I was checking out a craft fair, which I do before signing up for one I've never been to before. It pays in the long run to do that because it gives you an idea of what's available, what type of traffic it gets, and how happy the vendors are. If there's all ready 10 people there selling what you sell, it's no a good idea to sign up for that show. Variety of product is what keeps people returning to a show. As I was walking around I could hear this very simple yet very beautiful music. It came from a booth belonging to a wood carver. His product was hand carved Native American flutes. I never knew how many he sold at any show. They were expensive, not the sort of thing you'd see at a church bazaar, or at any show offered by fire departments or schools in my area. These are true works of art, hand rubbed with oils until they acquire a sheen that can't be reproduced by varnish. The quality of sound is remarkable and limited only by the skill of the carver and the ability of the player.

Also for sale at this booth were various CD's of Native American music played by a member of the Mohawk Indian tribe. His name is David Maracle. I purchased one because I wanted this music available in my life. It speaks to me on many different levels that I can't describe. Probably because geneological research has proven that my Great Grandmother on my Fathers side of the family was a Mohawk Indian. This mans flute sings of a part of my roots long forgotten. There were unsubstantiated rumors, but research by a cousin has found the information that indicates I am descended from the Turtle Clan whose remnants are found in the Mohawk Indian Reservation near Ogdensburg, NY.

Yesterday Dixie suggested that she remembered seeing Native American flute music at Youtube. There is quite a bit of it, around 20 or so videos, but nothing from the Mohawk tribe. I did find a Sioux Indian, Warrior Panther whose music has the same spirit that David Maracles does although it is a much more commercially arranged piece. Still, he has the ability to take me to the mountain tops where all is still and quiet, and the world is clean and untouched by man.



Katie from Kates Coven was kind enough to upload to imeem some of her flute music played by Native Americans from the Mohawk tribe. The plug n play is not on autoplay so you have to start it. The pieces are hauntingly beautiful and worth listening to. They are in my comment page.

One of the reasons I was really excited about getting DSL was so that I could upload my own music from my CD's to share on my blog. I have a Native American flute and drum CD called Spirit Flutes that is really interesting, even my Grandchildren who are very in to hip hop enjoy listening to it. I'd like to share it. Unfortunately imeem will not allow me to upload my music to their site. At first I was getting a blank page, then I got a page that suggested my browser IE7 didn't support my request. I downloaded Mozilla Firefox, started the upload again and from imeem received a page stating that I was trying to upload files that were not "Valid" MP3.

I ripped these tunes into my music library off of CD's I purchased, not from CD's I burned. I paid for this music. My Windows Media Center supports MP3 only, and rips at 128kbps as required by imeem. So, what's not valid? There is no information to be had on their site anywhere that explains the phrase "not valid". Another blogger here purchased her music through itunes, and she can't upload because imeem says her files are MP4. Since they aren't allowing uploads from me, I can't use their site. I was considering canceling my account with them and I found out another blogger here tried that and they wouldn't let him cancel his account. I don't know what their problem is, but I chose not to deal with it so I went looking for another site. I ended up back on song2play and songhere. Boths sites say they're song2play but work slightly different. I can't see myself using finetune because of the number of songs one has to put on the playlist. It's 45 songs which amounts to close to 3 hours of music.
It would take me that long to find what I want and create the list. My internet may be faster, but the operator is still slow.

With Mozilla I had no pop-ups at all. Not even the blocked pop-up sound which may mean that they've gotten rid of the pop-ups at song2play. I'm not knowledgeable enough about these things to say one way or the other. Anyways, these two sites, and DSL will allow me to participate in the Saturday Night Blog Hop and that's all I care about.

This Saturday I'm posting early because of a graduation party Hubby and I are attending. It's for my nephew, and my brother and sister-in-law are notoriously lackadaisacal when it comes to details that include pre-planning. The party is being held at my stepmoms because she has the biggest yard. It's her grandson so she never thought to say no, and now she's sorry. I was talking to her yesterday and she's been unable to get any real details from them as to food, and how they want things laid out. This is going to be interesting. I can tell. Thankfully, all I have to do is show up, and bring a gift. I can deal with that.

Happy First Day of Summer

Hear In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry in the comment section.

Good Morning 21st Century. I'm online wth DSL.

It's different, exciting and there are a few things that are puzzling, but I'll get the hang of it eventually. The first thing this morning I emptied all the pictures out of my file because I suspected they were slowing the computer down. Turns out I was right.

Last night after I started my DSL account with the assistance of Mountain Man, who actually came yesterday to install it for me. I didn't expect that as we were having a thunderstorm watch. Anyway, I came back online and noticed that there seemed to be a long wait for websites to respond. I would look at "website found, waiting for reply" much longer than I thought I should. Once the site replied, I had an open page almost immediately but there were the hangups I was having during the waiting time, plus those lovely white pages with the word "done" in the bottom corner seeming to appear frequently.

For some reason I still can't use the meebo chatrooms, and this morning I find that I'm having a problem uploading to imeem. I need to find out from someone who does that what's happening. I get a blank white page where I should be getting something that allows me to type in the info on the song I'm trying to upload. Mountain Man thinks it's to do with my firewall security system and where it's set. He suggested that I try resetting it slightly lower to see what happens, but I'm not sure I want to do that.

After we installed the broadband, Mountain Man decided to pirate my DSL long enough to update his programs on his wireless laptop. We found out that I can't be pirated. I have security lock on it and I intend on keeping that. He found a neighbors signal and went on to discover that he had all the current updates to his features, so he shut down and went home. It was nice to know that I can't be pirated because it seems to me that unscrupulous people could do some damage there. he currently doesn't have wireless capabilities where he lives because he lives in the boontoolies and DSL hasn't gotten that far yet. The wireless laptop was a gift from a family member.

With dialup I had to go online before 7 am in order to catch the higher bps speeds, and then I had to leave the computer online all day. Now, I can sign on and off when I choose to and that is something that I prefer. Everything seems to be working better now that I deleted all those pictures from my file. I think I'm going to like this...a lot.

Hear Roll with the Changes by REO Speedwagon in the comment page.

I signed up for DSL on Friday. I didn't use the computer, I did it over the phone. I also didn't purchase the cheaper modem and contract. Verizon set me up with a 7 to 10 day start date and told me I would receive a confirmation letter as soon as the modem was shipped. I got that yesterday morning and it included a start date of Thursday June 21, and the information that the modem was being shipped to me via UPS Overnight, at no extra charge, along with the self installation kit. As a matter of fact, I'm not being charged for shipping at all, which I understood when it was UPS Ground, but UPS Overnight can set you back a chunk of change. I'm positive that on Friday I was told that if I chose Overnight shipping there would be a charge. I have a confirmation that states the charge is $0.

At the bottom of my confirmation letter is the statement that preliminary testing has indicated that my line is DSL ready, however my DSL may not work. I'm assuming that this is double talk for "our records are inaccurate so we can't guarantee anything". It's that statement that is keeping me from being too excited by this because with my luck I may not be able to use DSL. I'm hoping that isn't the case, but one of my neighbors said he couldn't use the modem on his line. That does concern me and makes me wonder if it will work on mine. I guess it's a matter of waiting until I get the modem and self installation kit to find out. I am also aware that the disclaimer is there as a standard practice. No ISP guarantees you access to the internet. There are too many variables happening when you try to connect. Line conditions, usage volume, weather and computer capabilities all play a factor in how pleasant your online experience is.

Last night as I was beginning to go offline, I received another e-mail from Verizon telling me that my line is ready NOW, and I can hook up as soon as I get my modem and self installation kit. So, maybe tomorrow I will be hooking up my DSL. I need to call Mountain Man because he knows what he's doing, and I don't and with the disclaimer in mind, I want EVERY available advantage I can get. The other thing I'm wondering is why was the start date advanced?

When I read the fine print I found the information that the less expensive plans limit you to 128kbps. The online slower DSL price is $14.99 with the modem price of $29.99 that you pay at the end of your contract. The more expensive plan is $29.99 with a modem price of $49.99. Calling on the phone gets you a higher price on the slower DSL and a LOWER price on the faster DSL. Modem price is the same, but they discount your telephone bill by $5 per month if you sign up with the higher priced contract. So, my MUCH faster DSL will cost me $24.99.

Apparently the more expensive contract also gets you faster service for some reason. I guess it's like anything else, the world runs on money, the more you pay the faster it runs. Now, if my DSL will work when I get to hook up then I won't mind paying more for it. In the meantime I can still use my slower dialup which incidentally costs me as much as the faster DSL plan does. I'm being cautious and not making any changes or cancellations of service until after I know if the DSL will work. It might be slower, but at least I'm here.