Music In A Small Town,

About a month or so ago I got a message on Facebook from my past-driver-ed-student-turned-my-piano-teacher telling me that my Youngest-Son's-drumming-instructor-friend-and-SO-of-other-Son's-friend and said SO (significant other) were doin a fundraiser for a local animal rescue/adoption service. This is private and over and above the SPCA. A family who has found adoption for many a pre-loved animal for 30 years in our area.

These musicians who decided to plan the fundraiser......well, over the past few years I have watched them grow into fine Men and Women. It was really great to see them shining, and with a great line up of some more seasoned musicians from the area.

It was held at the Sharon Temple, which is the music hall for the Children of Peace. The Quakers who founded our area. (I write on the founding Quakers when I can. The history is amazing.)

Small towns have all sorts of hidden talent in the cracks and crevices. I really enjoy being able to support such endeavors. Plus I really truly like these people.

If these music instructors can put up with the old croanies who I used to play music with at their work, then they are capable of anything. I walk into our local music shop which is called The Arts, and the folks I picked with for years are all behind the counter. You just gotta know that when the old croans like me start talkin old days of music the same ole stories get recycled through the bunch of us. Of course, some of us were sober in those days and recollect much more than the others. This always creates the grey area we muddle through in the stories.

I hope this next group of musicians has as much fun as we did when we were twenty-something. I certainly think they are better song writers. And they really seem to have their fingers on the pulse of things. I like this idea. I really really like the idea that I can learn from them....and I regularly do.

So this is how I spent my Birthday night:

There will be more video at a later time
But for now here is a snippet as a teaser:

(this makes two committments I have to create compolation videos for the blog. I just can't do them fast enough this week. I will let everyone know once I have the videos for the tattoo and this show ready.)




I sit within the temple
Watch the crowd ebb and flow

Pets drag their owners into the room
Noses sniffing
Big legs slinking to try to get just a bit closer to the other pawed pals.

Music fills the temple
The brothers and sisters are watching from above
Singing praises as the music fills the structure once again


Strings in harmony
Voices singing

And the sun sets upon the sleepy town




As the last voices come to pass
God shows he is listening to the serenade
As he paints the sky in pastel hues





My last glimpses
This beautiful memorial
A building to blessings of music
My eyes gaze upon my last visions
Like a Group of Seven Painting comes to life

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2007/06/music-in-small-town-about-month-or-so.html

Oh! It's My Birthday today.

I was born at 10:20AM, in Scarborough, ON
in 1963

for those into Birth Charts.

I don't have Birthday celebrations planned for today.
Tonight we are going to a fundraiser being put on by Cam's Drum Teacher for an animal adoption rescue.

My Parents and Cheryl and her Husband, and Alex and hopefully Amber, and Cam are coming for dinner on Saturday.

Carl and I went to Niagara Falls for the day on Monday.
That was my Birthday outing:



To get to Niagara Falls from the Toronto area you have to drive through Vineland. Vineland is part of Ontario's Foodland, and it is the land of the basin that contains Niagara Falls.



The temperatures here are more moderate in the spring, and are perfect in the summer so we can grow grapes and fruit in this area. It is also called Fruitland.

Our Ontario wines are created here. And our very special Ontario Ice Wine. Ice Wine is a very sweet and fruity wine. It is only sold is tall slim bottles, and it is very expensive. Ice Wine is like dessert wine. It goes well with a robust coffee and dessert, and can also be the sweetness of a light dessert combination.

Once we pass the tall ship wreck that is beached at Prudhommes Landing we are getting close.

On the top tier of the cliffs overlooking the falls is where the big hotels are located. Along with the hotels the Fallsview Casino and Hotel shares this perch too.
This is the lobby of the casino.
Outside the Atrium of the Casino is this lovely fountain.
This young boy had a blast in the water.
His Mom and Grandparents were laughing so hard they couldn't breathe!






From the lovely walking paths surrounding the casino I could spy the falls.
This is a view of the other big hotels and the Minolta tower.
At another crow's nest I spot the falls.

We got ready to take the incline railway down to the souvenir and attraction shop, and I snapped this pic

See how tiny the people are!

The pics above have been of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. They are called the Horseshoe Falls. The pic below is of the American side Falls, called the American Falls. The bridge there is the border between Canada and the USA.
The boats are the Maid of the Mist fleet









I could not have wished for a better photo day. It wasn't too busy with tourists and the rainbows were perfect!

The Skylon Tower
The Gorge being overlooked by the Giant Ferris Wheel
Carl is gazing into the mist

Me posing in the clothes I wore in yr 2000!
The Incline Railway
Take a ride up with us!:

Ahhh Timmies Coffee and Knitting after a day of site seeing and gambling!


This is the famous Clifton Hill area.
The big attractions are haunted houses, wax museums, and Ripley's Believe it or Not.

It was an awesome day! It ended kind of weirdly though.
Carl and I were in no rush, so before we headed home we decided to cruise around town a bit to see what the rest of Niagara Falls would be like.
We followed the signs for downtown.

We came across this area that started out with a divided road with a decorated median in the middle.
The streets were a bit old fashioned,but the architecture was lovely.
Every storefront was empty. And only a few businesses actually existed.

It was like we were in a suspense movie like the one that showed the morning after an atomic blast. All buildings...no sign of life.

The downtown was barren.
The perfect place for a movie shoot, but a sad statement on what tourism growth really means.

Carl has updated his blog too! To go to his blog go here

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2007/06/oh-its-my-birthday-today.html