13: Winging It
1. Best comment of the week on THIS post was: Holy Virginian Smoked Ham, Batman! SPRING!
2. Me to my 3 year old grandson Liam: The birds are singing like crazy. Liam: That’s why they love each other.
3. Joe and I both wore Hello My Name IS tags this weekend, but we wore them to different events. He was at the Floyd EcoVillage taking a Respectful Confrontation workshop, which posed the question: Can you assert yourself in both loving and aggressive situations, express your vulnerability, and still stay in your power?
4. I was at a house concert to benefit Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival, which brings classical music mentors and academy students together for informal ensemble and symphony performances in a variety of indoor and outdoor settings throughout Floyd County each spring. This year’s festival, A Weekend of Classical Music in the Mountains, is from June 6-8. Check it out HERE.
5. At the house concert there was a rare red Steinway piano (less than a dozen were ever made), a high school violinist that made the top ten on America’s Got Talent, a classical whistling performance and more. Listen to some of the professional whistler’s performance HERE.
6. Where else can you hear ragtime, cathedral music, a waltz, a polka, spirituals, marches, the theme to Pink Panther and a formal symphony orchestra all in one festival? Read the rest of my story on last year’s festival HERE. 
7. My dad was an avid whistler. He had false teeth but said he never wore them because he couldn’t whistle when they were in. Occasionally he would put them in to eat cashews.
8. The song Good Life by One Republic is listed as one of the 15 best whistling songs in Rolling Stone. One Republic Lead singer Ryan Tedder said the whistle came to him first and the song was built around it. He describes the whistle as the song’s “second chorus” and says it took “20 takes and loads of Chapstick to get it just right.”
9. I also went to a Jacksonville Center’s New Voices opening (photos coming in this week’s paper) and caught an improvisation performance by dancer Leia Jones that involved fresh picked daffodils. Watch HERE.
10. Spring Revelry: Shrill daffodil / Bright yellow yell / A trumpet / for tight-lipped tulips
11. I love shadows and take lots of shadow pictures, I think because they remind me of the spirit that is behind everything. See the latest ones HERE.
12. I recently reconnected with an old friend on Facebook that I haven’t seen since the 70’s. “Do you still wear boy shoes?’ was one of the questions I asked her. ‘Do you still wear platform shoes?’ she answered.
13. I don’t expect my notes to sing, but, as writer, I wish they were at least readable.
__________Thirteen Thursday
April 16th, 2014 9:42 pm
#13, ‘ain’t it the truth’. I have nothing but respect for writers, such as yourself. I read a story or article, an I think it must be a ‘labour of love, with a whole whack of rules’. An yet the end result, appears as if created without effort and light as air if need be.
#3 I wonder if there is or was an answer to those questions? Control is always good, but ‘loosing it’ from time to time is necessary or for some uncontrollable.
#1 Ha, quoted and awarded.
April 17th, 2014 8:15 am
3 sounds very interesting Blessed Easter all !!
April 17th, 2014 1:25 pm
Sounds like you both had a busy weekend. Love this week’s T13 photo. My T13
April 17th, 2014 3:26 pm
A time full of arts and learning! How joyous. I can think of nothing more special.
Loved your TT.
April 17th, 2014 7:08 pm
I liked Dad without his teeth anyway!
This is another great TT !
April 18th, 2014 12:44 am
Virginia smoked ham? Not something that had ever crossed my mind before.
April 18th, 2014 5:58 am
Making shadows with the boys = fun. It has to be with the likes of your grandkids. Liam’s answer in #2 shows how cute and enjoyable are their spirits.
I agree with Sherry about dad and his teeth.
Ozzie used to shop for his mom before she passed.
He often heard whistling a few aisles away as he made his selections. He knew right away that dad was shopping too.