Long Weekend

     We had a really nice, relaxing Easter weekend. I had decided a week or so ago that it would be a good idea to watch through the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy (in honour of Peter Jackson beginning the filming of The Hobbit). Five of us gathered to watch #1 The Fellowship of the Ring on Friday. It ended up only being Josh and I watching #2 The Two Towers on Saturday. Then I ended up watching #3 The Return of the King on my own on Monday night. That last one stretched on for about 4 hours in total - so it's very long but it is a great story and Jackson did a wonderful job capturing so many of the themes and characters. It kind of inspires me to reread the books but I have so many others on my list already.
      Spent some time on Saturday trying to fix some leaking faucets around the house. This kind of stuff never seems to go smoothly for me. I do like going to One Stop Plumbing with my pieces because they are very knowledgeable and helpful. I was (foolishly) feeling pretty good about things when I came back from the store and installed the new washers and stems. However when I turned the main water back on the tap in the kids' bathroom wouldn't work at all and the laundry room sink still was leaking. So I ended up calling on my friend Steve (who is very used to [and gracious about] my requests for help). He was stumped about the dysfunctional tap upstairs but quickly discovered it was only a plugged aerator. He recommended I change the seeds in the laundry taps and then helped to dismantle the kitchen faucet (which he had installed a few years ago). Everything worked in the end and 4 taps are working properly, but it took longer than originally anticipated (you'd think I'd learn).
       Beth and I had an overnight getaway Sunday to Monday but we didn't go far - just downtown Kitchener, but it was nice to walk around and we visited the Tom Thomson exhibit at The Museum. We hope to get a poster of one of his paintings for our living room (the reds he used would fit nicely we think). We also did some reminiscing as we're preparing to share our faith/life story with our Friday small group this week. It was wonderful to reflect on the many years of grace we've enjoyed together as we looked through pictures and made some notes for sharing.
      Last week we went to see the movie 'Win, Win' at the Princess Cinemas and we both really liked it. It won some Sundance Film award and was very well acted. I've continued with my Bruce Springsteen music study, giving more attention to 'Devils & Dust', 'Magic', and 'Born to Run', along with an initial casual listen to 'The Rising'. I've been working on consolidating my computer backups and this has inspired me to burn some of my digital copies of music - I could free up 40 Gb on my hard drive - so I've also been printing out album covers for inclusion in my music binders.

Surf and Turf

Beth and I went to see the movie "Soul Surfer" last week (1/2 price Tuesdays) and I was very impressed. I had heard a little of this girl's story a while ago - a surfer who had her arm bitten off by a shark when she was 13 years old. They did a wonderful job portraying this story - great surfing photography (and of course Hawaii is beautiful), solid acting (especially from the main character - amazing!), and flawless CGI to show her without an arm for most of the movie. And of course the story itself is so unique and powerful (and true!). The important faith aspects of her life are handled tastefully and naturally. I found myself really captured by this movie and was moved to tears several times.
Tried rolling our back lawn on the weekend. Some say you shouldn't do this but our ground is very rough - the lawn mower ends up jumping all over the place - so thought I'd give it a try. The rental place said not to put water in the roller but I did anyway because it just wasn't heavy enough. Even with that extra weight it didn't smooth everything down, though it did help some. I was hoping to do it again on Sunday or Monday but it got too cold again. Maybe I should just buy one so it's available whenever I need it.
Saturday night we saw Bruce Cockburn's concert at the Centre in the Square. He always puts on a great musical show. This one was with his drummer and a newer violinist. His new album is growing on me and it helps to hear the tunes live. It never ceases to amaze me the number of songs that he has memorized out of his huge catalog. Was thrilled when he played 'All the Diamonds' during the encore - a favourite, beautiful song that I can't help but sing along with (sorry for the dangling preposition).
Our whole family ended up going to Bhima's Warung for supper on Sunday. This is the (high end, emphasis on the 'high') Indonesian restaurant where Joel is apprenticing, and he's been bugging us to go back (we were there for my birthday last year). We sure need Joel's guidance when ordering as most of the terms are foreign (pun intended) to us. But we had a great meal and a nice time around the table. I nearly fell off my chair when Josh said he'd pick up the (large) bill!
Relistened to Billy Sprague's "Wind and Wave" this week. One guitar guy on the internet calls this the best album ever and while I wouldn't go that far I do think it's very good. Great lyrics ("people need wisdom but get an education") and the music is very reminiscent of Sgt. Pepper. Further listens also to Sarah Masen's "Dream Life of Angels" and Cockburn's "Small Source of Comfort".
Decided I need to become more familiar with Bruce Springsteen's music. I've come to his stuff late (found out that his first albums came out when I was still in university) and have listened in the past few years to later releases like The Pete Seeger Sessions, Magic, and Working on a Dream. Have given a pretty good listen to Devils and Dust, reading along with the lyrics a couple of times. Got a 30th anniversary boxed set of his breakthrough Born to Run release from the library so will work through that one next week (Should I be embarrassed that I never listened to this when it first came out? Had no interest back then.) I'm finding his music to be very enjoyable and easy to listen to - more so than Paul Simon's stuff - I wonder why that is?

Here Comes the Sun

It sure feels great to be able to do my walking with less layers and no heavy boots. It was always a pain having to carry my shoes to the club (you wouldn't believe the number of times I'd have to turn around because I forgot them at home). Now Beth is more interested in walking again, with the warmer weather here.
Joel got back safely from his trip to the Tropical Princess in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic (I'm including all of the relevant information here so I can refer back to it in the future to perhaps book my own vacation there). It sounds like a wonderful place, though of course our chef apprentice felt the food wasn't that great.
We were able to have everyone together at Mom and Dad's for supper on Wednesday, so we celebrated Dad's 76th birthday and their anniversary as well. It's a rare thing to have all 9 of us in one spot so that was nice.
Went to see the science fiction movie "Source Code" this week. Haven't seen loads of movies so far this year. This one was entertaining enough, an interesting diversion, which is what I was looking for. Couldn't think about it too much or a lot wouldn't make sense (especially the happy ending).
My weight has crept back up a little as I've been snacking more, so I've recommitted to eating better starting this week. Been able to keep up the exercise regime though and have recently added more weight to each of the machines I use at the fitness club.
Really enjoyed the Brooks Williams concert on Friday. He's a great guitar player and deserves a wider following. Hadn't realized he'd moved to Cambridge, England and married a Brit. The most fun song of the night was one he had composed of all the famous guitar riffs that everybody wants to learn (without learning the whole song). Hilarious! And it worked/flowed well. Hope it appears on the internet somewhere.
Other music I listened to this week included the new Paul Simon, 'So Beautiful or So What'. I'd like to say I'm a big fan but just can't seem to get that into his stuff - it's all right but doesn't blow me away or anything. Listened more closely to Michael Gungor's music ('Ancient Skies', 'Beautiful Things') and that does impress me. Also getting into Sara Masen's 'Dream Life of Angels'. Just picked up Springsteen's 'Devils and Dust' from the library, trying to listen to artists others think are important - this one's okay but the song about a prostitute is too graphic for my tastes.
Been thinking this week about learning/memorizing songs that would make for good singalongs at select social gatherings or campfires - y'know, Beatles tunes or other classic/familiar hits. 'Hey Jude' or 'If I Had a Million Dollars' come to mind as good examples. Need to consider this further.

It was nice getting together with Beth's siblings on Saturday. We had them to our place for lunch, which means a bit of driving for them (from Chatham, Grand Bend & Exeter). Lots of laughs and shared memories. Everybody but Beth and I have retired so we get tips from them and it helps us dream - in fact, we've all planned to go on a cruise in November of 2014 (the year I'm due to retire - I told Beth that now I have to, so we can participate in the cruise!)

Reverie

Last weekend I spent 10 hours finishing the staining and Verathaning of a shoe shelf and some wood trim for around our windows. I worked over at mom and dad's but the pressure was on because they came home on Tuesday. It also gave me an extra opportunity to listen to lots of music. This week I made it through my entire discography of Brooks Williams (15 albums), along with relistens to my 2 Josh Ritter albums and the new Cockburn. Also delved into Sarah Masen, who I hope to see in June at the Wild Goose Festival.

But the most amazing listen this week was to the latest David Wilcox release, 'Reverie'. This guy is just one of the best songwriters I know. Plus, he's got a great voice and plays the guitar in a very unique way (lots of alternate tunings and a variety of cut-out capos). His songs though - wow! He has such a wonderful, creative way with words. This new album is just him and his guitar, and listening to it has reminded me again what a master he is - I know why some musicians have called him the 'songwriting Jedi'. The song 'Stones of Jerusalem' is an amazing history of the Middle East in 3 minutes, 'Piece of Me" & 'Little Fish' are insightful songs about what's wrong with so much of Christianity today. 'Ireland' is a wonderful poem/tribute to the love for music in that land and 'Dynamite in the Distance' is an understated but achingly beautiful song about love and communication.
Josie had surgery last Friday and has had to wear a cone/collar to keep her from rubbing her eyes or biting at her leg stitches. She ended up cracking it pretty good in a few places as she's maneuvered around, especially when coming up the stairs (so now we take it off when she has to ascend the back steps). Also need to apply ointment to her leg, and drops in her eyes, a couple of times each day. She's been great with this, although she didn't like the ointment the first few times as her leg must've been pretty tender.
I finished reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo' on Thursday so it ended up taking just over 2 weeks to read these 1063 pages. I really appreciated the iPad's ability to give me quick definitions of unfamiliar words (and there were lots of them - written in the 1800's, translated from French). This is a grand tale of revenge and forgiveness but it is also a very complicated story. At one point the author reintroduces a character and when I checked, the last time he was mentioned had been 675 pages before! After this tome I decided to take a break and read some lighter science fiction, but the unique book I've started, Eifelheim, actually has a lot of challenging vocabulary as well. I say it's 'unique' because it's set in a German medieval village of the 1300's, but an alien spaceship lands in the woods nearby. Very strange, but intelligently written, and the main character is the faithful village priest - I'm liking it.

Thankful for Good Music

After commenting last week that the Kottke concert wasn't in my top 10, I wondered which ones would be there. On further reflection I decided it might be difficult to come up with the 10 best concert experiences and it would be better to list the 10 music acts I've appreciated the most:
1. David Wilcox (not the Canadian blues guy) - best overall performer, his concerts are 'magical'. He feels the music so deeply and invites us in, to experience it with him
2. U2 - seen twice in Toronto, it's a powerful and moving experience
3. Bob Bennett - wonderful memories of listening to him play around southern Ontario as I drove him around on a mini-tour I helped promote
4. Steve Bell - one of the most engaging performers/storytellers, seen him I'm sure a dozen times over the years. Never disappoints. Seen him twice with a full orchestra, which is awesome
5. Bruce Cockburn - lots of concerts, prefer solo acoustic ones, he's a master songwriter and player, not a great stage presence though
6. Pierce Pettis - love his voice, a great guitar player, his songs are wonderful, engaging manner - ie. he's the complete package. Brought him to Kitchener in 2009, so disappointed I could only get 25 people to come see him. Helped me realize promotion is not for me
7. Jars of Clay - seen at least 3 times, the first back after their initial release when they were a very unpolished bunch of college kids (I wasn't too impressed with their stage presence, or lack thereof) but they have come a long way and are a great act

8. Tommy Emmanuel - maybe the best (acoustic) guitarist I've ever seen and a nice stage presence.

9. Brian Doerksen - best worship leader ever and his electric guitarist Brian Thiessen plays wonderful fills

10. The Choir - my favourite by far was the intimate (like 2 metres from the guys) acoustic house concert last fall in Windsor
Honorable Mentions (because there are obviously way more than 10 great performers I've seen)
Brooks Williams, Michael Card, Carolyn Arends, The Lost Dogs, Phil Keaggy, Fernando Ortega, Jason Gray, Square Pegs Alliance, Bill Mallonee, Larry Norman, Daniel Amos, The 77s, Steve Taylor, Buddy Miller, Alison Krauss/Robert Plant, Martyn Joseph, Pat Terry, Andrew Peterson, Andrew Smith, Pierre Bensusan, Jay Calder, Caedmon's Call, Derek Webb, Mike Roe, Glen Soderholm, John Gorka, Mavis Staples, Jacob Moon, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Bob Dylan (big disappointment), Paul Baloche, Phil Wickham, Don Ross, Sufjan Stevens, Steven Delopolous, Sara Groves, Mark Heard, John Austin, Downhere, Starfield, Lost & Found, Adam Again, Sam Phillips (and Leslie Phillips if that means anything to anybody), Nathan Rogers, Doyle Dykes, Steve Howe, Kerry Livgren (A.D.)
Other Concerts I've attended:
CCM Oldies: Paul Clark, Kelly Willard, Barry McGuire, John Michael Talbot, Randy Stonehill, Chuck Girard, Tom Howard, Isaac Air Freight, Resurrection Band, Daniel Band, D.C. Talk

Real Oldies: Genesis, Yes, Styx, Sparks, Patti Smith, City Boy, Queen, Rush, Supertramp, Budgie (my favourite rock band as a teenager)

Wow! When you see it in black and white like that you realize that's a lot of music and a lot of concerts. I count 78 in total and it's not even an exhaustive list!! Plus many of those artists have been seen more than once. I guess you can cover a fair bit of ground by the time you get to be my age. If it wasn't obvious before that I'm a music fan, it sure is obvious now. Looking at that list I realize I've had a deep appreciation for almost every one of these artists. My life is richer for making contact with their music. And I'm glad that Beth has gotten to know and appreciate so much of it as well. What can I say, she's got good taste;)

My Kidneys

We went with some friends to see guitarist Leo Kottke in Toronto last Saturday. I had at least one of his albums from the 70's and a few others along the way - he's well-known for his instrumentals, especially on the 12-string guitar. It was a good show but doesn't rank in my top 10.
Sunday morning Beth helped me lead some songs with the children's program at church. It was a lot of fun and went really well - the kids were engaged and I didn't forget anything, even with just a little practise. I guess those tunes are pretty ingrained from repetition over the years. It's neat that they still work - even did the old standard "This Little Light of Mine".
Monday I had an abdominal ultrasound in the morning and then my annual checkup with my nephrologist (kidney specialist). I was diagnosed with PKD (polycystic kidney disease) about 9 years ago so they keep an eye on how they are functioning. It's pretty unpredictable how this will affect me - I've been told that it can amount to nothing, or it can kill you. There is the possibility of needing a kidney transplant at some point, but since nobody knows for sure how the disease will progress in any individual, I figure there's no point in worrying about it much.  However it is hereditary so my children do also run this risk. There are 5 stages of kidney function and apparently I'm right in the middle of stage 3, which is apparently okay according to my doctor. Met with a nutritionist a couple of years ago and have since cut back on pop containing caffeine or phosphoric acid (I drink mainly root beer now) as well as taking a naturopathic green tea pill twice daily. I feel it has helped. Have had a couple of incidents with kidney stones in the last few years but passed my last one on my birthday in 2009 and have been fine since.
Still plugging away at "The Count of Monte Cristo". A friend said they quit after 600 (of 1000) pages and I'm beginning to see why - loads of (unnecessary?) description and many characters to keep track of. I printed off a chart I found through Wikipedia that is helpful in keeping relationships straight.

Got a lot of snow today, and it's still coming down 12 hours later. Unfortunately it wasn't a day off, though they did cancel music practice for tonight. Alison woke me up at 5:30 saying I should check the radio as she couldn't get into the parking lot for her early shift at the pool. Need to go out and do some more shovelling (and put the liner back into my coat!).

Our labrador retriever Josie goes in for surgery this Friday - she has a large cyst on her back leg as well as a couple growths around her left eye that need to be removed. She'll need to be put under for this (and I'll need to sit down when I we get the bill I'm sure). She's a good dog though (7.5 years old), not very demanding and just fantastic with people. She's been getting more opportunity it seems to hang out in the living room, especially when we have company, so she loves that of course as she's usually confined to the kitchen and family room.

Started listening to some Brooks Williams again this week, planning to go see him in Guelph on April 8th. He's a very good acoustic blues guitarist and I've seen him live quite a few times, including one gig I promoted/hosted here in 2006 (his only appearance in Kitchener so far). Also played a bit of Christian parody band Apologetix (got a couple CDs while in Florida) - a lot of their stuff is very creative and some of it is pretty hilarious, especially if you're familiar with the original tunes they base their songs on.

Florida!

We got back yesterday from our trip to St. Petersburg, Florida, where we visited with mom and dad at their trailer park (and slept on their pull out couch!). It was a wonderful week with lots of sunshine and warmth. Relaxed on the beach, did some reading (I'm part way through 'The Count of Monte Cristo' - what a great book!), and played some games in the evening (learned a new one that's interesting called 'Hand and Foot'). We got to meet some of mom and dad's many friends that they've made down there - they've been coming to that park for 8 years now and been going to the Baptist church in the area for even longer. Dad and I went golfing one morning and he only beat me by 3 strokes - neither of us did very well but at least I parred one hole. I didn't take my computer along though I had my iPad with me - but there was no internet around so a couple of times we walked for 30 minutes (each way) to go to a Starbucks where I could check my email, etc.

I always find flying interesting - so many people seem to take it for granted but Beth and I do it so infrequently that it's like an adventure for us. The comedian Louis CK has some great insights into the phenomenon of whiney people always complaining about plane delays, etc. instead of appreciating the miracle that we're actually sitting in a chair in the sky flying like a bird! Anyway I don't mind hanging out at airports reading or doing puzzles (or eating - there was a 5 Guys hamburger joint at the Washington airport - Yum!). However I guess I do have one (legitimate I think) complaint this time: on our way south we had a 3 hour layover, but we landed in Baltimore (Maryland) and our next flight left from Washington (D.C.)!! That was a one hour taxi ride that cost us over $100! I'll be calling up the Air Miles folks this week to get some compensation I hope.

Didn't listen to as much music this week but did give a better listen to the new Bruce Cockburn and I think it's growing on me. Also got into 'The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter' a bit - this guy's good! The clip on my iPod case broke so I've had to search hard for a replacement - think I found one that will work, hope the order gets to mom and dad before they leave on the 28th.