My Top Hat

Carol emailed to mention that our photo was on the CEA's YouTube. Nick is sporting the Mohawk and Jim is wearing my Top Hat. It looks much better on him! I'm just standing and listening to Jim and Jeff Mienke. We had a GREAT time. You can check our our photo on www.citybeat.com Go to the CEA section and click on the photos. It a short youtube with photos.

Oh, What a Night

Being on the nominating committee for the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards is truly awesome, but the icing on the cake is my invitation to the party. Every year, on the Sunday night before Thanksgiving, City Beat holds the city's premier event. This year the award ceremony was held at the historic Emery Theater in Over-the-Rhine. Jim dressed in his best suit and looked very handsome in his top hat. Nick sported a Mohawk and was outfitted in his best black. I wore an iridescent blouse over a flowing black skirt and my favorite cowboy boots.

The evening started with an opening set by former members of James Brown's band, including Cincinnati's favorite, Bootsey Collins. The singer, a JB impersonator, was right on and blew the crowd away with his back flips and dance moves. The entire set was a tribute to JB and King Records.

Local bands filled in the night and awards were given. However, the highlight for everyone present was Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. I remember them from listening to music with my parents and grandparents but most of the crowd, including Nick, knew his voice and band from the movie "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou". The crowd included all ages and all genres of music from folk to hip hot but the room went silent when Ralph sang his accapella version of "Oh Death". You could have heard a pin drop.

Although the venue was not quite ready for prime time and had no heat or bathrooms, the finale with Ralph Stanley will be something to treasure for many, many years.

Cabinets

We've started installing the new cabinets. It looks very, very white. However, we have black hardware, black accessories and a black countertop that are still to be added. We just need more hours in the day. Since we won't be able to go to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving we will be "thankful" for a few days off

to work on the kitchen.

Hopefully before next Thursday we will be able to clear the dining room. Its been the staging area for all of the items we have had to excavate from the kitchen. Its a MESS!

Construction Hat

The cabinets are going up! We put up two yesterday and they looked so great that just a bit after 6 pm we raced out to IKEA for more. I had purchased two doors that didn't match and needed new ones and we got there just before the store closed. Tonight we are hoping to put up at least one more as well as the black rails that will hold odds and ends.

It will be soooo nice to get the cabinets up. Everything that should be in them has been piled on every possible surface on my first floor. I will keep putting up cabinets to hold everything until I have no wall space left!

I will update with photos tomorrow!

Rainy Day Blues

I usually love rainy days but today it was most unwelcome. We arrived at Tim & Doreen's new home in the late morning and waited for their household possessions to arrive. They had been house hunting for quite a while and their home sold months ago. Staying with family, T&D had to store their belongings in a POD. It was cool to watch as the POD was delivered and then taken off the truck by a contraption called Podzilla. Tim had recruited some strong boys and the house was filled with furniture and boxes in no time. We took a break to eat the chili I had prepared and I had to leave early.

I stopped by Chase's birthday party. It was in full swing and I slipped out pretty quick. Almost a dozen 9 & 10 year old boys didn't need the presence of a grandmother at the rock & roll party. My daughter and her family were dressed pretty freaky in rock star outfits and reminded me a bit of Spinal Tap. The cake had made it in one piece so my task was complete. I will hopefully get to make another cake for Thursday and spend the evening with Chase.

Friday

Yea! Its Friday. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and this was even a short week but I really, love weekends. It would be nice to just work four days a week if my office and my budget would permit.

As usual, we have a busy, busy weekend planned and I will have lots of hats to wear. Tonight I'll be wearing my chef hat as I bake a guitar shaped birthday cake for my grandson, Chase.

Tomorrow Jim & I will be putting on our construction hard hats and mounting a few more of my new IKEA cabinets. Afterwards I'll stop by Chase's house wearing my grandmother hat as I deliver his birthday cake.

Later Jim, Nick and I will don our moving hats and help our best friends carry boxes into their new house. In the evening we will wear our dress up hats and go out to hear some other friends make great music.

Sunday we'll put stuff into the new cabinets, have a nice family dinner and then go to the Leo Coffeehouse.

It might just be a great weekend, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise (as grandma would say).

Friendly reader, I hope you have a great weekend, too.

My Songwriter Hat

Roberta Schultz met me at Group Effort Studios this afternoon and added harmony to my song - Just Like Tom & Huck. I had recorded it over a year ago and have tried various voices and instruments without attaining the sound I was looking for. That was until today when Sweet Roberta recorded the harmonies and percussion that I was hoping for. In addition we have bouzouk i and harmonica by my buddy, Tim Kelly, and Dan Murphy is planning a bass track and the song is taking shape!

Megan and I at Group Effort Studios


In the past year I had attempted to record this song with my granddaughter, Megan, but some of the notes in it are a bit hard to reach. We now plan to have her record a version of her own, in her own key. What can I say, the songs just come to me. I don't choose the notes, they just happen. Trying to tame them is tough work.

Nonetheless, my mini CD is close to completion so wish me luck as I work towards closure on my first recording project.

My Brag Book

I picked up a onezie at the Aronoff yesterday that I had ordered for my new granddaughter before she was even born. Well, she's almost three months old and I was just able to hobble downtown to Emily's office. She, of course, asked to see a photo of Kalee and I was embarrassed to say that I didn't have any with me.

This weekend my assignment will be to organize and create a brag book to carry around everywhere I go. I am so proud of all of my grandkids and its time I start showing them off like grandmothers are supposed to.

For now, here are photos of Kalee as a bee, Brody as a solider and Chase as a card from Alice & Wonderful. Their older sister Megan was Alice but in my rush I didn't have the flash on and couldn't get her picture.

My Chaperone Hat

On November 1st and 2nd six parents chaperoned the Mariemont High School Orchestra Camp Out. Two parents from Fairfax generously invited more than two dozen kids to their home at Lake Waynoka, Ohio. Their yard was soon filled with brightly colored tents and the air was punctuated with the laughs and constant conversation of the teens. We were fed scrumptious food continuously and snacks were everywhere. Nonetheless the kids stayed busy and didn't just eat all weekend. The Smiths, who also owned a lake home nearby, brought his pontoon boat to the dock and everyone was treated to a boat ride on the lake. We parents took turns and the ride I was one was treated to a magnificent sunset.

On Sunday morning, after a breakfast for nearly 40 people, we once again created a caravan of cars, vans and trucks and went to Hamersville, Ohio so the kids could paint ball. We parents were curious as to how the girls would do, since the boys had been so eager to shoot anything that moved. We were all impressed and a bit surprised when the girls became more ruthless than the boys. The kids played paintball from noon until 5 pm and had great stories to share after wards.

The only downfall for me was that I stayed in the house and couldn't sleep in a tent. Yes, the gimpy knee won again.