Wow! This is a fun thread! I am from the heartland of the USA good old Iowa! I live in a town right on the Mississippi River called Muscatine. I am about 2 hours southeast of Dyersville (Field of Dreams), 2.5 hours east of Madison County (as in "The Bridges of Madison County") and 1.5 hours from our latest mention on the big sceen, Cedar Rapids. (After surviving the Titanic, Rose went on to be a movie actress, later wed and moved with her new husband to Cedar Rapids.) Like you Bseed, I am a high school teacher, but alas, still working. I teach English as a Second Language which means I teach a little of everything to limited English-speaking students. I love that job ( most of the time.)

I began playing piano when I was a girl and later took up the guitar when I got married and we didn't have a piano. About 3 years ago I began playing the Appalachain mountain dulcimer and my interest in folk and celtic music just took off. From there I went on to learn some tin whistle, recorder, banjo, and harmonica. I bought a mandolin last Feb., but haven't had too much time to get to it. I have just begun to do a little entertaining and that has been a lot of fun.

My husband doesn't play, but he took up an interest in building instruments. He built one of my banjos and two dulcimers for me. It has been a lot of fun!

Oh, the weather here is lousy. We were going to go away fro the weekend, but it is raining and storming. It is too hot for this time of year. 60-70 F. It is supposed to be cooling off any minute now. They always say, if you don't like the weather in Iowa, wait a minute. It will change.

KickyC