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New CD from Bob Ryan & Terry Hann

Posted in About Me, Creativity, Family & Friends, I'm a Fan of..., Music & Musicians, tagged , , , , , , , on April 20, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Rough Mix CD Cover by Bob Ryan and Terry Hann

You may have heard that my husband is a musician. He’s been playing music all his life and loving it.

He was in a band when he was younger that made an album and now we get to announce the release of a long awaited 2nd recording!

Bob Ryan does all the song writing and Terry adds instruments to the arrangements.  They’ve played at local venues as well as at the Tucson Folk Festival and Sunnyslope Art Walk.  They’re anxious to share their love of music with everyone.

Hope you’ll love it as much as we do!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bobryanterryhann

Pass it along to your friends!

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

Posted in About Me, Christmas, Decorating, Family & Friends, Food, Holidays, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2011 | 4 Comments »

It’s been a busy and somewhat non-traditional month for us.  As you’ll see from these photos, there’s been a good amount of time spent with those we love, but somehow things were busy in other ways too.

Christmas NativityWe also went to the Musical Instrument Museum (the MIM) for our 34th wedding anniversary on Dec 9th, celebrated the holidays with a few of the non-profit groups that I work with and had a lovely evening with some other dear friends.  All of those activities don’t have pics posted yet, but hopefully I’ll get to it.

I’m not quite sure how the month got away from me, but we didn’t decorate inside the house until December 19th which is VERY LATE for me!  Originally we weren’t expecting to have any gatherings at our house this year, so I guess that gave me the freedom to put it off.  Then we found out that we were hosting our family gathering, so I got busy and did a few things.

We still have at least one more celebration to come with our son, Kevin when he returns from being overseas in early January.  That will be a special time to have him back home and in the U.S. hopefully for a very long time.

Here are links to a few photos that I’ve posted on Facebook over the last month.  I hope you enjoy them!  (Note: I was told that some of these links didn’t work for those that aren’t on Facebook, so I’ve updated them.)

Randy Thompson’s Christmas Concert where Terry played in early December

Christmas with our Home Group (they’re like Family)

Christmas with my side of the family

Christmas with our Los Angeles area family and our precious friends, the Thompsons

Christmas cookies

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10 Things I Love about Los Angeles

Posted in About Me, America the Beautiful, Creativity, Family & Friends, I'm a Fan of..., Learn Something New Every Day, Music & Musicians, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 3, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall

I’m interrupting my stories about Scotland to celebrate my 600th post by doing a little catch up on what’s going on in my life at this moment.

Today I’m in downtown L.A. I’m here to attend BlogWorld Social Media Business Summit & New Media Expo (#BWELA)!  I’m really excited about the avalanche of workshops that I will encounter over the next 3 days and can’t wait to get started sorting out which ones I’ll attend in person and which I’ll listen to after the conference.

BUT, before I dive into the conference I wanted to share a little of what inspired me today.  You see, not so very long ago I lived in a suburb of L.A.  In fact I lived just about 40 miles north of here for 18 years.  And while we didn’t come into the “city” frequently, we did have a chance to enjoy the benefits occasionally.  I’m not really a city girl,  I’m fairly certain that I wouldn’t want to live here, but I love visiting.  Something about the soaring skyline and bustling traffic energizes me.  I get the feeling that important things are happening here.  Deals are being brokered, historic decisions are being made and ideas emerge here that are changing the world.

These are just a few of the things that inspire me about L.A.:

  1. Driving past the iconic Capitol Records building
  2. Passing billboards about new TV shows and movies (do you see that in your town?)
  3. Enjoying dinner outdoors in November
  4. Landing on radio stations in 7 or 8 different languages
  5. The city skyline – it’s breathtaking
  6. Exit signs for Little Armenia, and Historic Filipinotown
  7. Realizing that the Pacific Ocean is just minutes away.
  8. Appreciating all the sculptures and great architecture in downtown
  9. Remembering that they have an “all news-all the time” radio station (AM1070). I miss that.
  10. Celebrating the fact that the L.A. Philharmonic plays regularly at two awesome venues – The Walt Disney Concert Hall (see below) and the Hollywood Bowl (one of my absolute favorites). I miss that too.

So here’s how my day went in this inspiring city…

I drove from the Burbank airport this morning and met my daughter and son-in-law for breakfast (which I don’t get to do nearly as often as I’d like).  Amy and Andrew are a couple of inspiring people too, but that story will have to wait for another time.  I enjoyed a few hours with them, then headed down to the hotel where I’ll be staying for the duration of the conference.

On the way there, I passed the AMAZING, Frank Gehry designed, Walt Disney Concert Hall just a few blocks from the hotel.  After checking in, it was such a gorgeous day that I decided to walk there.  If you’ve never seen it in person, you really should make a point to go.  I would love to take a tour and would especially love to attend a performance there.  I understand that the acoustics in the auditorium are nearly perfect.  Another fun tidbit is that there’s a small theater and gallery space in one corner of the Hall, called REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater).  I used to work at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) when REDCAT was being built and the staff and student body were anxiously awaiting it’s completion, so I have a bit of a vested interest in the place.

Anyway, here are a few photos of this awe inspiring complex.

REDCAT

Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater

The amazing thing is not so much imagining the building, but actually making it come to life with all those curves and waves.  It’s spectacular!

While there I stopped in the gift shop because these places are just dripping with culture and creativity.  I saw this great T-shirt and a bunch of other inspirational items, but it wasn’t really a shopping day for me, and I can’t really afford a $120 scarf no matter how beautiful it is, so I had to pass on all but a couple of little things that I picked up for Christmas gifts.

Music Tshirt

L.A. Philharmonic Tshirt

After dinner, I had a chance to go out and play a little with my camera and here’s a fun shot.

Los Angeles Downtown

Los Angeles Downtown

So now, it’s off to bed to rest up for 3 days of inspiration and information to come.

Have you ever been to Los Angeles?  If not, what do you find inspiring about your own town?

Hope to see you soon!

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Better Blog Content 2.0

Posted in About Me, Around Arizona, Creativity, Family & Friends, I'm a Fan of..., Music & Musicians, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

O.k., so its clear that you’re probably not getting much inspiration from me lately, but I do have a recommendation for you to check out someone who is a prolific blogger.  And this week, she’s running an online Blogging Workshop on “Lemon and Raspberry” called Better Blog Content 2.0.  You can find all the details here.

Full disclosure: she happens to be my daughter, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have great stuff to share and to help you in the blogging world.  In fact this might just inspire me to start posting again.  See, this post is proof that it’s working already. :-)  I love this picture of her from some recent “outtakes” at her  home photo shoot.  Note the raspberry lemonade in the photo for her “Lemon and Raspberry” blog.  Clever huh?

But, it’s getting more and more difficult for me to choose what to blog about.  We just added a few more events to the list.  Last week I helped my dear friend, Linda on a photo shoot with her daughter-in-law and granddaughters, which was a blast!  I’ll post more on that.

Then I went with my husband and the Ryans to Tucson to hear my husband and Bob perform at the Tucson Folk Festival.  I promise, soon I’ll post about that trip, as well as an awesome Mexican restaurant that we visited there.  It’s a place that you won’t want to miss if you’re in the Tucson area and are hungry for Mexican food.  Stay tuned for all that and more to come.

Thanks for hanging in there with me during this busy time of life.

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List # 11- Date Night Ideas

Posted in About Me, Creativity, Family & Friends, Learn Something New Every Day, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

O.k., so you’re probably thinking that I can’t count or I fell off the face of the earth for the last 8 days because I just skipped from List # 3 to List # 11 on the “30 Days of Lists“.  Well, of course, its none of the above.  I’ve just been busy and decided to skip a few of the lists for now.

I’ve pretty much determined that I can’t realistically do any number of consecutive days of quality blog posting or crafts or scrapbooking or whatever because I just have too many other things tugging on my time.  In fact, I’m not quite sure how anyone with a full time job (or close to it ) can pull it off.

So, here’s my idea for those who might be listening/reading.  I think we should do a blogging or scrapping/art journaling challenge that’s only 1 to 3 times a week.  I think that’s much more do-able for the average Joe or Josephine (like me anyway).  I think that’s something that I could commit to over several months or even a year.  I’ll have to think about starting one of those of my own.  Let me know your ideas on what you would enjoy doing.

With that said, here’s the next list I chose, just because it sounded like fun!  Some of these are unique to Arizona, but many can be adapted to your local area as well.

Inexpensive Date Ideas:

  • Picnic and a movie in your own living room
  • Coffee and browsing at a bookstore
  • Happy Hour at a local restaurant – food and drinks are usually quite reasonable
  • Head out to a local coffee shop and enjoy the free music that’s offered.
  • Browsing the local arts, crafts and music festivals.  Many are free or very low cost.  Here’s a list of Free Events in AZ in March 2011.
  • This year my husband will be performing with his friend, Bob at the Tucson Folk Festival, which offers two full days of free music at outdoor venues in Old Town Tucson in the first weekend in May.
  • Head out to your local farmer’s market – buy some great food, go home and enjoy the process of cooking and dining together.
  • Ride public transportation downtown and take in the sights and sounds of the city.
  • Picnic in the park
  • A good old fashioned bike ride
  • Steaming hot clam chowder and a walk on the beach at sunset.

 

Single, Double or Triple Dates:

Day trips out of town – you’ll find lots of pics and stories on my blog about our weekend travels with and without other couples.

  • In Arizona we love destinations like Sedona, Jerome, Flagstaff, Prescott, etc.
  • The whole day can just be about a scenic drive.  The adventure is half the fun!
  • Look for interesting places to browse the art galleries, small shops, and quaint restaurants.
  • We also love getting out into nature and going on a hikes wherever we can find beautiful weather and gorgeous surroundings.
  • Places like: Oak Creek Canyon, Apache Trail, Tonto Natural Bridge, or any number of state parks, national parks and monuments in Arizona

Parent-Child Dates:

  • Story time at the Library
  • Playground fun!
  • Rainy day game tournaments – stay in your PJs and play together all day!  (board games, cards, video games, etc)
  • Draw, sew or do art projects together
  • Volunteer to help at a charity, church or community organization – it builds relationship skills, builds character and provides a lesson in thinking about others before ourselves

 

Chihuly Glass at the Desert Botanical Gardens

 

 

Fun For Anyone Dates:

  • Movies in the parks – lots of local shopping centers and parks host free outdoor movies when the weather is nice.  Take a picnic blanket or folding chair, your favorite beverage and a picnic of great snacks and enjoy the gorgeous evening watching a favorite classic movie. Here’s one going on now at the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix.
  • Check out the Library Culture Pass Program – Library card holders can check out free passes through many Phoenix metro area libraries for free admission to selected area attractions like the Phoenix Zoo, AZ Desert Botanical Gardens, and many museums.
  • An awesome concert or an exciting basketball game are perfect for a night on the town.
  • A day trip to the snow for sledding or making snowmen.

 

 

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The Catfish Hunters are on the road again!

Posted in Around Arizona, Family & Friends, I'm a Fan of..., Music & Musicians, Travel, tagged , , , , , on March 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »

This time they’re not going as far as Bosnia, but The Catfish Hunters are scheduled to perform at the 26th Anniversary Tucson Folk Festival.  The Festival is a FREE two-day event offering over 20 hours of music, dance, and entertainment.  Spread the word!  We’d love to see you all there.

Terry and Bob will be playing at 1:30 PM on Sunday, May 1st on the Museum Stage at the Tucson Museum of Art.  If you’re looking for a fun day trip or even a weekend getaway, come on down and see them and dozens of other artists perform.  Be sure to arrive early so you can get to the stage in plenty of time to find a seat.

The center of Festival activity, including the TKMA Kitchen Store (where performer CDs and T-shirts are sold) food & craft vendors, is in El Presidio Park in old town Tucson.

Here are a few pics of the Festival last year when Terry had the privilege of accompanying his friend, Dave Argentati who was one of 10 finalists in the songwriters contest.

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Quick Overview of our Bosnia Trip so far…

Posted in Family & Friends, Far Away Places, Music & Musicians, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I don’t have time to caption all of my photos right now, but if you’re interested in seeing an overview, check out this slideshow below from my Picasa page.

2010.05 Bosnia Trip

Our trip has gone smoothly as far as logistics.  Bob’s head cold has been the biggest hurdle for their performances.  Most people can’t tell that he’s having issues, but for those of us who know what the songs should sound like, we can tell that he’s struggling at times.

Please be praying for him especially the next few days.  We leave today for Sarajevo and the guys will be performing either at churches or another venue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  He will need a strong voice to make it through those times.

Terry’s harmonica and mandolin have been a big hit with everyone.

Funny note! Not that I want to perpetuate this stereotype, but I think it’s hilarious that several Bosnians have also recognized the similarity between Bob and Terry and Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets
This seems to reveal itself most often in their dry sense of humor when they’re performing.  The Bosnians weren’t going to tell us, but it kind of slipped out at lunch the other day.  Apparently they were laughing about it when the guys were performing at the Coffee Bar the other night. I love it!

Sorry I don’t have time to share more, but we’re heading out to Sarajevo in a few minutes.  Hopefully I’ll have time to fill in some of the blanks when we’re there.

Thanks for all your prayers1

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We’re Hoping to go to Bosnia!

Posted in Faith, Family & Friends, Far Away Places, Music & Musicians, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on March 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Terry and I are excited about a chance to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina for a short-term mission trip – our first ever! God has provided the opportunity and the availability of time off for us to travel and we are so very thankful.
If we can raise the necessary funds, we’ll go as part of a team from our church, led by Bob and Helen Ryan.  Helen leads Open Door to the World (ODW) an outreach arm of our church, Open Door Fellowship, in Phoenix and her husband Bob is an amazing musician and songwriter.  The Ryans have been working for years with the people and churches of this struggling nation since the war that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990’s.
Open Door to the World, has worked to help bring hope and reconciliation to Bosnia since before the war’s end. Beginning with a long-term assistance program to Bosnian refugees arriving in Phoenix, and working to impact the country with yearly teams to Bosnia itself, ODW has formed long-term relationships in the struggle for peace there.
Mission:
This year, the Catfish Hunters musical duo (Terry and Bob Ryan) have been invited to perform at various venues in three towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina. What we’ve been asked to do is present songs that speak about forgiveness, hope and reconciliation to this war-scarred country. It’s a badly needed message.
Now here’s the awesome part!
Terry’s part in the team will be to use the musical gifts God has given him to minister in the cities of Mostar, Sarajevo and perhaps one other. For those who haven’t heard him, he’s now playing guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass and harmonica.  Through the Coffee-bar performances, our Team’s prayer is to reach out to the communities as a connecting point between the Christians and their non-believing friends in those cities. They’ll be playing both at churches, to encourage believers, and in secular “Coffee-bar” venues to bring the message of forgiveness and reconciliation.

I hope to use my photography to capture glimpses of the stories of the Bosnian churches, people and ministries and bring them home to those who want to know more about the work God is doing there. We also look forward to opportunities to share Christ and to encourage the hearts of the believers, young churches and our own Open Door Fellowship missionary family there (the Tinlin’s) in practical ways as well.    Along the way I hope to provide written and visual updates, whenever Internet access is available.
We hope to be a blessing to the people of Bosnia. And we believe that doing so in God’s name will be a blessing to us. You can share in that blessing – In prayer as we prepare and while we travel, in financially supporting this work, and by keeping in touch with what we find and experience as it happens, through our regular communications during the trip.
In a nation of several million people and fewer than 2,000 evangelical believers, the churches struggle to meet the needs of their members and to have a significant impact on their cities.
Open Door to the World ministry trips are financed through the fund raising efforts and personal contributions of team members.   Your participation with us is a significant investment in the Bosnian churches and their testimony in the surrounding communities.
And so…
We would welcome any questions you have and will look forward to keeping you abreast of our plans, preparations and travels if you decide to partner with our team.
Bosnia is still filled with strife and ethnic and political division. Without Christ, there is no solution that will bring these divided people together. Your prayers and financial support will give us the opportunity to use the gifts and talents that God has given us to encourage and minister to the people of Bosnia, using the universal message of music to reach across language and ethnic barriers to share the Good News of Jesus Christ!
We’re so excited for the opportunity to use what God has given us. Here are several ways that you can help:
  • Add a comment here or send an email to hannfamily[at]cox.net to let us know that you’d like to join our prayer team. We’ll keep you updated all along the way.
  • Terry and I will need to raise a total of $3400 to cover the anticipated expenses for the trip. We’re about half way there! To be a part of blessing the Bosnian churches through our team, you can mail a check made payable to:
Open Door Fellowship
8301 N. 19th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ  85021
Important to Add: BOSNIA in the check memo field
Or go to www.ODFChurch.org now and click on the Paypal link to donate online.   It’s very important to Add: BOSNIA in the memo field so they’ll know where it goes.
  • ODW will be hosting a dinner and theater performance fundraiser on April 23rd and 24th. Let us know if you want information about tickets to attend.  Proceeds will help with our trip, as well as others.
  • There will also be a silent auction fund-raiser on that night.  If you’re not able to give monetarily at this time, then maybe there’s a product, craft or service that you’d be interested in donating for the auction.
  • Become a fan of “The Catfish Hunters’ Musical Bridge to Bosnia” on Facebook. You’ll find more information there, have a chance to ask questions about our trip and see what’s happening in preparation.
  • To learn more about the goals of Open Door to the World visit www.ODFchurch.org and click on “Outreach”.

We hope you’re as excited about this opportunity as we are! Can’t wait to get there and see how God will use us to impact these communities.

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Playing Music with Dave Argentati in Tucson

Posted in Around Arizona, Family & Friends, Music & Musicians, Travel, tagged , , , on March 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Last Friday, Terry and I drove down to Tucson so he could join his friends, Dave Argentati and Mark Converti to play music at the Glass Onion Cafe.
They played a mix of 70′s covers, James Taylor, Jim Croce and others, as well as a good supply of Dave’s original songs.  Terry even sang lead on a couple of old favorites.  One of these days I’ll get a video tape of it.
The cafe itself is a quaint little place with about 10 tables or so.  All the seats in the house were full and there were even people standing outside to listen to the music.  The photos behind the guys are called the “Wall of Fame”.  The owners take pictures of their patrons and hang them up on the wall.
Our friends, Doug & Liz Johnson (Liz is in red on the left -Doug is sitting in front of her on the other side of the table) from Santa Clarita, CA moved to Tucson a few years ago.  Liz and I have connected on Facebook and they were so sweet to come and hear Terry and the guys play.  They also brought their son, Zach (in brown) who is in high school now.  The last time we saw him, he was about 10 years old, so he’s changed A LOT and is quite a handsome, well mannered, young man.  He was so polite to sit thru 2 hours of oldies and songs that he’d never heard before.  Thanks Zach.
In this photo you can see a glimpse of Mark, the cellist sitting behind and between the guys.  He adds such a beautiful sound to the trio.
After the concert we had a chance to hang out with Dave, Kathrin and some of their friends.  What a great group of people they are.  It was such a fun night but we didn’t leave their house until midnight!  We had a wedding to go to the next day (more on that later) so we decided to do the 2 hour drive home.  Or should I say, Terry did the 2 hour drive home while I slept most of it.  I think we’re getting too old to stay out until after 2 am.  The next night we ended up coming home early after the wedding and I slept like a rock trying to catch up after a short night before.  It was well worth it though, and we would do it again in a second!  Maybe next time we’ll stay overnight in Tucson.
If you want to see a few more pictures you can go here.

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Fort Myers, FL (Part 4) – Beautiful Music

Posted in America the Beautiful, Family & Friends, Music & Musicians, Travel, tagged , , , , on February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »


When we went downtown for the First Fridays Art Walk in Fort Myers we had a chance to meet some of Alice’s friends, enjoy some delicious food, browse a few galleries and hear some great music!

These are a few of the friends that Alice meets up with to enjoy First Fridays and other night life around town.  They are a sweet bunch of folks.

While we were there we heard the legendary John Mooney play blues (slide) guitar for free at the Indigo Room!  He’s a pretty amazing musician as you can see from his website.  (There’s a photo of him playing with Bonnie Rait among other things).  Apparently he has family in Fort Myers, so he comes to see them and drops in at some of the local places to play.  Sorry that the photo is blurry.  I was using our table as a tripod and it kept getting bumped, but you get the idea.   Here’s a photo from his website.

After that we wandered down to have dinner at the French Connection Cafe.  The food was excellent and very reasonably priced.  Even though we had a pretty big storm earlier in the evening, the weather was perfect for eating outside.

Check out Alice’s Steak Salad.  Mmmm!

Later we stopped in at this Arts for ACT Gallery and Boutique set up to raise funds for (Abuse Counseling and Treatment) in the Fort Myers area.  See the beautiful blue scarf hanging over the partition?  That’s where I found MY beautiful GREEN hand-dyed silk scarf by Sara Long that I promptly purchased to bring home.  It was VERY reasonably priced too.  I loved all the quilted art and textiles here.

Alice has a friend, Kat Epple that was playing music at another gallery – Space 39 (also free to listen) so we headed over there to hear her music and meet more of Alice’s friends.  We learned that Kat’s music has won 8 Emmys for film scores and has been nominated for Grammys!  Pretty awesome, huh?  Unfortunately, I don’t know the names of the other 2 musicians, but they all played beautifully!  The guy on the right is playing a theramin.  You can go here if you want to hear what one sounds like.  It has something to do with radio waves…
Well we’re headed out to Naples today, so that’s all I have time for.  We had a really fun time at the Art Walk, thanks to our host and tour guide, Alice.

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