Yes another year has gone by and i am another year older..but who is counting?
Age is all relative -- thats what we say when we are over 60!!!!! It was a super birthday...

Saturday i had been invited to Suzie and Sally's for dinner. I didnt think anything about it because they are always inviting me over for dinner but when i got there and walked thru the front door, there were all my close buddies yelling "SURPRISE"!!

Ya know i am 63 years old and never had a surprise party-- so how cool was that!!!???

The house was all decked out with balloons and streamers,and there were drinks and a bushel of oysters on the half shell on the patio!!! WOW!

Sal had cooked this amazing dinner. Tons of fresh shrimp on the grill, coleslaw, corn muffins in the shape of little fish-- since i am a Pisces the theme of the party was fish-- corn on the cob, and for dessert Thea made this awesome cheesecake covered in pineapple.

We stuffed our selves like little piggies!!

Opened all my incredible gifts and then played Quarters till the wee hours of the morning---too many to mention here-- just know that they were all totally awesome!

(Quarters is a dice game in which you start off with five quarters--no we are way too old to play the drinking quarters game---

roll five dice and if you roll any fours, you pass a quarters to the left,fives you pass a quarters to the right, or sixes you throw in the pot .

so for example -- i roll my five dice-- 2 5's, 1 4, a 6 and a 2...

so i would pass 2 quarters to my right, 1 to my left 1 in the pot...

i would have 1 quarter left for the next round. Anything other than a 4 5 6 is a safe roll. If you run out of quarters you simply loose a turn but depending on how the people to your right and left roll you can be back in the game quickly if they pass to you!!!

the object of the game is to win the pot at the end -- if the final person doesnt throw a safe roll then the pot turns over and the game is started again.

It is a fast paced game that is loads of fun plus you are really happy when you win that pot-- the more players of course the larger the pot!!! )

My birthday was really Tuesday and i went to get the mail only to find a huge plastic HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign in my front yard-- Sal had come over around 1am and put it up!

Since my son and his family were out of town on my birthday we are celebrating this week by going to the Melting Pot-- a fondue restaurant-- yummmmmm

I am so lucky to have such super friends in my life-- they are the BEST and made my birthday so very special!!!

Yes it finally happened to ME!
i cant believe it-- my hard drive crashed Saturday February 17th....

i lost EVERYTHING...all my art, documents...basically my entire life!

The last full backup i preformed was in 2003.... and that helps but i still lost so much valuable info that i am in total shock and bummed to the max!

Here is a tip-- if you turn on your computer and get a dos prompt to "boot from cd"
you KNOW you are in trouble.

Your hard drive is either going or is gone.
If you can get the computer to boot up -- BACKUP EVERYTHING IMMEDIATELY.

if it wont boot up-- you are in serious trouble. The hard drive is gone....

My son was out of town so i had to call Chuck who is an incredible computer fixer -- he said he would try to restore the things on the hard drive but couldn't promise for sure--- and when he called me back on Sunday he had the bad news that the restore just didn't happen!

So i immediately bought an external drive -- SimpleNet 250G which was on sale at Office Depot for $50.00 after two $50 rebates and also got ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE 9.0 as the backup software.

this is a very hard lesson to learn--- so i am telling you IF YOU HAVEN'T BACKED UP YOUR MACHINE -- DO IT NOW

you can use Nero to make backup cd-- windows will back up for you-- i don't care how you do it JUST DO IT..do not put it off one more minute.

I have had computers since '97 and never ever had a problem but damn now that i have had the problem i will NEVER have it again.

Its like having a fire in your home-- so much personal stuff is totally gone and cannot be replaced, or restored.

Things you think you will remember, software you have installed or downloaded off the net, music, pictures, excell and office documents, art, all will be gone gone gone.

thankfully my email is all on the net so i didn't loose any addresses. A small consolation---

BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP!

Check this out...

just listed CREATIVE DISTORTION STORE



Choose from a pin or a small card which would be perfect to plop on some Republicans desk--

Cant beat the price either- only $3.75!!!!

Show your distain for the current administration!!!

Hey check out the new items i have listed in my store--

A Memories Journal,

Funky magnetic bookmarks,

Burned soda can pins,

and of course

those darling little spirit men everyone is buying!!!

NEW ITEMS

Wow - i am so excited-- i have sold FIVE pieces of my art on ETSY!! Five darling Spirit Men have now found new homes--



ETSY is an incredible online site for selling handmade items. If you are looking for a gift or something unusual for yourself THIS is the place to shop. Prices are extremely reasonable and there are literally thousands of items to choose from

Check it out -- its awesome

VIEW MORE SPIRIT MEN


ETSY

Sunday Jan 28 I was invited to participate in a drumming workshop which was taught by "Moose"
a drummer from Africa.( i apologize for not knowing the spelling of his name)

I was both thrilled and somewhat nervous to be a part of this experience, as i was the only basically new kid on the block! All of the other drummers were very good and most were members of the Melbourne Drum Tribe.

It was held at Loki and Tiffany's home in Sebastian... a beautiful setting surrounded by orange groves with an occasional wild peacock roaming through the property.

We started around 3 and ended about 6 with the only break being about 5 minutes long. He would play a rhythm and then we were to follow- i must say that this was very difficult ...i am sure my nerves didnt help but even at that there were times that i just had a horrible time keeping up. At first i was intimidated but the others were having some difficulty too so that made me feel at least some better.

"Moose" as he is affectionatley named, was a simply wonderful teacher... extremely patient and helpful and also very supportive. His kind and gentle spirit put me at ease several times during the workshop.


It was an awesome experience and i am so glad that i had the opportunity to be a part of it. I learned alot and felt honored just to be in the presence of such a talented man!

Here are some pictures from the event....

Labels: african drumming workshop

Whew December flew by in a whirl and i had a super xmas but my gosh its almost the end of January and i am in total shock.

The New Year began well and has continued to be just super.

I have been researching putting my art on line but have been dragging my feet. This week though i got all my licenses and found a great place called ETSY to put up my art so today i actually got some pictures taken and my store is NOW OPENED--i only have my small spirit men up so far but heck go and check out the site and my shop--- there are some awesome artists there and prices are extremely reasonable.

MY STORE

Drumming is going well... i am now in the Intermediate class!! Just bought another drum and an african xylophone type instrument called a ballaphone-- hopefully they will both come in this friday!!!
LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Went to my first drum circle weekend the middle of November.It was held at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, in Live Oak, Florida. I was really excited about attending this as I had heard so much about it from other drummers and as it turned out it was all true and the weekend was life changing.

We left here Friday around noon and arrived at camp just after 4pm. Got car unpacked and tents set up and then wandered around the area to check out the vendors, and just see what all was going on!

This was the first time I had been introduced to many of the people in the Melbourne Drum Tribe so it was great to connect and put names with faces.

Friday nite was cold-- down in the 30's but I did manage to go to the drum circle even though the huge fire didnt even begin to warm me!! It was an awesome experience to drum with so many people and to see the dancers as the twisted and turned in the firelight!

I was taken to a different plane...the thumping beats guiding my journey.

Wow what is that strange sound? Holy cow its a bag pipe!! The notes curled around the drums adding such a unusual tone...not really mournful but a strange new sound that totally .,.....

All of these new experiences although uplifting were draining too and I found myself suddenly exhausted so gathered my drum, and chair and headed back to camp where I sat around our tiny fire for a while and then headed off to bed.

Didnt sleep well at all..sleeping bag was all screwed up and I was cold...tossed and turned most of the nite and when sleep did finally overtake me it was only for a short time. The neat thing was when I awoke, I could hear the drums in the distance. They continued all night and into the beginning dawn. Many of the guys from the Melbourne Tribe were the all nite drummers!! I was proud to be a part of them!

Saturday I awoke filled with anticpation of the workshops that were available...it was freezing cold but i really didnt mind it too much as i was so excited about the events of the day!! The first workshop began at 9am ..Buddy Helm and it was great. He taught rythms and had each of the participates take his rythm and then add to it. i have to say it was a little intimadating to be in a huge group and have to suddenly be "on stage" so to speak but i managed to improvise pretty dern well i think!!
The next workshop was Didg Revolution and Dragonfly which taught how to play the digeridoo. There were instruments made from plastic pipe so each of us had one...i have to say that this was somewhat disappointing as i just coudlnt get it at all and finally just left. I dont know if it was the instructor or me but it was way over my head!!

Jane Broder had the afternoon workshop and it was totally awesome. She is a dynamic,warm, humorous gal. She came to the event with a trailer full of drums that people could just borrow for the weekened. How cool is that? The title of her workshop was Learn to perform druing a facilitated drum circle. She had people who had never touched a drum doing basic rythms in just a few minutes and we all really enjoyed learning new rhytms. It was really super!

Saturday night were the performances ... Didg Revolution and Dragonfly played the Digeridoos.
KamukaRima and Tam Tam Congo ...a group of real african drummers simply overwhelmed the crowd with their incredible dancing and drum playing. Their hands moved so fast you couldnt even see them and it was an extremely powerful performance.

I was fortunate enough to buy their CD and actually had them all autograph it!!

Saturday night was really cold ..i went to the drum circle but my hands were freezing, my drum was freezing and the fire just wasnt large enough to accomodate anyone sitting a couple rows away so i finally gave up and went back to camp!

It was good to just sit around our little campfire and get to know everyone.

I wastotally amazed at the energy that surrounds these folks-- everyone is so gentle, kind,thoughtful, supportive, and helpful. No dirty jokes, no slurs against women, just pure love! i just let myself be bathed in it and thanked the universe for giving me this awesome opportunity.

Sunday was somewhat crazy as we had to pack up all of our stuff and get ready to head home so i didnt really get to participate in the second Buddy Helm Mediation and Spritutal Healing with the Drum... the schedule was way off and he was kind of late getting started and by that time i was packing up my things.

This was a most incredible weekend- -i cant possibly tell everything that happened -- i would be writing a book-- totally life changing-- totally soul changing--

The next weekend is in April sometime and i will definately be there.... here is the link for more informaiton
www.paralounge.net/

Well I have been preparing for my first art show the last month so havent had much time to post here. My friends actually signed me up and said "It's time to sell your wonderful things"...so not much choice there--I had to get my butt in gear!!

The show was held at the local Unity Church in a beautiful wooded location and the weather couldnt have cooperated more as it was sunny, cool, and a perfect day.

I was looking forward to doing well at the show...but as things worked out I didnt do as well as i anticipated but it seemed that no one else was doing much better so I didnt feel too badly.

The day proved to be really great however in that i connected with several really cool people and my son and grandson spent the day with me plus i ran into several old friends i hadnt seen in ages!!

The church had wonderful entertainment through out the day and lots of activities for the kids to participate in and over all it was just a great day to spend a Sunday!

Well this is my third class along with a practice class as we are giving a program on Sept 30th at a local metaphysical [Creative Energy] store that is having a big sale!!

I am loving this a whole big bunch-- it is so cool and the folks in the class are really easy and very helpful.

I now know the names of the different drums ...Djembes Bougarabous Djun Djuns and Ashiko... i play a Djembe-- pronounced Jem Bay ... JP our teacher has allowed me to borrow one to practice with until my drum which he is ordering comes in!! Here is a good site to see all the drums along with a description of each of them.

we have different rhythms from the other drums-- JP leads the group and plays whats called "Break" to signal when we move to another rhythms. This is kind of hard to catch on to as he plays alot of totally different rhythms and I have to listen carefully to what he is playing to hear the break--- problem is I have to concentrate so hard on what I am playing that I sometimes miss the break!!!! there are so many different sounds going on at once that its really easy to get distracted and loose my place!!!!

tonite one of the guys ,Ian, wrote down the codes for the so called music-- so i can practice at home -- there are words like Gun Dun which are right and left hand bass sounds and Go and Do for the tone sounds

so a rhythm would be like this

gun [1 bass] go do go[3tone] gun dun[2bass] gun dun[2bass] go do go do[3tone] gun dun[2bass]

weird huh???? the tone sounds are played on the edge of the drum-- and the bass sounds are played in the center of the drum--

Thankfully we are having another practice tomorrow night as I am still not exactly sure about what is happening when....

JP is going to play the Didgeridoo and we will have other hand percussion instruments like shakers, a wooden frog played with a small mallet, etc...playing totally different rhythms!!


I am really excited about Saturday and cant wait to hear it all come together-- JP is a cool guy and hears all these rhythms in his head-- its incredible to see him figure it all out---

my drum wont be in until next week but I am ok with that - he is waiting to talk to the guy directly so he can get the best drum --- i just know my drum will be awesome for sure---

I am totally exhausted after practice and my arms feel like lead so I am gonna take a break and go watch some TV for a while--

Wow i am totally stoked-- I just took my very first drum lesson last nite!!

I have been wanting to do this for a very long time and as the Universe works, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with a gal who is taking the lessons and she convinced me to go on Tuesday nite!

One of the local metaphysical stores offers the lessons for $10.00 and they supply the drum if you dont have one.

I didnt know anything about drumming... but it has always intrigued me and I was so excited to finally make the decision to join the grup.

DJ is the teacher-- a young man, long black hair held in a pony tail and a gentle, kind spirit...perfect for a teacher!! The class has about 12-15 people...some who obviously have been drumming for quite a long time and others who are just starting out and then my friend Sally and I who were the total novices!!

We are playing Djembe Drums from Africa-- the link will take you to a page that describes the drums!!

The middle of the drum is played with a flat hand and it plays the bass notes... moving to the outside edge of the drum you strike it with the upper palm making a higher sound. We began with a simple rhythm...one bass two edge slaps then two bass.
I am not sure this is the correct terminology but at least it gives ya an idea!!

We drummed for HOURS-- my arms were totally weak and exhausted and my hands were stinging by the time we finished. We did a total of three different rhythms I think.

There were several different kinds of drums that people were playing-- they all werent Djuembe's. One gal had three drums laid on their sides and stacked on top of each other-- DJ told me the name but I cant remember-- They were played with sticks and carried the bass sounds.

I LOVED the class and talked to DJ about getting my own drum! He is going to order one for me -- we will talk about it next Tuesday!!

I didnt get home till almost 11pm... and I was TIRED but at the same time exhilerated with my new found knowledge!! I cant wait for next Tuesday to arrive!!