November Colours

November 13, 2005

Dear Family,

This weekend, Kaaren and I had fewer obligations than usual. We enjoyed some relaxed time together looking at neighborhoods and the growth that our little town has experienced. Much in-fill housing in both the modest and the very upscale neighborhoods. This started with a short trip to pick up peones in pots rescued from Lloyd and Sandra’s Hale’s place. They have sold out to a major developer and are moving a mile away to a home in Hidden Springs development. Their home is still there , but all the trees are gone, the bulldozers are cutting great swaths out of the landscape already and the once manicured and secluded grounds are just a great mud hole now. 77 homes will sprout where there were once 10 acres of Christmas trees and on some adjacent land the developer has purchased. We can see where 4 homes here have been razed to make room for newer and expensive homes. Lloyd had an underground shelter under the garage which he used for food storage. It was built to last with a walk-in freezer and a walk-in refrigerator, storage shelves designed for canned foods, more storage shelves designed for packaged foods and other goods. It could have withstood earthquake and radio-active fallout, but in the end, it was no match for the economics of modern development. This and the home itself and the pool and spa and outbuildings will all be only a memory in just a few weeks. Seeing the current state of his estate, was a good reminder to live providently and strive to be comfortable but not to put your fortune where moth and rust doth corrupt because it’s all just temporary, isn’t it.

I am in the midst of preparing our winter concert for the West Linn Community Chorus. Last Thursday we had a special clinician - Courtney Atack - come to help us with tone and higher notes. She is so helpful and empathetic and professional and, as Kaaren put it, elegant.
We have bit off a lot this term, so we added two extra rehearsals - on Monday nights!- so you know it is serious. The music is really fun and more challenging than before. I want you all to hear it at our concert on December 9 - Friday - at St. Anne’s chapel at Marylhurst University. Please put it on your calendar and save up the $7 ticket price. We will also perform a short program with the Marylhurst Symphony the next evening - Saturday the 10th. Tickets for that are more expensive and the program is mostly orchestra. We also sing the majority of our program at The Grotto in Portland, as last year, at 8 pm on Tuesday night, December 27th. Just after Christmas. That’s a good one to come to because of the great acoustics in the chapel.
Putting on another hat, I am chairing the Activities Committee in our ward and we are planning our Christmas program and dinner for the 16th of December. Lots of you won’t be able to come, I know, because of your McMenamin’s gig in McMinnville.

Skye’s CD release party is this Friday. We are looking forward to that.

A couple of weeks ago, Kaaren and I went to see Kyrstyn’s first performance with the "Roswell" sisters. It was really fun, really great music, and the "Roswell Sisters" were interesting because one of them isn’t. A sister, that is. He wears the same sequined backless dress and Egyptian looking head dress as the other two girls. Oh, they all wore Egyptian looking pointy beards, too. I know, Go Figure. But the sound was really, really smooth. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but I did bring my digital recorder. I’d like to attach a clip of it to this email if I can. . They were backed up by Trash Can Joe - we went afterwards to Mississippi Pizza to hear a full set of Trash Can Joe and eat a great pizza. It was a nice night out.

I tried attaching the file- it’s a large .wav file and I don’t know how to convert it to an mp3 so I’ll send it later when I get that figured out.

When Kaaren returned from England, we showed her pictures here at home last Monday - projected with my laptop and seminar projector onto a sheet hanging on our family room wall.. It was a nice Family Home Evening with ice cream topped with special things from England - Cornish clotted cream and Cadbury’s chocolate candy. Some of her pictures are attached to this email.

Caden is two. A birthday picture is attached.

Fall in the North West is really stunning. Here are a couple of pictures of turning leaves in our garden and the fog on the valley down below.

Yesterday morning, I dropped some bread off at Clay and Amy’s place and I hung around for a few minutes. Olivia brought me toys and the sweetest smile. She is going to be a dangerous charmer. Addison’s face is very intently focused one moment and ecstatic the next. She is fun. Eli always has such a big welcoming smile. And at his mother’s suggestion, he puckered up his lips and gave me a kiss. Amy says they are learning to kiss and practicing on each other. What a troupe of happiness and trouble they are! They are really, really sweet right now.

Yesterday evening, I took care of Logan and Caden while their parents went out to dinner and while Kaaren went to a party of her aqua-fit class members. We ate dinner together - a fancy grandpa dinner of sliced chicken, sliced pears and sliced up peanut butter on sourdough bread. We each ate a slice at a time, one boy on each side of me. I read a book to Logan and he put his head on my shoulder while I read. Then we watched a little of Rescuer’s Down Under - which turned out to be a little too intense for them. Logan ran behind the couch, telling me he didn’t think he wanted to see this part - a little boy being dangled on a rope over a pond full of alligators. What great fare for a 2 and 4 year old. We exchanged that for Baby Einstein - which both Caden and Logan liked better. A good little lesson for Grandpa. We also made cookies together. They were kind of weird - Bryce called them a pyroclastic flow over the island - which was actually a pretty good description of how they looked. I think I used a little too much baking soda. It was a good evening.

Well, enough about everyone else. Let’s talk about me. Just kidding. It’s a great line I heard from a song this week. I hope one or two of you might respond to what I throw out there into cyberspace or just drop me a line. Brittany is good about this. Anyone else? Class? Class?

Emily Potter dropped by today. What a wonderful girl! We had a nice little talk, just one-on-one. I'm excited for her book she is writing, for her college progress in Missoula, for her art she is creating and selling, for her upcoming academic/clinic year abroad in India. What a very interesting and loving friend to have. We love her. A photo is attached, too.

I’m reading in Alma chapter 12 right now. How about you?

Love,

Dad