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Yesterday was our anniversary. We spent a quiet weekend at home, made a nice dinner for ourselves, and avoided the heat.

The wall of the original house got painted! If you drag the white bar back and forth, you can see the difference.

In some ways, all of the things you see from outside the property have been renovated. This wall may not seem like a huge change. If anyone drove their vehicles down the street beside us, they would see the wall before it was painted white.

This small house was the original house built on the property in the 1920s. It survived a major earthquake in Tehachapi mid-century. We debated about all the options of what to do with it and ended up deciding to save it back to its original state.

Our vision for the future use of the house will be to create an art studio space for David and an area for entertaining. The goal is to connect it to the small house where we live by building arbors in the backyard between the two structures.

Recently we watched a documentary about movie scores. Someone in the documentary said, “Music is the one thing that we all understand that we don’t understand.” Everyone responds to music in their own way. I watch E.T. on Elliot’s bicycle once a week. I watch it and rewind it to the point before it happens. It is always ready for me to watch those few moments.

Trailer

Music has always been part of my life. I started with piano lessons with Ms Pegg in my hometown. After that I started with the band in 5th grade. That followed me through until college.

I was fortunate to travel to various college football games with the band. The band had many members. On trips when we traveled to away games, we went with at least two state trooper automobiles, sometimes four. With this trooper escort, the bus caravan of six to eight did not have to stop for traffic lights. The troopers would turn on their hazard lights and block off the intersections to allow us to travel together.

“On the East Coast, football is a cultural experience. In the Midwest, it’s a form of cannibalism. On the West Coast, it’s a tourist attraction. And in the South, football is a religion, and Saturday is the holy day.”

Thinking back, this may be why my favorite musical is The Music Man. My favorite part of the musical is when they sing “Wells Fargo Wagon”, which in my opinion, is about hope and surprise. Now we track packages. Often there is no surprise when the delivery truck stops in your driveway.

Playing For Change has many songs on YouTube. This one is my favorite.

It does not matter if you understand the language of the song. Music impacts us all in many different ways. We remember the words to many songs that we listened to throughout our lives.

This is a link to the full version of the documentary I mentioned at the top of this post.

Score: A Film Music Documentary

The other night we re-watched the movie Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.  It was a lot of fun to see again.  We love movies.  One of the questions we love to ask friends is to name the top five movies they can watch over.

We encourage everyone in Tehachapi to go to the events downtown on the first Friday of the month.

We were fortunate this month to see artwork created by a friend’s child. The thing that stood out to me was how much he appreciated people taking the time to notice his work.

We went on a small trip. We went to Victorville to the nearest Cracker Barrel.

It was a fun trip. The food was yummy but the trip with friends was the best part.

Many people have a routine. The one I have is usually sitting in the same chair at night. During the colder months and with the chair positioned by the window, it can get chilly.

Today I realized that putting the heated throw around the back of the chair instead of in my lap is a better option. So even though the winter wind may be blowing outside, my chair is toasty warm!

We finished putting the lights away as well as the exterior decorations.

David re-read the script for his upcoming play. There will be auditions later this month.

One of the options we are working around is the final week of training for his job. Due to the fact that it hasn’t been scheduled yet, we are moving forward.

Last month I started volunteering with the Tehachapi Visitor Center. I have more time to do that now that I’ve completed all the paperwork to get the nonprofit established.

Probably as with most endeavors, the initial startup is the biggest hurdle. This year, fundraising begins.

The peak season begins in April, only four months away. I learned a lot last year. I’ve learned a lot in the last six months.

As we put the holiday decorations away, we would like to wish everyone a happy new year!