Throwback Thursday: A Heritage of Music

My grandpa could play any stringed instrument. I don't know the year the above photo was taken, but I would guess late 1930s. (Though I didn't take the photo, I did add my thankfulme mark to it. The photo is in my possession, and I would gladly give credit to the photographer if I knew who it was. The last time I posted this photo online, and without a mark, someone used it without permission on another site. I felt a little possessive; this is MY grandpa!)

The same grandpa (my dad's dad) in 1980, instructing my sister about proper violin bow technique.

Grandma (my mom's mom) playing the piano while visiting at our house in 1980. This piano used to be in my grandma's house; it is the one on which my mom learned to play. My mom's grandma (my mom's dad's mother) bought this piano, so that my mom could learn to play. According to my mom, Great-Grandma believed that if a girl knew how to play the piano, she would always be popular.

I think things have changed from Great-Grandma's day, but I definitely see the value of knowing how to play an instrument. Many an evening, my dad would take out his guitar and we would sing together as a family. Dad would reference the Burl Ives songbook for forgotten chords. We would sing about the Titanic, the sow who caught the measles, and we would skip to our Lou. We couldn't sing Say Say Oh Playmate, or My Grandfather's Clock, because those songs made my sister cry. (She must have not really understood the song about the Titanic.)

Thanks for parents and grandparents who passed along a love of music. Oh, and happy 4-0 to my little brother!

Ten Things of Thankful: Autumn Edition

It's autumn time, one of my favorite times of year. I just couldn't leave this weekend as a one-post weekend.

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another...

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...

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