Saturday, January 12, 2008

Home, sweet home....

I think it is good for me to leave home because it is always so good to get back. When we went to our room in Lafayette yesterday afternoon....Jim said, "Home again." He spent more evenings in a Holiday Inn over the last 18 years than he did at home. I guess he should say that. He never wanted to go any place on the weekends so maybe now he won't mind a little get away sometimes. I am over due for some travel.

We enjoyed the dinner at the Blue Dog almost as much as the concert. They have the best food at that place and I love all the pics of Tiffany...the blue dog who must be part border collie, staring at me. The concert was very good. The Heymann Center is really nice (comfortable seats....Jim was thankful for that). I hope to be able to visit there again. Ricky Scaggs and his band were awesome and of course it was wonderful to see Bruce Hornsby again. I enjoyed the fussion of their music and a lot of Bruce's tunes lended themselves to the blue grass style very well, but I think I prefer seeing Bruce with his band doing the Bruce thing..... and Ricky is amazing and I didn't feel I got to experience him playing like he normally does. Now don't read what I didn't write....it was very good and very interesting as well. We enjoyed the music very much and I would recommend this show to someone if they were asking....they were in Mobile tonight. I will tell my relatives in NJ to check them out when they get up there in April.

Jim and I were amazed and excited to see this young guy (age 26!), Andy Leftwich, who was the fiddle player. He was just amazing.....we think he could probably play any style. He was just so000 good. We read on the net Ricky Skaggs invited him to join his band when he was 18 years old. I know he probably has worked very hard, but it is obvious he has a God given talent. He also plays the mandolin. He was our favorite part of the whole evening. We see on the net he has his own CD and we are thinking we might invest in one. We found a clip on the net of this Andy Leftwich when he and Kentucky Thunder play, "I am ready to go" at a Gaither renunion. I will try and put it way down at the bottom of this blog under all the posts. You could always go to youtube and type in Ricky Skaggs and you'll see the title of the song.

We were on our way home today when my Mom called to tell me my Aunt Marie died in a nursing home early this am. It was not a surprise. Aunt Marie and her husband, Uncle Bucky, owned The Canoe Place Inn....which is currently on sale....in Jim's and my home town of Port Allegany. Jim played piano there and I was a waitress....many moons ago. It is where we met. ....anyway, my Aunt was our boss. She (my dad's sis) loved to make people laugh and she always had the most stylish shoes and clothes. Sometimes I think I take after my Aunt Marie when I see another pair of shoes I just love....and just have to have. I know that my toes look a lot like hers did... not like my mom's. Last time I saw her it was very sad. She was glad to see my mother and I, but she just wasn't herself....so I guess I am not sad. I hate being so far away when things like this happen in my family because there is no closure. Jim and I both feel badly about her passing. Sometimes Aunt Marie could be sort of a pain... she drove my dad nuts always telling jokes...she told a lot of the same ones again and again, but we both remember her fondly and feel badly about her passing. Out of the eight children my grandmother bore, there are now two sisters left. When my grandmother passed away she had already buried two of her sons. It won't be long and that whole generation will be gone.....probably in 15 or so years we (our tier....my sisters and cousins) are going to be the oldest ones in the family.

Tomorrow my friend, Lora and her friends run their marathon....over 26 miles. Please say a prayer for her....and for her friends that are running, too. I can't imagine! She has been training for quite sometime and this is it! She is amazing to me. She has six hours to run it in....man! I don't want her to have any injuries or to just have problems.

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