Sunrise Pictures from along the County Line Canal

Sunrise in Florida

One of the great things about living in Florida is seeing the sunrise over the ocean or one of the many waterways.  It is hard to see the sunrise in Pennsylvania with all the hills and trees.

Last week when my friend Terry, from college, was visiting, we decided to go see the sunrise at the beach. We left the house not sure if we would be able to see much because there were lots of clouds, but we lucked out and there was a small clearing of clouds on the horizon just big enough for all the early birds on the beach to see the sunrise. 

After a short walk on the beach, we walked up to where the snack bar was. We had seen a sign the day before saying they opened at 8 am for breakfast.  We were sitting and talking and before we knew it, there was a line forming. Evidently breakfast on the beach was more popular than we would have thought.  We got and in line and ordered and  the food was very good.  I had a hot chocolate, since it was a cool morning.  You could order eggs and other breakfast foods.

I am glad Terry came to visit.  Besides having time together, her visit caused me to remember all the things I wanted to do when I came to Florida, but now was not taking the time to do, like visiting the beach and other parks.

Here is a picture of Terry & my granddaughter Hallie at the beach. 

I decided that I needed to put time in my week to visit the beach.  I decided that Wednesday mornings I could go to mass and then make a short visit to the beach before my 10:30 am tap dance class.  So yesterday, I did just that.  Today, I decided to take  a bike ride and see if I could see the sunrise on the canal near my house.  Sure enough, I saw a beautiful sunrise by just riding down the path next to the canal a short ways.  Then, I kept riding all the way to the turnpike.  From there, I found I could ride on the sidewalk over the turnpike to the plaza. I wish I had grabbed my wallet before leaving the house so I could have bought something to eat before riding home.  Next time  ...

Suzuki Workshop in South Florida

The Suzuki Ass. of South Florida had a workshop March 19-21 and I was able to take my granddaughter.  The workshop was near my sister's home, so she was able to come get Hallie after her classes while I stayed for the teacher workshops. It was a great weekend. I am always amazed and how I continue to get new ideas after 12 years of Suzuki training. One reason is that the method is always evolving, with teachers coming up with new ideas as they are teaching.

 

                                          Hallie was a little nervous the first day.

                                          The next day was lots of fun.

Everyone had to play their guitar at the same time when the ball hit the floor.

          Music theory is lots of fun- keep the beat with your feet.

                     Now it's time to write music- using popsicle sticks.

 Lunch break practice session, before running off to play with the other kids. 

    The Conductor Game-  play your note when the conductor points to you.

                                     Now Hallie is the conductor.

The monkey game- 1 monkey for each correct repetition. Then the hard part- bow with the monkeys. 

The County Fair

      Saturday night I was sitting in the bleachers at the St. Lucie County fairgrounds, bundled up with winter hat, winter coat with hood pulled up over the hat, and gloves, drinking hot chocolate. Who would have thought I could be so cold in Florida?  Now the people  in the Northeast will think we don't have much to complain about. The temperature is above freezing and there is no snow.  However, it is 20' below Florida's normal temperature for this time of year and this is fair week!
      Truth be known, we had gone to the fair that afternoon not dressed warmly enough and had gone home to dry out our rain soaked clothes and get a warmer coat.  We got our hand stamped so we ould return without paying again. Actually, it was not our hand.  They put the stamp on the inside of our wrist because it was raining so hard, they were worried it would wash off.  I was wearing 2 sweat shirts and my blanket poncho and had a giant umbrella, but that wasn't enough to keep me warm and dry.
      So, I was back at the fair wearing my winter coat and waiting for Charlie Daniels to come out. John has always been a Charlie Daniels fan, so we were happy to read in the paper this week that we could see him at the county fair, for merely the price of admission to the fair. That would have been $10, but we found out we are old enough in Florida to be senior citizens, so we only paid $5 each.
      The concert started a half hour late and lasted just a little more than an hour, but was very nice. I only knew 2 of the songs. "Amazing Grace," and "The Devil Goes Down to Georgia," which was the last song. It was neat hearing more than half the audience singing all the words the way John does.

sing along breath clouds-

Florida county fair concert

this frigid winter

trying to stay warm-

we stamp our feet

to the music's beat

Joette

A Busy Weekend

Joe & Kathleen Mayes, friends of mine from the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, were performing in Melbourne Friday night. We left Port St. Lucie at 3 pm to drive up to Melbourne and have dinner. We ate at a nice little restaurant, Ichabod's Dockside.  After dinner we had time to walk around and look at the boats. There was one from Hawaii and one from Grand Cayman. Then we found a park bench where John could read his book and I played my charango until it was time for the concert. The concert was really good and it was good to talk to Joe and Kathleen afterwards. I got some pointers from Kathleen on how to get a restaurant gig.

On Saturday, we planted the plants we bought last weekend at the plant sale and then we went to the beach in Stuart for a little while.  Sunday morning, I decided to try a new church. I wasn't fitting in very well in the music ministry at the Catholic church closest to our home. The opening song began and I could hear an acoustic guitar fingerpicking with the piano. I immediately felt like here was where I belonged. After mass I asked if they would be open to having another guitar join them and the answer was, "Are you crazy? Of course we would be happy to have another guitar."  I think John will like this church too, but so far he is not happy about changing parishes when he was just getting to know people in the other church closer to our home.


After church we went to the Renaissance Faire in Deerfield Beach. We had a real nice time and heard some nice Renaissance music. I hope to play there next year. I bought a CD, a walking stick, and a Renaissance dress!  Then we went to Marie's  house for dinner and she cooked us lamb chops on her grill. Her house is full of boxes because she is buying a house and moving to Port St.  Lucie. Hallie & Aiden were happy to see us. It will be nice when they live closer.

Friday we went to a free movie at the library in Fort Pierce, the county seat. They were showing "A Beautiful Mind." I loved the movie. John had seen it before, but I had never seen it. It is the story of John Nash, who was a brilliant mathematician, but also suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

The library is on the waterfront on the Indian River, but it is not really a river. It is part of the intercoastal waterway and salt water. We strolled along the waterfront and watched the pelicans and sea gulls.  I bought a book with a pictoral history of St. Lucie County in a souvenir shop.  The first settlers came here in the 1500's, after the first U.S. settlement in St. Augustine, which is north of here.

After the movie they were setting up lots of booths, selling things for their first Friday event. We had an early dinner at a Tiki Bar by the marina that was very nice. I had a shrimp basket and John had a clam basket.  Then we walked a little further and found and Italian shop where we bought gelato for dessert. John said it was as good as the gelato in Italy, although I can't remember that far back. (We went to Italy in 2001.) There was a little art gallery near the Italian shop, but it wasn't open. If you went in the afternoon, you could visit the art gallery and the Italian shop had nice lunch specials with nice tables to sit at.

I have to keep reminding myself that I am not on vacation, that I live here. When you come out of Walmart and hear the birds singing in the palm trees, it is very nice.

New Home

This is the room that will be my music studio.

Leaving Collegeville

The house is half packed. The moving company comes back in the morning to finish packing and then Thursday they load everything on the truck for the trip to Florida. We will spend Thursday night with Ruth & Jimmi in Norristown. Friday we have to stick around till afternoon to close on our house. Then we head to Maryland to spend the night with John D. and Sara.

The family buying our house has to close on their townhouse in the morning before closing on our house. They are a young couple with 2 young children that will fit in well in this neighborhood. It is sad to leave our home of 14 years, but I am looking forward to a ranch style home with everything on one level in a warm climate. It will suit me well for this time of my life.

My recital went very well on Friday. Everyone did a great job and the acoustics in the CMS auditorium are wonderful. The grand finale was Pachelbel's Canon played by 12 guitars. It was a great ending.

Sunday at mass we played my setting of the communion antiphon and it went well. After communion they played the Irish Blessing in my honor and the whole congregation sang. My last mass at St. Eleanor's was Tuesday for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. I played Schubert's Ave Maria with Danielle singing and it too went well.

The past week has been filled with meals with friends. Last Monday I had dinner with Beth from college. She has just returned from Ghana, Africa and is now beginning a new assignment in Roanoke, VA with Madonna House Apostolate. Saturday was a party in my honor given by the music group at church. As a gift they gave me a photo of the group in a beautiful frame and a recording they made of a song written by Joe M. in my honor! Monday I had lunch with Cindy who played flute with me in our flute/guitar duo, Amarylis. Tuesday I had dinner with Terry from college. We had not seen each other in almost 25 years and had a lot of catching up to do. Wednesday I will have lunch with Sara, a fellow guitarist and Suzuki teacher who teaches flute and piano.

In between these events, I have been playing our new theme song on my mandolin, "Rollin' Through the Sunshine." I found that a mandolin is a great way to occupy myself on a long car ride. It fits easily in my lap in the front seat and I can strum along with the country music John listens to. I am ready for the drive to the Sunshine State.

Suzuki Guitar Is Coming to Port St. Lucie, Florida

After 14 years in Collegeville, PA, my successful guitar studio is moving to sunny Florida. I teach guitar to children age 4 and up with the Suzuki method. With the Suzuki method, the parent helps the child practice. It is called the mother-tongue method because Dr. Suzuki thought that children could learn music in the same way that they learn to talk from their mothers. Children will learn to play guitar before they learn to read music. Dr. Suzuki was a violinist who taught children as young as 3 years old to play violin. Now his method has been adapted for many instruments, including classical guitar. It is a great way to introduce children to the world of music and a great parent/child activity. Children are naturally attracted to the guitar because of its role in pop music. With Suzuki Guitar, they learn to play classical guitar, which gives them a great foundation for all styles of guitar playing. Students have a weekly half hour lesson and a biweekly group class for an hour.
In addition to teaching children with the Suzuki method, I teach classical and acoustic guitar to teens and adults. If you have always wanted to learn guitar, or if you have played guitar chords for years and would like to learn more, my music studio is for you. There is a wealth of music written for guitar from the 1500’s up to the present time. Also, I have been involved in music ministry at church for over 35 years and teach music from all Christian traditions.
You can learn more about my music studio from my website, http://www.jmgmusicstudio.com/ . Fill out the form on the “Contact Us” page if you live in the Port St. Lucie area and are interested in lessons for your child or yourself. It is important that children have the correct size classical guitar. If you are considering guitar lessons for your child, please meet with me before purchasing a guitar.