A new favorite thing - Jam Night.

Hey, ya'll!

Well, just last week, the 30th to be exact - the Stone family put on their very first official Jam Session/Party! We (the Stones, myself, and several other families) had been talking about it for months, dreaming about it for months/years, getting stoked about it for weeks....you get the idea. We called each other on the phone, chatted online about it, and generally spun around in circles in excitement...well, at least I did. :D And the day came! On a chilly night, about 10 families worth of musicians gathered at the Stones for a potluck/potprayer (whatever!) dinner, dessert, and 5 hours worth of jamming and singing. It was a dream night, because what is better than good company, good food, lots of laughter, and singing and playing the night away? Not many things top that in my book. :) Oh, and we also needed to meet the Hope's good friends - the Lynn family. The Stone ladies, the Hopes, and myself had been chatting together online with Gabe for a couple months, and we had been generally laughing our heads off so much that our families thought we were going crazy. Gabe...hey, Gabe, meeting you was great! (grin)

'Twas such a lovely night. Thank you Stone family so much for hosting it, and inviting us to be a part! They are so hospitable that we all pretend like it is our house, too, haha. I want to be like that too. Ya'll are such a blessing to me, and to everyone who attended, I'm sure of it. :)


The kitchen countertop spread with the desserts. Which were delicious, by the way.
A higher view - chocolate cake, tapioca pudding, brownies, a hidden pie, smore brownies, lemon pudding dessert, and then towards the back glazed donut holes, and then the pasta salads...are you hungry yet? :)

Mrs. Hope's famously delicious Greek/Lebanese salad. Mmmmm.

The covered trays of meat n' potatoes, taco meat, lots of other yummy food. I like this shot.
Alexander L. holding out his cello, he did not know I was shooting this. I think he was looking into the mirror or something. It was nice meeting you, Alexander! I am still laughing over your grenade launcher. HAhaha. Alexander is Gabe's younger bro, and is like him, I might say.After our lovely dinner, we talked and laughed, and then were summoned inside by Mr. Stone, who walked around to everyone strumming on his guitar. Haha. :) So...here are jam pictures. We had numerous fiddles, guitars, banjo, ukulele, cello, flute, bodhran, auto harp, mandolins, tamborine, the "egg", voices, foot stomping, and hand slamming on the floor (me). :D 'Twas jolly.

**Note: Just for the absolute saving of my pride, which I should be humbling right now, I will mention that I did not shoot with my flash on, and everyone was moving. Constantly. Because they were all playing, singing, or moving to the music. So I shot without my flash, and then later moved to shooting in B&W. Thus - that's why people are in blur when they are moving, and not always clear. There. Now that I explained all that, I can rest and just enjoy what they are.**

Lauren and Emily playing together.

Anna's hand playin' away...haha. I had her smiling at me lots, because I sat right on the floor next to her, and was shooting her, or using her leg for stabilizer almost the whole time. :)
Joseph H., and Gabe L. playing. Joseph on his guitar and Gabe on his ukelele. I felt quite inept, because I only play piano and sing, and almost everyone here had a stringed instrument with them. Or flute and drum. By the way, these two guys are best friends, like brothers, so they tell me. They also work with each other. Actually, Gabe works for Joseph. HaHAha. :D

Olivia doing quite well on the mandolin, while Fiona sits on a bucket doing the "egg", even though it was in the form of a pumpkin.

Alexander and his cello.

Anna. See, I told you...I shot her lots. I also love her lots. I really love this picture, the angle, light, and because you can see how she is playing.

I have a thing for shoes. Especially guy's shoes. In pictures. In B&W. Joseph and Gabe's shoes.

Everyone jamming away. Miss Fiona sure did a good job with the "egg", and smiling at me. :D

Anna's violin. With Emily and Eric Alvar in the background.

Gabe, Lauren, Emily jamming. Isn't Lauren's skirt pretty? She made it herself!

Emily, Eric Alvar, Mr. Alvar, and Michael G.

I like that this is out of focus. That is sweet Miss Olivia with a mandolin smiling in the center.
I like this shot - it is focused on A's cello, and yet you can still see the people in the background. If you are wondering...I am shooting behind someone's back. :)


And this is more focused on the people playing like: Mrs. Stone on autoharp and Seamus on fiddle, of course, that is Alex's hand whizzing on the left. Haha.

Eric Alvar on the mandolin, which he is wonderful with, by the way, Mr. Alvar on guitar, and Michael G. on fiddle.

I love Becca smiling at me here past a couple fiddlers, and Miss Kricket in the background. :)

Kimberly's skirt and shoe just looked so old-fashioned next to the wood floor, so I took a shot.

Cameron F., Matt M., and Seamus.

Some of the sheet music - Angeline the Baker. :D

And the fiddler side L to R: Miss. Kricket, who I always love to hear play, Becca F., Cody G., and Anna. Believe me, it was awesome having four fiddles or 5 going all at once! Hooray!

Blurry, I know. Matt Morrison playing "Drifting" for us - which was great! He plays SO well!

Emily's flute end, which I had to have fun with.

Her flute on the music folder...I really loved that it said Clarke on the side, even if it was spelled differently than a family name. :)

We took a break after a couple hours, and split up to get more dessert, drinks, and talk more, and Emily played me a song she was learning on the piano. Which I took pictures of. (giggle)

Emily playing -
Concentrating on the piece.

I really like the dark contrast of black and white in this, the dark around the piano, and the light of the music and keys.

Emmy, dear. I loved the song! Thank you for playing it for me! It was SO pretty!

Some of the music... a cool fact - it was written for the Twilight movie, but never used. Well, they missed out, forget Twilight, the song is way better.

And then we all went back to jamming...it's in our blood, you see, we just have to keep doing it...which means we should do another one in a couple months. :) Haha, no really, we did talk about it! Lauren, and all those people I am not going to name because it would take forever.

A brief lull allowed me to get this picture - guitar in the corner, autoharp, sheet music, a fiddle bow.... evidence of a jam. :)

Anna talking fiddles.

Jammin'.

The Stones' calendar that I thought was cute and vintage. :) "All about me days" it says.

Lauren! The dueling Nikon D40's! :D Lauren, by the way, got her hair cut, from waist length, or about there, to shoulder length...it is SO different, but it looks really lovely on her. :)

The door "sash" and flower bow to the entrance of Emily's room. I liked it.

Ahem....um. Jamming. What can I say? It's what we did, and it was wonderful, really wonderful.

I love Anna smiling at Mrs. Stone, look, look!!! :D Awwww!!

Lauren and I stood in the hallway doorway taking pictures, and trying not let each other take pictures of ourselves. That is Joseph standing in the background. They are bro & sister. :)

And that is where my jam pictures end. I hope you enjoyed looking at our night of jammin' together. Not included in pictures are - rope swinging and race climbing up to touch the branch, some country swing dancing, chess playing, the visit to the goat shed, and holding of adorable animals, our shocked expressions of the cold outside, and umm....a picture of my family. Huh. Strange. Anyhow - we jammed a range from celtic to bluegrass, to folk, to a couple hymns.

Those of us who knew the songs also randomly burst into songs such as "The Auld Triangle", "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore", "The Black Velvet Band", "The Rocky Road to Dublin", "Marie's Wedding", "The Wild Rover", and others from the High Kings. :D 'Twas brilliant, haha.

My favorites of the night were singing The Parting Glass, and thinking of Sarah Magee(UK), and hearing the songs - Star of the County Down, Flowers of Edinberg, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Ashokan Farewell, and lots of others that I can't think of! Short term memory loss. :D

Wish you all could've heard it though...it was SO great! Thanks, Stones, again, for putting that together! It was a joy for me, and my family! Oh, and readers - Lauren, and maybe Joseph, and Gabe will be posting on this, as well. So, check over there!

Okay, well that's all for now! Hope all you blog readers are doing great, even though I don't know who is readin' this! You know what I say - Come on back, now, ya'll, be family 'round here! :D

Simply trusting in Jesus,
~ Jean Marie