Paducah, here I come!

My Uncle Sam passed along his Martin backpacking guitar to me, and I'm so grateful for that.  It has renewed my interest in guitars and has inspired me to try to learn to play again. He has been on my mind this week, heading into the weekend because my cousin, Meg (his youngest daughter), is getting married Saturday, and his presence will be so very missed as we celebrate such a beautiful thing.  It is bittersweet.

The guitar is coming on the road with me to Kentucky, in memorium...  after all, it is a traveling instrument.

My mom showed up for a slightly unexpected (but very timely) visit a few days ago.  We got to spend some good "quality time" together, laying out on what was probably the last warm Michigan day of the season, making our way to a songwriters' open mic at Oz's Music Environment, where I got to play a few (it was taped for public access tv, but I don't ever watch that, so...), cleaning the house for yet another showing, and having a mini lesson in chord theory.  I'm so thankful to have such musical parents (and aunts and uncles).

I went to another open mic, at the Ark, last night.  This time, solely to observe.  It's weird, they have it set up where you put your name into a raffle and they only pick 16 performers for the night.  I doubt I would have gotten to play anyway, but I will do something there in the future, I'm sure.

It's funny because right when I got there, this guy that I had seen the night before was playing, and I ended up seated very close to him in the audience.  He probably thought I was rude because I didn't say hi (in fact I'm almost certain I heard him say something about it to his friends), but what people need to understand is that I may be beaming with confidence when seated in front of a mic and piano, but in reality I am very SHY.  Hard to get-to-know, but worth knowing (at least I like to think so). 

I was really irked by this, because that sort of thing used to happen to me all the time.  If a girl is shy, and people don't think she should be, she comes off seeming "stuck-up".  Oh well. 

So, on a lighter note... I'm becoming very domesticated.  I baked a big batch of cookies the other day (bad idea, since I just decided to cut back on sweets), and I canned some tomatoes and peppers with the help of my friend, Lindsay!  My Grandma McMillian would be so proud of me.

Oh, don't believe me... here's proof:

Alright, I have GOT to stop blogging so I can clean, pack and GET ON THE ROAD!  So much to do, and so little time, but I'm so excited to be going down for Meggy's wedding!!! :)  And my sisters and I are singing in the wedding, so I have a lot of practicing to do still.  I guess we will have the car ride to get things down-pat, but... you know.  You can never be too prepared when it comes to music! 

Our realtor is having an open-house this weekend, while I'm gone, so I want things spotless for that.  Still no offers, but I'm still optimistic. 

Well, for those of you who will be at the wedding, I CANNOT WAIT to see you.  For those of you that won't, I hope our paths will cross very soon!

Love and peace,

Susie Q