August | 2023 | Haven's Ideals by Haven Caylor-Brown

I have a cousin who got an upright piano when she was 9 years old. I was 5 years old at the time. I was intrigued with her playing. No one in my family (not even her parents) was musically inclined, so neither my parents nor hers became mentors for Little Haven (LOL…. some of you probably don’t know that until my dad, Haven <6 ft. 4 inches>, died when I was 16, I was “Little Haven”…. still short of course but not being compared to Daddy) . I would peck out some notes from time to time when I visited her house, and she finally taught me ONE SONG ; “Bone Sweet Bone” . My “musical talents” were channeled into the French horn many years later where I became good enough to be 1st chair in high school 3 out of 4 years, District Band placement (5 years in a row), Solo & Ensemble ribbon winner, etc (never made All -State… LOL). However, I’ve always been intrigued with the piano.

Fast forward to 2012 in the Caylor-Brown household with Haven, Sean, Carter & Ammon. Sean had a keyboard that he had bought but never learned how to play, and I hauled it out of storage into the Bonus Room for Ammon & Carter’s preschool, music lessons. They tried to concentrate but I found myself on it the most pecking out “Jingle Bells”, “Happy Birthday”, and simple, one-handed songs. One evening, I finished up the kitchen chores, walked upstairs into the Bonus Room, and one of the two or perhaps both children (they covered for each other) had walked on the keyboard and snapped off a key! They were reprimanded, but they didn’t care, and I put the keyboard away.

2022 – Ammon takes an interest in the piano. A kind friend from church, Sierra Boyd, offers to give Ammon free lessons during the school year. Ammon accepts. Here at the house, Ammon practiced on the keyboard which we had “repaired” by replacing the snapped-off key. No matter what time of the day/ evening Ammon played, I would stop and enjoy the sounds of the keyboard “dreaming” of one day having a piano in our midst.

August 2023. While at school, Sean texts me about a “Piano to Give Away!” that was on Facebook. We all agreed that it would fit nicely in our living room. We simply had to find moving people to safely get the piano to our house. I was at school, so Sean began the communications. The piano arrived at our house on Friday evening (August 18, 2023!). It is even nicely tuned to be over 50 years old. I know the piano is first and foremost for Ammon, but I fell in love with it immediately. Carter is even interested in lessons now as well. Would you like to guess Haven’s inaugural tune?….. Weeeell, it was bum, bum, bum……. “Bone Sweet Bone”. The space where the piano sits looks as though it was waiting for the piano for these almost 19 years of living here.

As I close this blog entry, I simply want to give thanks to God for placing this opportunity in front of us and giving me an opportunity to, perhaps, fulfill a childhood dream of mine of learning how to play the piano ; a 52 years old dream! I hope and pray that, if you want, God will bless you with an opportunity to fulfill a dream or goal that you’ve had stored in your heart for a while. God is great and sometimes “mysterious” in His timing.

Dublin Attractions – Part 1

During our Ireland summer 2023 adventure, we would stay put in Dublin almost every other day. The traveling days were exhausting, so we all needed rest. Quite a few museums in Dublin are 100% free to tour, but they do ask for donations. The National Museum of Ireland-Natural History was a variable “step back into time” experience. The building is 2020’s updated, but it has not changed much in over 100 years. This section of this blog entry is dedicated to the extinct Giant Irish Deer / Irish Elk. The skeletons of these Ice Age mammals adorn many castles and museums throughout Ireland. All four of us were mesmerized by their skeletons. Check out Ireland’s plankton eating shark, the Basking Shark too.

A tour of Dublin Castle, however, is not free. The name “Dublin Castle” sounds a bit deceiving, right? Or, to Haven, Dublin Castle’s one, Medieval-style tower lends the idea of the Middle Ages. However, 95 % of the castle is Georgian in architecture. Dublin’s original, medieval castle is underground. When the majority of the Norman Castle burned in 1684, only one Medieval tower remained and city architects decided the complex would be rebuilt in “modern architecture” what was then, of course, Georgian – the British time period of the 4 King Georges of Great Britain 1714-1837. Some of you know that I am a language nerd, sooooooo ….. Dublin is Old-Irish Gaelic “Dubh Linn”. It means Black Pool. Unbeknownst to the general public, there is a river under Dublin Castle and the streets as well. The river is the River Poddle. Through hundreds of years, the river was rerouted around and under Dublin structures as it flows to the River Liffey. When the Middle Ages people created a fortress on the spot of today’s Dublin Castle the River Liffey and River Poddle were almost converging on that spot. Standing on concrete surrounded by 20^th & 21^st Century buildings you have NO IDEA about these things. Dublin Castle is so proud of an exhibition from Rome, Italy, so we snapped a few shots. Italy’s Davide Rivalta’s bronze lioness roams in the upper courtyard of Dublin Castle. The piece is part of an exhibition, called Grazing in Lucan, & is a collaboration between Rome’s National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art and Dublin Castle.

Our Dublin Castle guide is showing us how the fortress appeared some 800 years ago. Once again, no one can see Dublin Castle’s Medieval section unless they take the underground tour.