Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Whose "To Do" List?

Imagine the young man Abram getting up one morning and checking out his “to do” list. As he wondered where to start, a voice called out to him “Abram, Abram”. It was a voice he would become very familiar with in future years.

“Abram, I want you to pack up all your belongings, leave your people and your father’s household (and your to do list) and go to the land I will show you.” The Voice tells him why he is going and what is in store for him but not where he is going. Genesis 12:4 says “So Abram left as the LORD had told him”. Abram tore up his “to do” list and embraced God’s. Through his obedience, the whole world has been blessed.

This morning as most mornings, I sat on the porch with my coffee, Bible, and notebook. I carefully crafted my “to do” list which was fairly simple since I basically had to just copy yesterday’s list! For those of you following my blog, I took my Gurdy key chest to the Music Funfest in Evart Michigan two weeks ago with the intention of doing the final fitting of the keys while tending our booth. The extremely high humidity and heat did a number on the wood and tightened even the loose keys. The keys would have to wait until we got home. Our return home included visits from family, a wedding, and the need to bag and ship a Hurdy gurdy and two Symphonies. All good, but definitely not on my list!

God is teaching me that it’s good to make a “to do” list, but don’t let it get in the way of His for me! I will have new Gurdy pictures for you soon, or rather In His Time.

Posted by Ann Dorries ann@anndorries.com at 9:40 AM 0 comments Monday, June 28, 2010


A Slight Delay

Like a ham hanging in the smoke house, my gurdy, “The Monarch” has hung in the spray booth for over a week. The time lapse on both it’s construction and my blog entries is due to a couple miss guided adults who decided that they had more right to my Lap Top, Jewelry (all of it except my wedding band and two cheap pair of earrings) and several other items of an electronic nature than we did. I am finally back on line but still trying to get back in the shop. Meanwhile, gurdy hangs waiting for her new coat of finish.

Posted by Ann Dorries ann@anndorries.com at 5:39 PM 1 comments Thursday, June 17, 2010

Keys Fit, Stains Drying

Wow! I thought I would have the keys fit to their respective places by early morning. After 4 1/2 hours, they were finally finished, except for the buttons, tangents, etc. Mel says nothing is ever as easy or quick as you think. Gurdy's body and main parts are sanded and a coat of filler and light stain is drying.

I played HG music while I worked on her. Its kind of like reading or playing Brahms to an unborn child. I hope it will help Gurdy make beautiful music in a few weeks.
Some of you have heard the story of how we met our first Hurdy-gurdy and I would like to thank the special lady who not only was playing it but was gracious enough to give us an intimate introduction to this intriguing instrument. Thanks Judith.

Posted by Ann Dorries ann@anndorries.com at 8:40 PM 0 comments Wednesday, June 16, 2010



Anybody Out There?

Blogging is almost as lonely as building a Hurdy gurdy. Most Gurdy players are sure they are the only ones in the state unless they happen to be fortunate enough to belong to a "group", rare in Michigan and surrounding states, but worth the effort sometimes. Then at other times solitude seems like the best state to live in.

Well, in blogging the only way to find out if anyone is listening/reading is to inject a typo into the copy. Even then you never know since only your best friends will call it to your attention. Thank you for the encouragement friend.

The top and bottom are on and the keys almost fitted to their corresponding spaces. "the keys must be not too loose and not too tight" the inspector says over my shoulder. Who does he think he is anyway? a gurdy builder? I have only had to take one long drive to cope so far.

Posted by Ann Dorries ann@anndorries.com at 5:07 PM 2 comments Wednesday, June 9, 2010