Electifying!

I spent yesterday in Winston with Amber and her future mother in law, Vickie, making wedding arrangements. While visiting the lovely chapel at Tanglewood Park, the front-runner choice of venues, Amber had the delightful idea to incorporate a Moravian Love Feast into the ceremony. About midnight last night, I sat down to do some research into it. At the very moment that I typed the words, "Moravian Love Feast," into the search bar, fireworks started esploding and sparks began shooting out of the electric meter (a mere four feet away from my left ear!) Thankfully, we experienced the protection of God (and a speedy response from AEP) that saved our house and lives, although that might have been an easy escape from the burden of my out of control, disorderly house-keeping!

"I Do!" at the Villa Appalaccia

First things first. No, I am not dead! I have actually trekked from the west coast back to the east coast this summer, and if I ever get caught up, the world will get to see proof of that trip right here. I have also discovered that it is much easier and faster to upload pictures and notes to facebook which has led to flagrant blogger neglect.

Tomorrow is the commencement of McPherson Beach Week, and I've gotta get packin', so this is a quick post to share Carolyn and Phillip's sweet wedding at the Villa Appalaccia last weekend.
Carolyn and Phillip.

The Sweet Water Tour Rewind

The JoyBell Ringers' Sweet Water Tour was PRACTICALLY PERFECT in every way! The weather was perfect every single day! Nobody got sick or hurt. None of the vehicles got sick or hurt. and Miss Charlotte didn't get sick or hurt, which really is miraculous considering I started the trip on only two hours of sleep! We travelled 5 days and rang 7 times ranging from just 3 selections to our entire concert program of 16 pieces at a consistently high level of performance.

Here is a recap of the trip:

(There are a ton of pictures (that I didn't take) and some videos of pieces we played at this website: The JoyBell Rigners website
And here is a link to a news article about our performance at St. Barnabas in Chattanooga: )

Wednesday:
We played for an hour at the Southwest Virginia Mental Health Institute in Marion Va. They provided a nice box lunch for us that we ate in the park on their beautiful grounds. We then drove to Sevierville, Tn where we played a half hour program between their Wed. evening meal and activities. Oh, and they fed us yummy, homemade chicken and dumplings! We drove on to Chattanooga and spent the night at a hotel that we booked for their indoor pool, but the pool was closed. And that was the ONLY thing that went wrong the whole trip!

Thursday:
We played for about an hour in the morning at the St. Barnabas skilled nursing and rehab center in downtown Chattanooga. I didn't get this set up until just Monday of that week!!! We had two other venues cancel on us for that day. This was a lovely place and they were so delighted and enthusiastic to have us play for them. We had two big pans of spaghetti left over from our fundraiser dinner that we took with us on the trip, and they heated it up for us in their oven while we played and served us our lunch in their pretty little park, where I got to see my first azaleas blooming this year! After our lunch, we embarked on the "mystery tour." First we took a tour of the Chattanooga waterfront aboard a WWII amphibious "Duck" vehicle. The kids absolutely loved it! Our tour guide regaled them with non-stop stories of Civil War battles and the renaissance of the waterfront area. He even let all of them that wanted to, drive the duck in the river! After the tour, they had about an hour to explore the visitor center and aquarium plaza, then it was off to the IMAX theater to see a movie about the Hubble telescope in 3D, which was AWESOME! We ate barbeque at Sticky Fingers, walked all around the waterfront and across the Walnut Street Bridge which is the third longest pedestrian bridge in the world. After a stop at Coldstone Creamery, we hit the road and spent the night in Kennesaw, GA at a very nice, new Comfort Suites, whose pool was open.

Friday was dedicated to visiting the world's largest aquarium in Atlanta GA, where I got to fulfill a dream that has been on my bucket list for at least 40 years: I got to actually swim with the fish!!! Yes, I went SCUBA diving in the Ocean tank! 6.3 million gallons of water. It is literally the size of a football field and 30 feet deep! Over 80 species from all around the world in one tank. I was flipping out excited, and it so much fun to do that while all my kids were there to cheer me on. We rang Capriccio together while I was in the tank. Then, as my guests at the aquarium that day, all 18 of them got to take the "Behind the Scenes" tour of the inner workings of the aquarium while I was finishing up my dive. That tour is normally a $50 add on to the price of admission!!! Can we say, That was a GOD moment?!?! After the aquarium, we had dinner at The Varsity, the world's largest drive in restaurant, and a famous Atlanta institution. I was told that this was an experience not to be missed. The kids loved it, but I beg to differ after standing in the very crowded, noisy, long line twice to get our order filled. We drove back out to Marietta to spend the night at First Presbyterian Church. The kids stayed up watching Star Trek, and I went to bed.

Saturday:
We started off with a concert at the Presbyterian Village retirement community in Austell, GA. One lady came up to me afterwards with tears filling her eyes and said, "I am 87 years old, and I have NEVER heard anything so beautiful in all my life!!" Imagine that! a "Bell Virgin" at 87! That alone would have been worth the whole trip. We picked up lunch afterwards and headed to the Kennesaw Mountain National Civil War Battlefield Park for a picnic, and for me, a relaxing, QUIET walk in the woods, before we had to get back and prepare for our evening concert They served us a great lasagna dinner, and we played our full length program for them in their historic 1855 sanctuary. This was an incredible, vibrant space to play in! Afterwards, they fed us again with a lavish reception.

Sunday:
We had another royal meal (breakfast) provided by First Pres. and then we played 3 pieces at the 8:30 service, and 5 pieces in the 9:45 service. One of them was Grazioso, that we performed with their adult handbell choir . . . without having any rehearsal together! I snuck out of the 8:30 service to practice it with their folks, and then we just hit it! We loaded up the bells one last time, and hit the road. We stopped for lunch at a little city park just north of Atlanta, and then we stopped a lot more times, and then we stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Mooresville, and then we stopped some more, and we finally got home about 10:30 that night: a 6 hour trip that took only 11 hours! And that, my friends, concludes the Sweet Water Tour!

JoyBell Ringers

My fav kids in the whole wide world!!! And I get to spend 5 days with them next month traveling and ringing throughout the south.

Sweet, Smart, and 21

In other news this month, Sammy turned 21 and we celebrated in glitzy, glamourous fashion at the Rex.
See the slideshow here.

We hope these days are Gone!!

I took these shots about a month ago. Good riddance, winter!!





Dylan, the trees are just for you!

Heroes

My son, Amos, is learning how to be a hometown hero, AKA firefighter. He always has had a magnetic attraction for anything pyro, so this is a natural. His lovely wife, Cara, posted these pictures of the Monterey Fire Academy's first "flag burn" exercise (whatever that means) to facebook. Since I own bragging rights on the brave, handsome lad, I snagged them for you to see here, especially, you, Jimmy.



That's Amos, standing in front of the platoon.








Our local hometown heroes were in action last Friday morning, saving our town. I didn't know about the fire until it was already out, but the fireman were still on the job when I got there. You can see those photos on Facebook or Here.

Christmas in Leipzig

Our, magical storybook Christmas in Leipzig with Amber!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Marine's Surprise Mission: Popping The Question

Holy Batmobile, Batman!
This story is about MY Marine proprosing to his girl, Abby.
Congratulations, Jason, and Abby! I love you Becky; I'm wiping tears from eyes, too.
Be sure to click on the link to watch the video.
Marine's Surprise Mission: Popping The Question

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Riding the Polar Express

What a way to start off the the Christmas celebrating! I got up at 3:30 this morning to take Agape and her friends, Jeannie and Britney to Bryson City, NC to ride the Polar Express. The bed is calling my name loudly, so I won't elaborate how terrific it was. Here's a quick slideshow for you , Coach!
Riding the Polar Express with Agape, Jeannie, and Britney

Pass Me Some of That Rhubarb Pie

I need to get the taste of humiliation out of my mouth. As much as I love playing handbells, and cherish the privilege of playing with Rejoice, I do wish performances were a little less like playing Roulette. Suffice it to say that tonight was not my winning night!

So, "Serve it up;
nice and hot;
Maybe things aren't as bad as you thought."

"Hanging of the Greens" brought to you tonight by Be-Bob-a-Re-Bob, Rhubarb Pie.

Will somebody please cue the earth to open up and swallow me now?

I'm soothing myself with memories of dazzling Jamaica.

I feel better, now.

Sightings at Sandbridge

A little painting with light fun with a gal we found behind the Baja Restaurant at Sandbridge Sunday night on our little Nor'Ida Safari. She captured our hearts, and perhaps our souls.
We went to see La Princessa which was left on the beach there by Nor'Ida last week. This thing is huge!! It's about the same size as the condominium that it is parked in front off. The last time I can remember being at Sandbridge Beach was my senior year of high school. I talked one of my other sister's friends into driving me down there early in the morning before school to see a dead whale that had washed up on the beach. At 30' long, it was quite a mystical sight rising up out of the pre-dawn mist, but that was nothing compared to the 570' bulk of La Princessa.

Balance

Dylan asked for a blog update, so while this is probably not what he had in mind, it's all I can muster until I create some more of this is in my life:

BALANCE.

I am consumed with the task of finishing the wall, and we are so tantalizingly close that I cannot stop!! You can just skip over these pictures if you don't want to be sucked into my obsession, but here they are for those inquiring minds that want to know (or who miss the Minister of Fun.)

11:00 am, October 24

Crafty little rock shelves. One day they will hold lanterns to light the drive, or flowers, or seashells, or more rocks . . .

6 pm, October 24: one day's work

I love this view. It makes it look like we're finished!

The Costa Rica shrine. Notice the design on the left hand rock: It's a map of Cathedral Point at Manuel Antonio.

I swore I wouldn't start children younger than two, but this li'l cutie might change my mind!

Aaaaahhhh, now here is a little balance: Caught this sunset 2 weeks ago riding home from LaRae's big fall party.

Oh, The Randomness of it All

Sunny days this week mean . . .

Progress!!!!

Remember this rose bush?

A mere sprig two years ago . . .

The same bush today. (And, no, I haven't given it any nurture, care or plant food!

There really is a mail box in there!

I finally downloaded pics from the little camera, and I have to bask once again, in the glory of a dream fulfilled:

Watermelon art!?!?!

Don't try this at home!

By the light of the harvest moon . . .

See the stars???

Didn't see them? Well, click on the picture and make it bigger.

Look at what has been going on inside of our endless summer outdoor heater since it fell blew over a couple of years ago:

That's all I have time for tonight, except, of course, a puzzle. I have to go out and watch a meteor shower.