Monday, May 10, 2010

The Blog Cafe

Welcome to the Camp Spot for our blog cafe Mondays! I, first, have to apologize for posting so late. I planned on doing it sooner, but it just didn't happen. Hopefully, my tardiness didn't inconvenience anyone.
Today, I'd like to take you to one of my favorite places. It's not a fancy restaurant or a cozy little little cafe tucked away somewhere, but it's where I like to hang out with family, friends and anyone else who is willing to join me. I'd like to take you to American Fork Canyon. Yep, the mountains!

Here is what you might see while your here!

A water fall flowing into the American Fork River.

A couple of mule deer passing by.

And, while your here, we're going to roast marshmallows over an open campfire and we're going make and eat our own s'mores. I'm hoping most of you know what s'mores are, but for those of you who need your memory refreshed, s'mores are roasted marshmallows squished between a bit of milk chocolate and two graham crackers. They're divine!

Here's our campfire.

And, here is the finished product. Enjoy!!

I've decided that the topic of conversation for today will be music. I LOVE music! It's my life line, my out, and it relaxes me. I love to listen to it and I like to create it. I can pick my way through a song or two on the piano and I try to be good at playing guitar. My radio is on ALL the time. I have to have my radio on when I do housework, yard work, when I'm driving, and when I just want to have some down time and relax. I own a very wide range of music. If you were to sit and listen to my iPod with me, one minute you'd be listening to George Strait; the next song might be the Rolling Stones and the song after that might be Celine Dion, the Carpenters, Collective Soul, or Metallica. I also love symphony and orchestra music. I think the only genre of music that doesn't do it for me is the hard core gangster rap stuff (just not into it). Everything else is free game for me. So, I would like to know, what kind of tunes do you play? What moves you, inspires you, or relaxes you? Would you rather listen to music or create it? I'd really like to know!

19 comments:

Twisted Fencepost said...

I've hopped over from Jenny-Jenny's place. Nice to meet you!
This place looks beautiful and relaxing. What a great place to meet up.
My music? I'm like you, I like A LOT of different types. But my most favorite is country or old rock and roll.

JoLyn said...

Hi Mandi! I love your pictures--AF Canyon is the perfect place to take us!
And I'm so excited to have my first s'more of the season!

Music....I love music. I like to play the piano--classical, new age, hymns, blues, ragtime. And I love to play the organ. It's so amazing to play it really loud, the music just flows through you.

Lately on my Ipod, I've been listening to Pandora internet radio. You pick an artist and then it plays songs and artists that are similar. It's been a fun way to get to know some new ones. Lately I like Norah Jones and Jack Johnson. And I love the oldies, like Chicago, America, Bread, Three Dog Night, Doobie Brothers, and the Eagles. Yes I'm dating myself!

Great post, Mandi--it's awesome to be at the Blog Cafe with you today!

Anonymous said...

Lol JoLyn,
I LOVE Chicago, America, Bread, Eagles, The Who, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, Journey, Kansas...if that is dating yourself then I must have an old soul for a 22 year old haha. I LOVE Norah Jones too. She really relaxes me. I love listening to piano music- i love to listen to and play on the piano Jon Schmidt. I love his work. I am grateful that my parents always played great music. Supertramp always brings back memories of Saturday mornings. Music is my everything. Great photos, great post!

Erin Wallace said...

I found you through Soul Aperture - I am just like you with music. I play the piano and love to play classical music (Chopin, Beethoven, and Satie are my favorites to play). On my iPod is a bit of everything: rap, country, classical, folk, you name the genre, it's there.

Se'lah said...

Hi Mandi:

Nice to meet you. Great mountain shots. I can be in a lodge there and take in the fresh morning air.

one love.

Melinda said...

Hi Mandi,

This is my first time visiting your blog and and the Blog Cafe. Jolyn sent me over and what a treat. Smores by the mountains. Such a pretty place you've chosen. I too, like all kinds of music. A lot of old stuff, some country,folk, some contemporary Christian....especially Mercy Me. I have never played an instrument but wish I did! Glad I stopped by,
Melinda

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

Just wonderful. So relaxing to be in the mountains with not a care in the world - except not burning your fingers as you eat smores!

I enjoy all types of music too. Irish tenors to classical Mozart ~ but seeing that you've taken us to the mountains I'll share another genre. I love listening to country music while I'm in the car. It's such a great mix of sad tales of love gone bad and upbeat songs that have your toes tapping.

Gregg Sorensen Family said...

I like to listen to just about anything. I am not a fan of the hard core rap and some country music is to twangy.

Teresa O said...

Glad to meet you Mandi,

I've wandered into your campsite via JoLyn. I must admit, I'm not much of a camper, but I sure do like s'mores.

I'm an eclectic listener these days. Anything from classical to Lady Gaga depending on my music mood.

Have a wonderful day!

ELK said...

Mandi...no place better than the mountains today..what a lovely group of photos of the place you call home!!

music is my job...preschool music and movement teacher and singer on Sunday at my church..

love ALL kinds of music..yes even what my teen listens to!!

bandanamom2 said...

I do love a good s'more. We built a fire pit in our back yard and now have a s'more "kit" in the pantry, that way if company shows up last minute we offer them the opportunity to make a s'more.

I love music. I've been studying all morning to The Smith on repeat. I love a lot of music from my youth - from some disco (Okay embarrassing, but fun memories of roller skating) to a lot of 80's stuff - poppy stuff like early Madonna with a heavy dose of bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure & Violent Femmes.

I also have very varied taste depending on my mood. I'm always on the lookout for something new that I will like, recent bands I've discovered are ones like Badly Drawn Boy, Spoon & Jens Lenkman.

But a recent playlist I created to listen to while cleaning the house included Nirvana, Michael Jackson, Elvis Costello, the Kinks and Carly Simon.

I only really don't like Country music. It just reminds me too much of small town living...I don't know, I just associate it with sadness and desperation and a 'trapped' feeling, I can't quite describe.

Thanks for giving us a unique place to visit! (I'm signed in under a different account than usual, but this is Lezlee from bandanamom.blogspot.com)

Jenny-Jenny said...

How can you have s'more if you haven't had any yet? (Sandlot)

What a great place to meet! I like music. My favorites are soundtracks. Both movies and broadway. I just love to relive good moments from fiction and the music that was playing in the background.

~ The Jolly Bee ~ said...

Hi There -- I came here via Tracy's blog. Right now I'm listening to Natalie Merchant's new CD. It's a collection of poems that she put to music. It's so beautiful -- there are some poems/songs that bring me to tears every time I hear them.

oz said...

Like you I have a VERY eclectic collection of CDs and I ALWAYS need to have music playing in the background. When people ask what my favorite is, it's hard to say...I don't really have one. It's more like I have songs of the moment. Certain songs remind me of an event or time in my life and as a result they become my favorite song...for that moment.

mmmm...s'mores!!! :)

John Romeo Alpha said...

I like an eclectic mix of music, most types except country. Although, I enjoy listening to just about anything live, in a small venue, or played around a campfire, while eating smores. Thanks for the smore!

Wendi said...

I'm a day late, but I came over from JoLyn's blog. I love your pictures of the mountains and especially the campfire. I love music too. However, I don't listen to it as much as I used to-- but I do have some all-time favorites:

*Paul Cardall's piano music relaxes me (I also enjoy Jim Brickman and some music by David Lanz and George Winston).

*Almost anything by Enya and a lot of music by Yanni also relaxes me.

*Hilary Weeks' music inspires and uplifts me.

*I love Jack Johnson and the Indigo Girls-- especially their bouncy stuff.

*I also enjoy a lot of songs by Sarah McLachlan, Five for Fighting, Amy Grant, Chicago, Heart, Journey, Huey Lewis and the News, Howard Jones, Wilson Phillips, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Christopher Cross.

*I mostly listened to groups like Erasure, The Cure, Oingo Boingo, Depeche Mode, O.M.D., A-Ha, Pet Shop Boys, They Might Be Giants, R.E.M., and Alphaville when I was in high school and college.

*I was really into country music from about 2002- 2008. I went to concerts by Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Keith Urban, and Rascal Flatts with my husband. I really like their music. I also like music by Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, JoDee Messina, Sara Evans, Lonestar, Dixie Chicks, Collin Raye, John Michael Montgomery, Mark Wills, Garth Brooks, Phil Vassar, Rodney Atkins, and Shania Twain.

*I love many of the songs from Wicked and Phantom of the Opera (my husband and I saw those musicals in NYC and Chicago); I also like a lot of songs from The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins; and I really love a couple of the main songs from Rent.

I do my best cleaning when I'm listening to music. I rarely listen to the radio anymore and I don't own an I-pod, but I do have a lot of CD's.

I used to enjoy playing the piano and am starting to want to play again. I mostly like to play easy piano versions (with my own twist) of a lot of the songs by the artists listed above.

And I think I have now written the longest comment EVER. :)

The Clem Family said...

Thanks all for your comments. I really enjoyed reading them. I'm pretty sure if I were to be driving and listening to some tunes with any of you in your car we'd totally be listening to something we both enjoy. I'm always interested in what kind of tunes people crank the volume to.

The Clem Family said...

Thanks all for your comments. I really enjoyed reading them. I'm pretty sure if I were to be driving and listening to some tunes with any of you in your car we'd totally be listening to something we both enjoy. I'm always interested in what kind of tunes people crank the volume to. -Mandi

Tracy said...

Hi, Mandi! I'm another "helper" with The Blog Cafe--great to meet you! I'm sorry to be slow to visit you here, my hubby & I are currently on vacation, so online time has been very limited for all the fun...LOL! LOVE these mountain views...*sigh*... And since I live abroad now, I miss things like s'mores...mmm... Happy Days :o)