Building a kayak

We've been busy at The Roost! The featured ongoing project is a Pygmy kit double kayak that Jeff broke out of the box in mid-February and has been working diligently on twice a day.

This evening Soren joined Jeff in the garage to help "pull" the wires that temporarily hold the wood panels together in this "stitch-and-glue" technique. (Note the Pygmy single kayak on wall brackets that Jeff built in the late 1990s.)

After a month of working on the hull--it's already been fiberglassed--the boat has been flipped over and the deck is coming together. This simple yet beautiful kit was created by an acquaintance of ours, John Lockwood, right here in Port Townsend. The company website is www.pygmyboats.com, and has lots of beautiful pictures, many of them taken in and around PT.

Soren took his job with the pliers very seriously. I was shooting pix with the goal of a 2014 calendar page. What's the "S ' ing" word, you might wonder? Why, "stitch-and-gluing," of course!

Hey, Dad, is this still fun? I just want to take this thing for a paddle!

Announcing Sustainable Together blog

What's new in the world? I'll tell you about what's happening in my corner: I have signed on to the sustainability movement in my hometown and started blogging (publicly) about "ways we share the journey toward a more sustainable life" at SustainableTogether.com.

I launched my new blog in mid-September, and its inspiration is a long story, but you can read the synopsis in this early post -- and follow the link to the newspaper article, too.

http://sustainabletogether.com/2011/09/14/blog-born-of-purpose/

Soren starting preschool in September made me think about re-energizing my communications career track and my professional image in the community. I'm now a member of our local Chamber of Commerce, and I'll be presenting an overview of Jefferson County's sustainability initiatives at the Chamber's lunch meeting on Monday, Nov. 14, noon-1 p.m. Let me know if you can come; the talk is free and open to the public.

I'll continue to update this private family blog ocassionally, but you may wish to subscribe to email updates from Sustainable Together, where I am writing at least once a week. Just enter your email address in the box in the upper right-hand sidebar, click "subscribe," and look for the welcome email -- you have to click on the link to confirm your subscription. Or click here to go to the Subscribe page.

Looking for a quick Soren fix? Click on the words "my son" in the alphabetical tag cloud (also in the right-hand sidebar) and you'll get a list of all the posts about him. Here, I've done it for you:

http://sustainabletogether.com/tag/my-son/

I look forward to sharing this new journey with you!

Happy fall(ing leaves)!

Can you spot our Sir Soren in the leaves? We had a grand time last week frolicking in the courthouse park, and one of his favorite games was to be buried and pop up.

Watch out, he might throw a handful at you. Duck!

So Happy Halloween! It's today, and Soren's costume is a knight. Sir Dance-alot, we call him. Mom will be a queen, Dad will be another knight -- although the helmet he whipped up this morning with tin foil and duct tape has Viking horns on it(??!). I'll post pictures from our downtown costume parade soon.

Thanks to our friend Ron for taking these pictures in the park.

We apologize for not blogging in two months... I (Shelly) launched a professional blog in mid-September called Sustainable Together, and it and my new career focus have been taking up most of my free time.

While this private family blog will continue to be updated ocassionally, all you Randall Roost readers might want to subscribe to Sustainable Together as well. I am trying to post at least once a week, on how my neighbors and I are building community through trying to live more sustainably. Read how to subscribe in this related post.

Then click on the words "my son" in the tag cloud (in the righthand sidebar) and you'll be directed to all the posts about Soren. Yeah, this little cutie. Gotta love him.

Beach & more: What we've been up to this summer

This summer has felt too busy already! Suffice to say this blog has suffered. Sorry to all our loyal readers, but who wants to sit indoors at a computer during the only two warm-weather months of the year??

That said, it has been unseasonably cold and even rainy. Our June-bearing strawberries didn't merit a first harvest until July, and who knows if our tomatoes will ripen?

But we've gotten to the beach on many, many lovely days. It's such a joy to be past the sand-eating, sand-throwing stage Soren was in last year. He even willingly wears his sunglasses now.


And we occasionally use the rubber raft we acquired at a garage sale. It's just big enough for me and Soren. He's not quite adept enough to row yet, but just wait!

One new commitment I made this summer was to run a toddler story hour at our Maritime Center -- every Thursday in July and August. Well, the first three Thursdays of "Sea Squirts Storytime" were cold and rainy, which no doubt helped boost attendance. We've had a fun time of it, with our first session focused on the cruising pet "Salty Dog" (a book series by Ted & Gloria Rand), the next on lighthouses ("The Lighthouse Cat" and "Comet's Nine Lives"), the next on fishing (Robert McCloskey's "Burt Dow, Deepwater Man"), and the most recent on competitive rowing ("My Mommy Rows"). Here's a photo of Soren and friend from the fishing Thursday, when the kids tried on foul weather gear sized adult XS!

For a silly publicity photo of me, see the poster created to promote "Sea Squirts."

Now kids come up to me saying "Ahoy, Shipshape Shelly!" Volunteering to do this kids' program has awakened the teacher in me. And reminded me to practice my sailor's instruments: the pennywhistle and the bones. Both have made appearances at story hour. I even sang "The Eddystone Light" -- the non-racy version, of course, where the lighthouse keeper marries the mermaid.

Soren and I have been biking all over town with our handy-dandy bike trailer, and trying to attend every Free Friday Concert at Fort Worden associated with Centrum's summer festivals. One time Soren fell asleep on the way home, so I unhitched the trailer, propped it back against our driveway retaining wall, and let him sleep.
I'll close with a pic of Jeff and Soren. They really are two peas in a pod, my goofy boys. Look how long Soren is growing! Jeff estimates he'll match my height by age 9. Probably.

The Little Guide that was not so little!

Happy New Year! Time to catch up and reflect. And be thankful for today's 2-1/2-hour nap (Soren's, not mine!).

I promised that I would share details of a pro bono writing and editing project that occupied pretty much all of my free time September through November. It was the creation of a brand new family resource guide for our rural county. Not my original idea, but one whose time had come and whose goal struck a chord with me, so I jumped on board in late summer. We published the first week of December.


The idea was to pull together descriptions of and contacts for the limited and sometimes hard-to-find parenting resources in our county and spare new parents the angst of searching for them and/or missing out on them altogether. The support groups, classes, and baby activities for new parents in this county of only 26,000 people are really few and far between. If it takes a new mom three months to hear about one she needs, that's really too late and/or valuable time has been lost when she needed the support. I certainly fell into that category for multiple resources, as I struggled to find my new identity as a parent in Port Townsend -- even though I'd lived here for nearly a decade before having Soren!

Dubbed The Little Guide for Little Ones (and Their Families), the 75-page printed booklet contains comprehensive descriptions—not just listings—of community resources, kid-friendly businesses, and age-appropriate events and activities for children aged birth to 5. We will consider going to a website in the future, but for now, the print version is it and worked the best for soliciting advertisements to defray the costs of printing.

It was produced as a community project of and fundraiser for the Port Townsend Cooperative Playschool, which Soren and I have been a part of since May 2010. Every Thursday (we had a session this morning) we meet up with a dozen other parent-child couples and learn and play. It's been a great socializer for him.

Anyway, I pulled more late-nighters on this guide than I did in four years of college, simply because the scope kept spreading and there were always facts that needed to be checked and checked again. Oh, and did I mention I have next to no free time?! As I wrote in the guide debut press release:

"Out of habit, I tracked my hours on this pro bono project—then wished I
hadn’t!” Randall admits. The owner of the communications consultancy Story
Services estimates she spent 100 hours over the last three months co-authoring
and editing The Little Guide. On one fact-checking phone call with a social
service agency, she was taken aback by the question, “So, where’s your funding
coming from?”

“We’re all volunteers, which is incredible because we’re all part-time
working mothers of young children and have very limited free time,” says
Randall. “But it was a labor of love.”

Read the full press release and see photos of my co-creators (with their kids) on my website, here.

I hosted a book launch party at our studio apartment on Dec. 11 and it was a stunning success in two ways. One, I created a Gift-A-Guide wishlist of family resource agencies and organizations in our community who could benefit from having a guide on their reference shelf, and several copies were sponsored by donors who were truly glad to have the opportunity. I didn't think about matching philanthropic impulses with community need until just two days prior, when I attended the holiday party for our local community foundation (I also volunteer as a steering committee member for the new Fund for Women & Girls). Mingling with our community's prominent philanthropists was a reminder to me to incorporate giving into this project, and to model that for our children.

Two, a columnist from the Peninsula Daily News dropped by at my invitation and stayed over an hour and interviewed every parent who came through the door. She wrote up a brilliant piece that really hit the nail on the head and can be read here. (Soren isn't in the picture because Jeff had taken him on a walk to escape from all the excitement.)

But Soren's first editorial photo did appear in our weekly paper, the Port Townsend Leader, as he posed with me holding copies of the guide hot off the presses. The article (just a rework of my press release) is not online, so here's a scan of the intro with our picture.

Want a copy or want to sponsor a guide (for $10) for one of the eight or so remaining organizations on the Gift-A-Guide list? Let me know!

Aug. 19: Shelly's first "show" opens!

If you're in PT this coming Thursday, you're invited to attend the 5:30-7:30 p.m. opening reception for my first "show" -- that is, the first photo exhibition in which not one, but two, of my photographs will be shown. These are them!

I've never entered an art or photo contest before, but was inspired to do so by one of my colleagues in the fabulous Work-At-Home Moms support group (see prior entry), who is busy getting her video installations shown at galleries around the region while mothering a four-year-old. (Yay, Jess!)

The call for entries of maritime scenes in the arts section of our local newspaper caught my attention, and while selecting three photos to enter (two were selected) was not difficult, I have to say that getting the digital files printed and framing them on the cheap turned out to be more work than I thought!

"On the Water: An Exhibition of Maritime Photography" will be on view through the Wooden Boat Festival in the upstairs of the new Northwest Maritime Center.

And if you can't make it in person, just enjoy "New Brunswick Lobsterman" (above -- see lots more photos of this day on the water from our 2006 travel blog, here) and "Frosty Stem, Point Hudson" (below).

Busy summer times

It's summer and we've been busy! I agonized over the decision to take the months of July and August OFF and not do any consulting work, but now that I'm halfway through this "trial," I see it was the right thing to do. I'm way more relaxed and Soren and I are spending much more time at the beach than would be possible if I was shoehorning client work into our days.

I really needed the lifeline of my professional career when Soren was an infant, but he slept a lot more then, and now I've grown more comfortable in my mothering role and found different outlets for creative expression. Plus, my teenaged babysitter support network unraveled when school let out, and it's a relief not to be piecing together childcare. Maybe I won't go back to "work" in September...we'll see!

This all means I haven't spent much time at the computer, and when I have, I've been cranking out Volume 4 of S'ing Around With Soren (photos from 1 to 1-1/2 years old). Until Aug. 14, you can view the entire book (all 80 pages!) here. (Although if you're on the recipient list--you know who you are--you might not want to spoil the surprise.) I suggest using "Full Screen" view. Yes, that's our Auntie Jill on the cover!

So here are some of my favorite photos from the month of June, to bring you somewhat up to date.
The first ice cream cone in Soren's short life, at a 2-year-old's birthday party. He liked licking the ice cream, but biting down on the crunchy cone was a surprise. He quit then.
Summer in the Northwest means wading in the water up to your ankles! Soren could splash around all day. And my feet eventually go numb, too.
The cutest "First Mate" ever!
Warmer water can be found in our wading pool in the backyard, shared here with Soren's good friend and age-mate Tayla.
Here they are at the sand-turned-water table. Check out the difference between the male and female thighs, even at this age!
Other friends: little Mila, daughter of my old friend Marinka, who lives in Seattle.
Making music at our piano with Satria, a Port Townsend chum.
Did you notice Soren's colorful hands in the previous picture? After reading a book where a little girl painted her toenails, I caught Soren doing this...
Not to worry, he takes frequent baths.
His wet hair makes some wild shapes.
In late June, both sets of grandparents visited together. Soren was thrilled to have Jim, Glory, Nannie and Papaw all at The Roost.
Jeff's parents brought a box of his old Tinker Toys, and the adults had as much fun as Soren with the initial creations. Here's a working swing for the Monkey King.
Speaking of working, Soren can't wait until he can mow the lawn by himself. Here he is on Nannie & Papaw's riding lawnmower in Anacortes.
He did help Papaw out a little.
And on those "June-uary" days, Soren is happy to don raingear and splash in the neighborhood puddles.

Hard to believe Soren will be two in less than a month! He is so accomplished in so many things. Wouldn't you agree?

Work-At-Home-Moms group featured "above the fold"

I'm quoted in a front-page, above-the-fold article in today's Peninsula Daily News about my participation in a Work-At-Home-Moms group that started up in January.

Life coach (and my good friend) Heather Flanagan leads the group, but in the article she kindly gives me credit for the idea of starting it. The way I remember it, over the course of our Friday morning stroller walks around town last summer, we jointly conceived of a forum of other work-at-home moms--we wanted to find them all and drag them out of their home offices!--where we could share challenges and advice and build camaraderie.

I like to say that being a work-at-home mom puts you in a halfway place: you're not a stay-at-home mom because you're always sneaking away to the computer during naptimes instead of taking a nap yourself or tidying up the house, and you just don't get to take your babe to the beach as much as you'd like, or attend every library storytime; and you're not a working mom who lines up day-long childcare and leaves the house to go earn a living. You're a bit of both, and really only other work-at-home moms understand that.

In just a few weeks, the group has helped me get focused on my long-term business goals--something I'd set aside for the first year and a half of having Soren in my life. And Heather has coached me through raising my fees as well, which means I'm working less (and more efficiently) and earning more (and striving to give my clients more value).

Ah, it's an ongoing process of adjustment, but I wouldn't go back to being an employee for anything!

Read the article here.

Preview Soren's book, Volume 3

I've been busy at the computer in the evenings, wrapping up Soren's first year in pictures with Volume 3 of S'ing Around With Soren. This volume covers 7-12 months. Papaw Bill is featured on the cover, and Soren just keeps getting more creative with his S-verbs!

Until Dec. 15 (this date is based on when I uploaded the book to order it), you can click through the book's pages here. Start by clicking on the banner that says "Preview" on the book's cover. Enjoy!

Two weeks to preview Soren's book, Volume 2

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's nearly 7:30 p.m. on this holiday and Soren is fast asleep and Jeff and I and his parents are relaxing with full bellies. We ate a delicious dinner OUT, perhaps the best part of which there is no sticky kitchen to clean up and NO dishes to wash. This makes MY holiday.

Will post pictures soon, but wanted to give y'all the opportunity to preview the first third of my newest photo book creation: S' ing Around With Soren, Volume 2 (3-7 months old).
Volume 3 (7-12 months old) is in the works. Yes, all the photos portray him in an activity beginning with "S." It's a great way to cull hundreds of photos of our cutie, and the books are super gifts for the relatives (if you received Volume 1, Volume 2 is coming your way...).

For the next two weeks (until Dec. 7), you can click through the book's pages here. Start by clicking on the banner that says "Preview" on the book's cover. Enjoy!

PT named "Solar City of the Year"!

It's in the newspaper today: Port Townsend is "Washington Solar City of the Year," an honor accorded it by the Northwest Solar Center. It has more solar systems per capita than any other city in the state. And our house has one of them!

Jeff accepted the award at the annual conference last week on behalf of the city. His picture and some good quotes from him were in the paper. Read the article in the Peninsula Daily News here.

It's all good!

On another topic, Soren and I are preparing for a trip to Portland to visit Auntie Jill. We are taking the train down Wednesday and catching a ride back with a friend Sunday. Will probably be reporting on that adventure next...

Strum sticks and more

I feel inspired to blog before bed because I just watched a movie about blogging--and French cooking. Yes, Julie & Julia (that would be Julia Child). It was my first movie at a movie theatre (our beloved Rose Theatre) since before Soren was born!! Ack, I couldn't believe it had been that long.

Went with two other mama friends (thanks, hubbies, for making it happen!) and I won the Monday night door prize of a gift certificate so I can come back and see another movie (sooner than 12 months from now, I hope) AND a pound of butter. Just watch the movie and you'll see why. Why didn't the main character gain any weight after cooking Julia Child's recipes for one whole year?!
So, things have been moving along at The Roost. Soren's diet now includes nuts (almonds and pecans were the first) and if ham is on the dinner menu, he won't eat anything else. The Nest has a roof, just in time. And we just enjoyed a three-day weekend with fall weather making a wet and windy entrance. But we got in a bike ride today as a family (Soren in a seat behind mine) and we got out to the Andy Mackie Music Festival on Saturday (as we did one year ago with newborn Soren--it was my first outing downtown as a postpartum mama and Soren blogged about it then). We enjoyed my dad's company, as he came over for a day visit. He shared these photos--thanks!

Andy is famous for giving harmonicas away to children and teaching them how to play them. He also sells and gives away simple strumstick kits. My dad has made one. Soren enjoyed strumming all of the ones on display.

And then he brought the harmonica Andy had given him last year and surprised him by playing it pretty darn well. He sounds like a blues musician, I kid you not. We have recordings! The second picture is of Andy kneeling on the makeshift stage to admire Soren's playing. He says he'll see Soren up on stage with him if he can just live a few more years. If you want to know more about the Harmonica Man's truly heart-warming story, watch this 2:30 minute video that was aired on CBS on May 2 of this year.
A few more pix of our cutie, with someone else's dog and with our nearly 3-y-o friend Evie. They happened to be color-coordinated!
Well, THEY SAY parenting gets easier after the first year, and we, in our tired haze, choose to believe that. Who knew one little person could take so much adult time and energy?? Do we hear affirmation?

Mama Mondays & Mothering magazine

I have gained a new community of mama friends since Soren's conception (yes, we started gathering before birth!), and I am particularly grateful for a playgroup that meets Monday afternoons just a couple of blocks from our house.

Two mamas who are Port Townsend High School grads come home to stay, with sons just a little younger than Soren, decided to start the group and invite babies (and moms) around the same age, because "we're going to be attending the same functions for the next 18 years." The number of mom-baby pairs ranges from 6-12.

Here are two photos from one of the first gatherings. I shot the group photo, so I'm not in it, but Soren is front and center, and he and I are at right of center of the second photo. Thanks to host Abbie for sharing them from her camera. It will indeed be fun for all our guys (and a few gals, although they're definitely outnumbered) to grow up together.

Also on the parenting topic, I have to give a cheer for Mothering, my favorite magazine addressing this subject. It only arrives every other month, which is not soon enough, and the current issue was delivered to my mailbox yesterday. I discovered Mothering in my midwife's waiting room when an article on choosing a cloth diaper "system" caught my eye, and I treated myself to a three-year subscription. I was thrilled that my first issue arrived in the mail the day after Soren's birth.

Mothering was founded in the mid-1970s and advocates "natural" parenting: home birth, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, etc. Although our family falls slightly to the right on this left-leaning spectrum, I would much rather read this issue's cover story on why some consider childhood vaccinations not worth the risk (we're vaccinating, albeit on an alternative schedule, FYI) than waste my time with mainstream articles on how to decorate the nursery or photos of celebrities in maternity wear. I pass on my copy to another mama after I've devoured it--usually in 24 hours or less; this issue was no exception.

Check out Mothering.com! You have to purchase an online subscription to read the magazine, but there is a wealth of information in the Community Forums (scroll down to see the topics), and you don't have to register to view the posts and answers.

NOTE: I've updated my New Mama Booklist again, with diaper-free resources and the sleep books we found so helpful.

P.S. I haven't seen any comments for quite a while. I do read them all, and enjoy knowing what you find moving or funny. Keep 'em coming!

Saturday events with Shelly & Jeff

Yes, Soren's parents do have lives of their own! This weekend is a busy one for us both. If you are a local who follows this blog, you are welcome to join us for one or both of these fun events.

At noon on Saturday, June 6, Jeff's company is sponsoring (read: Jeff did a lot of legwork to set it up) a screening of the documentary, Fuel, at the Rose Theatre. "An insightful portrait of America’s addiction to oil and an uplifting testament to the immediacy of new energy solutions." It will be followed by a panel discussion. Read more at http://thefuelfilm.com/ or scroll down to see the photo of the incredible shrinking Jeff on Power Trip Energy's homepage.

At 7:30 p.m. the same day, Shelly directs and reads in a PT Shorts program titled "The Story Girl" -- short stories by L.M. Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. This is a monthly free reading series put on by Key City Public Theatre, and she's always thought it would be fun to highlight some lesser-known tales by her favorite childhood author. The press release was submitted with the above photo of Shelly dressed as Anne Shirley on a 1998 visit (pilgrimage was more like it!) to L.M. Montgomery's native Prince Edward Island.

OK, 10:30 and bed is seeming more important than blogging!

Walkscore & Score! He's walking

Well, sort of. Soren's walking all over the place if he has grown-up hands to steady him.

This short video was shot nearly a month ago, on April 27, and today he's cruising even faster, with surer little feet. But still needing balance assistance. He isn't quite crawling yet, either, although he can fling himself from a sitting position forward onto his belly if he needs to reach something a few feet away. And once prone, he can slide forward or back a foot or so, but we daren't call him mobile because we know that's still coming!

Anyway, this video reminded me of a cool website I wanted to share: www.walkscore.com.

You type in your address and an algorithm calculates the walkability of your home by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc., from Google Maps. It's not perfect--it thinks a nearby doctor's office is our nearest "drug store," when there's one actually right across the street from our neighborhood food market--but I appreciate that it includes a pub and a bookstore in its scoring criteria.

Happily for Soren's future on foot, The Roost scores 92 points of 100, making it "A Walkers' Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car." Well, we own a car, but most days it doesn't leave our driveway. Today, as an example, Soren and I walked downtown to meet Jeff for lunch, then we walked to our library for baby story hour, then we walked around the neighborhoods with a friend (while both our babies napped).

Score your own home, and walk on!

Tired and wrung out

I realize it's been nearly a month since my last post, and that's because our family has been slammed lately by illness coupled with job responsibilities. Or, to illustrate with photos of Soren, we've felt overly tired and wrung out (and ready for the dryer!).
Soren caught a cold about two weeks after our return from Tennessee, and Jeff caught it and then overworked at a weekend home show when he should have been resting and warding off further sickness, and got bronchitis. He took seriously his doctor's order to stay home for ONE WEEK. Although he worked some from home, he had to sleep a lot, and was not very available to help with Soren.

Jeff's bronchitis coincided with the final week's push on a contract job I'd committed to: producing an annual report for our local port district. I would have called in the afterguard (my parents!), but they were traveling out of state, so I pulled all the strings of my neighborhood childcare connections AND tried two new babysitters who came to our home. They were actually the first sitters I've PAID to watch Soren, and both worked out well, but neither have very many hours in their schedule to offer me in future... Good, affordable childcare is scarce around here. Probably is everywhere.
A bright spot was my good friend Barb in Anacortes responding to my plea for help. She took the ferry over to spend a day with us and was surrogate grandma for the day -- bless her!
While Soren had his cold and the obvious symptoms of coughing and runny nose (which of course he hated to have wiped), I had to isolate him from other babies, which made the whole situation harder. No playgroups or playdates, or shared childcare with other moms.
But thankfully Soren was all recovered by my first Mother's Day (and Jeff was well on the mend). Thankfully I didn't catch anything from the two of them. And thankfully my port project came to an end and my client loved the final product.

View a PDF of my eight-page publication by clicking on the link to the 2008-2009 Community Report here. And you can check out prior issues of the quarterly newsletter I've been creating since Summer 2008. Am I courageous or crazy to continue working with an infant? I'm still figuring that one out...

New friends in N. Carolina -- Round Two

If we'd had twins, this is what our family might look like! In actuality, the baby on the left is my college friend's son, Gabe, who is two months younger than Soren but who looks remarkably similar. They have the same skin and eye coloring, the same amount of hair, and are approximately the same size (at least for now). That's enough similarities that we were twice asked, "Are they twins?" on the day we got out and about around Charlotte, N.C. They happened to be both wearing navy sweatshirts, too.

Here's another view of the two cuties. From the nose down they have their own personalities! It was really fun for Soren to share toys and baby babbles with Gabe.
Gabe's parents Maggie (my Williams-Mystic classmate) and Mark took us out to eat at their favorite BBQ joint. We stayed two nights with them in Charlotte, and were inspired by a short video his parents made and posted to YouTube -- it's a "cry for help" from Gabe's puzzled baby perspective, similar to our fun with the SorenTalks blog. Maggie and Mark gave us permission to share this video link; we highly recommend taking 2-1/2 minutes to enjoy it.
Then it was on to Marshall, N.C., near Asheville in the western mountains, to stay three nights with our 2006 trip friend, Lorna. You can read about our fortuitous meeting in this post of our sabbatical blog: Scroll down just past the Fourth of July pictures in the narrative and you'll see a paragraph that begins: "Back in the hills of western North Carolina, we reconnected with a 'music angel' named Lorna who had introduced herself to us at a music festival we’d attended in early June."
This photo shows Lorna introducing Soren to the beautiful blooming Carolina buckthorn in her yard. Soren is her honorary grandson; they fell in love with each other. More about our many musical adventures with Lorna, and her charming guest cottage, in another post!

And lastly, Soren got to meet the "Songbird of the Smokies," the inimitable Laura Boosinger. She is the voice behind Soren's favorite CD of mountain music, called "Sing It Yourself," and he was awed to hear the melody to HIS FAVORITE SONG, "Old Groundhog," coming out of her mouth. Jeff met Laura at a banjo camp on the Olympic Peninsula in 2005 and we visited with her in 2006 at her home in Asheville. Now she is the director of the Madison County Arts Council, which happens to be housed at the county seat in Marshall. I repeat, fortuitous!
We came away with Laura's newest CD, "Most of All." Like all her music, it's wonderful!