Jimmy's 90

Jimmy Lindsey is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. He has forgotten more in music than I will ever know. He is also so encouraging to people, especially young people. He is very fond of Katlin and was telling her here that she had what it takes to go all the way with her music. We went to La Plata , Mo. for the birthday party. Leaving Fairfield about 9 AM. It was a pot luck and my the food!! Kind of like an Eklund gathering. At 90 you really don't expect a person to have many friends left, but there must have been well over 100 people there. A testamony to the kind of man Jimmy is. They came and went all day..

Here is Katlin playing with the Bluegrass Blondies. She then played several songs on her own. She really likes to preform. And I might say did a fine job.

This group of players (recognise any one?) were in the kitchen area warming up as they said, kind of tight quarters.

This is Jimmy on stage with his daughter Betty.

And with his granddaughter Lindsey. She is in college so they don't get to play together often. It was a nice day. Dawn and I had to drag Scottie and Dan off the stage. Come to think of it Lloyd was up there too.

Snowy MLK Day with Katlin.

What do you do when it is nasty outside? Why you make a pencil of course, and here it is. That is a real pencil laying beside it so you can get an idea of how big it is. Katlin picked out the fabric and did most of the sewing. I had to help her a little. Too funny!

SPBGMA 37th Bluegrass Music Awards Show

Friday January 14th we left for the 37th Annual Bluegrass Awards Show in Jefferson City Mo. Lloyd, Jeanine, Dan, Katlin and I. Dan woke up sick with a cold but being the trooper he is he went anyway. Miss Katlin only had half a day of school so she took it as a music appreciation day. We stopped at Jeanine's Dad's house for lunch on the way down. I thought we were going to have sandwiches but Jeanine had cooked a roast with carrots and celery and made mashed potatoes and gravy. Yummo! We visited for a shot time and took off for Jeff City. Got there about 2:30 and checked into our room and went to see the show. There was one act on before Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. Rhonda was very good. After her show we went for some supper. We ate at Bandana's ( a bar-B-Que Place). The food was very good but I tasted it all night. Jeanine said the next morning she did too. Still very tasty.

This is a picture of Rhonda and her group. For those of you who don't know she is from Greentop Mo. and is the sister of the Vincent of Daily and Vincent fame.






This was our hotel room. It was ok.


Jeanine and Lloyd had an adjoining room with a king sized bed and a sleeper sofa. They brought a blow up bed for Katlin. That is what you see leaning against the window. It worked out very well.


They also brought a sleeping bag, which Katlin loved. Here she is in her mummy bag.

The hotel had a 7 story waterfall. This is it. However it was not on while we were there. People were picking in the area around there and it made too much noise so they shut it off. The lighted things on either side of the waterfall are the glass elevators. Not for the weak stomached.

Katlin picked with the greats and the near greats. Although no one knew it at the time. the fiddle player sitting next to Katlin was the fiddle player for Nothin' Fancy, the group who presided at the awards. The banjo player won at least 2 awards that night. People would stop and listen for a while and move on. I'm proud to say she held her own with them.

Here she is with another group of mostly young people. They were very good too. There would be 5 o6 groups all playing in this area, but mostly you could hear the group you were listening too very well.

The guitar player is a friend of Jeanine's, Bull Harmon. Both he and the mandolin player won best of in their category.

This is the group Nothin' Fancy. Very talented and very funny. The fiddle player is the one who played with Katlin.

The leader of the group, a self proclaimed hippie. He was very talented. Really easy to listen to and very good harmonies.

Driving down Jeanine and I had seen this wall of rock with frozen icicles hanging down. Tried to get a picture coming back but it didn't turn out very good. It was like coming straight out of rock. Any way I thought it was neat.

Dan got bored coming home, so he started taking pictures of barns with his phone. But he could never quite get it centered. After listening to him for a while I got my camera out and told him I would show him how to do it. He was supposed to send me some of the better ones he took but he hasn't so I'm going to put in a couple of my favorites. We must have taken 60 or more pictures trying to get some good ones. It got to be pretty funny and at least passed the time.

This one is my favorite.

Sometimes Dan would want to take a picture on my side of the car. This time I got him instead of the barn. Go figure!





We had a really good time and was a nice break for the winter.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! Hope everyone had as much fun as we did. We met at Mary's about 6ish with snacks to share. You can see some of them below. It was more like a dinner. We had everything from smoked brisket (complements of Dan) to Jeanine's famous chocolate chip cookies and every thing in between.

After we had stuffed ourselves we divided into two teams and played pictionary. Here you see Katlin and Lloyd drawing something. My team lost the first game but I think it was because we were too full. That's what I'm going to blame it on anyway. We made a come back and won the second game. Now what is a double breasted suit?

Some of the guys weren't interested in playing games so they watched a movie. It must have been a war movie cause we heard lots of shooting and screaming. Not all of it from the guys either.

We had a little musical interlude from K C and the Pickup band.

When Cindy and Shane told Kyann they were going to a party she asked if there were going to be balloons (I guess the only parties she has been to are birthday parties with balloons). So Grandma blew up some balloons for her but I think Connor had more fun with them than she did.

Some of us decided to play cards (99 naturally) while the music was going on. Connie is calling us to the table with a dancing bear. We are well trained cause we all went. Had a really fun evening. Got home about 1:00 A.M.

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 is over and what fun! Dan and Katlin went with me to candle light services at church Christmas Eve. The weather was frightful but inside was so wonderful and warm it was worth getting out in the cold. Shane Cindy and Kyann came Christmas morning. Wasn't sure how Kyann would be this year. Everyone was hoping she could stay awake and take part and she did. She unwrapped almost all of her presents and seemed to have a good time. She makes a jolly little elf and maybe next year she will grow into the hat.

This is her cleaning trolley from Gma. She liked it really well till we turned on the vacuum part and it was too noisy. But she did sweep and mop and used the vacuum hose for a gas hose to put gas in her car.

I got Katlin a double fiddle case and put her initials and a music note on it in hot pink and she really liked that.

Dan wanted a pasta maker and wanted me to change the dinner menu to include some kind of pasta he could make. Didn't happen but I am hoping to get invited to dinner some time soon for a pasta meal.

This is a Wood Duck house Dan made for Shane. Do not confuse this with a wood duck house. They are not the same thing!

One of the things Cindy wanted was a cake decorating kit that is a gun instead of a bag.

One Cookie. That is how we got Kyann to smile for our family picture. Everyone was smiling but Dan. But I know he can because I got a picture of him and Katlin for Christmas and he is smiling! Also got a picture of Kyann and one of Katlin, a bobbin winder and bobbin holder, new socks, hand towels for my bathroom, the game of Bezzerwizzer, a new recipe box, a Go Fish CD, and the promise of a hedge trimmer come spring. Everyone had a good time. Ate too much and had good traveling weather. We celebrated Shane's Birthday on Sunday before they went home. We got him a boat cover. And the Bears won so it was a bonus birthday gift for him.

Gingerbread House 2010

Katlin and I again made a Gingerbread House. It turned out pretty good considering we were rushed to complete it.

Katlin's Christmas Program at Church

Went to Katlin's church Christmas program Sunday. She was in the choir and also in the orchestra. It was a very meaningful service. Dan was drafted to be a Shepard as one failed to show up. He is the one in green. Katlin thought he looked funny. He said everyone was envious of his costume cause where they had to wait before they came out on stage was cold and in his robe he was very warm. Some of the actors were barefoot or had sandals on. Don't remember anywhere in the Bible about tennis shoes but I could be wrong. Katlin hadn't gotten to practice with the others so they went early so she could run through it with them. She did a wonderful job and looked darn cute too.

She is growing up so fast. We had lunch and then went to the movies to see Yogi Bear. Pretty funny!