Today was a funeral at our church and Margaret was able to play with me again – I have missed her! Alberta loved music and on top of her casket was a toy grand piano – it was very sweet!
For those of you who are church musicians, I know you can sympathize with me. First of all we had our songs timed and in order when one of the grandchildren asked me to come to the basement to practice Jesus Loves Me with the great grandkids. That threw our order off and then I mistakenly turned two pages right before the piano solo – argh!!!!! Good grief – my heart nearly stopped while Margaret tried to tell me which page I should turn to. This issue on top of my piano glasses were missing from my bag when I got to church. I have another pair in the piano bench but they’re not as good as the pair that was missing. I found them in the car where they evidently fell out of my bag.
So….it all turned out fine but anxiety is my middle name.
When I closed up the barn tonight, I heard Bob’s first baby crow – err – er ahah uh – very scratchy and hoarse sounding – he’s a teenager!
Rick is working for a farmer friend so he leaves early, comes home late and goes right to bed.
No news from the farm – just beautiful fall days – probably at your house, too. Better enjoy them while we can.
Goodnight!
That sounds exactly like my days sometimes. I laughed to read this. I had an Aunt Alberta who died in September of 1956 of a brain aneurysm at age 27. I was devastated for years when that happened. She would be 98 today.
I had a wonderful birthday today!
Love reading about your days.
Rhoda – my gosh she was young to have a brain aneurysm, wasn’t she? It’s nice you’re still acknowledging her birthday – you must share the birthday? I’d love to hear how everybody else spends their days!
Some days are just like that! Just smile. You survived. I’m sure if you hit a wrong note, the congregation wouldn’t even give it another thought. And how happy the kids got to sing Jesus Loves Me.
To me, Siri looks like a Very lonely cat, not a happy cat full of pee and vinegar. The nurse must not be home very much and maybe doesn’t give the cat any loving attention when she is? Maybe she shouldn’t have a pet?
A fire started on Monday afternoon. It is located on the north side of Rapid City between Deadwood Avenue and Haines Avenue ( both north bound) where there are lots of businesses, homes and ranches. Both roads have heavy traffic. The wind was blowing fanning the flames. We could see the heavy smoke from the house. We are about 1 1/2 miles from the fire birdwise. All the fire depts got on it right away and did their best. The wind went down in the evening and the firemen did a back burn from Deadwood Ave. That burned all the fuel there so the fire couldn’t double back. A helicopter and air tanker dropped water and slurry and that saved homes. It burned almost 1000 acres. This is Wednesday night and the fire is about 50% contained. Lots of people had to evacuate from their homes but the good news is no buildings were burned and no livestock was killed. One fireman got hurt, but not bad. And yesterday another fire started on the Pine Ridge reservation. I haven’t heard the news on that one.
The good news is the smoke from the fires on the west coast is being blown away from our area. The air isn’t all yellow and orange. I had tried earlier to take pictures of the counted threads pictures, but they were all orange with the smoke.
Monday morning I got my COVID booster. Today I didn’t get much done, just slept. I was tired before but I feel fine.
The 2 quilts in progress are almost done and the next one is your Log Cabin Blue Jeans #304, which I started when I was still working! I’m cutting the strips for the logs while I watch TV. That is time consuming, but I love the result with all the variety. Gramma ruined me for life when she said “don’t waste it.” And I try not to.
Take care and enjoy the beautiful weather.
Betty in Rapid City
Betty K – I always love it when I see your name in the comment list! I’m not sure how you live with the fear of those fires – I’d be nervous during fire season and maybe you are but don’t show it. Siri is lonely but I’m very afraid to bring her into the house which is huge and full of lots of other animals. I spend time with her as I can and hope today the baby food is agreeing with her system. I’m at a loss as how to help her. The high calorie paste will come today – let’s hope she likes it! And maybe she should come into the house – maybe I could just keep her in my sewing room??? I don’t know what to do!
When you are feeding Siri, does she rub up against you, purr and talk to you? Maybe if she gets better nutrition she will get to feel better? It makes me very sad that an animal may not be loved and adored by their people. The same for kids who are also treated in the same way — no love.
Betty
HI Betty, I always enjoy your comments, too. My family and I were in South Dakaota in 1960. I’m sure it’s changed a bit since then, but we loved it:)
Where did you live and what did you do in South Dakota? Military?
The anonymous is me.
We were tourists from Western NY. I was only 9, but loved our trip!
My husband is a church musician. Tuesday was a funeral for a very lovely lady who had terminal cancer ,age 59! She had served in various ways and was truly loved. So the funeral was big. My husband gets there at 8:30 for the rehearsal for the funeral at 10. It is just him and the pianist. At 9:15 they find out the worship leader has COVID. Our new pastor tries to take his place. But he can’t sing and play at the same time. The back up worship leader had to get tested before he could join the musicians. He is late. It is now 9:40. Family has arrived. The drummer comes running in having just been alerted that he was needed. No one has set up the mics, the worship leaders job. He was exhausted!!
Cheryl – oh my gosh! My heart began racing as I read your comment! Thank goodness we don’t have a band to involve more people – it’s just me and Margaret coordinating with our pastor and sometimes we just have to “punt”! Haha! I love these comments from other church musicians! I have been a church pianist for 63 years and have learned to expect the unexpected.
Fall is in full swing here in Colorado but I haven’t had time to drive up into the mountains to do any leaf peeping this year. So far, no freezing temperatures
. Last year we had had a major snowstorm by this time!
Your last photo reminds me of Patch. I had so hopes to be riding him this fall, maybe doing some trail rides. I sure miss him. The pups are getting lots of extra love.
Diane Bauer – oh, Patch! Nice to remember him. That horse figurine is actually cast iron and I bought it to give to my sister sometime but I really love it and decided to keep it. Yes, what a difference a year has made!
Makes me smile!! I have my Dad’s cast iron horse that he played with as a kid! He gave one of the kids a smaller metal one that’s a lot more detailed. Jenica played endlessly with Breyer’s horses—a lot lighter and easier to handle than cast iron!!!! We each have one that looks like Patch and one that looks like Pete—complete with saddles, bridles, blankets!
Diane Bauer – I have bought many Breyer’s horses through the years – our family grew up with horses and Becky especially loves them!
Diane, where in Colorado do you live? My daughter and I drove up through the Rocky Mtn. Park on Monday. Trail Ridge Road is again open and the aspen trees are gorgeous, especially with the sun shining on them. Truly great photo shots. There were hundreds of elk in the meadows with the bull elk bugling and gathering their harems of females. We even were surprised to see three Mtn. sheep along the roadway as we came down Big Thompson Canyon toward home late in the afternoon. A great day to enjoy God’s wonders.
Good Morning, time to start a new day.
Life is what it is, Mary, and to have your beloved Margaret back playing with you is a blessing. Nice to hear she has recuperated enough to be at church. Yesterday we took a ride to see the beautiful fall foliage in the southern parts of NYS. We went to Attica and Arcade, up and down rolling hills and my husband did well driving again, thank God. We watched so many people getting on to ride the train so they could view the scenery, young and old, so nice to watch it all while we shared a large sub from a local shop that made their own sub rolls so especially soft and tasty. Then I got to splurge on some fall fabrics I loved at a quilt shop and we came home to enjoy a pumpkin flavored cup of coffee and fried cakes. Then took a turkey dinner to one of our church shut ins with a late afternoon visit so today I get to pet my fabric and sew some. Warm temps again today.
Kathy in NY – what a nice day you had! I’d love to ride that train!
Ah, Kathy. Fried cakes–now that is a true Western NY term! I love it;) It sounds like your husband is doing better which is soooo good. We took our kids on the Arcade and Attica when they were little and we were visiting my parents in Cuba. It was a fun ride.
Thanks for the memory!
Reading your description of your accompaniment at the funeral brought back my stint of accompanying our children’s chorus’s. I play classical type piano and found the broadway type songs sung by these chorus groups to be so different for me that I really had to work hard on them. Yes, there always seems to be times like yours yesterday for an accompanist whether it is a church group or school group or whatever. I wanted to do a flawless performance for the sake of the director, but playing in front of the parents all of whom I knew was the hard part. The kids rarely even noticed my mistakes! So glad Margaret is back and things turned out fine in the end. We are on the annual drive south from Vermont to Florida and camped on a beautiful river near Flemington, NJ. We can hear the stream flowing by and it is very peaceful. This day off is just what we need after the pressure of getting ready to go for the last week. You go Bob!
Pat Smith – oh my, it’s time to move to Florida already? Are you excited to get there? Glad you don’t have to get there in a hurry and have time to camp by a stream! Sounds so peaceful. I always want a smooth performance but don’t always achieve it. Our church members know how lucky they are to have both a pianist and an organist when other churches are listening to recorded music. Here’s a hug for Sonny!
Thus why years ago I gave up playing for weddings. NOTHING WORSE than having your songs in order and then people don’t come down the aisle at the right time so you have to play it over and over because no one is back there directing them. And, you practice practice practice to time the song the bride wants to come in on and then they walk way faster than rehearsal and you end up searching for a 3 measure ending in the middle of the song. Oh wait, and then for all your efforts and anxiety you get a $5 candle as a thank you gift.
Michele – been there! I also will never play for another wedding – ever. Oh, the hours I practice and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It’s all part of the job and I love my job so onward it is – but no weddings!
What a day you had – surely the music was wonderful even through your anxiety! So glad to hear that Margaret is back again with you. This weather is so lovely, we went to a couple of Minnesota state parks in our area yesterday and Penny had such a wonderful time, as did we. Stopped at DQ for a cone and a “pup cup” for Penny and we all had a marvelous day. Hoping to be able to get to some sewing and get back to a project that needs doing. Hope you have a nice, relaxing day today – thinking of you and Rick and the animals, sending love to all!
Love the hammered aluminum tray. I have 2, one each belonged to my mother and mother-in-law. They’re so handsome and sturdy, but yours is unique. Mine are both rectangular and one has handles. I’m always on the lookout for more.
Had to laugh at your mishap from yesterday. It happens to all of us sometimes, life is too short to worry about it. The weather here has been wet & rainy. The sun is trying to peek through today, I’m hoping to mow lawn!
Weather predictions are for sub-freezing temperatures starting Saturday but also some precipitation. It’s beautiful today so I brought in most of my plants. They usually winter over nicely in the garage. I started cleaning off my cutting table yesterday but just had to take the time to make a little pumpkin mug rug. At least I got some sewing into the day. Thanks for continuing your blog. It’s one a look forward to receiving.