Wonderful Weddings from Charlene Day on Vimeo.

I met a extremely talented Elvis impersonator at Paul and Sandy’s wedding reception.

Elvis was a surprise for Paul.

Aside from being an Elvis fan, Paul is the owner of  Paul’s Meat Market on Old Greenwood.

This isn’t Rocky’s real job, this is just a fun thing for him.

He’s been playing Elvis since he was around four years old.

I have his information if anyone would like to check with him for availability. He only does a few events per year.

I absolutely love this selective color, unlike some trendy stuff I’ve seen, and blogged about.

Here’s your apple, Nicole. It turned out quite nice.

When I started typing the post title the words seemed familiar to me. Hmmm, maybe because I’ve been singing Ginny Owens‘ song “If You Want Me To”, today.

The pathway is broken
And the signs are unclear
And I don’t know the reason why you brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I will go through the valley
If You want me to

CHORUS:
Now I’m not who I was
When I took my first step
And I’m clinging to the promise
You’re not through with me yet
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You
I will go through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that’s not my own
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I’ll never go alone

So when the whole world turns against me
And I’m all by myself
And I can’t hear You answer my cries for help
I’ll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to.

This man teaches how to play the Wedding March song. This video is the song all the way through.

There’s another video of him going slowly through the song with instructions.

My son is playing at his cousin’s wedding next month.

The bridge spans the South Canadian River and was Oklahoma’s first federal aid project. It opened in 1923, but sits unused beside the Interstate 44 bridge today. You can still see the original timber flooring on this neat old bridge. Before the bridge was built folks had to ford the river with their horses and wagons to travel down May Avenue in Oklahoma City to the farmer’s market.

One of my upcoming projects is taking photos of old bridges, schools, barns and farmhouses around the state. If you would like to send me after a photo of your old family place in Oklahoma, or if you know of a neat old leaning house, contact me via my contact info here: contact me

Friday evening in Roland we heard Crossfire from Fayetteville,
The Sunshine Girls,
Aaron Day, Vida Brooks and High Mountain Bluegrass,
among many others.

It’s a great little place there in Roland, to relax and listen to old-timey favorite songs.
Songs maybe you haven’t heard since your
grandma used to sing to you.

If you bring your own mandolin, dobro , fiddle or guitar, you can hang out in one of the back rooms and jam to your heart’s content. If you’re a beginner, they still welcome you.
Just take your turn around the circle,
and when it’s your turn to pick the song don’t
be a playin’ anything that doesn’t at least sound country or bluegrassy!

We REALLY enjoyed watching the three part youtube videos of John Sullivan making a mandolin!
We should post those videos on The Swap
they are highly educational!

Miss Vida and High Mountain Bluegrass.

Aaron Day playing “Redwing“

Members of Crossfire. This band was awesome!

Miss Vida teaches a color tabs (tablature) method to learn guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass. She is very encouraging to child and adult students alike. She already teaches some homeschoolers. She teaches individually, not in classes, but siblings or family members who have lessons back to back can sit in together, and after they have the basics down, can play together.

She teaches mostly folk, bluegrass, country, and hymns, though she has taught Aaron some Irish tunes and a couple of contemporary praise songs lately. If she doesn’t have a song written in tabs, kids can ask if she can write it out for them. The great thing is that with practice kids can learn to play by ear like she does, know what key they’re playing in, know the names of the notes and chords, even though she does not teach how to read regular music.

She is taking students during the day right now. It’s harder to get an opening after regular school hours. If you’re interested in lessons for yourself or your kids, let me know and I’ll give you her contact info.