Stairway to Heaven

Many thanks to Kathy for letting me know about this incredible performance.  I had to share it with you; maybe you'll enjoy it and maybe not, depending on your musical taste,  but I just found it riveting. In spite of the fact that the song was cut short of its original 8 minutes, it's still pretty impressive.

When Stairway to Heaven came out I was 8 years old.  Not only wasn't it the kind of music that was played in my house, but I was too young anyway to appreciate the genius that was Led Zeppelin.  Indeed, I didn't appreciate them until I was way older; all weird chord progressions, cryptic lyrics, and Jimmy Page. Now I listen to them a lot, and my band covers a couple of their songs.  We have DVDs, and there is concert footage on Palladia frequently, from when they were young and beautiful and millions adored them and their whole lives lay before them. They broke up in 1980, when drummer John Bonham tragically drank himself to death and the rest of the band decided that there was no replacing him. 

Bonham, Jones, Plant & Page; a match made in heaven.

It is, of course, fitting that Heart should be the band to perform the epic Stairway;  Heart covers many of Zeppelin's songs in their live performances.  It was also gratifying that Jason Bonham should pay tribute to his father, who has been referred to as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest rock drummer of all time.  Jason, obviously, is no slouch either.

But the best part of this video, for me, was watching the surviving Zeppelin members as they watched the performance.  Now aged from 64-69, it's hard to imagine what might have been going through their minds.  Looking back to 1971, you have to wonder if they had any idea what they had wrought or how many people they would touch with just this one song, which stands as the most requested rock song of all time. 

Apple Table Update

It's only a small table, the top measures about 18" x 30".  But such potential!  Like most of my projects, the idea for its final design has changed several times since I first got it  First I was going to paint a vine growing up one leg and continuing across the top.  Then I was going to paint koi fish on it.  Then I found a picture I had clipped from somewhere with sliced pears making a decorative border.  But one thing has remained the same, there had to be stain on that lovely maple butcher-block top.  As much as I love to paint stuff, I also love the look of wood grain.  So here, I'll have the best of both worlds!  I finally decided on apples, not pears, for the borders. I was going to paint an off-white stripe as the background for them, until it occurred to me that the sliced apple would be white.  That's way too much white and not enough color. So I mixed a shade I liked, and that's what you see here.  Then I wanted a darker shade to do the edges of the green, the apple leaves, and the table legs; but mix as I might, I couldn't get a shade that worked.  So today it's off to the local home improvement store to buy something I like.  I didn't want to get a full quart, because I'm cheap and I don't need that much, but I also know what I want and even if I have to pay $8 for a quart of paint, the table will look the way I want it to look. So there.  It's Monday, so I have an attitude.  Doesn't everyone?

Mission (sort of) Accomplished

The patio is done!  Well, almost.  Preston swept the sand into the cracks like you're supposed to, but somehow every time it rains the sand jumps OUT of the cracks and makes piles on top of the pavers.  I don't think it's supposed to work like that.  So there's this stuff called "polymer sand" and what it does is after you sweep it into the cracks, you wet it and it hardens and it never comes out.  I think we'll have to get some of that.
But the last step was to spread out that huge pile of dirt and plant some grass seed, which we did over Memorial Day weekend, once again with Frank's help.  That's a lot of dirt to move.  The ugly table ended up in the scrap pile, and Sparky bought a nice new one.  I had all good intentions, but the new one looks really good and was relatively inexpensive AND I didn't have to sand it.










Now we can sit on the new patio and watch the grass grow.

Our resident Rock Star came home for a weekend last month, and found a few minutes for a photo op with Sparky.  The reason she has that look on her face is because she absolutely hates to have her picture taken, and I believe at the time she was making threats to my person and my camera.  But as you can see, it didn't stop me.  I'm such a brat. 

Sparky and I took a trip to her new doctor's office the other day, and on the way out I spotted this in the window of the office next door.  I couldn't resist snapping a pic, sometimes I wish I could do this!!  I have been taking some time away from the shop lately, but it wasn't by choice and it sure wasn't for pleasure...I had pneumonia, and of course I infected my poor husband who, unlike myself, required medical attention.  We're recovering, but it sure does drag on.