Home body

Home body

Maybe it's 'cause I've been gone so much, and maybe I was just hungry for my own cooking. Whatever - I took the leftover-from-Thanksgiving mango Mom gave me and stir fried it into a curried chicken/mango/ginger/veggie delight. It was good. I even have leftovers. Hope they keep 'till I get back from Texas Friday night.

Monday I was on the road at 6:30am to drive up to Wisconsin. I way over estimated the drive time and got there a couple hours early. Chicago traffic wasn't a big a nightmare as I feared. After my meeting I drove an extra 20 minutes west to have dinner with my old friend Mike. We had a great time yaking, cooking and drinking wine. ("Remember Ben and Gordon digging for gold and devil's poop?") Met Ellen, his wife-to-be, and heard all about their vacation in Mexico last week. Mike's been retired just over a year, and what can I say? I'm jealous. They live right on the river, with a couple of canoes and kayaks perched just feet from the shore.

Drove part way home last night, got a cheap room for a couple of hours, and then started driving early to beat the morning traffic. Sailed through downtown Chicago in record time. Cars actually move at 6am! I made it home by about 10 and then took a couple hour nap.

Tomorrow night I'm off to Austin, Texas. I think I have some downtime after meetings all day Thursday, so I'll be looking for live music Thursday night. Alas, Friday night my Austin-based fiddle idol, Elana James, is playing up at Dallas at the same bar I saw Big Sandy and the Fly Right Boys last year. I won't be in Dallas Friday night.

But if you're in Goshen, come on down to Rachel's Bread for pizza and a beer Friday from 7 - 9pm. The Barn Owl String Band will be performing unplugged. Actually it is less a performance than a practice before we drive up to play for the Loaves & Fishes Benefit in Kalamazoo Saturday night. Hope to see you there.

A different Thanksgiving

A different Thanksgiving

Today marks an unexpected Thanksgiving. I'm writing this from a study desk at the Waterloo Public Library. They offer a quiet space with free wifi, and free parking. What a great way to use taxpayer dollars. Of course nobody here wonders why I'm spending my holiday in the public library.

I drove up to Waterloo yesterday morning. Spent a couple hours on campus with #1 daughter. Surprised myself by getting choked up when we met. Then drove up to St Jacobs for supper with Ralph, talking late into the night. That friendship, spanning more than 30 years, ranks near the top of my list of things I am thankful for this year.

Now I'm killing time until Leena finishes classes for the weekend and we make the long trek home. The morning is passing quickly!

I needed this break. Navigating marriage dissolution and an overload at work has me stretched to a tight wire. Add church and orchestra responsibilities and things are falling off my plate. Taking an extra day off, with windshield time and time talking with a friend, is just what the head and heart doctor ordered. Someday I'll write a long post about my perspective on depression.

On the drive up I listened to an hour-long interview with John O'Donohue. Quote of the day: "The mind altering, alters all things." This break helped me alter my mind.

We'll be home tonight, with lots of business of family gatherings and food the rest of the weekend (I'll even try tofurky - which has to be the ugliest word in food marketing - if there is enough .) Saturday afternoon is a wedding shower for Joe and then a book signing for Cross-X. No small challenge is the fact that this is the farewell gathering at the family homestead.

Cause célèbre

Cause célèbre

Tonight I reached a major milestone: an agreement on how to proceed. As a bonus, the lawyer has everything he needs.

We were able to talk through all the issues, with only a few minor eddys and an occasional submerged boulder. Now the current is strong, the way seems clear, and I'm arriving in a new and exciting watershed.

All this augurs well for civility and long term family relations, which is something both of us covet.

So if you're free at 8pm, join me at The Constant Spring. If not, raise a toast to my future.

Do I always swim against the tide?

Do I always swim against the tide?

I never thought I'd say this, but after being against the Iraq war since the outset, I have serious misgivings about the current talk of getting out as fast as possible. When everyone else was gung ho for the war I was against it. And now I'm looking at it differently.

Oh, don't get me wrong: I'm still against the war - any war. But the reality is we've made a mess of Iraq. Don't we have a moral obligation to clean it up. It is going to be expensive by every possible measure. But the alternative - packing our bags and going home - looks a whole lot worse.

This idea has been lurking for me for months, but an interview with retired Marine Col. Thomas Hammes on NPR gave voice to my thoughts: we got into the war on stupid, thoughless impulse; we shouldn't use the same impulsive process for getting out.

I don't know how I reconcile this with my pacifism. I couldn't carry a gun, but neither am I ready to sign up for CPT. So I'm both out of step with popular opinion and unwilling to put my life on the line for my values.

True

True

Tonight I made up a pot of Leena's Erin's Puréed Butternut Squash Soup and it is every bit as good as she said it is.

I wholeheartedly recommend it. Have to find out if my vegetarian niece and vegan niece-in-law-to-be would vote for it as an alternative to turkey on Thanksgiving.

I've been recovering from a cold. It started in my throat on Tuesday, due, I think, to getting overtired, flying on planes and talking all day. By Friday it had more or less left my throat and moved up into my nose. I took a pile of Vitamin C. I don't know if it helped, or if it was what kept me awake last night. I heard somewhere that V. C could do that. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but sleep proved elusive. A bit like drinking expresso at 9pm.

Went to the pottery shop today and bought a sweet little honey pot. The sales person said it would be just right for Pooh, and I said said, no, Pooh's would have been a lot bigger.

Amaz(on)ing

Amaz(on)ing

Amazon.com today listed Cross-X as one of the top 10 non-fiction books of 2006!

And I finally had time to listen to Joe's interview on Talk of the Nation. Joe and Marcus did an absolutely great job. I've been falling behind though. According to Joe's blog there a bunch more to listen to. Better get to work!

I'm back. I'm tired.

I'm back. I'm tired.

I arrived home early this afternoon all tuckered out. Great trip to Dallas - actually Cleburne. Monday and Tuesday were lonnnnnng days. I got to Dallas late in afternoon and went straight to meet my prospective customer at his plant. I spent about two hours there walking the floor and talking with some of his staff. I learned a lot about the issues they face; it really helped to have seen it when I met the rest of his team on Tuesday.

So I drove to Cleburne after grabbing a bite to eat (Steak and Shake really is the fast fat capital of the world). I did a little prep when I got to my hotel, but it as pushing 11 or 12 by my internal clock, so I crawled into bed. Problem was I had a couple hours of work to get ready for my meeting in the morning, so when I woke up at 2am I got up and did it. I fell back asleep from maybe 4-6, and then finished getting ready for the meeting to start at 8 or 8:30.

The day went really fast and really well. I ended up facilitating their team meeting to help figure out what would stop them from making good use of our software. I did demo software, but most of the time was focused on them. I've been on this tack for some time, but this was the fartherist I've pushed it with any client. What I heard was that they really liked the approach. Only time will tell if we'll win the business.

Then last night I drove back up to Dallas and contended with traffic. You know the myth that everything in Texas is BIG? Well its true. Even the miles are bigger there. Someone tells you 'just go a couple miles after the airport and you're right there', but they don't tell you that Texas miles are longer. Its like the difference between kilometers and miles.

For dinner I found the historic downtown of Grapevine Texas, which seems like I should have known what it was famous for - probably gun battles. But the fried catfish couldn't hold a candle to Miss Fanny's last winter down in Meridian. It wasn't even close. (Photo on the right is Miss Fanny's fish - I don't dress like this when I'm on a business trip.)

Then it was up early this morning to catch a 7:30 flight. Three-quarters of my flights this trip were on time, so it wasn't an awful trip.

Now I'm home for a couple of weeks.

Oh - I have to say something about the election. We're still stuck with Souder, but any day that you get rid of Rummy counts as a good day in my books. One down and two to go. It was fun to be driving around Dallas and hearing how the congressional races in Indiana were a bellweather for the rest of the country. Imagine that. That would explain why even W seemed to get it that people aren't happy with the way things are going.

If I'd have thought of it, I would have tried to find Kinky Friedmann's campaign headquarters last night in Dallas. He came in a distant 4th (of 4) for Texas Governor, which is too bad. I heard bits of his concession speech on the way home, and I wish I could have voted for him. (Actually its a good thing I didn't try to find him in Dallas, because he was in Austin.)

Not so random Sunday PM notes

Not so random Sunday PM notes

Challenging church service this morning on a number of fronts. I don't begrudge blessing a new marriage in our congregation; on the contrary I wish the couple all the best.

What was challenging was hearing language that marriage is a blessing to the community. It is. But then what to do with the end of a marriage? Failed blessing? Our hymnal has no liturgy for the end of marriage.

Then tonight, Mom and I went to the Memorial service and lit a candle for Dad. It is good to make space to remember and to grieve. Janeen's singing 'Come ye disconsolate' touched deep. And it is OK if the grief of two losses blurs.

Tomorrow morning I leave for Texas on the last of four major trips in as many weeks. I'll be back sometime Wednesday. Getting ready for this has been a challenge due both to time and some software things that aren't working the way I think they should. Wish me luck, patience and presence of mind.

Random Sunday AM Notes

Random Sunday AM Notes

I'm not the first or last person to use his blog to procrastinate.

I played three gigs this weekend! (Actually, three is nothing; by the end of the day today Pete will have done five!) Friday night the Barnowls practiced at Rachel's Bread. I landed in South Bend from Florida ON TIME at 6:05, rushed home, grabbed my fiddle and was at Rachel's by 7:25. We played for an hour or so.

Then yesterday morning I was settling into my prep for next week when Pete called and invited me to sit in with the Heisenburg trio for an hour that morning (making it the Heisenburg Quartet, or as I called it, the Hot Club of Heisenburg). So I was back at Rachel's and played through a dozen pop / jazz tunes with Pete, Jake and Kent. Pete somehow got Rachel to come out and sing a verse of Autumn Leaves in French. She was fantastic - smokey, low voice - perfect for the song. I had played maybe 2/3rds of the tunes before, so I did some serious improvisation. Pete does such a great job leading with his guitar - I call it the six string piano - that it was easy. And Jake added a nice solid bottom end to it and it all just kind of flowed out. It was a lot of fun.

Last night the Barn Owls reconvened to play for the Goshen Contra Dancers. They have been trying to get us for the last year, and we finally found a date that worked. It is so much fun playing twin fiddles with Bev - passing the high and low parts back and forth, finding harmonies, varying the rhythms... Still, by 10:50 I was pooped and my bow arm was turning into wood. Fiddling for dances definately has an endurance aspect - most dances last 15 or 20 minutes, which is along time to hold a fiddle up.

I'm in between my last two trips of this heavy travel schedule. In the last 3 weeks I've been in the office I think a total of 1 1/2 days - maybe 2. Tomorrow I fly to Dallas, returning Wednesday afternoon. This will be a packed trip, but at least it is only 3 days. I have a lot of preparation to do for it yet today and on my flight tomorrow. Then I expect to be home for a while. At least I don't have any flights booked right now.

Tonight Mom and I will go to the 8th Street memorial service and light a candle for Dad. We've done that every year since he died, and it is a really nice service.

So in between this heavy work and travel schedule I'm squeezing in some things that are important and fun. But I'm looking forward to being in town for a couple of weeks.

Contrast

Contrast

The other night I stayed at a fancy resort hotel up in Orlando. Everything is grandious. Big pillars. Heavy granite. Huge spaces. High ceilings. Everything BIG. Everything NEW. My hotel room bigger and better equiped than my new apartment. (Which, ok, isn't saying all that much.) Guarded entry. Six foot fence to keep those people out.

Tonight I'm down in Palm Beach, which is, mostly, older wealth; also at the high end scale of things.

Except I decided to take the evening off and find some live music. After poking around online for a while I found a link to a link to a link to a musician's website. This guy sounded like he might be good, so I headed downtown to the Office Bar & Grill.

Ben Prestage far exceeded my expections: he was fantastic. And it was pretty much the polar opposite from the high tone ostentatious crap we had been at a couple nights ago. Think biker bar. Signs on a couple of that tables that they were reserved for the Pool League. And the Pool Leaque players were there - with padded cue cases. Did you know there are single and double cue cases? Padded? I was impressed. It reminded me of Poling's in Muncie in 1981.

Prestage was billed as a solo act, and he is a one-man band. He played a drum set with his feet (bass drum with right foot, and trap and snare drum with two separate foot pedals (heel and toe) with his left. Snare drum mounted edgewise in a plastic milk crate. Everything miked to the nines, so the sound was tight. He had half a dozen guitars that he swapped around including a hollow-bodied electric, a resonator, a couple of accoustics and some weird cigar box bass with a long neck, 2 strings and no frets that he played with a slide. All finger picking. We were there for 90 minutes and he played more or less non-stop with almost no talking between songs. He just peeled them off, one after the other. Vocals fit perfect.

Music covered included a bunch of Robert Johnson tunes. Some harp player sat in and reminded me why I think I'm just toying with the instrument. He also covered a great song called "Bigboned and Buttugly" from someone name Brian Martin that Steve would love. (The countdown from 15 is a blast!)

Great music. Down and gritty venue. Fantastic food. I had the Obscene Roast Beef Sandwich. Hoping for a cheap thrill I looked and was disappointed. Except for being really big, it was just a really good sandwich.

Pictures

Pictures

Here are the house photos I promised the other day.

If you come for a visit, park on the right side of the drive, behind my car.





Then walk around the East (right) side of the garage to the back of the house. You'll see the main door - on the right side of the awning. My bell is on the left side of the door (1408). Most of the time that door is unlocked and you can come in the entry way and knock on my door - inside and on the left side.

Confused yet?

First thing you see when you walk in is my kitchen. Nice mobile, eh? It's your basic one long counter deal, but its all there. Fridge out of sight on the right. Door to living room on the right edge of the picture. East-facing picture window (Visible from the outside photo under awning) is on the left.










Once you're in the Living room you'll see my music / reading corner on your right.





And when you turn around you'll see my gallery of family art. This also leads back to my bedroom, office and bathroom. Nothing really special to see there.

Come on over sometime...

Which reminds me of a great old-timey song:
Won't you come over and see me some time?
Won't you come over and see me some time?
Eat your breakfast 'fore you start
Bring your dinner in your hand
And you leave before supper time.

Gotta be one of the most unhospitable tunes on record. Don't worry - I'll look after you.

More travel

More travel

To anyone who wants to sell me a meal while I'm on the road: give me free WiFi.

Panera gets my business because of that. Oh, the sandwiches and soup are great. But in a town like Orlando there are thousands of places to eat lunch. I need free wifi.

Hotels are catching on that it needs to be free. I'm batting 100% for last 10 nights on the road. Now if we could just get it free at highway rest stops and airports.

We're doing the whirlwind Florida trip: Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach... So much so that I missed Joe's TOTN broadcast. (And technology is failing me: I can't get the archive recording to play on my pc. I've heard from a couple of people that it was great.) Weather has actually been rainy, but I'm not complaining. Good meetings and conversations all week and one more tomorrow. But we can't get a flight out until Friday noon. So darn, we have to find a beach for a while.