Do I believe in Love at First Sight?

Y E S... yes I do.  As long as Frye is making boots

Shack in the Woods...

My sister has been fortunate enough to have a place at the lake and a boat for many years.  And I am fortunate enough to have a fortunate sister ;) and to get invited to tag along whenever I can.  Last weekend I went to her place at the lake and out in her boat.  Man, it felt good.  Is there anything better?  Than having a) a getaway and b) having getaway next to the water?  Then I came back to Nashville and it made me think...  "the woods are looking pretty good"...

When I moved to Nashville, I knew for me to stay here I would have to have family here.  My family, or start a new family.  I've been here a while.  I have the most amazing friends in the world, I love them and they will be my friends forever, they are "family".  But, at the end of the night, they go home... and then, it's just me. 

I was open to the possibility of life without Nashville and found myself in Atlanta last year.  Everything I owned in the Madison, TN Public Storage.  I sold my house 2 days before the Nashville flood and was supposed to move into a new place in Nashville, but that didn't work out, so I found myself in Atlanta.  Sleeping on my parents couch (well not sleeping, awake in the middle of the night) I prayed... basically for work for my hands, my life's work.  If it was not music, show me what it was!  I had been telling God I would do whatever He asked me if He would just speak loud enough for me to hear.

The next morning (11 am to be exact) a good friend called from Nashville with a job offer...  Could I take her old job?  The employer wanted someone by word of mouth and I was the only person she recommended.  She was moving on to take a full time job as Assistant to the pastor of a church.  She said the job was great AND because it was part time and flexible hours it had allowed her (and would me) to continue music.  If I wanted it, I had to move back and start in two weeks.  So I took that for as much of a sign that in my heart I could not refuse, and I moved back to Nashville in October.  (more on this, the job and God's apparent sense of humor in another post)

What's the point?  A song of course...  and that if all else fails, I'll just buy a little shack out in the woods.  Hell, I don't need much anymore!  I can write and be inspired anywhere.  A guitar, some wine, and a boat (and some cool Frye boots).  Yeah. 

One of my goals is to have a boat, learn to drive it well and have a place by the water.  I don't care if it's a shack in the woods... as long as it's filled with music and the one I love.

So I started writing that song today.  When I finish it, I'll post it here and you'll know just where the idea came from...  Until then, I just show up, suit up, and wait to find out why God moved me back to Nashville.
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Update... 2013... Well... I finished that song...!!! and as promised, will post it here...!!

http://www.reverbnation.com/pennydale/song/14766536-shack-in-the-woods

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Best of both worlds?  (IPO)
Have a place in the city...
A getaway to get to whenever you want to get gone...
and the freedom to get there often.
To live and work with friends (in my case songwriters) and get out of town with them often, so really,  even then you are "working" you're just doing what you love.  Everybody brings an instrument and work becomes play = my dream.   Just need one more thing.  I don't think my little shack would be complete without some love being made inside.... : )

I just need someone to dance with...
and to write the next verse.

Coincidence?

I don't believe it is a coincidence that a tree reminds me of a human heart.

 

Or that dog is God spelled backwards...

Liberal... the new "Conservative" ?

Why do I get the impression some liberals think they are smarter than everyone else?  Many of the liberals that pride themselves on being "open minded" want to give everyone the right to their freedoms and opinions except the Christians and "Conservatives"...
are they then becoming the same thing that they "allege" these conservatives to be?

Bliss

I'm tired of trying to be really good at something... I think I'm going to find something I'm really terrible at and have a great time doing it!!

Records and Bribery

I've taken to bribing myself...  Most of the time it's to get through some event that I might be stressing over.  I will tell myself things like, "If you practice tonight and get through your show tomorrow night, the next day will be Saturday and you can relax and watch a movie in the afternoon!!'' (ahhh, so decadent!!)

Being a musician never stops.  Sometimes I dream about a job where when you get off at 5, you're OFF.

Preparing for a show takes a lot of time, and ALL my attention. There's putting a band together, deciding on a set list (which entails practice), deciding on song order, emailing the songs/set to band, rehearsal (more practice), getting equipment ready, etc.  Finding something to wear?!  Forget ahbout it!!  Add that to all the normal everyday shit that adds up? oh yeah, everything just starts running together.  You don't have time to enjoy the days leading up to shows, and then BAM, the show is over.

I use to get really down after a show.  I guess because I had built it up to be a big, important, make or break deal.  But you know what?  Tomorrow you will wake up after a show, and it's just another day.  So now I use bribes or "treats", so I have something to look forward to when it's over!  It could be a sushi roll, it could be a cigarette, or a movie in the afternoon... ;*)  I've lowered my standards, if that's what you call it, to just enjoy some really plain and "simple" things...  If I had a honey, it might include a bottle of wine and a game at home... a movie at the Belcourt perhaps?  Bowling?

I have a show tomorrow.  So today's treat was 3 records from Goodwill... music I had never heard.  So, sometime this weekend I will be chillin' and spinning some old records.  Scotch or Martini?  Yes.

The Eagle and the Hawk

http://youtu.be/_ArnbiHx6hk

f*@king beautiful... excuse my french, couldn't think of anything else to describe John Denver and this song right now...  turn it up, close your eyes, and fly...

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between success and failure... What is Success? A Great Love...

I just watched one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen... Troublesome Creek "A Midwestern".

Documentary of a midwestern farming family through the last 50 years, filmed and narrated by members of the family.  I can't recommend enough, especially to anyone from the Midwest, and anyone who knows the feeling of a generation, and a way of life, moving on...  My family is from Illinois, this movie hits home, heart, and the essence of family.

Visiting your parents eventual gravesite, with your parents...

50th Wedding Anniversary... In the "Church Basement"

Anniversary quilt, each square a memory... sewn by the family

the road into town, "probably drove 6,000 times", etched into memory...

Momma and Daddy, young... love.

Inspiration... Good guys and Bad guys

Daddy, Grandpa and Great Grandpa... 100 years of Farming

Dusk on the Farm... Prairie Moon