I like...

walking on the beach....

BUT

walking on the beach with a friend is so much better!!!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

My Recent Trip to Maryland and Washington DC

Inside the Smithsonian Castle

Outside the National Gallery of Art


A shot of Justin and I reflected in the mirrored artwork outside the National Gallery of Art, while touring the museums in DC.

The inner garden at The National Gallery of Art

I had a GREAT time on my recent trip to the DC area, and I can't wait to do it again...

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

It's Sunday...

Happy Mothers Day Momma :-D

You are a wonderful woman,

and I am very blessed to have a mother such as you!!

Sallie Anderson

http://www.mikeandsallie.com/seasidetales

Spencers and Gostwicks... expanding the family tree

I recently posted a fan image of my family tree extended out 4 generations. I said in that post that one of our lines is Spencer, but that it was a different English line than Princess Diana. I thought I might post a bit more about this line today.

(photo courtesy of my family)

Virginia Spencer was my great-great-great-great grandmother. The Spencer's, and marriages within that line, are some of my favorite parts of our family tree. There is so much history tied up with them :-)


For instance, Moses Spencer, who was Virginia's great grandfather, was a soldier in the Virginia Continental Line during the Revolutionary War. He received 100 acres for his service to his country.


Farther into the line we find Col. Nicholas Spencer, who was married to Frances Mottram. Nicholas served as President of the Council of the Virginia Colony. His cousin was Thomas Colepeper/Culpeper. Nicholas played a major role in securing the land grant for what would become Mount Vernon. I have an opportunity next Saturday morning to perhaps see Mount Vernon and I am very excited about that!


Nicholas' mother was Mary Gostwick (my 12th great-grandmother). Mary's father was Sir Edward Gostwick/Gostwicke. He was the 2nd Baronet Gostwick of Willington. He was also the Sheriff of Bedfordshire! I have always found Edward very interesting and is probably the tomb I'd like to see the most of all my ancestors (how morbid is that?!). I have read in several places that his body is laid in a glass or marble tomb in a church in England. I don't know how true that is but it would be interesting to find out for sure!!

the crest of Gostwick of Willington

(image courtesy of http://www.british-history.ac.uk)

I will post other family lines in the future but I thought this one was a good place to start :-D

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Music to my ears...

For my mothers thirtieth birthday gift to herself, she gave piano lessons to the two of us. She had always wanted to learn and wanted her children to have the gift of music in our lives also. I had been singing solos and in children's choirs at church for as long as I could remember and I was thrilled to be able to learn an instrument finally!!

We lived in Okinawa at the time and our piano teacher was Denise Stone, a Marine wife (her husband was in the Marine Corps band), and a music teacher in the DOD school system who also happened to be our church pianist. Miss Denise was a strong teacher and refused to let me slide on anything! What I didn't appreciate as tough love very much back then, I truly appreciate now. Maybe that is because all of my other teachers have told me what a great beginning they can tell I had!

We didn't have a piano or keyboard when we first started the lessons so I could only practice on a real instrument by going to church early and getting a few minutes of practice time. I was taught that I didn't need a piano necessarily to learn the finger movements and so I spent a lot of time at home just reading the music and practicing moving my fingers. We did eventually buy an electric keyboard to practice with at home. Miss Denise also wanted to make sure I trained my eyes and hands properly and it was always a concentrated point to "sit up straight, and look ahead at the music...not at your fingers!!" She would even cover my hands with a long piece of black felt so that I couldn't see the keys :-) My first, and only so far, piano recital was at our church in Okinawa. I even played a duet with my mom. I wish I could remember what it was but I haven't got a clue. I do remember we both wore navy blue dresses (and were given beautiful Opal rings as a gift from both momma and dad..) and that I realized I was actually more afraid of singing in front of people than I was in playing the piano. Maybe it is because you are actually looking at the audience when you are singing and with piano you can solely focus on the instrument in front of you.

After we left Okinawa and moved to Arizona, we were able to purchase an old piano. I love our old Bailey! It was built in 1902 and is a pretty good instrument, though currently in need of a good tuning. We recently moved it to a different room in the house and it sounds better already. It could be the acoustics of the room, or it could be the location in general. Either way, I'm happy with the improvement!

Now that we live in North Carolina I have considered starting lessons back up again on a more permanent basis. The problem with different teachers (besides their own style, of course) is that each teacher likes different publishers. In Okinawa I used Bastien. In Arizona it was Faber. Now our music director at church prefers Alfred. I have went ahead and purchased all the Alfred books needed and took a few lessons but I am now in debate mode over whether or not to continue taking the classes on a regular basis. I have taught myself so much over the years and in between teachers (due to moving) that I wonder if I'm able to concentrate on starting over with a new teacher and learning their style. I get easily frustrated and lack patience. I think its a matter of choosing which battle is worth the fight and right now I'm not sure learning a new teachers style is a patience battle worth fighting. Does that make sense?

I WISH I could play by ear but I'm not talented in that department. My younger brother, Jesse, has actually shown a great deal of talent in that area. He has always had a love of all things instrumental. We have pictures of him before he was even two years old sitting in my dads lap strumming on a guitar. He has most recently been interested in the drums but is starting to really play around on the keyboard and piano as well. It amazes me that he can sit at the piano and just run his fingers over the keys at random and make something sound pretty. That is a gift from God, I think :-)

The two most important things I think I have gained from piano lessons in general is the ability to read music, and the ability to understand fingering movement. Even though I can't play by ear like my brother, or my dad or some of my friends, I know in theory how to "make" music. I can sit down and practice something I might create, even if I can't quickly pick up something someone else has created. That always is fun to do!!

One of the best ways I have kept up my fingering practice over the years is through using Preparatory Exercises For the Piano. You first begin with individual hand playing and then you add both of them together. It has been GREAT practice and I love it! I also have a book of short songs for the pianoforte copyrighted 1916. This book has been invaluable to me in learning timing. I would probably be wise to purchase a metronome to help with that as well, but do you know how expensive a really good one is?!

I play daily. Sometimes several times daily. I wonder though sometimes if that is enough. The question always lingers there in my mind I guess if I should take lessons regularly once again. Mom didn't continue lessons after the first year or two because one of my brothers started taking lessons as well. Finances weren't enough for all of us to take lessons back then but I can pay for my own lessons now if I want. The main thing really holding me back I guess is that it would mean spending approximatley 30% of my income on lessons every month. I'm not sure I can justify that :-(

I guess I'll think about it for a little while longer...

--A Victorian Cowgirl

Rachmaninoff - Vocalise For Violin

I posted this on my facebook page but wanted to post it here as well.

Rachmaninoff is a favorite. You will soon learn I have lots of favorites :-)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Scrum-didlly-umptuous Dinner :-P

Tonight (this was in my draft box for the past 2
days because I forgot about it... OOPS) we had our dinner courtesy of The Pioneer Woman. I am telling you... Mrs. Ree knows her stuff!! Our "menu" for dinner was her recipe (from: The Pioneer Woman Cooks ~ recipes from an accidental country girl ) for Chicken Fried Steak. Can you say "YUM!!" !?!?

I cooked our cubed steak according to her recipe variation for a quick, simple dish. I tossed in a dash .. or two.. (okay, so I am not great in the "exact measurements" department... LOL) of our selection of Emeril Essence spices.

I then sandwiched (ha, ha, ha..) the steak in between 2 slices of whole wheat bread, with mayo, and mild cheddar cheese. Serve with salad (I had a strawberry Yoplait yogurt cup for dessert..) and Voila!!

God Bless,

A Victorian Cowgirl ♥