Me and Joshua Bell

Wow, I have something in common with virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell!  We both played the same first instrument.  No, I'm not talking about violin.  Before that.

"When I was four, I was stringing rubber bands across my dresser drawers and plucking them to create different tensions and pitches, and trying to copy tunes I heard my mother play on the piano, and so...I don't know how it started but, I think it... I guess music was just sort of in my system and I was trying to find a way to play with it." http://www.prx.org/pieces/15015-virtuoso-voices-joshua-bell-rubber-band-man#description

Well, I'm sure I wasn't copying any classical piano pieces. And I'm sure I didn't figure it out myself.  I think my brother inspired those early performances. Any family members want to weigh in? Who was the first to play the rubber bands stretched between dresser drawer knobs?

Information is not transformation

Shawn Achor (The Happiness Advantage) said that.

Sounds a lot like Dr. Suzuki's "Knowledge is not ability". 

Mr. Achor was talking about applying what we know to our behavior: do it for 21 days and it becomes a habit.

Dr. Suzuki said, "Knowledge plus 10,000 times is ability."  Application of information.

Reactions...

I finally figured out how to customize "reactions" for the posts.  These are a way for readers to leave a little feedback without necessarily commenting.  I've changed them to "like", "interesting", and "I'm going to try this".  Do you have any other ideas for reaction options?  Please comment if you do!

Oh, and if you are a blogger and want to know how... let's see... Template -> Customize -> Layout-> Edit (middle of page under "blog posts"). Scroll down to reactions, and click edit again.

Meet Ruth!

Ruth is part of the Mully Children's Family in Kenya.  I am sponsoring her through the Mully Children's Family Charitable Foundation.

She is eight years old, is in grade two, and reported to be a hard working girl in class. 

Fall Fair

Putting an entry in our Fall Fair gets one an exhibitor's weekend pass for the same price as one day admission.  And as a bonus, there is a chance to win a few dollars back, or a prize of some kind.  A few years ago (see my very first post on this blog) I entered compost and won a third prize.  I decided to enter three classes this year. 

One clean jar well-rotted compost

Carrot cake (frosted) small loaf-pan size

All white flower arrangement - greenery accepted

I really was surprised to get a first and two seconds!  My personal vote would have switched first/second on the flowers - I could not have argued if I had received third (there were only three entries), and I was disappointed with how my cake turned out.  There were four carrot cakes in all - no way for me to taste the others, but I made two cakes from my batter and tested one at home. The compost is probably the easiest class they have!  Only five entered, so it wasn't too hard to get a ribbon there, either.

I made note of a few other classes with few entries for next year.  :-) Might even branch into textile and needle arts division.