Who really has the old snail mail round robin? Let's finally forgive him? and move on once again into the new instantaneous E-lectronic age with the new and improved E Round Robin. You can click on the pictures for a LARGER VIEW. You can click on the COMMENTS and chirp on about something said on the post.
Lois Ann was interested in our Catulpa Trees when she was down this summer. The leaves were barely beginning to sprout. They are odd trees in many ways. This is an average size leaf. Some get larger.
In the fall the leaves don't change color and they fall at the same time. One day the tree is green and the next they're on the ground. This is what our driveway looked like when Jonathan went to school on Monday.
And this is what it looked like when he came home from school.
Since childhood Sufjan has never liked Christmas much. It brought out the worst in his somewhat dysfunctional family. As an adult his pastor suggested that every year he should create a disk of Christmas songs to send to friends and relatives as a way to overcome his issues. He did this for five years before he became famous. Some of the songs are goofy, some angry, some sad and some reverent. Those disks are currently our favorite Christmas disks.
I'm experimenting with ways to present music on our blog. To the right should be an audio player. You can click to hear a few of Sufjan's Christmas songs. The first is reverent, the second silly and the third is kind of sad. The third, I'm guessing from the lyrics, he was suffering with depression that year and used this song to apologise for being such a jerk.
If other's want to post a favorite song or playlist in a week or two I'll include some explanation of how to do that in a comment.
When I'd find someone I liked I'd enter their name at places like Amazon where they'll say things like "People who listen to W also listen to X, Y and Z". A name that kept popping up was Sufjan Stevens. The name sounded wierd. I ignored the advice. Finally I checked him out a little deeper and concluded the albums sounded as wierd as the name. One was about the 12 signs of the zodiac. Another was about his home state of Michigan. I ignored him some more.
Meanwhile in my MPR exploration there were a few haunting voices I had heard but couldn't make a connection. Checking the playlist one day on the internet I found the name of the musician of one of the songs - it was Sufjan (pronounced soo-fyan). When I listened to his songs I found there were another two or three that I had also been trying to find from my radio listening.
I listened to more stuff and really like it. I read more about him and found out he was a Christian. There are a lot of Christian and Biblical images in his songs though he doesn't write Christian music. He's won lot's of awards with big names like Billboard and Rolling Stone. Now I'll be grocery shopping and hear his songs playing throughout the store.
Here's a UTube video with his song "Casimir Pulaski Day" playing in the background. The song is remembering a girl he loved who was in his Bible study who died from leukemia. It's very sad, I think.
MPR has three radio stations in The Cities - Classic, News/Talk and Contemporary/Alternative. I've been listening to the contemporary station lately. A lot of it I don't like but once in awhile I hear something that really grabs me. When that happens I find out who it is and I check them out on the internet and I frequently go to ITunes and purchase a song (for 99 cents). That's how I came upon Aaron Espe. It was only later that I noticed he is from Roseau. You can hear an interview and two songs he did in the MPR studios here. I especially like the second song about a vacation his family took to Disney World. As long as I've started, I think I'll do some more posts about other songs that I heard and liked.
First of all notice that we have the same haircut! Second, I love looking at babies hands. There are more photos at the marksalaska. We arrived at about 2AM on Saturday morning.
This is Heidi calling us Monday night at about 7:20PM Alaska time right after our first grandaughter was born. She weighed 7lbs. 3oz. the same wieght as Holly and Christoffer when they were born. I had a little trouble downloading the big photos so this is size we have for now.
Isn't it amazing how time flies? This fun day was already three months ago! Ya'll enjoying Autumn? Remember, this was the Fourth! Those of you who know I was laid off in August will be happy to know that I'm on the job again at another place. Trying out the graveyard shift this time. It's an adjustment! I did enjoy my month off as much as I could, contemplating the color of my parachute, or if I had one! It's also good to know we really do have a Provider. We learn Who we really trust in these times. God is GOOD!
Lois Ann was interested in our Catulpa Trees when she was down this summer. The leaves were barely beginning to sprout. They are odd trees in many ways. This is an average size leaf. Some get larger.
In the fall the leaves don't change color and they fall at the same time. One day the tree is green and the next they're on the ground. This is what our driveway looked like when Jonathan went to school on Monday.
When I'd find someone I liked I'd enter their name at places like Amazon where they'll say things like "People who listen to W also listen to X, Y and Z". A name that kept popping up was Sufjan Stevens. The name sounded wierd. I ignored the advice. Finally I checked him out a little deeper and concluded the albums sounded as wierd as the name. One was about the 12 signs of the zodiac. Another was about his home state of Michigan. I ignored him some more.
First of all notice that we have the same haircut! Second, I love looking at babies hands. 
There are more photos at the marksalaska. We arrived at about 2AM on Saturday morning.
This is Heidi calling us Monday night at about 7:20PM Alaska time right after our first grandaughter was born.
She weighed 7lbs. 3oz. the same wieght as Holly and Christoffer when they were born.
I had a little trouble downloading the big photos so this is size we have for now.
Isn't it amazing how time flies? This fun day was already three months ago! Ya'll enjoying Autumn? Remember, this was the Fourth!
