Since i'm on

a bit of a nostalgic trip down memory lane. I thought i would photograph these two guys. The tall one sat with a friend on our piano when i was a kid. My sister took the friend when we were cleaning our my mom and stepdad's house. I think this little figure came from my dad's family, but i'm not sure how old it is. The shorter one I found in an antique shop a couple years ago and i decided to buy it so my tall man would once again have a friend. The piano we had was an old upright that my dad bought for $25 dollars when we first moved to Alaska. Pianos have always been hard to come by in rural Alaska, but he got it from the Moose lodge. It was old and beat up, but my parents refinished it. It moved at least 7 times to a different town and in and out of different apartments and houses. I remember windows and doors being removed to get it into the houses and I remember it was lowered down about 25 stairs and then hauled back up those stairs when my Mom and stepdad moved to Arizona. The piano didn't make that move. It finally had it's last song played on it and was disposed of, but it sure gave us many years of enjoyment as well as a few memories of agony when I really didn't want to practice. Music was one of the strong ties i had with my dad. He died when I was young, but the tie is still there. I can still get lost in the joys of music and in the thrill of performance and sometimes I think about how he enjoyed music so much too. So the tall man sits on my piano. It's not an old upright. It's a sleek digital piano, but the little man still stands there and listens.