Making music

So, last night my kid jammed with a rock star.  

We went to a small get together at a new friend's home (which of course, I had to leave early to get an unhappy 2 year old off to bed) where most, if not all of the guests were musicians of some variety.  That is, except us.  I'm guessing we were probably among the only non-musical people there.  

The guy whose home it was at is a band-mate of a good friend of ours and also the music teacher at Nathan's school.  While I was away on my trek across the intermountain west, Shane spent several weeks getting to know lots of new people, including Dave, the music teacher.

After I left the party last night, things apparently got much livelier.  One of the guests, a friend of Dave's and a local Island resident happens to be Spencer Davis, of the Spencer Davis Group.  You probably recognize the name, and will most definitely recognize Davis' most famous song, "Gimme Some Lovin".  If nothing else, you'll remember John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's cover of the song in the Blues Brothers.

As the guys played throughout the evening, Nathan got to know people better and became more comfortable.  A drummer named Butch (who played with Oingo Boingo, for all you 80's children) gave Nathan a gourd rattle sort of thing to play and he got into the groove with the band.

I so wish I had been there to see it.  Nathan's not always the most confident kid when it comes to "performing", but last night he was just hanging with his buddies, making music.  He had no clue that one of his new friends is a rock star who has played with the likes of Steve Winwood, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, Beattles, Greatful Dead, and Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Could Nathan's summer vacation get any cooler?

Mid-week randomness

Our chicks!  We're getting 5 of them: the white one in the middle, two of the buff colored ones, and the two brown striped chicks.  They've already been named too: Chamomile, Milkweed, Mabel, Ginger, and Poppy.  Cuteness abounds!

What happens when the two year-old helps bake cookies: she gets naked and eats flour... note the stuffed Chihuahua.  Weird

Yummy, paste!

Cool kids jump stuff...

Cool moms do too.  :)

So, what did you do today?

I'm really enjoying the twists and turns my life is taking lately.   It's partly due to the fact that the twists in the road have been nothing dramatic, or really, even that exciting.  It's the little things that seem to keep life interesting these days.

Take for example the never ending dichotomy that is where I live.  I straddle a world that is both urban and rural, modern and rustic.  On any day I may see yachts, sailboats, and bikini clad socialites.  Or I may see horses, bison, and hard-worn trails.  I see foxes, eagles and seal lions all within a few miles of each other.  Surfers, crusty old fishermen, mountain bikers, and sorority girls all party at the The Marlin after a long day in the sun.  I may run into a world-class biologist who has recently discovered and named an as-yet unknown species somewhere deep in the rain forests.  Or the guy who invented hospital curtains with landscapes printed on them while he was sitting in a redwood forest-- high as a kite-- after visiting a terminally ill friend in the hospital.

Today brought another new experience that I never really expected to see.  It's hunting season here on the island and this morning I the kids and I watched two of the Conservancy staff and two interns butcher a buck.  You see, the slaughtering shed is about 30 yards from my house.  Nathan was over watching when EB and I got there.  We stopped to look at the head still sitting in the back of the truck.  It's eyes were sunken and cloudy.  It bore little resemblance to the animals we see bounding out from the brush or grazing on the hillsides.  I was surprised, too, by how small he seemed though he had three points already.  

They hadn't planned on killing a deer.  Some other hunter had wounded the deer with an arrow, but the animal got away.  The crew came upon the animal while out doing trail maintenance-- it was leaning against a boulder, bleeding and breathless, and clearly suffering.  The crew leader, an experienced hunter, returned to the office for his rifle and went back out and made the kill.

I felt impressed by the guys' ability to do this job; to affect this transformation from animal to food.  As a cook, I can take raw materials and make a meal.  But they did something more elemental: they killed it, skinned it, and butchered it.  Day after tomorrow we'll all share in a truly local feast at a BBQ in honor of the interns who are leaving us this week.

What a send off, eh?  

Vacation!

Me & my lovely niece Kristina... who grew up in the three years since I saw her last! Snowbird, UT, overlooking Heber Valley.

Ah, neglect. I've neglected my little blog here for too long. But this time I do actually have an excuse: VACATION! The hoodlums and I have been on a road trip for nearly a month now and are just getting ready to return home.



I'll post more about the excitement of the month, but for now, here are a few highlights.

1. turning 2 years old at gramma & pappa's house (both in CA and UT)
2. reconnecting with many much loved friends
3. reconnecting with much loved and much missed family
4. PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY...
5. very little sleep - sister does not travel well. ugh.
6. SWIM SWIM SWIM SWIM SWIM...
7. animals, water slides, sleep overs, surprise visits, the zoo, the U, mountains, really fast kick-butt alpine slide, rock climbing, Mama Mia! (twice), shopping, shoes (duh), cooking, red rock, thunder storms, soaking tents, swimmin' holes, waterfalls, and JUMPING.

When I get the chance to upload all my pictures, you'll see what fun we had. Particularly one specific hour at Arches National Park in Moab, UT, spent being exceptionally silly. :)

Also to come are pictures of my chickens. Dat's right. My chicks have arrived on the island and are being incubated by their foster mom. We're getting three I think, based on the number of hens in the flock of 25. We're not allowed to have roosters on the island, so the boys will become prey for Tachi, the fox we have at the research station. I know, it sounds heartless and cruel. But nature ain't always pretty. But we all win in the end. We get our hens and Tachi gets to hunt and those little chicks are not being raised in some massive chicken farm where they spend their lives in a cage.

Don't think I plan on watching their demise though. I'm not that tough.