Yet another ski video

Here it is, the anxiously awaited 3rd annual kid's ski video! Ok, so no one was actually waiting for this, but I have fun making them. Sophie is snow plowing down some blue runs now like a little bug. Emma would rather read a book, but she graciously accompanies us anyway. Gavin tackles the whole mountain now. That's him hiking up to Breckenridge Peak 8 summit at 12,998 ft!

A little harp music

In the spirit of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, or a Little Night Music, here's Grace with a little harp music. I was looking around for a simple way to share her recordings, and it looks like this will work ok. Please let me know in the comments if it doesn't work, or the sound is choppy, etc. I believe you can even click on the DivShare logo below and download the mp3 file if you want. I'll move the player to a fixed place on the blog later, and we'll add to the playlist occasionally if I can get her to record any more songs. Our "recording studio" consists of a laptop, free software, and a microphone in the living room, but I think she sounds pretty good!

April 4 update: Moved the player here
We had a few workers over today, Lorraine Lerwick, Dorlene Cross, and Jana Printz. That's Jana on the violin on those 4 songs; Carrickfergus through Ye Banks. She's amazing; just walked up and played those, never having seen the music before. The recording is pretty informal, what with the page turning and talking mixed in.

Parade!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Emma marched in the St Patrick's Day parade with her baton group last Saturday. She's the one with the long blond ponytail, marching on the right side of the group. Performing for 3 miles through crowds sounds like a nightmare to me, but she said it was "lots of fun" and nonchalantly carried out her "head loop whips", "double to the rear march", "chasse", and various other moves she rattles off.





Front row, 3rd from right.

Check out this newspaper article that mentions Emma and her group practicing.

Baton Practice

Emma has been taking baton twirling at the rec center after school. The group is practicing for the St. Patrick's day parade this Saturday. (She's in the pink striped shirt). She has really worked hard at this, and takes it very seriously. She also managed to sell 150 boxes of Girl Scout cookies over the past few weeks.

In memory of Aunt Delores

My Aunt Delores passed away last Thursday, March 5th. She would have been 76 next month. She and Uncle Joe were married 57 years. She was the oldest of mom's siblings.

A few of the fond memories I have of her;

She was an extremely kind and gentle person. I never heard her speak a harsh word.

She was always cheery and optimistic. She never complained, even though she had not been well for a very long time.

She lived for others.

She was a fanatastic cook. I mean like gourmet chef good cook. Her son Joe is a chef, maybe she was his inspiration. I loved her homemade donuts.

She was a card playing wiz. I always felt intimidated playing with her. My slow brain couldn't keep up.















50th Wedding Anniversary with their children; Kathy, Nancy, Joe, Uncle Joe, Aunt Delores, Cheryl, Marie, Delores.

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Primus nuncio.

That's Latin for "first post". Well probably not, actually. I don't remember any Latin from high school. But I have decided to start a blog, which is a big step for me. Why you ask? Because as all who know me would agree, I'm not a chatty person. You know those silences that some people feel are awkward and need to be filled? They don't.

On the other hand, I am a very opinionated person, and occasionally am forced to break silence in order to bring some misguided soul around to my way of thinking. It never works, but at least it provokes a debate.

But the real reason I'm starting a blog, is that Grace won't do it. Relatives demand pictures. Prolific bloggers like our sister in law Stacie have been telling her she should start a blog. I agreed. Grace made a few starts, but when it comes to things like that, she has the patience and attention span of a rabid squirrel. She doesn't share my appreciation of computers. A typical conversation might go something like this;

Grace: (2 seconds after she powers on the machine): "Oh for pete's sake! Why does this thing take so long to boot?"
Me: (Mistakenly thinking she actually cares): "Well there's a lot going on. The boot sector code has to..."
Grace (Minutes later): "Oh sorry, were you talking to me? I sort of tuned out."