More Snow Fun

Had a beautiful snowfall yesterday. Then enjoyed a little fun in the snow with Josh and Matt. They were proud of the jump they created so they could catch a little air!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Ain't it beautiful?!!!
(Not me. The snow.)

The Black Hole Tree

That's what I'm talking about!

Christmas at the Carters 2009

This was the first Christmas in 38 years that it was just me and Kathy in the morning. We kinda slept in at least by our standards. We spent Christmas eve with Kathy's sister Barbara. Had a great time eating dinner and playing games. Just the 3 of us! She came over at 9:00 AM in the morning. Di and Sam also showed up about the same time. We then opened our presents and went over to Barbara's to open hers. We didn't have any more visitors until afternoon when all our local adult children and spouses dragged in. Lynda and her family were the exception. They're spending Christmas in Cedar City with Jason's family. We had dinner and the usual Carter game night well into the evening. No grand kids! That was the only downer, but Josh and Matt will be along this week so we'll get some quality play time in when they show up. Maybe even a little winter back yard camping experience! We call our tree the "black hole" because it seems to suck in more light than it gives off. I'm not so sure led lights are such a hot idea after all. I'll try to remember to add a night time picture of it. You just can't see the effect in this day time shot.

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Musical Thoughts

Some recent Facebooking got me thinking it might be a good time to throw a few of my latest musical findings out for whoever might find it of interest (if there are such people!). I was a bit bummed when Nickel Creek decided to disband and go there own ways so some of this listing will reflect music that at least for me fills that void. I won't bother to try to categorize these artists, so you'll have to take a listen to figure out to which ones I'm referring as Nickel Creek replacements. Some I've mentioned before, so pardon the repetition. Here's the list:

Erin Bode
Sarah Jarosz
The Green Cards
Adrienne Young
Crooked Still
The Lovell Sisters
Sierra Hull
Diane Birch
Colbie Caillat
Bonnie Bishop

I know, I know, they're all females. Some things never change!
I also had some exposure to new local singers. New to me anyway. My apologies to the many I'm leaving off. There are just so many I can't begin to list them all. The Hammer Hands concert series is a great place to catch on to many of them. He's planning another series next summer, so check it out! Here are just a handful:

Shaun Barrowes (Hammer Hands himself!)
Ryan Innes
Richard Lee Cody and Mary Kaye
Debra Fotheringham
Nicole Sheahan
Danielle Hyde Vaughn
and of course April Meservy

It's been a fun year. I've taken many opportunities to support local musicians. I hope to be able to continue the same next year!

Amazing news stories.

There have been two recent stories in the news that have inspired me. One was Elizabeth's Smart's 2 hour testimony in court giving evidence against her former captor. The other is Paul Cardall's recent heart transplant and recovery after living with congenital heart disease his entire life. Learn his story at:

http://mytricuspidatresia.blogspot.com/

Lori McKenna

This picture is of Lori McKenna playing at the folk and bluegrass festival at Snowbird last summer. It was great to get to see her live and even more so to have the privilege of meeting her. Lori is one of the premier songwriters of our time and has a very distinctive vocal style - Heartrending! That's a pretty good description of most of her songs too. She has a very gritty, down to earth way with a tune that really gets to the emotional center. She claims to only know how to write sad songs. It was quite a shock to find out her personality is quite the opposite! To get an idea of her approach to a song check out her cover of Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L3GYAaqbGA. It put's a very different spin on a song I always though was pretty frivolous. She would probably still be relatively obscure if Faith Hill hadn't gotten ahold of some of her music and based her "Fireflies" album on several of Lori's songs including the title track and "Stealing Kisses". This got Lori a major label deal and an appearance on Oprah with Faith. Tim McGraw produced her "Unglamorous" cd. This all resulted in some air time on country radio although she never had a major hit (not surprising; her sound isn't typical radio fair). Apparently her major label deal wasn't to be. She recently switched to an indie label. Probably for the best. She's much too eclectic to follow the dictates of main stream music. I'm looking forward to her next release. She's been writing up a storm all summer. She does an amazing job balancing music and family. She still resides in the small town of Stoughton, Mass, 30 minutes from Boston with her husband and 5 kids and rarely makes it out West, so it was a real privalege to have her out here last year. Anyway, there you go. Another worthy member of my top 10! Do yourself a favor and give her a listen!