Explosions in the Sky...

No... it's not an apocalyptic event, I'm alluding to. Today, as we were getting the television tuned to watch the conclusion of CAPTAIN BLOOD with Errol Flynn, we happened upon a PBS show called Austin City Limits (is that right??). Anyway, they were in the middle of a musical concert. Alternative music. The Decemberists were playing and Holden locked onto the guitarist immediately. The reason... the guy jumped off the stage and strummed himself into a laying down position. Holden dug that. Next up, was an instrumental band called "Explosions in the Sky." Three lead guitars and a drummer. Holden really liked that. The music started out really quiet and meditative... then they thrashed for a minute... then got really quiet like the song was over, then they really went bezerk... thrashing in unison. Cue Holden to run and get his guitar. Before I know it, he's out in the yard with his six string. Just strolling in the green grass, strumming, singing to the trees (some of which was caught on video). Then, he keeps going toward the ditch until he disappears behind a pine tree. I called out, "Holden, where are you going?" He said it was secret. I told him I wanted to get a little video of him playing. Sydney also came out with the camera and set up for a shot. He breaks into a big smile. Now, the stage was set. Holden goes into his act and starts really playing to the camera. He strums for about a minute, then he drops down onto the ground and does some posing for Sydney, pretending to be playing while lying down. What a rock star. After that, he said he could name his band anything he wants. Incidentally, just for posterity, he says he's going to have two bands. After the musical portion of our homeschool day, Sydney and I decided to surprise Holden by taking him to see the railroad museum near our house. HOW we have lived next to this place for years and never gone is ASTONISHING. Although, to be fair, the place is very well hidden in the middle of nowhere and you kind of feel like you are driving into somebody's yard when you pull up to it. Whatever the reasons, I guess today was just meant to be THE BIG DAY. So, we went. The place is definitely a work in progress. This is clearly the work of a father and a son (and not many others) who have been collecting and putting this thing together by themselves for forty some odd years (a why wait for someone else approach). They essentially do everything themselves. The place is littered with works in progress. The museum proper, basically consists of a small depot they rescued from up North somewhere. It has a few photographs and some memorabilia. The kids were in and out of there in about two seconds. They had their eye on the "bumblebee," a little mini-tram like thing that rides the one or two miles of track they've laid out. The guy made this thing to look old-timey and it does. The tops are intricate woodwork. Anyway, the son (Eric) took us on a personal tour of the place. This included twice around the track in the bumblebee. He was a wealth of railroad knowledge and I can see Holden hanging out there in a couple of years if he's still interested and they're still operating. He let the kids go into a lot of the old cabooses, etc... Oh yeah, he said he'd love for someone to film a movie there. Hmmm...