Sibling Assignment #100: Dear Old Dad

Today marks the 100th Sibling Assignment I have written with Raymond Pert and Silver Valley Girl. Here is the assignment from SVG:
"Think back to your music education from the Kellogg School District,and talk about the influence one of your instructors had on your life and how they influenced you musically."

From the time I started kindergarten I had music instructors that influenced me musically. I'll save that for another post. Thirteen years ago today my father died . I decided to remember my dad today and share how he influenced me musically. What I remember vividly was when we were young the family did much singing in the car when we traveled. Now we only went to Spokane and Orofino to visit relatives, but I remember those road trip songs. Maybe Dad belted out those songs as we cruised down the highway along the Clearwater River to keep awake, but I want to think he wanted to entertain us. The song I can still sing from beginning to end is I've Been Working on the Railroad. Mom would join in and all of us would create quite a choir in our Chevrolet. He also loved to sing K-K-Katie, Beautiful Katie and Mairzy Doats. My dad had a good singing voice and I loved to hear him sing. On those trips he always seemed relaxed and happy as he said good-bye to the Zinc Plant for a couple of weeks in the summer and headed down to "Goofyville" , his favorite name for Orofino. He would laugh when he joined us in How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?

When we had gatherings with friends over the holidays or at the lake in the summer the evening often ended with singing. The Turnbow family had a quartet that usually started it off, but soon everyone joined in on many of the favorites. Songs like Cockles and Mussles, Tell Me Why, the Idaho Fight Song were old standards.Often somebody would sing Danny Boy, but then everyone else just listened. Many an evening was livened up with H - A - DOUBLE R - I - G - A - N SPELLS HARRIGAN.
The Fourth of July traditionally ended with God Bless America around the campfire with my dad linking arms with his friends that he had known most of his life. My musical life was very influenced by those years of singing with my dad.

Dear Old Dad.... I honor you today. There are many things I miss about you, but one thing is your singing voice that takes me back to cruising down the Clearwater, gathering at Christmas Eve with family, or around the campfire at the lake with friends.
You Tube hadn't arrived yet in 1996, but I can guarantee you my dear old dad would have loved this:

Images As Spring Moves to Summer

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. "~Abram L. Urban

Bark: A Garden Facelift

I am amazed how bark can make such a difference in flower beds. JEJ got a truckload of the miracle stuff yesterday and it has already transformed parts of the garden. This is why I love getting bark:
It motivates us to pull more weeds.
It will keep the weeds down a bit.It smells wonderful when it is being spread and when it is watered.
It covers up the little weeds that we didn't pull out completely.
It holds in moisture.It gives Shelby a nice, cool place to lay by the pond.
It just makes the flower beds look better.
It sets off my Crocs!


I love bark.

Finding Solace in the Garden

The school week is over. It has been one filled with matters of the heart.... a student talking about suicide, a young adult in a neighboring town taking his own life last night bringing sadness to my students, and a death of a loved one by another student.Joy creeps in also. One of my students was present for the birth of his new baby sister two days ago, an eighth grade student got to take her first trip to state softball with the high school team, and another got to see an ultrasound of a new baby just formed. As a teacher you have these highs and lows on a weekly basis. With hot weather and students wishing they were swimming at the lake instead of doing a book discussion, it may magnify the emotions a bit more. I found solace in returning home to the garden and snapping pictures of more beauty. I was ready for Friday evening.

Praying

Praying

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Sibling Assignment # 99: A Tribute to the Iris

I gave the sibling assignment for the week. My internet was down last night so I am a bit late on this post. When I woke up at 4:00 a.m. I peeked out and saw the lights back up flashing on the modem. Alas, I went back to enjoy a few more hours of sleep figuring I could catch up with the online world later.

We are all thankful brother Raymond Pert is out of the hospital after his attack of C Diff he contracted after his pneumonia. My siblings will be posting soon. The assignment: " A Tribute to a Favorite Flower" using words and/or pictures.When I gave this assignment I thought it would be easy. Now as I am surrounded by blooming flowers and remembering the many other flowers I love it was hard to narrow it down the choices and honor just one flower. I had to go with what is sitting right next to me now filling the air with a sweet fragrance and a beauty almost impossible to capture in still life. I honor the iris.When the smelter smoke filled the air in Kellogg and the grass turned brown, the iris plants still managed to bloom. When I had a sandy hillside that got hot sun all day in the first garden in the Tri-Cities desert I had unsuccessfully tried many flowers, but the iris was the one that endured. You can drive down an alley filled with broken cars and fences faded from the sun, but out of gravel a clump of irises will thrive. I've heard of people throwing iris plants in a heap behind the house and find them still alive months later. The iris is the champion of hardy flowers.

This flower also represents heirloom gardens. Heirloom gardens are ones created by passing plants family member to family member or friend to friend. I have iris plants that came with me when I moved. When our friends up the road built a new house, they gave us irises that had been with them in their garden at least thirty years. My dear friend EM brought me irises from her garden to add to my wedding garden. Each spring as all these beautiful blooms open up, they not only show off their glorious colors but remind me of important people in my life. I love that about the iris.

I love the fancy iris Mom gave me that came from the iris farm down at St. John, Washington, but often it is a old-fashioned hardy stock iris that do the best in my garden. It is hard for me to pick a favorite color. Sometimes it just depends on how the light catches the bloom or what companion plants surround it. An iris, no matter where it comes from or what it looks like always has that unforgettable spring scent.
The other thing I love about irises is they surprise you. One day you have lush green leaves and suddenly you look over your shoulder and the plant is blooming. It happens quickly. I am also surprised at how long they will last. Don't you love a flower that you can always count on to perform? You can read articles and books about what should be added to the soil, when they should be divided, and when to cut them back. Just follow your instincts because that is what keeps them thriving. Irises are the common sense members of the garden family.

Lily also knows how to surround herself with beauty!