Thankful Monday (!), Busy life edition!

 So I completely forgot to post last weekend, whoops! Here's a catchup with lots to be thankful for!

1. I got to check out the Virginia Renaissance Festival on June 6th. It was very sunny but I hid in the shade a lot. I saw some friends, heard lots of good music, got a lesson on chanter and Irish Whistle from a friend, and had a long conversation with someone at the Knightwings with lots of cool raptors. It's a bit of a different vibe than MD Ren Faire, but I really liked it. Less crowded, and different music groups. 

2. My church had our booth at Rockville Pride again. I'm so glad to be part of a church that values going to Pride and reaching out to people. 

3. I'm re-certified for CPR for another 2 years. There was some registration drama a couple of months ago that delayed my signing up for the class, but I did my test out with no issue. I laughed that they said use whatever you had available as a mannequin (it was via zoom), so I used Luna's stuffed sheep.

4. I got to catch up with my friend Kat from high school- we literally haven't seen each other in 20 years. 

5. My best friend Babs. Noff said :)

6. I checked out another festival this past Saturday, Carroll County Celtic Festival. I saw 2 bands I like, Pohemia and Piper Jones, and got to see Albannach for the first time. I've never heard bagpipes with a Didgeridoo and it was really cool.

7. I got to hang with my cousins yesterday, including Stephanie who was in town.  

8. I'm really enjoying playing (squeaking a lot) my new Irish whistle. 

9. Some nice thunderstorms to cool things off, it's starting to get summer hot around here. 

Thankful Friday, Decluttering Edition

 Well I figured out this week after going BACK to the doctor that I don't have bronchitis, I just have insane allergies. So I have finished my antibiotics, am not contagious, and have a referral to an allergist. All in a week's work?

I'm thankful for:

1. Cherry blossoms! We hit peak bloom this week, and I was able to drive mom around Kenwood yesterday to look at them. 

2. Dinner with mom. I hadn't seen much of her in the last 2 weeks when I was sick and then thought I was still sick. Now that I know I'm not contagious, I was able to take her out for a belated birthday dinner at Not Your Average Joes. 

3. Allergy meds. I'm double dosing Zyrtec at the moment (under doctor's orders) and I don't feel terrible anymore. I still have a terrible cough, but I'm very happy to be rid of the sinus pressure and headaches, hopefully for good.

4. Everything is turning that lovely shade of light green. I love that shade of early spring green.

5. My friend Susan helped me declutter my guest room for almost 5 hours today! I have a load of stuff in my car to go to recycling, another load prepped for Goodwill, and a few boxes that need to go to really specific places like an antique shop or a certain friend. 

6. I'm so happy to almost have my guest room functional again! It's been 3 years since I moved mom to assisted living, and I've been chipping away at the boxes of things I inherited in that process. I'm getting much closer to keeping the number of things I actually want to keep.

7. My work hours are going up to 80% for the next 2 months, huzzah!

8. The bell choir I'm in. We had a particularly fun rehearsal this week with lots of laughter, and its just fun making music with those folks.

9. A gorgeous day to do a short hike with my Girl Scout troop on Sunday. 

Thankful... Monday? More March Edition

 I'm surfacing after a having a cold that wanted to be a sinus infection. 0/5 stars.

There's still a lot I'm thankful for, including:

1. My immune system. Being sick sucks, but I'm glad I eventually bounce back.

2. Masking is socially acceptable. I was able to take Luna to a vet appointment on Friday while masked, so I (hopefully) didn't pass my crud onto other people.

3. More good books. I finished 'The Last Runaway' by Tracy Chevalier while recovering and started

4. A new season of Top Chef!

5. Livestreams of music. One of my favorite bands from Ren Faire, Piper Jones Band, was playing at a club in Houston on Saturday night, and there was a livestream to watch for free

6. A clean bill of health for my teeth, at least for another 6 months.

7. Bell festival was so much fun. We had a great conductor, good music, and it was at the beach, so who can complain? It was fun to go to a new beach too, I'd never been to Rehoboth before. 

8. Wondering a new wildlife refuge before bell festival, Prime Hook. A windy day for birds, but a lovely walk, and I did see a bunch of forest birds.

9. My friend Kris that let me stay at her house for festival so I didn't have to pay for a hotel room.

10. March weather? We've had 2 85 degree days and then the next day it snowed. I'm here for the warmup and will stay for the crazy back and forth (which we might have again tonight.)

Thankful Wednesday (?) Pre-Trip Edition

I'm posting a day ahead of time because I'm driving all day tomorrow and I'm not sure what my schedule will look like.

This week I'm thankful for:

1. I was able to get mom to Shrove Tuesday pancakes at church last night. She really enjoyed being with friends and kept saying we should do this more than once a year :o)

2. I got reports submitted for work. Sometimes the portal I have to submit things through is temperamental, but it worked pretty well this time. Thankful the portal worked AND that the reports are done.

3. We played a really beautiful bell piece on Sunday.

4. The Olympics, again. I love watching every day and will miss them when they are over.

5. The ice might finally be melting? Today, a month to the day of the snow/ice storm, and I was finally able to shovel my deck and open my backdoor all the way.

6. I'm off for a week and a half to go visit family and friends. Perks of only working part time, is that I'm only taking 3 days off work to be off 12 days :oP

7. Luna is doing great post-op. Acting like her normal self and even countersurfing a bag of flour lol.

Take me home, country roads

I've realized that I’m listening to a lot of folk music recently.  It’s good for quiet nights in a small village where you start thinking about lots of things.  I've always liked some folk music, and Peter Paul and Mary have always been one of my favorite groups.

Here in Botswana, I’m listening to John Denver a lot.  This probably makes my mom smile, because she really likes his music, and would play it when I was a kid.  And I’d run screaming out of the room because for some reason I hated it when I was around 10.  I didn't like anything having to do with country music, except maybe Johnny Cash, until I was in college.

The song I listen to the most is ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’.  I've never lived in West Virginia, but I lived in Southwest Virginia most of my adult life, and the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River are a bit of home to me.  And the song makes me think of my home in Maryland, and my family’s homes in South Carolina as well.

Surprisingly enough, Batswana also seem to like John Denver, because I've heard him on the radio at least 2-3 times.  The first time was in a combi driven by Peace Corps staff during training last fall.  We were going to Gabs for the day and there were about 14-15 of us in the combi, having 8-9 different conversations with the radio on in the background.  All of the sudden ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ comes on.  Everyone in the entire combi stopped all of their conversations and we proceeded to belt out the chorus each time it came around, with several of us singing all the verses as well.  We burst out laughing at the end, chattering about how unexpected it was to hear John Denver on the radio in Botswana.  And our driver, Zeeman, slowly changed the radio station while giving us a look of slight terror, as in, WHAT just happened?!? Crazy Americans…

As I listen to the song, it sometimes makes me homesick, sometimes makes me wonder if I should be here and not at home, and always makes me realize how much I love my home, my country, and the opportunity to live abroad.  And as I sit here thinking of home, I know that for the rest of my life, hearing ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ will make me think of that combi ride, and of my time in a small village in Botswana.

"I hear her voice 

In the mornin' hour she calls me 
The radio reminds me of my home far away 
And drivin' down the road I get a feelin' 
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday 

Country Roads, take me home 
To the place I belong 
West Virginia, mountain momma 
Take me home, country roads "

Indigo Girls

This past weekend was homecoming at Emory, something I never would have known except that someone mentioned it to me in passing. Not only am I not an Emory alum (yet) but being a grad student, I really have no idea what goes on in the main part of campus- I pretty much stay in the health quad.

So last week my friend Meghan mentioned that the Indigo Girls were playing a free concert for part of the homecoming festivities, and was I interested in going? I was like, heck yes! Free concert for a band I like but don't actually know too well, yes please.

So we heard the concert was starting at 3, and got there a few minutes before after grabbing lunch at a Greek place in town. There was a huge carnival like atmosphere with free food, beer, random stuff (squishy balls, key chains, pens, etc), lots of tables from the different schools and alumni groups, giant trampoline with harness, etc. An Emory band opened for the Indigo girls until a little after 4. They were pretty good, but it was HOT outside. I was like, would it disrespectful to pray for rain? But around when Indigo Girls started playing it clouded over a bit and there was a breeze, which was fantastic.

The concert was awesome. They played a lot of their newer stuff which I really liked, and several of their classics that were basically a sing-a-long with the audience. I like how comfortable they are with themselves. They weren't super dressed up on stage, didn't make a whole lot of nonsense smalltalk between songs when they were switching guitars.

I really enjoy their music as well. They have a rare harmony blend that is simple in some ways, but beautiful and sometimes haunting in unexpected ways. I also really like the lyrics to a lot of their songs- its one thing to write a catchy tune, and another to write poetic lyrics, but its much harder to make them work together. 'Power of Two' is a great song.

After they finished they did an encore of a song I didn't know and then 'Galileo'.

Part of the cool experience of the concert was listening to everyone around me sing a lot of the lyrics, sometimes even harmonies. There were times when the Indigo Girls were like, you guys sing this verse, and everyone did. It's cool to see such a loyal fanbase.

So in conclusion, an awesome concert, and I think I might get some of their newer music on itunes :)