hoots and hollers from old gray haired people...that includes me. Many people stood up during one of Andrew's solos.  He played solos in Hey Joe, Pride and Joy, Green Onions and more that I've forgotten.  Next time I will take notes and no pictures.

"...and the crowd went wild" was true this night.  The radio station from another county was there broadcasting live.  A good friend suggested maybe the radio has a recording of the complete performance

This was the best family photo I could get not including me, Hubby, Jake (middle grandson) and Stormi, Toni's daughter.  I was happy to catch this many in one spot with SOME of them looking at the camera.

Left to right:  Zander (youngest grandson, son of Maria), Toni, (nephew), Maria (daughter, Andrew's mom), Melissa (oldest daughter, mother of Jake) and our star of the night, Andrew.

I am so proud of Andrew's God gifted, self taught talent.  I am proud of all my family.

It was just a magical night.  

Soon, I promise, I will figure out how to edit film and make it small enough to post.

May your day be filled with wonderful music.

One Thousand Nine Hundred Sixty-Nine....

is the number of today's post.  It is also the year my first nephew was born.  Since Toni was the first grandchild there was much excitement...which was good for me, too.

The evening before we had our annual FHA/FFA field trip.  I was a mere fifteen years old.  It was always exciting to participate in these bus trips with all your friends   I was especially proud of this trip because I was wearing a new short jump suit with a Nehru Collar and a zipper up the entire front. (We won't talk about how much I detested setting zippers, that's another story).

This is sorta what it looked like only much shorter, much tighter with a Nehru collar and cap sleeves.  Man, I worked hard to get that sewn in time for our trip and I was feeling beautiful.

To make a long story short.  The guy I had my eye on liked it too.  Come on, people, remember those bus trips, kissing in every seat and the teachers did not see or pretended they did not see....I got my first hickey!!!  I did not know what it was.  I just knew it was a visible mark that would give my  father a legal right to kill me. The zipper stayed in place...both of ours.

I made it safely home, safely through breakfast because I wore a turtle neck sweater to the breakfast table.  Thank goodness and good luck, Bev went into labor while I was at school.  I stayed with an old family friend who made homemade fudge and mentioned nothing of my "mark".

Someone told me the toothpaste trick and it had disappeared by the time the family looked at me again.  Christopher Kyle Antonio Day was born saving my ass and he keeps on being a special nephew.

Toni is home again after a two year work assignment in Alaska.  World traveled and wise, a father now with a beautiful smart daughter Stormi who is juggling college, two jobs and life at twenty-one.

Thank you Toni for being you.  Thank you blogger friends for being with me through 1969 posts.