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10/09/2008

drums and blog-friends

[photo by Johnny. You can see a few more pics on his blog.]

Our friend Caroline and her two kids dropped by today; her son had a drum lesson with Johnny at 2:00 pm. The rest of us decided to sit in on the lesson with the teacher's and student's permission. It had been awhile since I watched Johnny teach and truly, he's a fantastic drum instructor. Caroline and many others agree, so I'm not just biased. Johnny is super knowledgeable (he's been in the biz for 20+ years now), patient, encouraging, and all the while, he takes teaching very seriously. Watching him teach Caroline's son how to sit, place his feet, hold his arms, flatten his thumbs, hold his sticks, where to hit the drum pad, and how to count and read notes gave me a headache of amazement. Drum technique is vital, but so very complicated.

After the lesson, Johnny gave us a mini-concert on his pretty black-glitter Tempus drums and I swooned over his talent all over again. Every time I step out to the garage and into his new studio, I'm humbled by gratitude. A home studio has been my husband's dream probably his whole life. The Lord is so kind to make our dreams come true. Makes me think of something we say in Church every Sunday, "All things come of Thee, oh Lord, and of Thine own have we given Thee."

Now I'm just chillin' in the living room; I'm tuckered today. We cleaned house together before the drum lesson and fatigue has officially settled in. However, cleaning was kinda fun. Johnny vacuumed while I dusted and straightened the place, so I turned Lucinda Williams' West on loud. Man, what an album. I'm no production expert, but as I listened and cleaned I thought, "This record sounds freaking great. Love those drum sounds. Perfect and warm. I wonder if Johnny agrees?" Well, he did. Maybe I know a little something by way of osmosis - the benefits of being married to a musician.

I'm also marveling that I've made such incredible blog-friends this past year or so. I mean, you hear all these horror stories of creepy people on the internet, yet I've had nothing but really great experiences. I can't remember exactly how it all happened, but I met several women who I now call [internet] friends and read their blogs religiously. They inspire me to no end living creative, faithful, thoughtful, beautiful, inspiring lives with their families. I learn a whole lot and hopefully become a better wife in the process. Not to mention the art of blogging keeps me in touch with good friends who once lived in Houston, but moved elsewhere despite my protests (or who just live far away). Ahem.

I will not even try to list everyone here because with this tired brain of mine I am sure to accidentally leave someone out and then I'd feel just awful. I'm pretty sure you ladies know good and well who you are. You ought to.

Now, I swear I'm not thankful for y'all merely because you sometimes send me gifts, but.... Well.... I do love snail mail! So I'll mention Kate because she mailed a fun package a few days ago. I check her blog - behind the gate - every day. She writes about the most interesting topics, tempting cuisine, her two adorable sons, and her cool husband. Plus, I'm addicted to her "Finds" section on the sidebar. She has great taste in books, movies, and music, too. I love how her brain works and what catches her eye and ear.

For no reason at all, she sent me a beautiful book - Nicholas Again by René Goscinny (translated by Anthea Bell) - Lotta post-it notes, and the sweetest card:

[I threw in the white pumpkin for visual effect. These other photos by me.]

The book contains 17 short stories about a French schoolboy named Nicholas and his friends Alec, Matthew, Eddie, Rufus, and Cuthbert. Nicholas gets into all kinds of trouble though sometimes I feel sorry for him because he totally doesn't mean to. I've been enjoying a few of these charming and funny stories at bedtime, finding myself smiling at the boyishness of it all. I can't wait to read this book to my children one day, especially my son(s). The illustrations by Jean-Jacques Sempé are brilliant, too:

[when Nicholas' friends got into a fight at recess. Click to see a little larger.]

Thanks again, Kate (this is thank you #2. #3 will arrive shortly)! As she said in her card, you blog-friends are like modern-day pen pals in a sense. How about we all meet up one day and par-tay (I even have some mutual blog-friends).

In closing, I think mine and Johnny's bookishness is rubbing off on our pets. Look at Milo hoarding my favorite periodicals:

9 comments:

Kimberly said...

That studio looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad we're blog-friends too. :)

jenni said...

Thanks, you two.
:)

Anonymous said...

thank you for the kind words, jenni. so sweet of you!
i sometimes think about/am saddened by the overall loss of pen pals but then remember email is (on the whole) so great and it, along with blogging, wins the prize for "instant gratification."

though you can't beat that feeling of opening the mailbox and seeing something fun waiting for you.

jenni said...

I agree, Kate. I know I keep saying this, but I truly plan to resume actual letter-writing though my pen pals may wonder if I'm a liar. :)
There is something special about a handwritten letter that I believe we need to keep alive.
(In my defense, I'm mailing a birthday card to my aunt today. Not an e-card.)

Anonymous said...

I think e-cards are so depressing! way to mail one out, jenni. I am so happy to hear johnny is loving his studio. he's done well assembling it, it looks great.

p.s. the mittens are for my little brother-in-law.

jenni said...

Thanks, Nicole!

Alina said...

I found you through Toads drink coffee...and i just found Kate recently, too. Funny what a small blog world it is, after all. :-)

jenni said...

Hello, Alina! Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I find that many blogs I like are connected. Those two you mentioned are some of my favorites. :)