Graduation Party

So Andrea has graduated with her Master's Degree after two years of hard work and summers spent at North Dakota University. She managed to find time to do all her coursework and work 80% and still had time to host sushi nights and play volleyball and volunteer way too many places and just generally be everybody's favorite person.

Our friend Marathana just graduated as well, so we decided to have a joint Graduation party in Marathana and Brett's backyard.

This is Brett. And me. And 9 gallons of sweet, sweet lemonade.
This is Marathana.

The party was a success. The cool people showed up, there were burgers and tons of other food, including three different cakes, there was a fire and a jam session, and our good friends Ruth and Foort came down from Winnipeg and hung out with us (and stayed with us for a few days afterwards, also. We had all manner of fun).

Andrea asked me to take some pictures to document the party. I'm not much of a photographer, but I did my best to capture the important parts.

Lazy Saturday

In the craze of May, Ben and I enjoyed a surprisingly relaxing Saturday at home. Here are some home developments...
I painted the livingroom again. I painted it Ansonia Peach and the woodwork white. I really like it. It's bright and fresh.


Today we deep cleaned the sun room. One of the things we had to move out of the sun room that had not been touched in a long time (in over 4 years) was Ben's dulcimer... We were taking a break from moving furniture, when I heard a sudden burst of long-forgotten melody coming from the living room. I'm not sure it's a full revival, but it was cool to see him play after so long. (He gave me permission to post this.)




And here are some pictures of Newman and me having a love-fest. Newman just got groomed so he's extra cuddly these days.

Garden/House Pictures (mostly for mom)- Easter 2010

Above: Rose bush (not yet blooming)
Below: Hyacinth

Above: Pansy
Below: Quinz bush blooming

Above: Front East garden bed (pansies)
Below: Red Door (house is not crooked---it's the camera....and the birdhouse)

Above: Blossoming branches
Below: Easter tree

Happy Easter (almost!) Christ has almost risen! Risen tomorrow!

A Little Folding

Here's the next song from the poetry CD project. This one was inspired by a poem called "Beginnings" that Cheryl wrote about the beginning of her relationship with her husband.

Everything else in life is great, too.

Newman (and a song)

So, we've got this dog now. We've actually had him for a while, but we were still deciding if we were going to keep him or not. We've decided to keep him now, so here he is. Some of you may have already seen him on facebook. He is a four year old Shih Tzu from the Humane Society.



So far, things have been going well. He doesn't bark, he doesn't jump on people, he doesn't demand attention all of the time (these were the three main character traits I was hoping for in a dog), and though we were told that he was not housebroken, he caught on in about three days, so we think he has probably had some training at some point.



He has no idea what a leash is supposed to be, but he's learning. I don't think he had ever seen stairs before coming to our house and they freak him out.



The first few days we left him in his kennel while we were at work, but we started feeling guilty so we decided to try leaving him out. We expected the worst, but so far he hasn't destroyed anything or soiled anything. I'm having a hard time hating him.



Here's the latest song I've finished for that poetry CD project. It's called "Go the Way Of All Earth". Basically it's just a short chord progresssion that repeats and repeats and I improvised other parts over it. So it might sound repetitive, but on the CD it will either be a short clip, or else it will be in the background behind someone reading a poem.

I didn't make a video because there were too many parts and it would have taken too long.

There are mistakes...

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

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!