Bodhran: a shallow drum traditionally used in Celtic music and similar to the flat drums used in some Native American music. I purchased my very first drum at the Winter Festival of Acoustic Music. Why a bodhran? It makes this marvelous sound, is light weight, easily stored and easily carried. The bodhran is an amazingly flexible little drum. Also, I just like it. It isn’t something I went to the festival expecting to purchase but as always the stimulus of music spurs my creativity and need to explore. That, and the drum was discounted as was the bag to carry … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2013
This weekend was a BLAST. I attended, for only the second time, a small but absolutely fantastic gathering in Irving, TX called the Winter Festival of Acoustic Music. This year, Chuck and Karen Daniels and Charles Whitmer were the workshop leaders in autoharp. 2011 The first year I attended I took workshops with Charles Whitmer. Mr. Whitmer opened my eyes to amazing variations in strums. I learned exercises to take home and practice and I didn’t even have my own autoharp yet! Also, I was fitted with nice brass picks by Chuck Daniels (brass on the fingers and plastic for … Continue reading
I spent this weekend at the Winter Festival of Acoustic Music and visiting a dear friend of my husband’s who I find to be a delightful human being. I tried hard to remain on my diet but did not do too well. I refuse to ruin my marvelous weekend by getting on the scale because there is no way I did not gain any weight. DO go read my long winded report on the Winter Festival of Acoustic Music. Dear Lord, Thank You for this weekend. Thank You for visits with old friends, and music, and learning. Thank You for … Continue reading
The person who did the best last week in the Great Weight Write-off was Dennis who won because he has successfully used diet to improve his health and control his blood pressures without medication!! Way to go Dennis! Dennis is a husband and the father of nine kids, 1 daughter and 7 sons plus one daughter in heaven. He is a freelance writer and author who writes both fiction and non-fiction on numerous topics – family, faith, fantasy , etc. His first published magazine article is in the Lenten Edition of The Word Among Us, viewable on-line at http://wau.org/archives/article/come_on_god_give_me_a_break/ He has … Continue reading
Great Weight Write-off Check-In time!! pull up a mug of coffee and join in. This week was a net loss of weight! YAY!! I am now the lowest weight so far– and I feel very good about that! Further, healing from my car wreck last December is progressing and the pain levels are coming down so I asked the doctor’s opinion on my returning to driving my own vehicle. Well, my doctor suggested it is now time to test my healing tissues by returning to more of my favorite physical activities. This week, I hope to add at least one … Continue reading
I fairly commonly go on about the fun I have in the Society for Creative Anachronism. My favorite part, that dovetails with my love of history and my interest in learning enough to live and breath and write in my chosen time period, is the Arts and Sciences competitions. I find such things very exciting and am eagerly working toward the day when I am able to compete. This years Kingdom Arts and Sciences competition, for our Kingdom, took place last weekend. I could not go but a good soul (THANK YOU) filmed the exhibits and the announcement of who … Continue reading
I decided to enter a Lenten Giveaway and here is the URL so you can enter too! MyBrokenFiat Dear Lord, please bless our Pope Benedict XVI, and please bless his successor. Please guide the vote of the cardinals as they make this very important decision. Your will be done. +Amen. … Continue reading
Our beloved Pope Benedict XVI has announced he will retire at the end of the month. February 28, 2012 will mark the end of his pontificate. He sites his health and mental acuity and the demands of the job as reasons for his decision. May God bless him! My first response was denial, next tears. He has been God’s man his whole life and never wanted to be Pope, planning instead after the enclave that elected him to retire to his home and write books. I feel gratitude for his service to God even when it was contrary to his … Continue reading
Not my best week. Stress and frustration got to me and I did not stick to the diet perfectly and therefore, I gained two pounds! Just another check in on the Great Weight Write-off! Frustrations must be faced rather than ignored. Problems must be handled assertively rather than letting the problems run you. I finally began to assert myself against those frustrating problems today. Today I got a grip on myself and started new. Sadly, this week there is no weight loss victory of the variety that shows on the scale. I gained and there isn’t anything I can do … Continue reading
The greatest weakness interfering with me sticking perfectly to my diet is stress. One humdinger of a crazy day followed by passing a candy machine on campus and there I go, falling into temptation. I went a full MONTH without a single glitch or binge. A month of eating on my diet, feeling really really good, and losing a lovely bunch of pounds. Then in one fell swoop, I ate two chocolate bars. In one sitting like a greedy little glutton, I scarfed down those two chocolate goodies. I didn’t even eat them slow enough to enjoy them. This may … Continue reading