Jamming at the Stringbean

Bluegrass Stanley Jigsaw Puzzle

Galax IS the World's Capitol of Old Time Music, so Stanley's trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Stringbean. Things were hopping at the jam tonight.

Spring Valley

What a place to live where you can stop at a Dairy Queen and have a view like this from the parking lot!

Tonight, I got a little creative with adding texture. So here is the result:

Four Letr Wrds

And finally, here is the completed art project mentioned earlier this week.

It is a gift for my dear friend and mentor, Debbie Rice, who will be having major surgery for breast cancer next week. One night after Rejoice rehearsal, her husband expressed his frustration, saying that he just wanted to go somewhere and shout four letter words. So Karen came up with the idea to collect positive four letter words from the group and have Debbie's JoyBells (her children's bell choir is named JoyBells, too.) use them to create a gift for her. We pray that it will be a reminder of our love, and an encouragement to them each time they look at it. I hope you all will join us in prayer for Debbie's complete healing and restoration to abundant life

Busy Days for Flat Stanley (and me!)

Safari Stanley Jigsaw Puzzle

Flat Stanley is a man on the move. He has helped the JoyBell Ringers present two concerts, been on a wild (and tame) animal safari, where he was nearly eaten by both an ostrich and a camel, but being the clever boy that he is, he escaped unscathed.

Stanley has been enjoying rides through the bucolic Blue Ridge Mountain countryside and seeing our spring season unfold. Being a boy from West Palm Beach, that is something novel for him.

Stanley and the JoyBell Ringers at the Southwestern Virginia Training Center

Beautiful Virginia sights

A Christmas Tree Farm! So that's where they come from!

A few fine-feathered, new friends for Stanley at the Fort Chiswell Animal Park

This is just a sweet mom and babe who were on the safari bus ride with us.

As you might well know, there are a ton of other pictures from the animal farm, so here is the slideshow if you want to see more.

Spring! Glorious Spring!

Spring! Glorious Spring!! Winston Salem rules the spring!!!



Flat Stanley has been a cheerful helper today. We painted a large canvas for a special project: My first attempt at acrylic painting!


Here is the completed (thus far) canvas:

The little heart is dedicated to my little sis in honor of her brave battle against stage 4 breast cancer. She's been beating the odds for four years now!!

Flat Stanley's Not So Interesting Day

Well, not so interesting for an adventurous little boy, anyway. First thing this morning, Stanley had to go to the Grannies' Country Line Dancercize class with me. It's a fun way for me to get my steps in (10,000/day is my goal) and who knows, Stanley just might start liking his women "a little on the trashy side" too, if he keeps listening to that country music.

He had a quiet afternoon at home, then it was off to Winston for Rejoice rehearsal tonight. Stanley likes riding in the car right up front looking out the window to see all the new sights: especially watching the mountains don their spring colors. He was so excited to see Pilot Mountain go by. They don't have anything like that in Florida. Of course, he wanted to go hiking there when I told him about the great trail all around the base of the big knob, but we won't have time for any hiking until Saturday.
Boy was he amazed when he saw all the bells out at rehearsal tonight. He just might leave all that country music behind, and become a bell hog. He was groovin' to the strains of our new jazz and gospel numbers that we will be playing at the International Symposium in Orlando this summer. He just might find a way to get to Orlando to hear the hundreds of ringers from all over the world. At the end of rehearsal, we asked Stanley which bell he would like to play. His answer was "B flat" of course!!!!




Here is a puzzle that Stanley picked out.

Completely Random

Let's start out with the puzzle. This picture was taken as I arrived at "The Point" on Lake Norman for Sam and Josh's wedding last Saturday. What a beautiful venue, and so enticing to be at Lake Norman at the brink of boat season!

Here is the end of the magnificent rainbow Sunday evening.
When I first saw it. it completely spanned the sky and was so incredibly brilliant. It was visible for at least 20 minutes, but this was all that was left when I finally got to Agape's camera to snap a pic.

And this, my friends, is a birthday cake! (photo by Agape)

Holy Batmobile, Batman: It's a Transformer . . .standing up!!! This culinary coupe was created by my new friend (and bell-ringer), Julie Lee for her her son's birthday party. I'm slinking off in disgraceful defeat here. The closest I ever came was a space shuttle cake, and it was lying down.

And finally, my old friend, Flat Stanley, arrived today by banana boat.

Truthfully, he came by US Mail, but the banana boat story is what he told me, and that's way more exotic. He came with his Florida passport in hand to spend a week or so, here in Virginia (and where ever else I may go.) We will take pictures and write about all his adventures and send him back to Hunter, so he can share the fun with his classmates back in West Palm Beach.
The first thing he saw when I slipped him out of the envelope, was the Kylie-Kade gallery on the refrigerator, and he was so excited to see more flat people like himself, that he immediately jumped up there and made friends with them.

Stay tuned for more Flat Stanley adventures to come!

Yard Work

• First, get your tools ready: Pick up a camera (or two).
• Go outside and look all around.
• Take pictures of all the purty things you see.
• Come back inside and download.
• Post them on your blog so all your friends can enjoy the results of all your hard "yard work!"