Various and Sundry Monday: Vol. 24

Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think. –Dale Carnegie

40 Before 40
Somehow, somewhere, my name got on a 55-and-over-crowd mailing list. At first, I got postcards for those little retirement villages. Then I stared getting adverts for hearing aids. Today, I got a special invitation in the mail for dinner at the Sizzler at 4:30 pm, a week from Tuesday, to discuss safeguarding retirement plans. That really doesn't have much to do with anything, except it is a reminder that I am getting older. Still, I have fifteen years before I'm old enough to live in one of those senior communities, and I'd kind of like to get off that mailing list.

The big four-oh is creeping up for me. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I decided I might as well celebrate it rather than fight it and write out a list of 40 things I want to do before I turn 40. I got the idea from Pink over at PinkSuedeShoe. She's turning the big three-oh next year and has made a 30 Before 30 list. She had her list ready to go right when she turned 29. I only have about half of a list and I only have 10 months to finish my 40 things, so I'm kind of at a disadvantage. But it's a start and I wanted to share my partial list anyway. Hopefully it will remind me to finish my list of 40 things before I turn 40 .

1. Finish eight Ph.D quilts.
2. Turn out all the drawers & closets.
3. Go see an opera, live.
4. Make homemade raspberry ice cream.
5. Put bark around the trees in the plot I cleared in the back yard 3½ years ago.
6. Move. Or paint my kitchen. Whichever.
7. Write four new tutorials for my blog.
8. Learn Photoshop.
9. Make a new friend.
10. Make Christmas ornaments for neighbor gifts.
11. Take the Little Bugs to Disney World.
12. Learn to love mornings.
13. Make table runners for family Christmas gifts.
14. Read five books I haven't already read.
15. Take LadyBug to see The Nutcracker.
16. Go thrifting.
17. Enter one quilt in the Home Machine Quilting Show.
18. Enter at least one quilt in the Annual Springville Museum of Art Quilt Show.
19. Get new everyday dishes.

Jilly Bean's Book Club
My super cute sister is hosting an on-line book club. She'll be doing The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I'm hoping to cheat and find it on audio, because I like to multi-task. If not, I'm going to hit the library and try to finish it before she does her review so that I can participate. If you love to read, check it out.



Monday Music Spot: Somewhere Over the Rainbow / Simple Gifts
I'm a little bit infatuated. I've always been a music lover. But I am absolutely amazed with every new release from ThePianoGuys. Each one is better than the last and I can't wait to see what they'll do next. I love how they weave melodies in and out and around each other to make simply beautiful music. I listen to their songs over and over and have downloaded them all so I can carry them around in my pocket.


Available from The Piano Guys, on iTunes and at Amazon.

The music speaks for itself, but I always love the back story. From ThePianoGuys ...

Story behind the song:
Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson were booked for a Piano Guys show in Hawaii. How could we resist filming our next video in the land of Aloha — beautiful beaches, green mountains, and fresh pineapple?? We went to our Founders and Facebook fans to ask what song they wanted us to play there. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was the nearly-unanimous response. But you know how we are ... we couldn't "just" do this tune by itself ... so in the studio we found a made-in-heaven matchup in the timeless melody from the Shaker Hymn "Simple Gifts" written in the 1800's (also used by Aaron Copland in his Ballet "Appalachian Spring"). We feel it's an especially appropriate mash-up because of our profound love and respect for the Hawaiian culture — a people who are so good at finding happiness in simplicity. As you probably could hear we borrowed a lot of ideas from Iz's version which has become the stuff of legend. This arrangement is, in part, a tribute to him.

Getting a piano onto a sandy beach and then onto a big hill in a famous ranch within the SAME day (we only had 8 hours to film) was no small feat. The only thing harder would be to be predict Hawaiian weather, which ended up being our biggest challenge.

"We had a little extra help on this one. My mother, Lynne Sanders Nelson -- a main source of my inspiration for pursuing music — passed away early in life from the effects of a brain tumor. She was an incredibly-gifted musician and taught me to play music passionately rather than just playing 'notes' on a page. 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' was one of her favorite songs. We finished this arrangement on what would have been her 70th birthday. Somehow she helped. I miss her so very much, but when I play songs like this I feel like I get to be with her again. This song is dedicated to her."
-Steven Sharp Nelson

Thank you so much to the Kualoa Ranch who bent over backwards last-minute for us and provided us such a beautiful place to shoot. Visit their site — when you visit Hawaii be sure to stop by and take a tour — its where dozens of huge blockbluster movies/tv shows have been filmed.

This song is dedicated to
Lynne Sanders Nelson, The Hill Family, J. Mueller, & the people of Hawaii

Filming locations:
Beach Scene:
Pounders Beach, North Shore, Oahu Hawaii
Finale:
Kualoa Ranch, North Shore, Oahu Hawaii

Credits:
Over the Rainbow music written by Harold E. Arlen in 1939 for the movie "Wizard of Oz" -- originally performed by Judy Garland
Published by EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.
Inspired, in part, by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's cover
Simple Gifts written by Joseph Brackett in 1848
Arrangement produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Arrangement written by Jon Schmidt, Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Video produced by Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart
Piano: Jon Schmidt
Electric/Acoustic Cellos: Steven Sharp Nelson
Vocals: Al van der Beek
Percussion: Steven Sharp Nelson & Al van der Beek
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studio