Monday, Monday

Yesterday I thought I'd take pictures of a typical Monday in the life of Judy Bush.  I practiced the guitar and cello first thing in the morning. I also finished transcribing some songs for the Pearl Strings, as well as Whistling Prairie.

Then I went to my voice lesson where I worked on singing intervals and trying to get them in tune without the piano. I've really enjoyed the lessons and feel they have a positive effect on my listening as I play other instruments.

I also have German on Mondays. I tutor a friend in the morning, and in the afternoon I go to McDaniel's college. I look like a real student, don't you think? I love my class and have learned so much in it!

I stole a little time to finish up Georgette Heyer's book, These Old Shades. It was a good one.

In the late afternoon Suzanne and I took the dogs for a walk on the fire road. We're having to squeeze our walks in at odd times, 7:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m., or 4:30 p.m. Whenever it is, Coda and Harper are thrilled and ready to go!

Ed got home at 9 p.m., just in time to watch a little Pride and Prejudice with me before bed. And that was Monday!

Reading Wonder

The Book it Sisters met at Cheryl's house this week to discuss the young adult book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacios. We enjoyed it, and it was fun to talk about it. It had a good message (be nice to others). Hopefully, we'll be better people for having read it!

We also enjoyed the delicious filet mignon chili and the fall decorations. We were lucky to have a guest reviewer join us at the end--Cheryl's fifth grade daughter, Carolyn. We gave the book an A-. To read our reviews, go to http://bookitsisters.com/wonder/.

Joe Comes to Visit

Ed's college friend, Joe stopped by to visit Wednesday. He lives in Santa Barbara with his family, so enjoyed our heavy rainstorm. They haven't seen water fall from the skies in California this year!

He not only went to college with Ed, but joined the LDS church about the same time as Ed. He worked for Hughes/Raytheon like Ed, and had three daughters, just like us! It was fun catching up.

To make his trip even more memorable, I gave him a little souvenir, by backing into his rental car! Sorry! He won't forget this trip!

Activity Day Ancestor Cards

We did a Family History Project for Activity Day this week. Each girl gave me a four generation chart in advance. I made cards with their pictures on the front and a place for them to write each ancestor's name and birth date on the back. They were printed on perforated business cards.

We divided into two smaller groups to play Go Fish with our cards. After the game everyone separated the cards out again and took home their own cards.

It was fun seeing how some of the girls were named after their ancestors. Other girls noticed how family names had been passed along through the years. One of the girls had several grandfathers with names that today would be only used for women. Who knew Claire was once a man's name?

New Front Garden

The landscapers magically showed up today to install a new garden at the front of our property. It rained off and on all day, but they persisted!

We thought the end result was beautiful, even on a drizzly day like today.

The nursery was having a fall discount on trees, so we had them bring 12 more in addition to the front garden. One of them was this pretty red maple we planted on the other side of the front yard. We also added 4 lilac bushes along Miss Hackney's fence.

We planted two pink and three white cherry trees in the side yard, in addition to 5 redbud trees in the copse, and another green giant by the driveway. I can't wait till spring when everything starts blooming. Ed can't wait till next week when we get the bill!

Fifth Annual Eldersburg Ward Fall Festival

Yesterday was the fifth time Ed and I had worked together on the Fall Festival. It was the first time it was held at the church. The church had lots of space to spread out the weather cooperated to make it a great evening.

Ross set up an even fancier root beer stand than ever before, with his homemade root beer in soft drink cylinders.

There was plenty of room for two tables for pies, ad well as 3 more for chili.

The young women did a great job on the face painting, and the young men had a photo booth in the bishop's office.

The parachute and the giant soccer ball were popular items, as usual.

Brother Meyers made some corn holes for tossing bean bags. The frisbee golf had plenty of room for a course on the opposite side of the church.

The Elders Quorum set up doughnuts on a string, which was one of the few things Ed and I had time to eat.

We had plenty of selection with 30 pots of chili! I even came home with leftover chili!

The judges did a terrific job behind the scenes and awarded first prize to someone who left before the awards were handed out!

There was a short program that included the missionaries, the Pearl Strings and the Big Bush Basement Band, all together for this number!

The Layton boys also did a terrific rendition of Funniculi, Funnicula.

I was proud of the Activity Day girls who played harmonicas and ukeleles on O, Susanna.



The main event was the polka races that turned out to be very popular we had to have 8 heats, plus a championship heat. It was fun watching as well as participating! I'm sure we have a few polka people who are a little sore this morning!

Oktoberfest at the South Carroll Senior Center

Today the Pearl Strings and the German Stammtisch played and sang for Oktoberfest at the Senior Center. It was our first gig with our new stand banners. I designed them, and we had them professionally embroidered. Barb sewed them up and backed them so they could slip on the stand. Our ultimate goal is to play without music, but we are so far from that that we thought it might be fun to use the stands to get a little brand recognition going!

The Pearl Strings did several polkas, mixed in with some of our favorite songs, including Country Roads and Berry Picking Time.

The Senior Center's German Stammtisch (German club) joined us on four songs sung entirely in German. They were super enthusiastic and got the crowd clapping! Six of our Stammtisch members were there, and three of them are authentic Germans who really understood what Oktoberfest is all about! (Apparently, drinking beer!)

The band backed up the German songs, and I was able to dust off the accordion to make it extra fun!

On Du, Du, Liegst Mir am Herzen we had a couple from the audience spontaneously jump up and waltz with us. It was beautiful!

On the Clarinet Polka, Gudrun scoured the audience for people willing to dance. She found a few, and the cook even came out of the kitchen to kick up her heels!

It was a very fun gig, and we enjoyed it immensely! I'd just like to say, "Eins, Zwei, Drei, G'Suffa!"

Obstacles

Yesterday was a beautiful day to go for a walk along Liberty Reservoir. The leaves are just starting to change, and there were plenty of them on the fire trail as we crunched along!

A large tree fell into the trail last week, creating quite the obstacle! The sad part is, since they just barely cut down all the trees in the path last week, we might have to wait all winter till they come back and get this one!

Oh, well, at least it didn't fall on us!

We were home in time to watch both sessions of LDS General Conference on TV. Coda enjoyed it, too, although she was just one more obstacle in our path!

Ed is my Rock

Ed and I are putting in a little landscaping at the front of the house. We got a nice design from our landscaper that includes an upright boulder right where Ed is standing.

We got to go boulder shopping on Saturday and found one that we think is going to look very nice!

Ed is not only my rock, but also my tree. We're getting a new maple tree to replace the one that fell over in the spring. The first one was right by the road. This one will be planted where Ed is standing. Look hard! He's got a red shirt on and his hands outstretched like big shade tree.

More Polka

We had a make-up session Friday night for those who missed our first Polka and Popcorn event. It consisted largely of the Goold family and friends.They are determined to be contenders in the Polka Races!

They moved so fast it was hard to get a clear picture! This father daughter combination could be tough competition for the rest of the ward on Saturday.

We're hoping the weather forecast clears up for the event. If it rains it might all be for naught!

No Strings Attached

Heather taught us how to make friendship bracelets in Activity Day tonight. It was pretty fun, and everyone wanted to take home extra embroidery thread to do a second one at home. They all had big plans of finishing them during General Conference this weekend! (Their idea, not ours!)

Jon Comes to Town

My brother Jon dropped in yesterday. He's a pilot and had an overnight in Baltimore. I dropped by to see him for a few hours before I went to an business awards night for Ed's work.

His hotel was close to Arundel Mills Mall, so we popped over to see the new den of iniquity--the Casino next to the mall. It was just like Las Vegas in the middle of Maryland!

After we walked through the casino we went over to the mall for smoothies. It was fun to see him and have some time to visit, especially since he missed the big family do in North Carolina this summer! He lives in Utah and has three children, the youngest of which is in kindergarten! Good times are in store for my sister-in-law, Sara, next year! (Both Jon and Sara got the H out!)