Home for the Holidays

Ben and I went to Winnipeg for two weeks and had just a wonderful time.

We got to spend lots of time with our nephews.

It also happened to be my Opa's 80th birthday on December 19th. So besides our regular Christmas family gathering, we also spent one evening at a Country Club for an exquisite dinner, and we surprised Opa with 2 days of skiing with (almost) the whole family!

We played lots of ping pong.

And Sonja and I played a mean game of Connect Four.
Apparently Ben had a really great time playing krokeno/knipsebratt.

And spent some good quality time with Jake and Christy.

Asessippi, Manitoba. Skiing paradise! Me and my dad, taking a break in the lodge. I actually didn't take any pictures on the slopes.

These are poutine fries. Fries with gravy and melted cheese. Believe it or not.

Happy New Year!

South of the Frostline

Here's the second song that I've finished for the poetry CD Cheryl Denise is working on.

This song is based on a poem called "Spirit Friends", which has a lot of metaphors involving things that move in unpredictable ways. I tried to reference this by putting the song in an odd meter and trying to make the melody a bit unpredictable as well.

Here's the video:



After I recorded it with the mandolin, I decided to see what it would sound like slightly slower and with the octave mandolin instead. If you're interested in hearing it, just click the "Play" button below. I still haven't decided which version I prefer, so feel free to weigh in.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

And on another unrelated note, I know I won't be biking anymore this year, so I can say that in 2009 I biked 1,373 miles (2,210 km).

It felt farther than that.

Andrea and I are both very excited about our trip to Winnipeg. We'll see you guys soon!

New Door

Very exciting stuff around here! We just got a new door that is both energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing. We still have to stain the trim and paint the door red, but for now I'm just enjoying it.

Loving Little Luke

Some entertaining videos of our sweet little nephew, Luke.
This is Ben's oldest sister's (Laura's) son. He 1 and a half now. We took these videos when they were over visiting this past weekend.
Luke loves wearing hats and getting all wound up before his nap.
Video 1: Thumbs Up!
Video 2: Crashing Before Burning (Nap time!)

Sunday Afternoon Stuff

We had two potlucks this past Sunday, and somehow I figured that warranted bringing my camera. I figured it was high time to take some family pictures, and pictures of some church friends.

This is Chuck and his first grandson, Luke. They adore each other.

I told Wil that if he smiled really cute for this picture, I would get him a spoon. It worked!

Greg and Wes.

Bev, Tim, and Ben.

Ben's aunt and uncle, Alyce and Larry.

Above: It was Grandma and Grandpa Bartel's 56th (I think?) Anniversary. (Betty + Laurence)

Below: In the evening, we had a goodbye party for Greg Regier, Ben's cousin. He recently graduated with his Agriculture degree, and he's going to Nicaragua with World Vision to do Ag development there. He is a very cool guy.

Ben and da boyz.

Some a Da Grlz: Amanda, Diana, and Katherine.

Katherine and Laura.

Our Halloween

Ben and I had a fun Halloween this year. Some of our favorite kids stopped by with their parents, and we had the usual 20 kids from the neighborhood come around too. Later on, partied at Mark & Amanda's house who went to great and astounding lengths to make their house incredibly spooky! Melanie was in town, so that was an added bonus.

Above: Cousin Addie and Eli had the best costumes of the night by far!

Above: Our dear neighbors. Bradley and his daughter, Lucca and their friendly dog, Pheobe.

Below: Faby and Camila. Very good friends.

Above: I was a genie, and Ben was a (can you guess?)....ceiling fan!

Above: Laura and Greg had a great costume. Laura was a student nurse with her handy bottle of Pepto Bismal ("that will cure anything") and Greg was her very bloody and uncared for patient.

Above: Greg the Elephant. Melanie the Cat.

Below: Amanda was a shark victim and Maebe (dog) was dressed as a little shark. Aw, so cute.

Still Water

I've got this potential music project that I've been putting some work into lately. Cheryl Denise is a poet I met in West Virginia, and she's working on putting together a CD with some of her poetry and contacted me about writing some music to go along with the poems.

We're still working out the details, but she sent me some of the poems that will be included on the CD, and I've been trying to compose some instrumental music around the feel of them.

This is the first piece I've completed. It's inspired by a poem she wrote about the Amish school shootings that happened in Lancaster County.

She ends the poem with a reference to the 23rd Psalm, so I continued the theme and named the song "Still Water". I don't have any idea if we'll end up using it, but here it is anyway.