October 2009

Howdy y'all!

Hope each of you is having a lovely autumn. We have had the most rain I can ever recall.  Wondering what winter will bring.  A couple of weeks ago we did a quickie tour out to Phoenix and Prescott, it was WONDERFUL. Our friend Don Charles from the duo D Squared let us stay with him in his family cabin just outside of Sedona and we went for a 5 hour hike through the red rock canyons. It is one of the most beautiful places we have EVER been.  One of the most amazing things in the world is that if you bury your nose into the bark of a tall Ponderosa Pine it smells like VANILLA.   Yummmy....I couldn't pass a ponderosa without being a total tree hugger (or sniffer).

We also loved Prescott, every 10 miles of driving you can be in totally different terrain.  First in the scrub desert, then in an area with enormous boulders everywhere and then we were in tall evergreen forest... yikes.  It was high 90's during the day and dropped down to low 50's at night.  What contrast!

Now we are home for the holiday season and beginning our school season.  We have lots of projects to keep our lives crazy busy.  SERFA , the South East Regional Folk Alliance is being held here in the Ozarks next week and Kelly has been working on the planning committee non-stop. Should be a BLAST!  Our dear friend Emily Kaitz is having a CD release concert mid-October and Geoff Oelsner is having his CD release in November.  Kelly is playing with both of them on many numbers.  Keeps life interesting.

Our good friends from Germany visited us this month, Monika and Eberhardt Finke from Ulm.  They are highly regarded in the European Bluegrass world. They have been a home away from home for us for years now and we are honored to finally repay the hospitality.  We took them to our Farmers Market and then to the War Eagle Mill .  We did a 'Fall' Concert of our OZARK music at the Hobbs State Park and they were our roadies.  It was fun to share our Autumn magic with them, even though the colors are just getting started.

We got our 'office' all remodeled so that our kitchen table won't be the desk anymore.  We each have our own cool workstation and it is very exciting.  We are actually enjoying the business stuff with our cool new DIGS!

One of the HIGHLIGHTS of our whole year is our bi-yearly music retreat with Jack Williams. We will be hunkering down at Wattle Hollow for a weekend of music making. Many of the folks coming are returnees and we have become FAMILY!  We are counting the days.

Haven't started our flea circus yet... but we do have the suitcase ready and waiting. Will keep you informed as to our progress.

All we are saying, is give FLEAS a chance!

xooxox
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill