July 15, 2005

Around the County

Supper ends up with entertaining evening at the Pernsteiners’ lovely home

Leesville & Belmont News

By SANDI GANDRE

Friday evening we enjoyed supper at Monthalia with the Men’s Brotherhood serving some delicious green beans, along with lasagna and salad. Different ladies made the cakes. Ellen Lancaster made one in lieu of Carolyn and Betty. I can only tell you about her carrot cake as it was the only one I got as a part of my meal. It was scrumptious. I did take a bite of an orange cake. It was good, too.

We were delighted to be able to go to Lisa and Bill Pernsteiner’s home after the supper. The county road to their home has some interesting trees planted in the fence line. Mr. Pernsteiner said that there were eucalyptus trees. They were interspersed with pine trees along the drive. They purchased the property of the late Cecil V. Hagen. Bill said that apparently Cecil had been in New Zealand with one of his oil ventures and brought them back to be planted on his property here in Texas.

Bill and Lisa have completely renovated Mr. Hagen’s home. Lisa did a great deal of this by herself and with the contractors she hired as Bill was back in Seattle, WA still settling the business transactions there. They have two children, Casey and Stuart who have settled into the schools and community as well. Lisa did such a magnificent job with the double fireplace that is between the kitchen and the dining room. There originally was a wood cook stove on the kitchen side where she now has a beautiful wood heater. The kitchen is completely updated and has a very efficient layout.

Lisa had made around fifteen to sixteen desserts from Strawberry Cheesecake, Pretzel Sticks, Ice Cream Roll Cake, to Lemon and Apple Tarts. There were also several chocolate concoctions for those who cannot live without chocolate. I am told that Lisa does not necessarily like to cook, but she does like to bake. It shows in her artistic confections.

We migrated back and forth from the house to the beautiful gazebo. It has a small stage on one end, with ceiling fans to help keep you cool on the hot Texas summers. It has a changing room/bathroom as the pool is right next to it. There are also small kitchen facilities available. We all brought lawn chairs to sit and listen to the main even of the evening.

Abi Tapia, a singer and songwriter living in Austin was engaged to bring the evening’s entertainment. She was joined by Bonnie Whitmore playing the bass guitar, and Jeff Tveraas playing the acoustic guitar along with the slide bottle. Bonnie and Jeff are both singer/songwriters and they have web sites giving their engagement dates and records. Abi’s web site is www.abitapia.com.

I find it interesting that Abi was born in Alabama and lived there for fifteen years, but then claims to be from all over, but Maine, mostly. She went back to entertain there and nearly froze, stating that she would take the good old Texas heat any day. Abi is a one-person performer. She travels to dates across the United States living out of her car sometimes. Her car was robbed of its contents one time, taking a big notebook of songs she had written. I would have cried, too. That is indeed a great loss.

Abi’s songs mostly come from the heart. She has a fresh lovely voice with quite a range going from somewhat of a medium soprano voice to a few very high notes that blend perfectly. She also plays the harmonica interludes between her guitar playing and singing. The songs she sings are beautiful. You see this pert young girl with a somewhat freckled face, her curly hair tamed by putting it in braids, bouncing up and down, and making beautiful eye contact with the audience. She puts her whole heart into her playing, laughs at her mistakes, and hopes that she is not being bombarded by crickets or junebugs.

She has produced two CDs. The last one is entitled “One Foot Out the Door”. Abi settled on this title because she said that it seemed like she would get almost out of Maine but had to keep going back. However, she persisted and now loves her place in Austin among the other musical talents that Austin has developed. The song “For a While” somewhat describes Abi’s problem. “I guess this town was never where I wanted to be/chose the sea/It should’ve been the sky/I figured I was here, I might as well give it my best/So I made a nest/and I tried to fly/But all that trying never got me very far/It shouldn’t be this hard/Now I know why.”

Abi has been bitten by the country music bug and Texas. So she wrote the song, “Lone Star”. It says “I got no one to keep me warm in this cold weather/So I’m going back to Texas ‘cause if I have to be alone/Well at least I’ll be a Lone Star.” Now if Abi doesn’t get this one to be a hit, then someone like Gretchen Wilson needs to record it and make it a hit for her. It is snappy, bold, country and Texan. So we welcome Abi to Texas and remember if you need to learn more about Abi or like her music, go to her web site www.abitapia.com. It tells you all about her first CD, about how to obtain “One Foot Out the Door” and gives you an inside look at Abi from a journal she kept plus pictures, and upbeat anecdotes.

We are certainly glad that Lisa and Bill Pernsteiner engaged her to entertain for us and gladly paid our contribution to her income and bought her CD. We signed up for email at the desk manned by two beautiful young ladies, Erin Allen and Casey Pernsteiner. Then we all mingled, enjoyed each other’s company, and got to have items autographed and had a one-on-one chat with our entertainers. It was just a beautiful delightful evening