On The Road

Sue and I just got back from visiting Sean, Sasha and their Little People in So. California. The trip was fun and we got to use our TSA Pre-check status for the first time, it went smooth. The grand kids had lots of sporting events last Saturday, each one of them had a soccer game plus Bria had a softball game. Devan and Bria have been attending a soccer skills program and I observed the two girls using their skills in each of their respective games, not bad for 7 and 6 years old respectively. On Sunday Sean took us all bowling but the arcade area was more interesting to the kids. The visit to LA was fun, the food was great and the hugs and snuggles with the grand kids more than worth the travel time.

Coming up, I have a few Masonic activities - my Official Visit to three Lodges, the Outdoor Fellowcraft Degree in Roche Harbor in May and the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Washington in June. Also this Summer Sue and I will visit Ireland. This is SOOoooo exciting: I've not been out of the country since my 1983 trip to Japan.

More on Music

Sue and I are listening to a new singing group, a family actually, The Willis Clan. OK, OK - I'll tell you how it happened. After getting hooked on watching music videos on YouTube (see a recent POST on the subject) I looked to see what talent was on for the Fall of 2014. I noted The Willis Clan was competing and so I clicked on the link. I saw their first audition and was hooked. So I looked for more videos and was rewarded with several. That led me to 'Google' their Web page and a purchase two T-shirts. The shirts are pretty cool with a Celtic Cross on the back.

The Willis Clan is a family of very talented musicians, dancers, athletes and just fine people. There are 12 children, though in truth nearly half could not be called children, being in their early 20's and late-mid teens. The youngest is about 4, see photo at right. Each of the older youngsters, I think I can call them that since I'm 66, plays several instruments very well. Their music tends toward traditional Irish and Bluegrass, but they can play most any genre. All of the older kids and many of the younger ones dance multiple styles, Irish Step Dancing for sure, but also swing and ballroom. A few have won Championships - there are some YouTube videos if you'd care to see them in action.

I do hope you'll check this family's music out, they have two albums for sale and you can view a number of videos of them singing on YouTube. 

Good Things about April and music. April is the month that our Grandson Conor Patrick Moriarty turned 5 years old. He is growing so fast, but he needs to in order to keep up with this two older sisters. April is also the birthday month for my favorite classical crossover singer, Jackie Evancho, whose latest album, Awakening, is really good in my opinion. I especially like her renditions of U2's With or Without You and The Rains of Castamere. Jackie turned 15 a few days ago. My pleasure listening playlist features Jackie along with Anna Graceman and the Willis Clan. For purely instrumental music I like The Willis Clan,  The Piano Guys, violinists Taylor Davis and Lindsey Stirling, and, pianists Michael Allison, Rhonda Mackert and Joe Yamada. Eugene Ormandy (Philadelphia Orchestra) is my favorite conductor-though he is no longer with us. For composers I like James Horner, Rachael Portman, Howard Shore and Hanz Zimmer and John Williams to name a few.

My newest Facebook friend is Anna Graceman who performed on AGT in the Fall of 2011. She posted a wonderful photo of herself (center) with her brother and sister. Anna has lots of fun YouTube videos and of course, like most of the other artists noted above you can purchase her music at iTunes and her website AnnaGraceman.com

I hope everyone has a great Spring. I'll try to get to my Blog more regularly - I should have some building projects to report on in the weeks ahead. ~ John

Where Was Winter

It's Spring now, so the calendar says but it feels like Winter was here for only a long week and then left. That was too bad because the local Ski Area had to close down early. Sue and I not too bummed out about this lack of Winter because we were able to get much needed brush cleared. I've restarted one building project and begun another. My little work-out hut is getting a wooden floor and I'm going to put up a car port. March is nearly gone and my grandson Conor turns 5 year old on April Fools Day. Sue and I will be down in LA area to see him, his tow older sisters and their parents of course.

Actually Sue and I did already make a family trip this year. Back in late January we went down to Astoria Oregon to welcome a new granddaughter, Flora, into the world. Momma and baby girl are doing well and I'll do some needed bragging in a future post.

I did write a post in October but my time to write went south when I agreed to finish the remaining term of a fellow Mason who was our local Deputy of the Grand Master for Dist. Ten. They picked me because I've been the Deputy before and I wasn't bright enough to say NO. Well, that's not actually true, it was a job needing to be done and I knew the ropes so it was better to bring in experience (me) than  to throw someone new into the deep end of the pool.
Anyway I've been pretty busy but tonight I found some time.

Here at Berryridge Farm Sue is also busy. She is just putting the finishing touches to her next novel, again set in Ireland. I'll post a photo of the cover in a few days I hope. In my October 2014 post I told y'all about the cool Fan Tour Sue and I are going on this coming June. We've got our Passports and TSA Pre-check #'s and flights all set. This tour is going to be really fun, I'll take lots of pics and Sue will do research along the way. I'm sure the Willis Clan will be fun to hang with and they're so talented, it's a bit unreal.

Well I'll post this for now but I will likely return to stick in a few pictures. So long for now ~ John