Music, Music and Music

Like many of you, I like music, many styles of music but some not so much. I also became a fan of YouTube but mostly centered around Music and Dance but a few other items as well. One of my most favorite pieces of music is Pachebel's Canon in D. So, I did some searching on iTunes and Youtube and discovered The Piano Guys. They actually have two or three variations of the Cannon. I have now collected thirty or more variations featuring piano, violin, guitar, steel guitar, full orchestra, soulful, pop and jazzy versions.



Jackie Evacho age 10 at AGT 2010

While down in Phoenix caring for my son I spent time browsing YouTube and watching clips when I noticed, in the column of options on the right, a cute little blond girl who stunned the judges of AGT for 2010. The photo reminded me of my two little granddaughters who  are both blonds and if I do say so myself, very cute too. Well my interest was peaked and I clicked on the picture. The YouTube video opened up and the camera showed AGT and began zooming in on the stage and a small girl in a red dress. I almost fell off my chair as she sang O Mia Bambino Caro, in Italian, and in a voice that ought to be coming out of a full-grown woman. The sound and the image were so hard to associate. Since the video was a couple of years old I found more clips of her progress through the AGT competition and I was further amazed and I confess, hooked as a fan. I now own all but one of the CD's and DVD produced by Jackie Evancho - the one I don't own was pulled from the market before I discovered her.

Devan - 1st grade

Bria - Kindergarten

Anna Graceman age 11 at  AGT 2011

In the past two years I have discovered several more artists by watching AGT clips on YouTube: Anna Graceman (big fan), Anna Christine Nichols, Lindsey Sterling, Prince Poppycock, Kenichi Ebina and the list continues to grow. Most recently I discovered the Willis Clan who sing Irish and Blue Grass music (a family of 12 kids, age 23 down to 3 - 6 girls and 4 boys) and they are so fun to watch and so very talented.

In November of 2013 my wife Sue and I and our granddaughter Meghan (aged 12 at the time) went down to Portland OR to see Jackie Evancho (aged 13 at the time) in a live concert. The wife and I thought the concert was great, Meghan would have liked a more POP style singer but she thought Jackie was very pretty. It was fun none-the-less as we spent some time on the town in the Big City of Portland (big for Sue and I who live in the country).

 

Next Summer, 2015, Sue and I are going to Ireland which we think will be so much fun. For one thing, the part of Ireland we'll be going through contains the area, near Galway, where Sue placed her 'Village of Ballydara' in her novels and short stories. I guess for her this is a research trip. Me, I'll have my camera fully charged and ready to go. Oh, and there will be music, music and did I mention music!

It's the Fall Now!

Wow! It's already Fall and it seems I could not find the time to write blog posts since the Spring. But in truth, I could not get back into my blog because my sign-in was based on an old email address. It was just so frustrating. I won't waste time venting cause I'm sure many of you out there in Blog Land have had similar problems.

Back in March, I think it was, I tried to catch up on the trials and tribulations of the Browne Family. I mentioned that my son was the victim of a head-on car crash on December 31 of 2012 and that I spent some 6 weeks helping him get from horizontal to vertical. Thank-the-maker and the fact that he was one tough Marine, he made it and is doing fine, under the circumstances of having been in a bad crash that is.

The family trials did not end there. About the time I was getting ready to head back North from Phoenix, I got a call from my brother who told me my sister Becky's cancer was back and he informed me that she decided not to go through more treatments. Once I was back home in WA State my wife Sue and I visited Becky in the care facility she was in in Yakima WA. My daughter Sasha flew up the LA area and brother Sid's son Luke and family alos joined us for a family goodbye while Becky was still able to converse and enjoy her family one last time. This was about the second week of March, 2013. The visit was good under the circumstances and Becky had prepared herself, better than we had I dare say. A week or so later my brother called to report that Becky had passed on March 21st, 2013.

More recently my Aunt Moyne Browne, the wife of my Uncle Jim Browne, my father's youngest brother, passed away on October 1st, 2014. My Uncle Jim and my two cousins, Cyd Marie Bishop and Barry Browne and their families held a Celebration of Life Service in remembrance of Aunt Moyne. Elizabeth Price, Moyn'es older sister read a wonderful account of elements of  Moyne's life. Cousin Cyd also recounted her thoughts of growing up with her mom, where there were highs and lows but in the end the love never dimmed. Several others of us shared a few brief stories, it was a moving experience for me as I'm sure it was for everyone present.

The last two years have really transformed the landscape of my life. My birth family, which numbered five is now down to two, my brother Sid and me. Yes, we have families of our own but the comfort of parents is gone as is our sister. None the less we'll keep on.

Trials by Life

Finally I'm back at my long ignored blog. My family was hit hard by Father Time's scythe with the passing of my mother Wanda Mae in January of 2012. As I mentioned in the March of 2013 post, my brother Sid, with a bit of help from both me and his son Luke, got the Browne House ready for sale. To our surprise the housing market in Bellevue was on the upswing and the house sold in only a couple of weeks in the Fall of 2012. I thought this is was great, now I can simply grieve for the loss of Mom.

New Year's Eve, December 31st, 2012, Sue and I were getting ready for the evening meal when Sue checked our phone for voice messages. As Sue listened to a message I heard her cry "Oh no" and bend her knees a little as if to collapse. She turned to me to say that my son Collin was in a Phoenix Hospital, the victim of a head-on automobile accident. I listened to the message - they needed permission for surgery. I immediately called, talked to the Nurse and said yes to the surgery. The news was not good, but it could have been so much worse; broken and fractured bones but no head injury and no damage to internal organs. After talking to the nurse I called Collin's mom and his sister Sasha, who resides in the LA area in California. My daughter sort of took charge from the get go and she and her mother met in Phoenix on January1st.

I arrived on January 4th, having cleared my calendar so I could make the long stay in Phoenix to provide in-home care until Collin was able to do most things for himself. Collin's Mom took charge of getting some groceries,  bedding, pillows and other such items a hospital bed, set up at home, would need. Collin was in the hospital a good week and a half. He was restless and tired; one does not get much rest in a hospital. I stayed with Collin from January 4th until February 14th. Collin recovered very quickly considering his damage. Before I left, Collin was able to move about with a walking cast and even drive a car for short distances.

After getting home I tried to update this blog but my mind was just too distracted. My brother Sid had told me, while I was still in Phoenix that my sister Becky's cancer had returned. She had told him she was tired of the fight and would not seek further treatment. Near the middle of March 2013, Sue and I visited my sister Becky at her care facility in Yakima WA. My daughter Sasha flew up from So. Cal. and Sid's son Luke and family joined us for a farewell gathering. Becky passed on March 21st, 2013 at the age of 62. My brother Sid and I are now the only two of our family of five still going. I'm not sure if we'll ever really be a peace with it.

Our wonderful little foothills homestead was rocked this past Spring when a young Mt Lion was able to kill our remaining 4 hens. It's now very quiet around here. After I make a few security upgrades to the coop area we'll get some more hens and start over. Life goes on, even if a bit more somber. The month of June 2013 was spent dealing tent caterpillars and that was not fun. I built more raised garden beds over the summer and this past Fall I started clearing more ground to extend the open space around the homestead. We're now just about one full year since my last post. Outside there is still snow on the ground from a late February/March snow storm which dropped some 30 inches on us in a week's time. The seed catalogs have been arriving so Spring must be coming soon - I can hardly wait.

Gosh, it's been a year since my last posting. So much has taken place. My Brother Sidney took on the responsibility as executor of our Mother's estate. Over the remainder of 2012 I helped him get our old home ready to sell. We had some help form other family members, it was a slow and bitter-sweet process.

Roaring In Like a Lion

Ah, it's March, almost the Ides of March so I'm glad my name is not Julius. Sue and I are so ready for Spring to arrive. There a few tantalizing hints. The Daffodils and Jonquils are up a few inches. The Indian Plum & wild red current shrubs have swollen buds. On the other hand, it's still cold with mixed rain & snow. We lost power this morning about 11:45 a.m. and it was not back on until around 5:30 p.m.  The NOAA forecast is for winds in the early morning hours, lasting maybe until 1 p.m.

Last week we were visited by one of the local Coyotes. Fortunately he/she did not stay around to scope-out our hens. I hung around the coop for awhile just to make sure. My makeshift cover for the coop's safety zone has worked as well as I would like - so, this Spring I'll be putting on a metal roof. The hens will stay a bit dryer and we hope, the eggs stay a bit cleaner. Oh, by the way, the hens finally started laying eggs again, after about 6 weeks of in-action. Several of the "girls" were moulting and we think that was the prime reason for the egg stopage.

Foothills Nor'easter

The beauty of our 16 or so, inches of snow, was blasted in the middle of the night by an East-Northeast wind, roaring out of Canada. Fortunately our power stayed on during the night and all the next day, until 4:50 pm that is, when the power went out. It had been such a wonderful day, sitting near the wood stove, reading a Tony Hillerman novel, Dance Hall of the Dead. The power loss occurred right when I was about to put a baking dish, full of homemade granola, into the oven. Sue was out loading up the firewood boxes and tending to our Hens. The "Girls" were having no part of the wind as they hung out in and around their coop. One of our local wild birds was much braver, a Blackcap Chickadee worked over some Blackeyed Susan seed-heads and then took a break on a grapevine.

The good news came fifteen or twenty minutes after the power outage, the power came back on. Sue and I were not sure  it would stay on, so we shoveled a path from our garage to the pump-house. We did this so I could drag our generator there, to use in case the power went out again. It's so nice to have running water when the power is off. One worries less about the water lines freezing when the water flows and there is power for the pump-house heater. My fingers got so cold I had to take my gloves off a few times, so I could put my hands into my pants pockets to warm them up. We did get the pathway cleared and the generator is now at the pump-house. I also got the granola baked and Sue, moments ago, put the finishing touches on a sweet-potato pie, oh yum! She is now making her famous vegetable soup.

By the way, Sue makes great pies. The crust is often made with some whole wheat pastry flour and butter, gosh is it good. The pictures are  of a Hubbard Squash pie and a mixed Berry pie she made a year or so ago. As you can tell, we do not go hungry at our place, and it's so much fun growing a good portion of the food we're now eating. As the NE Wind blows outside, I'm already thinking about the Spring Planting. ~ John

Snow New Year

The New Year came and most of my family gathered at my mother's home to support each other because my mother passed away. Family traveled from near and far to visit with mother during her last days and hours. My mother, Wanda Mae McDonald-Browne let her spirit take flight at 9:10 pm on Sunday, January 8th, 2012. She had a good long life and was ready to go, so the sadness I feel is for the loss of a kind and generous woman, interesting talks and her wise council, which we'll no longer be able to share over her kitchen table. My brother Sidney, sister Rebecca and I had wonderful parents who gave us so many practical skills but more importantly, they nurtured our minds to be creative in thought and curious about who we are and why we are here. I'll do a proper tribute to my mother in a later post.

The snow has returned to the foothills and this time in force. It started the morning of January 16th and snowed off and on, all day. 

The evening of the 17th,  Sue and I removed the Christmas ornaments from our Christmas Tree, which we left decorated due to my mother's illness and passing. We played Christmas music, Christmas with the Academy, as the ornaments were returned to their respective boxes. The tree was put out next to the South-side stairs and all this time the snow was falling. After the last of the fir needles were swept away, Sue put some Christmas Lights on the South-facing window ledge, along with three colored glass

birds. Christmas was over but we still have our Winter Lights to add cheer until Winter gives way to Spring.

As we awoke on Wednesday, January 18th, we saw that it had indeed snowed all night and was still snowing. It was at least 12 inches deep now and piling up fast. Sue and I came to the realization that we were not going to be able to get out of our driveway if this snow kepted up, and it did. I finally had to let my Masonic Brothers know that I would not likely be attending the Thursday evening meeting.

By mid afternoon our backyard table was piled high with snow. You can compare the two photos and see how the snow added up. The snow slowed down around 2 pm and a bit of sun tried to peek in. Sue went for a walk and I went out around  3:30 pm to clear pathways. When Sue got back she brought in more firewood and then fed the "Girls." Our girls were having none of this snow stuff, they mostly hung out in their coop and told stories or played a game of cards, I should think. After dark I took a few more photos to show what our place looks like in the cold of a Foothills Winter Night.

Thanks for visting ~ John