A Visit, to Prison

Well, to be fair, first I went to the Baxter's,

for appetizers and good times.  

[Decidedly not prison.]

Though it had been 8 months since last we met, we jumped right into comfortable, and typical elements of our time together.

There was the making of dinner, 

the meeting of new friends,

a little gaming,

a little peaceful conversating,

and Costco.

[I adore Costco.]

But, the event of the weekend was decidedly on Saturday,

when we boarded the train

and, with great enthusiasm, headed to Philly.

We paused for lunch,

and a little music-making,

before walking a million miles to our destination.

The Eastern State Penitentiary;

 a deteriorating

but extremely cool

prison,

 in operation 

from 1829-1971.

 We wandered around,

 exploring,

reflecting,

 learning.

After awhile, we were pretty beat.

 We claimed our freedom, and headed home.

On Sunday, after a weekend of sharing our stories and laughing our hearts out, it was time for me to go.

Always a good time Baxters!
Thanks for loving me, embracing me into your family,
listening to me sing....I can't wait until New Years!

Take a look kids!

Sometimes, 

you get even more than you could ever ask for, or imagine. 

Without asking, without trying, beauty just erupts.

For the sake of record keeping

Can I get an 'amen' to the problem of little things getting out of control, no matter how diligent you are about keeping your life in order?!  Yikes.

Hence, one reason I love summer in my little life of luxury is that it gives me the opportunity to clean things up.

On my list of things to do today was to transfer pictures off of my computer.

Thousands of pictures.

[I'm sort of killing time here, because I can't do some of my other tasks until they finish copying..., fyi.]

Anyway, as I looked through things, I found a file that I'd never blogged about, and--for the sake of record keeping--[which is how this blog serves me]--I figured I'd take a second to tell you about it.

Sometime in the past year or so [can't for the life of me remember exactly when, and am too lazy to look it up...], I was asked to record a commercial for a local software company.

The purpose of the commercial was to draw people's attention to this problem:

You can hear musical errors, but can you catch utility bill errors?

They wanted to show a person playing a portion of Mozart's K. 545, but with errors in order to demonstrate their point.

Now, I don't generally like to specialize in errors, but all these guys needed me to do was to be a decoy.  They asked me to play without errors, just so they could dub their recording over it and use my hands to set the scene.

So, I agreed, and found myself here, late one night, 

watching these guys set up the stage.

When they were ready, I got myself settled on the bench.

 And then, I played my assigned portion over and over again,

while the guys stood around me, making me laugh, keeping a beat by banging on the floor so that my playing would match the tempo of the recording they wanted to use.

 It was super fun.

Go ahead and see for yourself by clicking here!

Such fun!

Recently, as you know, I went to see Lisa and Geoff.

During the course of our visit I was discussing my thoughts on saving to buy a better camera, when Lisa said something along the lines of:

'We have an old one; just take it!'

So, I did.

And with it, I've taken all sorts of fun.

Here are some of my favorites:

Pain Quotidian

Swirly coffee

Chocolate Croissant? Yes, please.

Pretty, oh so Pretty.

Cheese!!

Maybe I could not kill a plant like this...Oh wait, I already did.

Farmer's Market!!

Satisfied

Is that my heart glowing?

Then, as if this weren't enough of a treat, my birthday money added up to an iPod, 

and the wonders of Instagram.

I've only just touched the surface here, but isn't this the kicks?

This one needs an explanation: The night of my birthday, gift fairies by the names of Katy & Nelli  deposited these hand-made pictures around my house with themes important to me: Music, Friendship, Prayer, Cooking. Now, they help me get my working done ('cause I need all the help I can get...)

Good friends, a Good night.

Keep your eyes posted, 

who knows what else is in store!

Visitation Rights

It is difficult to be a part of a family, 

when that family hardly ever gets to see each other.

Hence, at some point over the past year, 

I sent out an email that said: 

Everyone, gather, my place.

It took us awhile, and it didn't work for all of us, 

but recently I was indeed visited by those I call 'family', 

in the biological sense of the word. 

First, my parents arrived, 

just in time for the most beautiful summery meal involving cold zucchini soup and caprese salad... 

...on the coldest day of July.

By the next morning,

these two darlings had joined us, 

and we were ready for a day of blissful togetherness.

The weather derailed my 'take them into the wilderness' plan,

 and so we found ourselves at 'Meet Millheim!', a 'remind the world we exist' day at a nearby quaint and special little town.

We toured the shops and did a little shopping,

and a little local cheese tasting.

We worked our way down the street,

and found ourselves inside a local wine shop.

As my uninterested family members stood and waited for me,

I sampled some of what the place had to offer.

I made my purchases and turned to leave,

when what to my wondering eyes should appear?

[Mm-hm...]

We then carried ourselves (and our packages)
further down the street, 

to the local antique shop,

for a bit of a chat,

and time travel.

Eventually we ended up in the cutest little coffee shop, 

in order to get ourselves some coffee treats.

Coffee wasn't the only treat of the hour, however;

unbeknownst to us, 

the local npr anchorwoman was roaming the town as well, 

and felt herself drawn toward Dave's npr shirt.

She engaged us in conversation, and even took our picture.

After exhausting the wide variety of what such a little town had to offer us, we headed out to downtown State College for lunch, but not before stopping at the local Farmer's Market.

Kara helped me decide which flowers to buy (other than the snapdragons, which were a no-brainer),

and I rejoiced in my overall love of all things Farmers Market.

Upon completion of my joy, we climbed into the car, put the men in charge of the flowers, and were on our way.

We explored State College for awhile, drove around campus to see the sights, and returned home for a bit of lounging.  Digby was happy to see us, and helped me as I dug into the birthday treats brought to me with love and generosity. 

Then, it was time for the rounding out of our day!

We headed to Otto's so Dave could sample the beer,

and so we could drown in yummy food.

Then we scuttled over to the other side of town, 

to the local community theater,

in order to see my good friend (and soon to be housemate!) 

work her magic in Steel Magnolias.

We enjoyed the atmosphere,

we enjoyed the show.

We even enjoyed the squeaky bat sitting in our section.

Then, we returned home.

After a long but glorious day, we were looking forward to tucking into our beds, when I suddenly realized:

The keys I'd had in my hand when we left....were not mine.

The ones that could actually open the locked door sat on the table in the hallway.  Looking at us.

So, Dave and Kara whisked out their lock picking tools,

and got to work.

In case you're looking to rob my house, I won't tell you how we eventually got in.  I will, however, paint a word picture for you (since the moment was a bit too intense in which to snap an actual picture): 

Dave's feet, sticking straight up through an open window.

That's pretty much all you need to know.

The next morning we awoke with drama behind us.  

They met me at church, where I had to play,

and then met me back at my house for a low-key lunch with a few of my friends.

 We got to know each other,

 we ate,

 we laughed.

I loved it.  [So did Kate.]

After a weekend of living in my life, my visitors got into their cars and drove away, our visiting time having run its course.

Come again kids; 

it's always good to have time with you,

 and your visitation rights--among other things?--are in full effect.