Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro is on tour, and I’m looking forward to hearing him perform in Gainesville on Feb. 9. I’ve been playing his CDs, picking up and playing my ukuleles (one at a time, of course), and looking forward to his upcoming concert. Jake Shimabukuro became one of the sensations of YouTube in 2006 […]

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At the beginning of August, I emailed my August e-newsletter to my mailing list. So you may already have received it. If you haven’t received the newsletter and would like to read it, please click on this link — http://eepurl.com/Z0c1n You also can sign up to receive the newsletter. Click on the link at the […]

It’s always fun to experiment with making different flutes.  Lately I have been experimenting  with making Japanese shakuhachi flutes from PVC cold water pipe. It is not an easy flute to learn to play but it is a wonderful sound when you do get a note.  Given how hard it is to achieve playing a […]

In October I visited Pennsylvania to deliver flutes and meet up with family.  We enjoyed seeing “Noah“.  And, we did  some Pennsylvania tourist things like find the covered bridge near Intercourse, PA. We stayed at a great Bed & Breakfast place to meet up with some of my family.  Gail and Dave were great hosts. […]

Making WrenSong flutes was a dream achieved. Making musical instruments from a branch or from kiln-dried wood was a wonderful journey for more than 12 years. Currently I am taking a break from making and selling musical instruments and am engaged in painting in oils and watercolors.  Whether still lifes or plein air painting, I […]

I’ve been enjoying making stone art, using the stones from a lake’s beach. The size and shape of each stone helps me decide what the stone will feature on its surface. A round stone becomes a mandala. I may start with just one dot at the center and then build out and repeat patterns as […]

On Lochloosa Bridge One of my New Year’s ambitions was to cycle the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail more often than I had in the previous year. By January 7, I’d cycled 80 miles on the trail. The trail is through sections of Paynes Prairie State Preserve. I enjoy going downhill at 24-26 mph, feeling the rush […]

The Southern Ontario Ukulele Players performed at the Home County Folk Festival, 2015. Hearing the Southern Ontario Ukulele Players (SOUP) was an added bonus of attending the Home County Folk Festival. The SOUPers, as they are called, played several songs, including “I’ll Fly Away,” written by Albert E. Brumley in 1929 and considered to be one of the most […]

Nancy hands me the sought after raw beeswax to become mouthpieces for my didgeridoos It is not easy to find “organic beeswax” in Gainesville. After driving to many different stores that you’d think would carry organic beeswax, I returned home to the search the Web.   And found Cross Creek Honey Company, a local provider […]

This summer I’ve been enjoying the Women of Mystery – the many women who write fictional mystery novels. I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching their mysteries – and enjoying participating in the process of trying to solve the mystery while developing an appreciation for their detectives. For years, I’ve been a fan of Agatha […]

Making WrenSong flutes was a dream achieved. Making musical instruments from a branch or from kiln-dried wood was a wonderful journey for more than 12 years. Currently I am taking a break from making and selling musical instruments and am engaged in painting in oils and watercolors.  Whether still lifes or plein air painting, I […]

Making WrenSong flutes was a dream achieved. Making musical instruments from a branch or from kiln-dried wood was a wonderful journey for more than 12 years. Currently I am taking a break from making and selling musical instruments and am engaged in painting in oils and watercolors.  Whether still lifes or plein air painting, I […]

A wonderful art challenge for me has been painting the Grand Canyon. Recently I hiked and painted at the Grand Canyon and had many opportunities to paint en plein air (on location) at the Canyon’s edge and on trails in the Canyon. Sitting on the edge of the Canyon with my paints, I could see […]