big birthday

Sam is now officially 2 years old…the big leap was made yesterday, with a water party at our house with friends. Of course, it was supposed to be “water” with hoses, sprinkler’s and such, but the weather decided to just make it rain (with a bit of chill) to keep us inside. Nonetheless, Sam delighted in time with his buddies. He also has some new toys, graciously given, that he’s rolling, carrying, and ravaging everywhere. I think he heard his birthday song so many times (thanks for calling, aunts, uncles, grandparents and all) that by the afternoon he’d just start singing it to himself in the third person.

Last night I played a show with Randall Goodgame at the Family Wash, a venue around the corner from the house. We jammed and had a fantastic time, though we were a little disappointed in the size of crowd. When you play here in Nashville, you never know how many “yeah, I’ll be there to see you”s will actually show up. Regardless, friends and fans were there in part and we had a blast with them. Others just missed out, I guess.

Cari is getting ready for the ½ marathon in the morning, trying to get some extra hydration throughout the week and make sure she is rested. It’s an early morning tomorrow, as she must be at the starting area around 6-6:15am. Sam and I will be joining friends in supporting her at a couple of points along the way as well as at the finish. Oh, and our friends Craig and Jana—Craig is our pastor at City Church—had a baby girl yesterday. Sam will have a birthday buddy☺ We hope to go see them at some point today to share in their newfound joys!

watching it grow

If anyone is reading this and keeping up, we put in the garden Saturday and are watching it grow...ok, not literally every moment, but we are now left to see what happens. We went up to the friendly and very helpful Bates Nursery north of town that morning and got the scoop on our "need" list. This included a scoop of mushroom compost (thanks for the use of the truck, Blake), some soil conditioner, wheat straw and some fertilizer. The compost filled the bed of the truck completely, so we were glad to have had the wagon as well. Did I mention that the compost was steaming and had a delightful odor that still carries on?

I borrowed our neighbor's tiller, tilling before spreading the compost, conditioner, and fertilizer around the garden, and then afterwards to mix it all together. Sam cooperated pretty well, and by planting time Cari took over in the garden and I played with Sam in the yard. We set up our tent and had fun playing inside and out...enjoying the shade when possible. During his nap, I took the truck to the car wash to clean it well before returning it to Blake. I must say that I felt bad distributing the remains of compost everywhere in the car wash bay--high pressure water did the trick but also made a mess. I cleaned it up as much as possible, but pictured someone pulling in with their nice ride and quickly discovering an awful odor and remains on the ground. Oh well, we do what we can!

I'm spending a lot of time catching up on Blood:Water work this week. We've received many, many emails with a wide spectrum of questions, and it is my goal to catch up on these by the end of the week and especially by the end of the month.

the big garden day

I'm finishing up a couple of days with Rick, mostly painting and paint-prepping. I had a fun day in the studio with friends on Tuesday, and had a rehearsal with Randall Goodgame Wednesday (I have a show with him at the Family Wash in 2 weeks). I've been putting in time trying to catch up on all the emails for Blood:Water Mission as well, answering questions of all kinds. I think the next couple of weeks will bring a little break to the busy-ness, though I'm sure we'll find things to occupy our time!
Which brings my mind to another thing...tomorrow will be planting day for the garden, based on all the calculations and speculations. We hope to get some compost in the morning as well as till up the ground one last time. Then planting begins: strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, and green beans. We'll see how it goes!

sunny days

We finished up a weekend of outdoors, spending most of the daytime hours in the sun and shade working and playing. As the last frost date for middle TN nears (next weekend), we are trying to get everything in order with the garden. The excitement and tension builds--will we have green thumbs? I mowed the lawn for the first time, knocking off the tops of many of the weeds and giving our lawn a brief respite from the uneven weedy look. The ol' Snapper (yes, its a mid-80's model) is still kicking after the winter, though I think I need to sharpen the blade.

Studio work went well Thursday and Friday. I had a lot of fun playing bass again, not to mention the joys of catching up with friends and meeting new people. Today I have a meeting for Blood:Water here in town, and tomorrow I'll be back in the studio working with Matthew Perryman Jones and an artist he knows. I'll try to check in later today, but wanted to take a moment to say hello.

back in the studio

I've taken off my construction hat and put on my music hat for the next couple of days. I'll be in the studio working on a project with Mitch Dane today and tomorrow. Ben Mize is coming up from Athens, GA to play on the cd...excited to catch up with him and hopefully lay down some good tracks. I don't know the name of the artist yet, but it is said to sound like a mix between Tom Petty and the Beatles. We shall see.

With Rick, I painted lots of trim the last few days, vastly improving my painting skills. I also spent some time on the extension ladder replacing caulk on the siding and around some windows. Our dry wall patches in the kitchen ceiling look great--something you try to do your best with but never know what the final product will look like until its painted. I'll probably do some more work over there later next week.

The weeks go by

We sat on the back porch after dinner watching a beautiful sunset...so nice to have the extra hour of sunlight during the day. Sam appears to be enjoying the later sunrise in the morning as well (ok, maybe its mom and dad that are truly benefitting from it).

I've been working, working, working the last few weeks. I'm finishing up my work with Rick this week...some painting, flooring, and probably a little more electrical work. I cut my hand in a couple of places on Friday with a utility knife--that blade just sinks right in and leaves a solid pain! Thankfully the spots weren't deep, as they have healed up for the most part over the weekend. I was scared more than anything, anxious to see how bad I had hurt myself. Ahh, the joys of being a musician but enjoying to work with my hands in construction/remodeling.

I've been working hard to also put in some time replying to the 10-20 emails received daily for Blood:Water Mission. Some of the questions are brief and repetitive, and some take some time to think over and reply. We are thrilled with the response and the excitement building across the states and even in parts of the world as people learn about our work. My volunteer life working especially on donor relations and several other small hats may be solidifying into part-time work as the summer arrives. This is a blessing that will allow me to continue to pour into this work long term...please be praying for me and all of us involved.

I will be writing for the weekly 850 Words of Relevant newsletter occasionally, so if you'd like to get on their mailing list go to www.relevantmagazine.com. I don't believe the newsletter articles are on the website, so only the newsletter recipients see them. I'll try to give a heads up before the next one happens.