Creativity, musicianship, artistry, athleticism, intelligence - gee! Is there anything you folks don't have? Go, second cousin!

You forgot blinding beauty.

Oh, and staggering humility. ;-)

WOW!!! Now that kid can play that fiddle down!!!

Let's book him for our next fellowship!!!!

BTW, glad to have the images back!

I'm not sure we can afford him. ;-)

Sorry about the inconvenience with the images. It was entirely my fault. I like to think I'm tech-savvy, and then something like that happens to bring me back down to reality!

...and I'll have you know, I can still dunk a basketball! (OK, so there's a 6' step ladder & a strong pair of bifocals involved. Big deal!)

Congrats on the upcoming anniversary of you & your most lovely bride, Eric. The blinding beauty alluded to above obviously falls to the latter-mentioned; while, if there's even a modicum of truth left in the world, you could/should claim the lion's share of the s. humility. (Dear faithful Gazette readers, judge me not too harshly - I know things about this man. Things you'll never read in these hallowed tomes).

It's amazing the sounds that come from a fiddle, isn't it?

comment from Phyllis:
"Creativity, musicianship, artistry, athleticism, intelligence - gee! Is there anything you folks don't have? Go, second cousin!"

Hey, I think he's related to me too!

The blinding beauty alluded to above obviously falls to the latter-mentioned

Well, at least you haven't completely taken leave of your senses!

you could/should claim the lion's share of the s. humility

I've always taken pride in my humility.

I know things about this man.

I think a truce is in order, lest we bring new meaning to the phrase "scorched earth." ;-)

Donna, I'm pretty sure I could coax some of those sounds from a fiddle, but only in the same vein that I can lay claim to playing some of the same notes as Sarah Chang. There's still those minor pesky details of order and frequency.

Hey, I think he's related to me too!

Ooh. You might want to think twice about claiming citizenship in this family. ;-)

To the boy's proud dad: the family's ability to communicate with words is evident here! Come on! Tell us some stories! You obviously have him pegged! And HLB, too, for that matter!

Phyllis, don't make me ban you as a rabblerouser! You have no idea of the Pandora's Box you're prying open... ;-)

Phyllis, given the nature of our thread, you're going to be either amused or offended by my admission that I just inadvertently deleted your last comment!

It's a long story, but I clicked on the wrong link in the email notification and before I noticed what I was doing, your comment was gone. What a klutz!

Uh...Phyllis...are you still there? Hello? ...?

Ahh, Phyllis. Seems fate has cast us in that most rare of circumstances - "eyewitnesses to history". In this case, the virtually unheard-of admission by yours truly that Eric just may be right! (Barring, of course, his obvious stroke of genius - some might say "beginner's luck" - spell that "dumb"? - in his choice of marital running-mate). We made a cousins' pact many eons ago that I would never publically mention such Epic Eric Episodes as the "flammable-cream-cheese-penguin-in-the-Dean's-office" incident. Or that embarrassing little matter of "Honest, Honey - I have no idea how I wound up in the Reno Sherrif's office at 2 a.m. wearing a Che' tee-shirt & Speedo!" And if you want to stay friends with him, never, EVER bring up the subject of honymooning in Paris, Texas when the "other party" (who shall remain nameless) had been boning up on her French for months prior to the wedding! These, & countless other topics, shall never be mentioned in a public forum by yours truly. The spectre of "Retribution" does rear its ugly head as this man is not know for letting good deeds go unpunished.

(As far as stories about HLB - sorry. No dice. I haven't given up on her yet.)

If any of you liked the "Devil" video, and also appreciate music of a bit more serious nature, you might check out on You Tube, or simply Google, "Preludium and Allegro - Forrest McKinney". It shows another side of this kid & his music. No father could be more proud!

Phyllis, see what you started?

Actually, though, it's better than I feared. I was afraid he was going to make up some stuff or share the really embarrassing things.

But, one thing we do agree on: that Forrest is amazingly gifted. He's also a very nice kid, and much taller than his dad. ;-)

Ah, T.B, I'd already heard about those! Give us some more!!! (Do you blog? You'd be almost as much fun to read as Eric!)

Almost?!?..........ALMOST?!?!?.......... (long, indignant, melodramatic pause here). Honey, that's like saying the '72 Cowboys were ALMOST as good as Eric's 1943 PeeWee Football League team, "The Thundering Salamanders"! (Came in 5th that year in a league of 4. He was the only 19 yr old on the squad, but don't mention it around him - still sensitive). As for my blogging - no thanks. I'm about as tech-savvy as a napping sea cucumber. One per family is plenty.

Phyllis, as I mentioned above, Eric & I have reached a truce, so no way am I going to bring up the subject of why, many years ago, he found himself uttering the following: "Honest, Honey - It wasn't MY idea to whip on the Bill Clinton mask just as you were introducing me to your folks! Let's just say a bet was involved.........No, I've told you a hundred times, it had nothing to do with the Whoppee Cushion at your garden club tea thingie........that was something totally different".

So there. My conscious remains clear.

By the way, Eric, I'm really warming to the name the local Native American tribe gave you after certain recent heroic actions - "Sweeps Tarantulas". Now there's a name you can urticate to!

Again, I find myself in the unusual situation of having to agree with my cousin. Forrest truly is a nice kid. (Could it have something to do with keeping him in Colorado - far from the influences of certain relatives?......Naw, it's gotta' be the water). And from one of those overhead spy satellite photos, it's almost impossible to make out the 14" difference in our heights!