ON THE MUSIC FRONT…. My Real Estate job has kept me insanely busy this past month so I haven’t had a lot of time to devote to my music.   I don’t know about you, but when I’m under stress, I enjoy ….. shopping.   That being said, since my last blog, I went on a bit of a spending spree and I’m now the proud owner of the following slightly used musical instruments:  a banjo (yes, a banjo!), an accordion (the man who was selling the banjo on Crags list happened to mention when I got there that his wife was also selling her high school accordion – I couldn’t help myself – it’s red – from the 70’s and really cool!), a ukelele with a small amp, and a small classical guitar.   I also finally got my Grandmother’s ukelele (In need of restoration) out of the music shop – thank you Bobby Kennedy – so I’ve got plenty of instruments to play now!  I almost forgot – I also picked up a really neat looking antique vintage “zither”  at a pawn shop but it appears to be beyond repair so I can only use it as a wall hanging.    A girl never can have too many instruments, you know!   I like to put the money I make from selling my music back into this ministry so with these new instruments, I’m really excited about implementing some new sounds into my songs!   I can create just about any sound you can imagine (on a midi keyboard and computer) which is how I typically compose the background music for most of my songs (multiple tracks of different instruments are layered on top of each other to create a music bed to lay vocals on), but there’s nothing like the sound and satisfaction of playing a live instrument.   I’ve started taking banjo lessons! – (bluegrass style with finger picking).  I have no clue how to play an accordion but it has a keyboard so I’m hoping I can pick it up pretty easy since I currently orchestrate most of my songs on piano.  Hoping the ukelele won’t be too hard to learn either.  Oh, I forgot to mention, the dulcimer – I have one of those too (given to me as a gift) and I’ve started practicing on it!    I’m still preparing to sing at the retirement homes and will be calling this week to schedule the dates – finally ready!  The Choral Director at the church I’m attending will be performing with me so we’ve spent the last few weeks practicing about 10 of the old time folk songs and having a blast!  I will say that some of the lyrics to these songs are “quite interesting”.   Before this venture, I only played my own songs so it’s been fun learning these old folk songs.  Hope to implement a few of my originals too but I really think the residents of the retirement and nursing homes will most enjoy hearing these older songs.  As a matter of fact, the song “Old Susanna” was what inspired me to buy and learn to play the banjo!   Hey, it’s never too late to learn!  (Can you believe the song, “Old Susanna” was written by Stephen Foster in 1847!)

MY MOM….. Thank you all for your prayers.   My mother is doing much better now!   She had spinal surgery on March 9th and it’s been quite a trial for us all but she is now walking with a walker and is in much better spirits.  Praise God!  We’ve hired sitters to assist her during the day and it’s working out beautifully.   Mom’s not supposed to bend down or pick up anything…..   I still give her doctor prescribed nightly injections to help her bone growth – a miraculous new medicine called “Forteo”.   (The shots have to continue for 2 years).

LIGHTNING STRIKE!  On Friday July 13th, of all things, lightning struck a pine tree on our property that created havoc.   When I built our house 17 years ago, I elected not to take down this beautiful pine because it looked tall and strong.   My husband has always wanted this tree taken down because it sits about 25 feet away from our master bedroom and he has had a fear of this large tree coming through the roof in a storm one day while we slept.  Ironically, just a few weeks before the “lightning”  incident, I had a tree company come over and give me an estimate to remove this very tree.  I wasn’t in a hurry, after all, the tree had been there for all these years, and I hated to kill the tree, so I put off the removal.   When the lightning hit the tree it took out a big chunk scarring the trunk, spiraling upward, and stripping off bark everywhere.   The tree was seriously damaged.  The lightning bounced off of the tree and broke my brick-pavered sidewalk, literally blew the walk-way landscaping lighting out of the ground and the landscape lighting control panel off of the wall.    The surge came into the house through that control panel –  blew outlets and pictures off of the wall in our bedroom,  took out our bedroom and kitchen lights, destroyed 4 tv’s, several telephones, messed up the washing machine, fried the security system, and zapped our garage door opener.   We have well water and the well head was close to this tree so with the jostle of the ground, we experienced cloudy water with sand in it for several days.   I can’t tell you how many service people we’ve had come to this house and it’s still not all resolved.   The insurance deductible is more than the quote to have removed the tree in the first place so in hind site, I sure wish I’d have taken it down so it would not have become a “lightning rod”.   Moral is, don’t procrastinate!  You know, there is a positive side…… we didn’t lose our air conditioning, we were not home at the time to experience the fear of the strike (although my poor cat, Callie, was hiding in the closet when we got home), the tree didn’t come crashing through the roof of our bedroom and destroy the framing of house, and most importantly, we were not physically injured.   I’m certainly thankful for those things!   Always good to try to find a positive out of a situation.   You know,  life really is all about peaks and valleys…… That being said, I’m ready to climb the mountain now!

Not a frequent blogger but I hope my entry finds each and every one of you happy and healthy.   Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my song site, read this blog, and hear the messages our loving God has given me to share through my music – I hope my songs will be a blessing to you.  If you are new to my site, be sure to listen to my songs on the “watch videos” page.

The biggest compliment I can receive is in knowing that one of my songs has touched your life or the life of someone you know.   I would love to hear from you!  Feel free to email me at libbyallensongs@gmail.com  (If you would like your comment posted on my commentary page to share with others, just let me know, otherwise, all emails will remain confidential).

Blessings,

Libby 😉