Sharing the Energy

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I was wondering what to post. I was thinking about expanding on my recent Facebook update about my experiment to see how long one person can survive with only consuming Ricola, Halls, Coffee, and Chinese herbs. (Yes, I'm sick; how'd you know. Sigh.) But this has been going on so long I'm losing my humor about it. Just enough left to keep me from long walks ("long" currently being anything over half a mile) and missed dragon boat practice tonight because of the threatening cold, wind, rain. But it's a boring topic; old news.

I did get the second round of interns placed; only the new ones to go. That feels great. Boring.

Then I opened up my email, again. One thing about being sick and hanging out more is that I'm checking my email more often. For the good or bad of it. This was good. A friend and her husband-musician partner sent out an email of their recent accomplishments and they've each been nominated for some important awards.

Good news! That's what I want to post about today. What is happening that is good in the world. Then there was a link to The Portland Upside, which

is a locally-owned, volunteer-driven publication that is dedicated to finding
and printing the positive stories of the Portland, Oregon, metro area.

Another sign that it's time to drop the coughing-sneezing-sniffling-cuz-I-feel-lousy posts and move

Without further whining, here is the happy update about one of my favorite local (and becoming national) female songwriters, Julianna Waters of Heart and Hammer. She announced that she is

one of ten national finalists for the Wildflower Songwriting Contest out of
Dallas, TX for her songs "I Am Not a Mother" and "Wyoming Skies."

She and her husband, Barry Crannell, will be off to Texas on May 14th to "see what the Lone Star State has in store..." But not just for Julianna, but for Barry as well. As Julianna wrote,

Barry recently got notice that he's been recognized by The Great American Song Contest for his tune "That's What I Do." If you haven't heard this little gem, you should. This song really brings out his kind and earnest nature, something we all know and appreciate about him. You can listen to it at http://www.reverbnation.com/heartandhammer along with my two songs.

Just last month, I attended a concert at Artichoke Music; I hadn't heard them perform for a couple of years. Still great and getting better. It was smooth and warm and they are seem so comfortable on the stage, performing their music, and singing their stories. Storytellers, both of them - to music.

They're also taking donations and booking house concerts to raise some funds to offset the costs of the trip to Texas. Maybe someone I know has a new studio space that might hold a dozen or twenty people. Hmm.

Good luck and congratulations to Julianna and Barry. They are both very talented. Treat them well, Texas!
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