Busy Weekend!

Surprise! We were able to attend the Ukefest up in Annapolis! As usual, we had a lot of fun. So much talent packed into one building. Last year most of the people had either a flea, a fluke or a soprano ukulele. This year we saw everything! I got to play a banjo uke and an eight-string tenor uke. The banjo uke sounded exactly like a banjo but is played with all the easy uke chords. The 8-string tenor had electric hookup and had a very full sound. I hope to save up and buy both of these for Christmas gifts.

Got to meet Jumpin' Jim Beloff and his wonderful wife, Liz. They sure can sing and play the ukes.

One of the vendors, Rob, was very friendly and is from Midlothian, VA. He had fantastic prices. He is also looking for another venue to sell his ukes, so I am trying to think of how I could draw uke enthusiasts from Southern MD. Rob's shop is called The Ukulele Shop (on Hull Street Road) and he has an ebay store as well.

The whole day was wonderful; our only disappointment was the Mad Tea Party group (the closing group) who ended up doing rock music, so we left.

I was pleasantly surprised that so many people remembered us because of our large (?) family and because of my picture in the Post. I put a question mark by the large because in our church, having 6 children constitutes a large family. But my plain friends always say, "Poor Kathie...only 6 children." So I guess it depends on your point of view. I just know that when I get to heaven and reunite with all my miscarried babies, I will have a large family!

Anyhow, Friday evening we watched with fascination as a box turtle dug a hole in our backyard and buried 5 eggs, then painstakingly covered them up one after another, and sat on top of the mound for an hour or so. We had watched another turtle do this a few years ago and that turtle was a carefree Momma. She very quickly dug a shallow hole, quickly plopped a bunch of eggs (too fast to count) and then covered the hole and left. (I'm sure there's a lesson here.) Anyhow, I googled box turtles' gestation times and marked the calendar. We'll let you know if we see any babies. (9-10 weeks) Mike's brother, Dwight, and his three children came up from FL for the weekend. Sunday evening they ate dinner here (with Glenn and his family, Mike's brother who lives 15 minutes away). Fortunately the Lord nudged me to defrost and cook two large pork roasts Sunday morning so that by Sunday evening the pork BBQ was cooked and delicious! I added cole slaw and watermelon. It was almost as good as the fellowship afterwards!

We let the cousins ride our dirtbikes around the field and they were daredevils! No fear there. It was also fun showing them our ukes. Today we all went to Glenn's home on Cat Creek for water skiing, jet skiing, fishing, boating and tubing.

Today is a big day for me. I finally finished my Mom's Music quilt. I hope to give it to her tomorrow. This is a big week for my mother because it is piano guild week. Her students (my children included) go before a judge with 6, 10 or 20 pieces (6 for my children) and get graded. It can be scary, but my children did superbly, as I expected them to!

The Piano Guild was held in the Grace and Peace Church, a building that my Dad and 3 brothers built. It is always with mixed emotions that I go there. I'm glad that it is being used of the Lord, but sad that we had to leave (before it was Grace and Peace) because the congregation backed down on their KJV stand. But God has blessed and now the church is filled to overflowing on Sunday mornings.

Hope you had a nice weekend, too. Mike goes back to work tomorrow and Dwight and his family go home to FL. We're very thankful for weekends like this when you can reconnect with family.

Many blessings ~ Kathie