I was ok until I saw the top hat...

We said goodbye to a friend today.  His name was Edward Shook Sr....more widely known as Eddie.  I've known him since I got involved with fife and drum 16-17 years ago.  I was a bit intimidated by him, he always looked so serious.  But, the more I grew to know him, I realized what a funny, kind, and giving person he really was.   Never judge a book by it's cover, because you'll just never know how good the story really is.


Drum Corps is just one of many facets to his life, as was evident by seeing those who attended his wake yesterday.  Scores of people from all different walks of life, there to honor Eddie, and support his wife and 3 children, and although there were a few tears...it wasn't really sad or solemn...which is just how he would have wanted it.  Good memories were shared, and laughs could be heard from time to time, a true testament to the life we were celebrating.

Now, those who know me, know I'm a REALLY easy crier, but I was determined to be strong for the family...I was ok, got teary when I saw Ruth, his wife, what an amazing lady...looking through all of the pictures...but then...I went to pay my respects and there he was...and the top hat.  Some people may not have known Eddie by name, but say 'the man in the tattered top hat' and we ALL knew who they were talking about.  THAT was hard, that was when the waterworks were hard to shut off...then I suddenly had a sense of peace, and knew that he was at rest, and he was in such a far better place than if he were to remain here.


I certainly didn't know him as well as others, but I know his kindness and humor reached many, more than even he probably ever realized.

The funeral service today was perfect, and fitted for Eddie.  He went for one more ride with the motorcycles, surrounded by friends and family.  Fife and drum played at the graveside...and it ended with a toast.

This song is written on the back of his funeral card:

♪♫ Show me the way to go home,
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
and it went right to my head
Where ever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You will always hear me singing this song
Show me the way to go home ♫♪

We'll miss you Mr. Shook, but we know your spirit lives on in your children and grandchildren, and you will be in our hearts always....until we meet again...

RIP Edward Shook Sr. 4/25/10 

Friendship Through Music...

This is the common 'theme' of fife and drum I would say. Another HUGE part of musters is the jam session. Anyone from anywhere all come together and play common fife and drum tunes... hundreds of people...it's a pretty neat thing to see.

BUT -- jamming really doesn't have anything to do with my post today...but music does, and so does friendship!

Our Corps released a CD last month (c'mon, you know you want one...they're $15 -- e-mail or leave a comment here if you seriously are interested) and a few of my PSF's bought one. Sooooo, I needed to to make them a super special thank you card.

I ordered Wild West Anya in anticipation of making thank yous and even birthday cards for corps members, because she's PERFECT for it.

Here's my card.


















Now...that SUPER cool ribbon frame?? Got that from Claire Brennan. She's got some brilliant stuff over on her blog. If you don't know her, you should ;) She's also got her own stamp line now -- I got her two Celtic sets that SOLD OUT - which is awesome, hoping to make something with them really soon.

Anya was colored in (with my Copics) to look like a little Regulator, down to the Sheriff's badge and all. The star with the sentiment (from Papertrey's Everyday Classics set) was cut using my star Nesties. Added a little sparkle with some christmas red stickles, and we were good to go.

Thanks for all the support friends!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Wild West Anya (The Greeting Farm), Everyday Classics (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: PTI True Black, Select White, SU! Basic Gray, brushed silver
Accessories: Star nestabilities, copics, pure poppy saddle stitched grosgrain, stardust pen

Mariners weekend, remembering a friend, and finally a card...

WHEW!

I can hardly believe it's Monday already! The weekend was a blur. Thank to all of you who stopped by on Saturday for Lauren's challenge -- I need to get around and check out what everyone else has made!

Friday night I had a parade, and Saturday we had a Muster in Old Saybrook, CT. What an AWESOME day. The Ancient Mariners, out of Guilford, CT were the hosts of this event, and it was fabulous from top to bottom. The corps is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, as their founder Roy Watrous started the corps on July 4, 1959. This brotherhood stretched over the Atlantic Ocean, and a Swiss Contingent was formed as well. They had a HUGE group of Mariners at the muster, from the US and Switzerland...what a rush to see such a big group come marching down the street... (all that testosterone too...stand back!)

A very cool thing about the Ancient Mariners...their colorguard carries these oars with them...see those little brass plates? Each one of them has a name of a member of the corps who has passed away. In 50 years, they've lost a lot of good people, including their founder, Roy Watrous, and a real great guy I knew -- Sean Egan.

Sean sure knew how to have a good time -- funny as all get out too. Take a look at this post - which Greg describes Sean best. And most of all -- he was so awesome with all of the kids, even though he had none of his own. He always treated my nieces like his own, and what a smile he got when he'd be out on that muster field. For the muster, in addition to the oars that they carry, they had these others made up to stake around the muster field so their fallen brothers would be with them in more than spirit for the weekend.

I get run down with parades and rehearsals, but for some reason, a good muster always renews my pride in what we do, and makes me feel great to be a part of such an amazing community of people, who love what they do. I've included some photos from the weekend below...

'The Wild Bunch' from Basel Switzerland

"The Old Guard" --- 3rd US Infantry Regiment BCT -(The President's Fife and Drum Corps) these guys and gals are INCREDIBLE...

'The International Mariners' from Basel, Switzerland, and Guilford, CT, USA

'The Young Colonials' and alumni from Carmel, NY

'The Civil War Troopers' from Cornwall, NY

The Junior Colonials from Westbrook, CT (those are 2 of my nieces and my nephew -- aren't they CAH-UTE???)

Ok - I said a card, but I think I've given enough to look at today -- I'll be back with my card post tomorrow -- for real ;)

Thanks for letting me share the other passion in my life and thanks for stopping by!!

In the Studio...

The Recording Studio!!

As most of you know, another big part of my life is Fife and Drum. Between getting sick last week, and practicing, I haven't had much time to stamp - so I figured I'd share with you what I've been doing.

Our Fife and Drum corps has been wanting to make a recording for a while now - so we've started laying down some things in the studio. It was a pretty neat experience yesterday. But it was a LONG day.

We got up at 6:15 to get ready. We had to meet the bus at 7:15 to get on the road. Headed out to Trod Nossel recording studio - Chris the engineer that worked with us yesterday told us that Trod Nossel means 'Tree of Many Branches' in some Scandinavian language (though he's not sure which one - ha ha).

We were greeted with a VERY interesting sign on our way in the door...

I guess some pretty famous bands have recorded there throughout the years...Motley Crue, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and some lesser known groups, like The Whiffenpoofs (yes, really) The Ancient Mariners, and of course now, The Regulators *wink*.

We got in and got settled...and started recording. It took a little while, but after a bit, we found our groove, and got some really good takes. I thought it was pretty neat to be in the booth with Chris when I wasn't playing - and look at the board. That thing is NUTS - I asked him if he knew what all those buttons, sliders and switches are...and he said - "yep, if you know one channel, you pretty much know them all"...easy for him to say...but I guess that's why he's the engineer, and I'm just the fifer...which by the way - I left at HOME...yep - got ALL the way to the studio...opened my case...and NO FIFE...here's a photo of me after I realized that I left it at home...I call it - self portrait of jacka$$ ;)

Luckily, my sister-in-law brought an extra - she's so smart... I'm looking forward to the finished product -it'll be a while - still more to record, and then editing and such.

Thanks for touring the studio with me today :) Hope you have a super day - and I've got some stamping I'm behind schedule on - so there should be some projects a little later in the week! Thanks for stopping by!!

Remembering a Friend...

It's been a long week. I hosted Thanksgiving dinner, so between working and cleaning and cooking, I haven't had ANY stamp time...BLECH.

BUT -- I went to an awards dinner tonight, to remember a friend. As most of you know, I'm involved in Fife and Drum, what's that you say?? check HERE. I used to belong to a junior corps, called The Young Colonials. This is actually how I met my hubby. He wasn't in the corps at the time, but his younger brother was, and his sisters taught the fife line, and his 2 older brothers taught the drum line...

On May 31, 1995, something pretty terrible happened. I was home sick from school (I was a Sr. in HS at the time) I got a call from a friend of mine from a payphone (back in the day of *GASP* no cell phones! *sigh*) who had said that one of our classmates Chris, had been in an accident, and that his sister was in the car with him and she died....my stomach dropped. Chris has 2 sisters...Angela, and Michelle...which one was it??? No one knew. I called my Mom (she's a nurse, and works at the local hospital) She answered the phone, and I said "Do you know??" She said "Yes, it was Angela." I still remember that moment like it was yesterday. She was 12. 12. Now being a mom, even moreso I can't even BEGIN to think about how short her life really was. It also gave me a good dose of 'I'm not invincible' reality too.

Angela was an incredible fifer for her young years, and though she was small, and had to hold her fingers a certain way to make sure she covered the holes all the way, she ROCKED the fife. She taught me a thing or two, that's for sure! She always did what was right by the corps, and was the fife sargeant as well...for a little girl, she knew how to command attention!

So, on a weekend where we should have been celebrating our last few weeks as Seniors in HS, Chris (Angela's brother) was in the hospital, and we (my hubby and friends and I) were at Angela's funeral...NEVER will I forget that.

Each year, The Young Colonials hold an awards dinner, where they give out medals to the members of the corps for parades they've won, and they have some perpetual awards that are given out each year as well. One for an outstanding member of the Colorguard, one for an outstanding member of the fife line, and one for an outstanding member of the drum line. That year, they added a fourth award. The Angela Simmons Award, to be given to a member of the corps, that exemplified all of Angela's qualities as a corps member. The recipient would be a member of the corps that demonstrates leadership, encourages their fellow corps members not only to practice, but to just be together and have fun, to have good parade and practice attendance, and to be an example to the younger members of the corps (or even perhaps the older ones!! *wink* ) I was honored to have been given this award the second year.

Well, after 12 years, the plaque is full, and the corps has decided to reitre it, and give the plaque to Angela's family. So tonight, all past recipients were invited to attend the dinner, so that we could all pose for a photo with the plaque to be presented to the family with the plaque.

I still see Angela's Dad now and then, and I'm still friends with her sister Michelle...and always give Chris a hug when I see him...I think a lot about what could have or would have been if Angela were here today...though I know she is in a far far better place, but man, how sweet it would be if she were still here...we miss you Angela!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

A Muster...What's a muster???

This has been a few BUSY days here...you already saw the run up to the weekend, and yesterday we spent the entire day at a muster...what's a muster?? Well, it's a music festival of sorts...for Fife & Drum Corps, that is. Every summer, our calendar is packed with parades and musters to go to...it can be a lot of work, but it's a ton of fun too. I've even met people from Switzerland who have come to the states to perform.

It's a bit different now that we have kids, but it's a great day for them to be outside enjoying the music, and fresh air. There's a great variety in the styles of music and uniforms that you see throughout the day, and it can be a great history lesson...well, if you want it to be.

The musters usually start out on Friday night, when they hold a mini-version of what's to come the next day...they call this a 'tatoo'. Everyone gathers around the muster field, and watches the performances of the host corps and perhaps a few others...then everyone jams. Anyone and everyone heads out to the field, and they play common songs that everyone knows...WHAT a feeling...the drums just pounding in your chest...there's nothing like it.

People bring campers and pitch tents (we haven't camped since before we had kids) and the jam lasts well into the night, until the local law 'quiet hour' and then people head back to their camps, and hang out before going to bed. The next morning starts off with a parade through town...drum coprs only, not your usual fire trucks and girls scouts kind of parade. Then back to the field for more. Each corps comes out and does a performance for the audience. Some corps have great showmanship - The Ancient Mariners being one...they are pirates, and they have a big cannon and a 'prisoner' (usually a newbie that wants in) and they drag him around the field... here's a clip of them marching on stand yesterday...

Here's a few shots of some of my corps mates...

This is a good portion of our drum line...and that guy in the different uniform? He's my Brother-in-law who plays with another group...

This is Eileen, she's in our colorguard, and will drum major for us when my brother-in-law Joe isn't around...

And this is Leslie - she's our newest addition to our drum line, and she's awesome...she fits right in with our crowd of misfits ;)

Well - I think I've bored you enough for one day...today is my hubby's birthday - so we'll be celebrating later...and hopefully I'll get some 'stamping candy' up either later tonight or tomorrow...

Thanks for stopping by!!!