Family Christmas

We hosted an extend-blended family meal on Christmas Eve. Here is John and daughter Laura and below, the whole bunch.

Christmas Past

We made it through another Christmas season which is always hectic with entertaining and get-togethers---and increased business at the shop. Like other retail establishments we did much better this year than last. But the season is not about gifts and retail, or is it?  I've never felt Christmas to be a particularly holy holiday, having not grown up in a religious tradition that emphasized the Advent season. For us, Christmas is surely about singing the old carols and reading the nativity story in Luke. But bottom line it's mostly about family. It was great to be with family and extended family this year and to catch up with folks we hadn't seen for more than a year. With house guests departing yesterday, I'm getting back to my writing and planning for our annual January trip South.

A Night with the Orchestra

Tonight, like every Christmas season, John conducted the orchestra for our big downtown church. It's a volunteer group that comes together to practice a dozen or more  Christmas carols only once, and that just two hours before the service. John and the music director assign parts six weeks ahead of time and send the music out to the players---some fifty of them tonight. They range in quality from middle-schoolers to symphony players, but somehow John brings the best out of them and they end up sounding fantastic. He's a real pro if I say so myself.

The Value of Art

A woman came into the shop the other day, pacing back and forth in front of this painted board that hangs over the fireplace in the barn. She really wanted it, kept talking about it to another woman who was with her. I have no price tag on it and told her it really wasn't for sale. But she kept persisting so finally I told her to name her price and I would tell her whether or not I'd consider it. So after looking around in all the other buildings she came inside with some other little things she wanted to purchase. After I finished waiting on some other customers she told me she had decided she could afford $40.00.  I told her (in a very nice way) that I couldn't let it go for that. Then she came back again yesterday, commenting that she'd sure like to buy it in case I'd changed my mind. I didn't tell her that the wood and paint cost well over $10 and that it took me probably upwards of 30 hours to complete, albeit watching TV at the same time. But at any rate, her offer would have paid me about a dollar an hour for my time. This is what is known by the term starving artist. Someday when I'm world famous, she'll regret she didn't offer more for an early Tucker. Actually, I've had several people tell me that wanted the piece. Maybe I'll stage a bidding war!

My Husband the Artist

Here is John's lastest artistic creation---though it is yet unfinished. The turquoise doors and windows (that don't show their full color in this photo) were just installed today. We worked out the design together and he did all the building and painting. It is located in the center of our back yard at Carlton Gardens, named The Summer House. I consider this work a promotion---step up--- from his 35 years as a professor of music.