Don — Page 137

A Walk, A Butterfly, and a New CD!

October 11, 2015 at 6:40 am by Claudia

Saturday was another gorgeous fall day. Heavens, it was beautiful.

A trail walk:

10-11 trail walk

We stopped by the Vet’s to get Scout’s dog food and saw this:

10-11 monarch 1

10-11 monarch 2

He was loving that butterfly bush so much that I was able to get quite a few pictures. Sweet Monarch Butterfly….a little Saturday miracle.

Good news! Don’s CD is now available to order online. He’s done so much work getting it ready. He designed the cover and the inside of the CD. He arranged for the recording session. He sent it in to be mastered. He’s listened and listened and listened to it, making sure everything is A-OK. All that and that doesn’t include writing the words and music for each song.

Very, very proud of my talented husband.

readyfortheradio

The inside of it is also very cool!

Some of you have mentioned wanting to order it, and of course that makes us very happy, so here’s the information. It’s on a site called CD Baby – they are great, by the way – and you can order it as a digital download or as a CD in the packaging you see above.

To buy it, sample the tracks, or just see the site, click here. I’ll eventually have something on my sidebar, as well.

We’re very excited here at the Hill-Sparks household. This is something Don has wanted to do for literally (and you know I use that word ‘literally’) years: to make a professionally recorded and mastered CD.

On a personal note, to watch Don doggedly pursue this and make it happen has been a joy.

Yay Don!

Next Saturday is the CD Release Party at our local eatery. That will be a lot of fun. Don and Dan are performing, along with several of their musician friends.

They’re very, very good, you know.

I’m off to the city today.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Don’s Very Own Nirvana and Other Things

October 8, 2015 at 9:14 am by Claudia

Because miniatures are fun and moving them around is just like playing house when you were a kid:

10-8 don's nirvana

I call this: Don’s Very Own Nirvana.

This chair, a guitar, and all things Beatles? Heaven for my husband.

10-8 nirvana2

Oooh, setting up this studio is going to be a lot of fun!

Last night, we were watching Frasier and he remarked on the furniture in Frasier’s apartment, saying that he’d read all of the pieces were made by famous designers. I said that the recliner was an Eames chair. He had no idea about the designer’s name, but I could tell he liked it.

He also has no idea that he’s getting his own Eames chair – albeit, in miniature.

It’s been sunny and warmish around here; simply beautiful fall weather.

10-8 my girl

My girl enjoying the sun.

10-8 wildflowers&bee

A bee savoring the wildflowers that are all over the property at the moment.

I forgot to share two items that were in the box of minis that Barbara sent to me.

10-8 mini games

Two games. Aren’t they great?

I think some lawn mowing is on the docket for the day. It’s grown pretty long from all the rain we had about a week ago. I’m halfway through Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni. I reviewed the first book in this excellent series here on the blog. This is the second.

I also stopped by my local library yesterday and brought home four books. There’s always a little pressure when I check out library books – especially if they’re new and have a limited checkout time. Oh boy. One of them is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about this book, so I figured it was high time I took a stab at it.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Back at the Ranch

October 6, 2015 at 9:12 am by Claudia

I’m back at the ranch after a long day in NYC yesterday. No, I didn’t go to the book signing – for a couple of reasons. My morning bus was an hour late getting to our local station. We have no idea why and the reason was never given. This resulted in a couple of panicked phone calls from me to the Stage Manager explaining the problem. I knew yesterday was the only day available for individual sessions and they were to be held in a room that had been rented from 12 – 5 – allowing for 10 straight sessions of 30 minutes each. There was no wiggle room.

By the time I got in the city, I did another 14 block speed walk and, incredibly, I somehow managed to get to the building (with a full bladder), up the stairs, stop in the bathroom, and then alert the stage manager to my arrival by 11:59. I was exhausted already and the day had barely begun.

After my sessions were over, I was tired and I knew that even if I caught the 5:30 bus I wouldn’t get home until 7:30. If I had stayed for the book signing, I wouldn’t have arrived home until at least 11:00. I also knew how excited Don was about the arrival yesterday morning of a box containing his new CD and I felt I should get home in time to celebrate that event. When something like that happens, you can’t wait for your loved one to get home to tell them about it. So I speed walked another 14 blocks and headed home.

And when I walked in the door, what do you suppose was propped up on my table in the den?

10-6 CD

It’s so exciting! I’ll unveil more of it at a later date, but trust me, it’s equally as cool when the sleeve is opened. And the mastered tracks sound fantastic. Huzzah!

(I’m so glad I decided to come home early.)

4-16 doc egg cup

4-16 dopey egg cup 2

Do you remember these guys? There’s a whole set of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs egg cups that were made for Disney Enterprises in 1937. I’ve always said I wanted to collect them all. Recently, I saw two separate auctions on eBay for Sleepy and for Snow White herself. I bid on both of them, but kept my bid low because, let’s face it, I’m not comfortable spending too much money on anything at the moment. In each case, I was the high bidder for a while, but eventually was outbid. I was sort of heartsick over the whole thing, because they don’t come up for auction that often – especially Snow White – and it just wasn’t a good time for me to do anything but put in a low bid. Sigh. In the end, they went for what I consider a reasonable price…which makes it all the more frustrating! Ah, well. I hope whoever won them appreciates them. (I know they would have been happier in my cottage. I just know it.)

I’ve learned it’s always a good idea to set a limit on an auction and I always do. It’s too easy to get caught up in the excitement of the bidding and you can end up paying far more than you wanted to!

I just finished X by Sue Grafton this morning. I forgot how much I like the Kinsey Millhone series. I’ll write a review tomorrow. Now I have to decide what to read next.

Oh, reading…you keep me sane. You really do.

What are you reading at the moment, dear friends?

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

A Walk, A Butterfly, and a New CD!

Don’s Very Own Nirvana and Other Things

Back at the Ranch

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives