Its Been One Year

I can't believe that it has been one whole year already. I did my first blog on January 30th 2011 and it was to celebrate Tracy's birthday. We all went for a snowshoe stomp in the mountains just west of Kelowna.

I changed my flights from Sacramento to get home a day earlier and help celebrate her birthday today. Tracy is battling cancer and we all wanted to be with her to bring in this next year with  positive thoughts and prayers. Once her treatments are over we are all praying that she springs back to the old Tracy we know and love.
So we all headed out to do a walk along the beach before breakfast at our house . It was a nice crisp morning with last nights sticky snow crunching beneath our feet. We had a lady with a 3 legged dog come over and take our picture by this beautiful old tree.

I got home early last evening so Ruth and I started to get ready for today as soon as I stepped into the house. She has been doing prep for the last few days so I didn't mind helping as much as I could. I had to go to Home Depot and buy a sheet of plywood to make this table large enough to sit all of our friends.

Tracy got here shortly after we returned from our walk and we all sat down for our birthday feast by 10:00. Everyone brought something for the meal. I love these pot luck get togethers.

Tracy's sister Corliss and her son Josh flew in yesterday to spend this next week with her . She is from Calgary and he is a fisherman on the east coast. Both are wonderful people. I like them because they love to laugh.

Ruth spent a lot of time making an angle food cake that didn't cooperate. When it came out of the oven it fell . After she iced the cake she put a picture of Tracy onto it that didn't take properly and the picture ran. Luckily she had some roses to add to her creation to make it look beautiful. Jack was helping get it ready to serve when I asked for a smile. He is such a cutie. We all love him.

We finally got some of the sparklers lit and were able to get it over to Tracy while singing Happy Birthday before they went out. 

Josh is thinking "That looks good . I can still eat more".  Ruth is just happy she got it all the way from the kitchen to the table before the sparklers went out. Tracy is likely thinking that she can't eat anymore and is glad she has Josh with her to help.

Our Son in law got a fresh haircut yesterday and was hogging every photo op he could get into.

                                                           He looked very handsome.

The boys hunkered down to some classic Charlie Chapman after breakfast.

I think Shelly got a few special moments bonding with our new granddaughter  Eleanor. I like this photo.

It was a nice morning and we are all very happy Tracy was here with us. She is a good friend and we are all praying for her.

My Education Is Over

My brain is full. I'm coming home tomorrow . My flight leaves Sacramento early Saturday morning and I will be home in the afternoon. I can't wait. I miss Ruth and family/friends. Dogs as well. This has been a great trip. I have eaten too much , drank too much and laughed way too much. This last leg was well worth doing. Wayne is a terrific companion in and out of class. He has the dryest  and greatest sense of humour. One of the nicest men I have ever met.

The class was a little slow the first day but picked up on the second day. I have learnt so many new tricks on the pianodisc system since I got here. I can't wait to get back to set up the piano I have at home.Our class was very small. Only Wayne and myself signed up for this session so we did get lots of attention. I don't think that Wayne really needed to be here as he knows so much about these systems but he certainly did bring the best out in our teacher. I think Michel was working hard to stay one step ahead of Wayne.

 I couldn't seem to grasp a problem yesterday and told wayne he would have to dumb it down for me later. He rephrased a problem later and I got it right away. I sure do appreciate the way he talks to me. This happened more than once. I wish I could spend more time with him but he lives in Elmira, Ontario. That is just outside of Toronto. Whenever the lights went down to watch the video screen we both would fall asleep. That was kind of funny.

So they seem to have a great tradition here in California. Whenever we had a teacher in Canada we would bring them apples but here the teacher brings the students oranges right off the trees that grow in their own back yards. The oranges were the best I have ever had.

We're Leaving After I Make Breakfast

Hard to believe there were only 5 of us here in this room last night.I woke up to this mess but miraculously if got cleaned up by someone as I sat on the couch drinking my coffee.

I noticed that some of the food we bought ended up in the garbage. I didn't buy this and I sure wasn't going to eat this. It was 3 days old. I was glad to see it gone.

So I set to out to work making my favourite apple pancakes. Breakfast is my favourite meal this time of day. I luckily just got the first batch cooking when I realized they didn't look quite right.

More food into the can but with good reason. The pancakes just didn't rise like they should have.

I was so mad when I realized what I had done.

I made a fresh batch and they turned out great. The down side now was that I went into the bedroom for a few minutes after I had made breakfast and when I returned most of the pancakes were gone and there was no more maple syrup left. I choked down 3 dry pancakes but luckily there was a little orange juice to help wash them down. Next time I will know better and serve myself first.

Dave's Thrill Of The Show

My friend David is also my rep for Pearl River. He called me on Sunday night with so much excitement in his voice that I could hardly understand what he was saying. Stevie Wonder had been wandering thru out the show for 3 days trying every small piano that was on display. The most time he spent playing each one was about 5 minutes . Sunday afternoon he came into the Pearl River booth and spent 45 minutes playing  little 5 foot Pearl River before he stood up and said to Dave that he would take it. What I found interesting in this is that he isn't influenced by name brands but he rely's totally on the sound that he hears. I have been saying for years now that Pearl River is one of the best sounding pianos on the market. Stevie Wonder needs a small piano for some type of tour he is about to do from what I understand and he must have liked what he heard in the Pearl River to pick this brand. I was happy for David to be able to make this sale. They are great pianos.

This is a picture of Dave and Lothar Thomma standing with Stevie Wonder. Mr Thomma is the European designer who has designed the Pearl River piano which was chosen by Stevie Wonder.

A Tourist In Palm Springs

The winds were terrible here the other day . We tried walking down the street but had to get refuge back in the car. There were trees blowing over along the roadways. They say it was the worst sand storm in decades.

I was glad to get back to the hotel and make some dinner for the guys. It's been fun doing the cooking. The best part of this is that they all take care of the cleanup. Doesn't it look like we are having fun.

So after dinner we headed out to the hot tub to relax. Merv was sure he had met his twin and insisted I take their picture together . He wanted proof that there is an identical look alike to him on this planet.

So on Monday morning we all decided to head out and see what it was like to have access to the desert.

This was a great day . We laughed and saw all types of things. We walked around this living desert for about 3 hours and still didn't see everything. I think Ruth would like it here as long as she didn't have to walk with these monkeys.

I must admit that I did have a nice time with them. We laughed an awful lot. There was a lot of wildlife to enjoy. Merv seemed a little nervous when he saw this guy close to the path.

Here we had a couple of the vultures show up during our walk.They were here to make us feel at home. I have some piano customers that they reminded me of.

                                               This really is a land of giant plants.

I'm In Palm Springs With My Buddies

We are here till next Wednesday. I love it here. Warm and quiet. Quiet today because they have all gone to a flea market and I wanted some quiet time to do my blog. This resort is my daughters most favourite place on earth. It really is a great place. We have 2 apartments on the ground floor by the pool . I sat in the sun for most of the afternoon. It was nice.

As I was sitting there I noticed a pretty little humming bird come in and start eating from the bush beside the deck. It is so nice to be able to enjoy these little birds in January.

So when I left Kelowna I only had this small suitcase to put all my junk into. Ruth took the medium sized bag to mexico last week. My bag was jammed and I almost couldn't close it so I asked the guys to keep an eye out for a cheap suitcase for me today at the flea market. Merv was so proud of himself today when they got back . He found the perfect bag for me. Now I owe him $30.00 for the purchase he did for me. He's not the prettiest room mate I have had but he does keep me laughing. I'll never loose this suitcase on the airport carousal.

Wayne bought his wife a new necklace that he wouldn't take off  because  he really thought he looked good sitting there watching the ballet special that they were showing on WN this afternoon.

I was glad Merve has to bunk with Brian when he came walking thru the pool area looking like this.

So we all headed out into the BBQ area to start dinner. I think we are all really pretty.

N.A.M.M. WEEK.........

I love going to NAMM. We have been members of the National Association of Music Merchants for over 30 years. Every January we get out of the cold and get to see our merchant friends in sunny California.
For the last few years I have been going with my friend Brian who lives in Calgary. We always laugh a lot when we get together and this year hasn't been any different. I spent Tuesday in Calgary hanging out at his store. When he picked me up at the airport it was 31 below. I really don't know why anyone lives here.

I like his wife Roxie and the only way I was able to get a visit in with her was to leave a day early. She is such a great cook I wanted to be there by dinner time. When I got there I was greeted at the door by their new puppy. This little girl is only 7 months old and is as smart as can be.

They also have a 5 year old male that they wanted to get a friend for.

These are both purebred Portuguese Water dogs. Very smart and easy to train. I think I will likely get one of these when we decide to get another dog. They don't shed , aren't too big and are very easy to train. I think Brian wanted this breed because that is what Obama bought.
They have the most comfortable bed and elegant bedroom I have ever slept in. I love coming here for overnight visits.

The only accommodation that would be better would be to sleep in their bedroom. It is about 1200 sq. feet and it even has a fireplace in the lounging area. I would love to have this in our place. This is just the entrance into the bedroom. There are two huge walk in closets and a huge bathroom coming off this entrance hallway.

Brian and Roxie bought this acreage about 30 years ago and were way out of town . Now they have development around them . No longer are they in the country but they still get a gorgeous sunset from the back deck.

We left Wednesday morning for Palm Springs. I was telling Brian that he needs a village to take care of him when travelling. He put his briefcase down in the airport and walked away from it. Just as we were about to pass thru customs this little guy who works for the airport came running after us caring the briefcase. We were lucky they didn't call security because I think they worry about bags and things being left unattended.
Once we got to Palm Springs we met our friend Wayne from Ontario. He made me laugh so hard I was crying. Wayne got here 7 hours before we did so he took a cab downtown Palm Springs to waste some time. While walking down the main drag he spotted a shoe store that had a sale on. He decided to buy a new pair of shoes that he liked so much that he threw his old shoes away. It was only 3 miles back to the airport and was such a nice day he decided to walk back to meet us. When we landed he was sitting in the waiting area. Not because he was tired from the walk but his feet were bleeding . I actually felt sorry for him but who buys new shoes just before a trade show and throws the old ones away. These shoes looks nice but that was all they did for him.

 We got the rental car and headed up to Anaheim fro the trade show. On the way we stopped into a Walmart so that wayne could buy a better pair of shoes. He looked like he could dance once he put the new shoes on. He is still threatening to throw the other new ones away.

So Brian bought a case of beer in walmart and I bought a bottle of wine. Wayne and I got back to the car first and we turned around to see where Brian was. He was about 75 feet behind us and on his knees with his head in a bush.

We walk back to where he is and I'm thinking to myself that I hope he didn't loose the keys to the rental car. Sure enough. He had the keys and the receipt for the beer in his left hand . As he was passing the bush he decided to get rid of the receipt by throwing it into the bush. The keys went with it. I was so busy laughing and trying to get my camera out he got a little mad at me. He finally found the keys but I think this was a warning from God not to litter. Brian sure looked happy when he finally stood up holding them again.

So it was a late night but we hit the ground early the next morning to be sure to attend the NAMM breakfast meeting. They always have terrific speakers at this event. This year they had Ray Kurzweil.

He was great. He partnered up with Stevie Wonder in the early 80's and developed the Kurzweil Synth and piano. He also has designed a reading machine for the blind. I would like to read his latest book. So Stevie Wonder joined him on the stage for about 30 minutes and they talked about humanity and what we all can do to help the world. It was well worth going to see.

After the breakfast meeting we headed over to the show.I love how the LAPD have their officers and horses patrolling the  grounds.

I told this officer that I thought he had a cool job and he said that he agreed with me.

I was standing outside the Piano displays when Stevie Wonder showed up with his security and started to play one of the pianos in the lobby. At first the security said no pictures but then Stevie said it was all right. It was a great impromptu concert. I was disappointed that he didn't wave back to me when I waved to him.

I spent the better part of the day checking out all the new pianos.This is one that I don't think I will be buying. I would need a bigger showroom.

There were a few unusual looking pianos on display this year. Nothing that I would want but I did end up buying a few traditional looking uprights and Grands.

Friday morning I headed over to my cousins house .They live in the most congested part of Los Angles I have ever driven in. The drivers are crazy here.

Kevin and Jackie lost their home in that terrible earthquake 12 years ago but they rebuilt a gorgeous replacement house. 

I got there early afternoon and sat around the pool for a few hours sipping beer having a nice visit. It sure was nice to see him again. I'm sorry we don't live closer. 

I tuned his piano and replaced a string that I broke a few years ago while tuning it. I told him that bad service is better than no service. Hope he agrees.

We had a great dinner and Jackie and I sat around talking after until I suddenly got exhausted. It had been a long couple of days.I was so tired I didn't even mind the bed. I felt like a very special princess.