Along with most of you, I trust, I am thankful to have the basic blessings of health, safety, and a home at the start of 2025, and our hearts are with those who don’t have those things right now. I confess I am sometimes guilty of complaining about whatever little trivialities may be less than […]

Naturally, I must start with a “Happy New Year” to all!  At the insistence of my dear departed mother from  beyond the grave, I am also obligated to begin this and every year by making black-eyed peas cooked with a ham-hock (and possibly mix in some small pieces left from the Christmas ham), accompanied by […]

New Video (Below): I always enjoy sharing audio files of my new compositions here, but I can’t do it very often because it usually takes months to complete one! This piece seemed to pass through my body more quickly, though. It felt as though, one minute, I was completely dry, as I you may recall, […]

Thanksgiving was a bit unusual. While the turkey was in the oven, we got news of a close family member admitted to the hospital in another city. We kept in touch and went ahead and had the traditional meal and enjoyed a fire in the fireplace that night, but then Crystal packed up some of […]

I frequent a charming British video blog on YouTube by Miranda Mills, devoted mainly to books but with some cooking and Yorkshire sight-seeing sprinkled in. On one of her videos, she made her own marmalade using this UK product, “Ma Made” (as in, “like your Ma made it”). It has only the sliced Seville oranges […]

Did you know “fortnight” gets its name from “fourteen nights”? This past fortnight a few things worth telling have occurred at the Hilltop. First, my record company’s design department sent me the art work for the rest of my CD cover with its twelve-page booklet. Here are the stunning outside covers and pages 2 and […]

It’s getting suddenly chilly here at the Hilltop! Oh wait, today we’re back into the 80’s! I do love all the colored leaves, foods, and holidays of fall, but I confess I am a summer person at heart. I want sunshine, not pumpkin coffee. Even so, I already have just a twinge of Christmas in […]

When I’m happy about something I always send Crystal a text that says, “I’m dancing a jig!” Yesterday it was because they moved our album release date up from April to February. At the risk of sounding snobby, I never say that albums “drop,” because as far as I know, nothing is actually dropped, except […]

Just a bit of music news – They say the new Symphony No. 3 album will be available for PRE-ORDERS on Amazon in January! I’ll post here with a link when it happens and, no doubt, shamelessly beg everyone to place a pre-order! Why are pre-orders better than regular ones? Because all the pre-orders flood […]