Aww…some Monday’s Music Moves Me

Aww…some Monday

We recently spent four days with my cousins in Illinois. They are the cousins I grew up with and are like my little brother and sisters. One cousin lives on a lake and there were boat races during our stay. We took a boat up to the site and spent an afternoon watching the races. I had taken my small camera and a short zoom lens for some family photography, which I didn’t really do. I captured some images of the races but the lens was totally inadequate for the task. As a result these images are heavily cropped and not as sharp as I like, but the day was good. Next time I will take my good camera and the appropriate lens.

The smallest class was open cockpit V-Hulls. Just imagine taking your grandpa’s 16′ aluminum fishing boat and make it go eighty miles and hour on choppy water. It’s a lot like bull riding at the rodeo.

Open cockpit hydroplanes put on a great show. You just gotta love that rooster tail of water trailing behind the boat.

The showstoppers were the closed cockpit hydroplanes. The scoot across the waves in excess of 100 mph. If you’re not in first place, I’m not convinced you can see anything. Great fun.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This is a whatever music moves you week at 4M. Last time I featured the group, Red Clay Strays. Well, their newest music just dropped this week and the title song of the album is Grateful. Despite all of our troubles, we live in the greatest country on the planet. Despite decades of problems in government, we live in freedom that is the envy of the world. Americans seem to be focused on their troubles and not grateful for the benefits of living in this great nation. When it comes to our individual lives, we can focus on every daily problem, but if we look over our lives we can see where God has been good to us in the middle of our trials. Red Clay Strays hit the nail on the head with Grateful. Have a very blessed week.

Aww…some Monday’s Music Moves Me

Aww…some Monday

How did we get from this little 3 year old girl in 2003, to the young lady below in 2026? “how do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” James 4:14 NLT And just like that, 23 years have come and gone!

She is living life large and in charge. She loves her job and the people she works around. She is enjoying every minute of every day that the good Lord has given her. We should all be this happy. Love our middle granddaughter to pieces!!!

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This is a whatever music move you week and 4. There is no theme, so we can post anything we like. Of course I have taken the liberty to do that on weeks when there was a theme for our guideline. Today I’m going to feature the group Red Clay Strays. They are a country band that plays a sound similar to combination of old school country (Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline etc.) mixed with bluegrass and a more contemporary sound. I really like what I am hearing from this group. Like many bands, they’ve been around a lot longer that you know and they are still not arena fillers, but in large clubs in Austin, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dallas/Ft. Worth and the southern belt of Georgia, Mississippi, they are well known. Give a listen. Have a blessed week.

Aww…some Monday’s Music Moves Me

Aww…some Monday

As most of you, who read this blog, know, our youngest granddaughter got married and moved to Texas. Recently, she and her husband came back for a visit to let us know that they were expecting their first child and we were going to be great-grandparents for the third time! We’re going to have our first great-grandDAUGHTER!

They gave us a pair of pink mini Converse All-Star tennis shoes as a hint that the new family member is a girl. Our granddaughter had a pair of pink Converse as a teen. It’s entirely possible the new arrival will have an athletic future. Her mom was a high school and college conference high jump champion. Her dad, an uncle and one great-grandfather played college baseball. Her paternal grandmother and aunt played college volleyball. Let’s just say athletics is in her DNA. Therefore, I created a couple of images that have an active life in athletics as a possibility. I took a photo of the tiny pink tennis shoes and inserted an image of our granddaughter in the background.

I wore a pair of gray Converse All-Stars at the wedding reception as a light hearted tribute to the granddaughter, so I put them in the background of another image.

Our only regret is that we will live too far away to record and post any athletic career that may be in this little one’s future. Yes, we are excited.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

May 25th In the US, May is National Barbecue month.  It’s time to go hog wild! Share music that make you think of a great cook out. It’s also Memorial Day and a time to remember and honor those who gave the last full measure of devotion for freedom. Have a blessed week.

Aww…some Monday’s Music Moves Me

Front Porch Periwinkle

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme this week at 4M is whatever music moves you. Things have been a little slow around the house due to some oral surgery, so I don’t have a story and photos to accompany the playlist.

If you spend any time here you know that Vince Gill is one of my favorite country artists and one of the finest guitar players in the world. Vince was huge star in the 90’s, along with Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and others. He played along side Eric Clapton at various blues festivals and has been a background vocalist and session player on over a thousand different songs. Like all popular artists, fame runs it’s course, you no longer fill stadiums while writers and record labels quit bring you new material to record. Your concerts are mostly your oldies played to fans who have been with you since the glory days.

Vince moved from his home in Norman, OK and has been in Nashville for over fifty years. His musical journey has inspired a project called Fifty Years From Home. He has taken a few of his oldies and a lot of songs he has written but never recorded and turned them into a seven album project. It has taken a couple of years to put it all together but the results are simply stunning. This is not a project for Vince Gill fans exclusively. It is a series of recordings for people who love listening to beautiful music played by some of the most gifted musicians in Nashville. Sit back and enjoy some really fine music. Have a blessed week.

If you read the lyrics, you will discover this first song is about a guitar.