jeremyhiebert.com

Welcome Warmth

2012-05-09T09:40:00.002-07:00

I think it's probably an annual tradition for me to post the first really nice weather forecast of the year. Last year's was more of a lament, with a lonely sunny day with a high of 21 standing out among cool, wet days. It was well into July before we really felt summer kicking in. This year so far has been the usual mixed bag. My only complaint with the weekend forecast is that Larry and Pearl will just be leaving as it gets really nice. C'est la vie...

reading listening watching

2012-05-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

These posts are too unruly if I let them stew too long, and I forget too much of the stuff I've encountered, so maybe every month or so would work better. Here's what has been filling my brain these last four weeks, decorated with random photos taken roughly over the same time period.

Reading

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink -- Darcy lent me this one with a tentative recommendation, and I was glad to have read it over a few evenings. I should be happy to agree with the author's theory that creative, unconventional thinkers will be in great demand, but I didn't really buy it. The unbounded pre-crash economic optimism (written in 2005) looks a little silly now, and although his journalistic style is zippy and fun, the "evidence" for the prognostications seem like a bit of a joke. This seemed to be aimed at a lightweight business-book audience, perhaps trying to get the suits to lighten up. Meanwhile, the demand for creative types stays the same, while the supply keeps growing -- not a recipe for increasing value. Mostly wishful thinking, methinks.

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins wasn't exactly hard-hitting sociology either, but I couldn't put it down. She borrows from The Breakfast Club when she typecasts and follows a half dozen teens through several months, digging into the social hierarchies of their high school lives. It's a bit shocking and discouraging to realize that the bullies and populars still rule schools with iron fists, but on the other hand, I was encouraged to read about fringe kids who find their way without playing the popularity game. Highly recommended, especially for anyone in education.
New Hope for People With Bipolar Disorder

The Magic Half by Annie Barrows -- our current bedtime reading with the girls, and definitely showing promise after a magical twist throws the main character back in time.
Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi -- I found the writing really clunky in the first few chapters; almost comically bad. But the art (as always) is so good, and the writing seemed to even out as it progressed. Ivy had already read (and loved) it, but she was strongly in favour of making this our bedtime reading, and Ella and I were totally hooked. Looking forward to the sequel in the next few weeks.
Winnie at Her Best -- more bedtime reading, pretty light and reasonably fun.
With Ezra, we've really been digging into the short chapter books. The latest obsession has been the Nate the Great series, which has been a lot of fun -- they're perfect for him right now, and we've got lots of books to finish. He loved Corby Flood, as expected, although not quite as much as Fergus Crane.

Listening

Sail by AWOLNATION -- big hit around here these days.
Ane Brun, especially her cover of the Arcade Fire's Neighbourhood #1, but I keep running into other songs of hers that really grab me. Not my usual style.
Winnipegger Keri Latimer is streaming her new album -- very mellow and cool, and channeling a bit of her old magic from Nathan.
Hi-fi audio of prairie dogs in Grasslands National Park that gives me prairie longings, best listened to while checking out amazing photos from the park (taken by one of my favourite photographers, James Page).
Nothing is Anything Without You by my fave Maritime band, Wintersleep -- great song; looking forward to hearing this whole album next month...disappointed that they won't be stopping in the Okanagan.

Farewell to Philosophy composed by Gavin Bryars -- amazing classical/instrumental CD with three main pieces of music: a cello concerto, three tracks for percussion ensemble, and three tracks for solo double bass accompanied by bass clarinet, percussion and strings. I had never heard of this composer before picking this at random from the library, but this is top-notch stuff.
You Roll and Kick Your Bucket Billy by The Yokel -- odd French duo with a neat folky sound.
Cottonwood Moon by The Rakish Angles, a nice recommendation from Tanya -- a bluegrassy band from the Sunshine Coast that she saw in Penticton.
The Constantines, especially Trans Canada and Our Age (video below), both of which should be considered classics of Canadian music, despite having only been out for four years or so...wishing they'd release something new again.

Watching

Totoro -- if you assumed that I watch the same kids' movies over and over, you would be correct.
Star Wars Episode 4 -- classic.
Where the Wild Things Are -- not classic, although the music was ok, and some of the scenes were visually cool. Terrible, terrible script, so badly executed.
Andrew Bird's Sounds From a Room -- Thanks to Andrew for unearthing this gem, which really shows off Bird's incredible skills in composing, playing, singing, whistling and looping.
I loved this performance and interview with cellist Zoe Keating -- crazy song skills, beautiful sounds and I was fascinated by what she says about the overlap between information architecture (my job) and composing (my fun).

NHL Playoffs 2012 Predictions

2012-04-11T15:16:00.002-07:00

With the NHL playoffs about to begin, I figured I'd better get my predictions up here. This has proven to be a fool's game, although I hit the jackpot last year in my playoff pool, correctly picking players from Vancouver and Boston to make the final. Can't expect that lightning to strike twice.

These picks are influenced strongly by my fandom, as I like the Canucks and Penguins and would love to watch that final, although I also like the Sharks and haven't picked them to upset the Blues. Overall, I've not made any radical picks here. Perhaps choosing the Predators for the western final is a stretch, and a lot of people seem to think that the Flyers will knock off Pittsburgh in the first round. I fully expect to have to revise these after the first round.

West

Round 1

Vancouver vs LA -- Canucks in 6
St.Louis vs SJ --Blues in 6
Chicago vs Phoenix -- Hawks in 5
Nashville vs Detroit -- Predators in 7

East

Round 1

NYR vs Ott -- Rangers in 5
Boston vs Washington -- Bruins in 6
Florida vs NJD -- Devils in 5
Philly vs Pittsburgh -- Penguins in 7

Update: Well, I blew it big time, and have already gone down in flames in my playoff pool. Canucks and Penguins for the SCF is going to be difficult now. Here are my revised second-round predictions (made before the second round started):

West

Round 2

St.Louis vs LA -- Blues in 6
Nashville vs Phoenix -- Nashville in 5

East

Round 2

NYR vs Washington -- NYR in 6
NJD vs Philly -- Flyers in 5

Beyond that, I've gone for a St.Louis/Rangers final, with St. Louis winning the cup. Considering my record in the first round, the odds of either team making the final just fell to zero.

reading watching listening

2012-04-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

The finished books have been piling up again, which means it's time for another reading/watching/listening post. As always, recent random photography experiments provide the disconnected decoration. I see that watching and listening haven't been a priority as winter wound down.

Reading

The way we read in the evenings around here, our bedtime routine takes an hour and half every night. It's ridiculous, yet I look forward to it, especially when we're really into a good book. Here's what I've been reading aloud to the kids:

The Books of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau -- there are four books in the series about a society that emerges after living underground for 200 years. The middle two books are ok, but never really grabbed us, so the girls and I plowed through my favourites (books 1 and 4) City of Ember and The Diamond of Darkhold. Very pleasing reading, with lots of references to environmental and sustainability challenges we're facing, without being preachy.

The Wednesday Tales series by Jon Berkeley was really incredible, and I have no idea why these three books don't seem to be very well known: Palace of Laughter, The Tiger's Egg, and The Lightning Key. The writing is beautiful, the magic interwoven convincingly, the characters are compelling...all three were a wonderful surprise, and we were sad to leave this world behind when we finished it last week. On par with the best of new childrens' literature.
Moongobble and Me -- now we're getting into Ezra's reading list, and although we're still plowing through a dozen or so picture books a week (and graphic novels by the bushel), these short chapter books are what he's gravitating to. This simple series about a bumbling wizard and his sidekicks was a very welcome break from a steady stream of Magic Treehouse books.
D'Lacey's Dragons of Wayward Crescent has completely hooked Ez, and I haven't at all minded plowing through the four books -- great fun, fast pace.

I'm so happy to be able to introduce Ez to the books the girls loved a few years ago. Fergus Crane is among the best of the bunch, and we devoured it (yet again) in a couple of weekend sessions. Looking forward to trying Corby Flood with him as well (same series).

I've been doing ok with my own reading as well, following a few themes and rabbit trails:

The introvert advantage : how to thrive in an extrovert world, by Marti Olsen Laney -- this was a lot like the last book I read about introversion, with a couple of key differences: she uses a much tighter definition of introversion, which I appreciated...and she herself sounds like a genuine introvert, which often doesn't seem to be the case.
Please Understand Me I and II by David Keirsey -- some of this stuff about introversion got me thinking about personality types again, so I plowed through a few books on the topic. Some of you may remember the post I did four years ago about Myers-Briggs types and I still find this stuff fascinating. These two books are a bit rough around the edges, but I felt it was worth the effort to find the hidden gems. Also tried What type am I? by Renee Baron, which was a bit fluffy and mostly felt like review.

Nurture by nature -- I just started this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing if I can glean any insights about the personality types of my kids, and how we might parent them more effectively as a result.
I've been doing some reading lately on the history and psychology of belief. The first is called The Believing Brain , and it started with three personal case studies of people who had had religious or deconversion experiences. It also delves into non-religious beliefs that may not be easy to prove, and tries to connect the dots between those and religious faith, not as successfully.
Even better than that one, though, is a book by a brilliant author named Robert Wright. I had read two of his previous books and really dug this one. It's called The Evolution of God, and I couldn't put it down. Epic scale, digging back into early human cultures to try to find the common threads in what we've believed over thousands of generations. Even more ambitiously, he ponders what the future of belief might be -- especially in the Abrahamic religions. I didn't agree with everything in it, but highly recommended, no matter what your own beliefs might be.

You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier, a brilliant guy I've paid attention to online for many years. I'm drawn to his iconoclastic tone and willingness to question stuff we take for granted, especially on the web. Looking forward to digging further into this one, as I'm only a couple of chapters in.
Big thanks to Steve for sending me searching out stuff about Japanese woodblock prints. Two books that really smacked me were Shin Hanga and Printed to Perfection -- although Steve will probably be mortified, I was more drawn to the "new prints" from the early 1900s than the old masters. Incredible stuff.

Watching

Steamboy -- visually incredible animation, odd story...the technology themes and amazing landscapes and scenes kept me watching till the end despite the lack of discernable plot.
Castle in the Sky -- glad we bought this a few years ago, as it's great to revisit Miyazaki's stuff every once in a while. This was better than I remembered it from a year ago.
Astroboy -- I didn't have much hope for this one, but found it surprisingly entertaining. Some really cheesy Hollywood touches, but overall pretty decent. The kids really dug it; especially Ezra, who is so into Robots these days, it's not even funny.

Listening

I haven't been as methodical with finding and sorting music lately, but have still dug up some gems: an incredible double bass player and composer named Edgar Meyer, a shockingly addictive earworm called Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, everything by Ólafur Arnalds and a total hodgepodge of other stuff. When I pasted these next three videos in here, they represented three strong emotional responses I had to the pieces of music: tears, pure aggression, and laughter.

Poem for Carlita by Mark O'Connor.
Yo Yo Ma is my hero -- his playing throughout his collaborations with O'Connor is incredible, and from 6:18 till the end, his expressiveness on the cello brings me to tears. This live performance is better than the album version, and the video adds an element of appreciation for me:

Metallica --Disposable Heroes
I've sometimes waxed poetic about Metallica's golden age in the early '90s, but I have to give them credit here. This is a recent video, and they still bring it; they really are one of the few bands big enough to master the stadium concert, filling it with energy and controlled chaos. This gives me goosebumps and makes me want to climb a mountain right now.

Rap-X -- Kyak
I guess my cousin Richard knows these guys, and posted it to Facebook. I don't know how earnest it is, but I laughed my ass off and thought it was fantastic. This isn't a style of music I'd usually be drawn to, so maybe it's the frozen Alberta landscape in the video that grabbed me.

Rap X - Kyak from Ted Stenson on Vimeo.

And finally, this one didn't elicit any emotional response, but talk about solid pop gold. This would fit in fine in the culminating scene of any John Hughes teen film from the mid-'80s, yet it feels fresh:

The Big Pink -- Stay Gold

And a few more bonus pics:

Hello Cello

2012-03-19T22:00:00.003-07:00

I guess it was just before my birthday that I got my cello, the culmination of another odd experience of getting to know someone virtually from a Chinese instrument workshop, building up trust and then getting it shipped halfway across the planet. Here 'tis:

In the first few days, I found it pretty discouraging, feeling like none of my skills from the bass/violin/viola would transfer to this new creature. Two weeks in, I had a breakthrough -- even though I see from the video that the fingering was wrong, I started feeling like I could make some music:

Some of those early experiments formed the backbone for a new quartet piece I've been working on since, to be premiered this summer by the faculty of the Strings the Thing camp in Penticton. More on that to come...

Ice Poems

2012-02-20T12:05:00.001-08:00

Shaw TV covered the event we did at the library last month:

Kiddos

2012-02-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

My camera hasn't been pointed at people as much lately, but occasionally I remember that nobody (including me) is going to steep in the warm nostalgic glow of old ice photos 20 years from now.

Yesterday I sat at the kitchen table with nice western window light and snapped away as the kids migrated through. Ezra was at low ebb, not sure what was wrong, and I think that is reflected in the shot. Ivy is more self-conscious around the camera these days, and wants to see anything before it goes online (fair enough). Ella is at that age where she loves the lens, and it loves her right back.

Creative Goals for 2012

2012-01-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

Ahh, January, the time to make empty promises to ourselves and try to forget our failings of the previous year. This has become an annual post for me already, going back through 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008. That first year was a pretty humble collection, which helps me see that my creative goals have gotten completely out of hand. Resolution Number One: dial it down.

Photography

I see that last year was way too ambitious. Looking at the flopped goals, I did not:

...seek a photography mentor or learn to shoot video.
...branch out with my subjects much or take any photographic road trips
...get a fancy camera -- I bought a used body that is one model less obsolete than the one I had, but still obsolete. Decided to repair it when it broke.
...complete three new photo books.

But thankfully, the year wasn't a total write-off. Some good news too:

For that last one (bookmaking), I did manage to finish two books that I was really proud of (Okanagan Orchards and the Trout Creek Ecological Reserve book) and got a good start on an additional one, so that wasn't too far off.
Participated in the C'est La Vie show at the Summerland Art Gallery in January.
The process, presentation and book I did for the Trout Creek Ecological Reserve project was very rewarding and it stretched me in the right ways.
I kept going with my "curating" projects and had good fun with them. Wordpress tells me that I've already done 50 Focus Friday and In Focus articles for Awesome Okanagan -- not bad for just over a year. On Flickr, I Love the Okanagan and Ultimate Ice are still plugging along too.
I also took a LOT of photos this year, which is sort of the point. I kept posting them to my Flickr account regularly, and I see now that I added about a hundred to my most current Faves of Mine set.

So that was last year. What about photography this year?

Finish the black and white book I've been working on -- photos of the kids, tentatively titled something like Growing Up on Jones Flat.
Start (maybe even finish) one more Blurb book on some other topic, preferably more "out there" than the orchards book. Speaking of which, I'd like to get the orchards book out to more people, which will require overcoming my disinterest in selling (or the continued joy and poverty of giving it away).
One solo photo trip, at least out of the valley, but preferably further. The prairies in fall would be just right. Whitehorse and Iceland will likely have to wait.
Keep making time for photos, and don't ignore family snapshots...that likely means remembering to take the camera on more everyday outings.
One presentation or small public showing of some kind.
Successfully teach the one-day photography workshop I was asked to do later in February. This scares the crap out of me, and is also quite exciting.

Music

I took pretty easy with music this year -- still playing regularly, but I was much less goal-oriented. A real highlight was hearing other people play my compositions, both at the Strings the Thing camp in summer, and at Manning Park in fall. Looking at my goals, I think I was a better musical dad, supporting the girls without pushing too much. I should have made more effort to get together to play with others (again). I didn't do much new composing, but succeeded in not buying any new instruments. The ol' bass guitar has worked its way back into the mix, and I played viola most days (but almost no violin). For 2012:

It sounds like I'll have an excellent opportunity to do some composing for Strings the Thing again -- this should give me a chance to compose for string orchestra, something I've never done before.
I will learn to play the cello this year, and learn to compose better parts for it (I've been flying blind, writing for cello without being able to play it).
Be open to different opportunities to play or record with others.

The Web

This poor blog was largely ignored. Facebook has replaced all the "little" stuff, and I don't seem to be getting to the "big" stuff as often as I used to. It will continue to limp along.
I've paid some more attention to my jeremyhiebert.com site over the past year, but feel like it's a bit of a jumble. Need a better vision for it overall.
I'd like to help Martin get his web site up.
I've let my identity (and skills) as a designer lapse these last couple of years. I think I could get excited about design again, but it may take a specific project to rekindle that interest.

I'm also reflecting on the need to recognize and value the things I do outside of my creative pursuits -- my family time, friendships, trail-building, mountain biking, hockey, reading, gardening, work, travel (in theory, anyway)...last spring, I ended up spending most of my free time on Mount Conkle, working on trails -- and that was definitely a worthy (and creative) pursuit that falls outside of these annual goals.

reading watching listening

2012-01-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

Whoa, six months behind on these posts, which means it's a mess...and I've missed tons. But still better than nothing. As usual, I've decorated with some recent photographic experimentation.

Reading

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond is a real monster of a book -- thick and dense and wide-ranging. It took me a couple of months to finally finish it, and I'm so glad I did. This review is a great overview.
I went on a serious Robert Sapolsky kick, knocking off three of his books over several weeks: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, The Trouble With Testosterone, and A Primate's Memoir. He's a primate researcher who primarily studies the physiological effects of stress -- yes, super geeky and super fascinating.
I gave local author Don Gayton one of my books as a present, and he gave me a copy of The Wheatgrass Mechanism in return. It's one of the few books of his that I hadn't read, and it totally hooked me. I was pining for the prairies in a big way.
Love Wins by Rob Bell -- I'd never read a book like this if I wasn't connected to believers, and I was thankful for it. His philosophy had me reflecting on how poorly religion was presented to me. All fear and dogma and a totally irrational lack of logic. There would have been a time for me when this approach could have really resonated.
Heart of the Samurai by Margi Preus -- this was a book I got for the girls and ended up enjoying it myself after they showed no interest in it.
The Hobbit -- yes, we've probably read it too many times, and it's still a year till the movie, but it just seemed right. Still always fun.
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall -- we've enjoyed all of the Penderwicks books, and this newest one was no exception. Warm, simple storytelling with characters you care about.
This is going back into summer -- we plowed through the whole Percy Jackson series over many weeks. Relentless pacing, great fun, and we were all hooked.
More recently, I cajoled the girls into re-reading the Narnia series (minus The Last Battle) and they didn't dislike it as much as they remembered.
In our last Harry Potter marathon, we had skipped The Goblet of Fire because we had just seen the movie, so we dug into it in December. Not my fave HP, but good fun.
Magic Tree House -- Ez is really into this series right now, so we're plowing through the (many) books. They're his first real chapter books.
Spirit in the Grass by Chris Harris, beautifully reviewed by Don Gayton. Solid landscape photography book.
The Worst Hard Time was not exactly uplifting holiday reading. Fascinating stories of the people who stayed through the Dust Bowl in the '30s.
Introvert Power -- the self-help genre doesn't really appeal to me, but maybe this was the right book at the right time. I'm still working my way through it, but I'm finding myself nodding and chuckling and pondering...usually a good sign.
The Journal of Lady Aberdeen by R.M. Middleton -- this was a pretty dry bit of local history, but I found some of it really interesting -- especially this part about Okanagan optimism in the 1890s:
"It is hard for poor persons to stay and keep their orchards up to the mark. But it is truly wonderful how optimistic everybody is. It must mean a brighter future. People of B.C. are certainly not despondent. I think the climate is so invigorating that it is impossible to be other than cheerful, and the longer one lives in the country the better one likes it, in spite of every drawback from a financial standpoint. Other than those, there are no drawbacks."

Watching

Way back in summer, Tannis and I had a date night and saw the last Harry Potter movie, which was pretty terrible. Still somewhat entertaining, but wow, what a lot of awful decisions they made in adapting the book.
I took the kids and their friend to see Hugo -- our first 3D movie, and overall the 3D part was pretty cool. I thought it got in the way of the story sometimes. The film itself is pretty slow, but visually pretty stunning at times. Decent (if expensive!) entertainment.
Inuit throat singers
Stress, Portrait of a Killer...this was part of my Sapolsky kick.
All the mountain biking videos by an extremely talented local photographer named Matt Butterworth. I was so impressed that I profiled him for Awesome Okanagan.
I pulled Singles off the shelf on a rare night alone -- surprisingly great, and aging reasonably well.
Kids movies: Spirited Away, Megamind and Despicable Me...and Rio at the Dueck's most excellent backyard film festival.
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS -- goosebumps!
It was so cool to see Donovan's Echo at the VIFF -- my friends Jim and Melodie wrote the screenplay, and Jim directed the film. Check it out if you get a chance -- it should be playing in Canadian theaters in February.
Avatar: staggeringly beautiful and painfully dumb. I couldn't believe how many Miyazaki elements he ripped off for the visuals...maybe that's why I thought it was so visually amazing. But wow, most predictable plot ever. And yes, as always, I'm at least two years behind the times.
Industrial Revolutions -- Danny Macaskill transcends "riding a bike" and turns it into a new form of performance art. Beautiful cinematography too.
In a similar vein, this segment from All I Can turns the traditional ski video on its head with an incredibly creative athlete and amazing camerawork.

Listening

It's downloading season again as all the music blogs publish their best-of lists for the year. Some standouts: Low Roar, Austra, Brooklyn Rider, Zola Jesus, and Ólafur Arnalds.
I'm not always in the mood for the Beastie Boys, but when I am, Hotsauce Committee Part II has been hitting the spot.
Kronos Quartet plays the string quartets of Philip Glass...I keep coming back to this one.
Marjan Mozetich's Postcards from the Sky...also a favourite.
Faith No More's The Real Thing, a masterpiece that has been in heavy rotation in the car
Andrew and I went to see the St. Lawrence String Quartet in Penticton at the end of November -- wonderful show, thanks to my folks for the tickets.

Sisters

2011-11-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

Ez got his slide feature last week -- guess it's the girls' turn. These two are a real marvel for us these days:

Ezra Slide

2011-11-18T20:09:00.001-08:00

Of course the first big snow of the year is always a hit around here. I thought this sequence captured just a bit of Ezra's joy:

Manning Park

2011-08-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

We made the trip out to Manning Park last week. Liz's quartet was playing four of my songs for an "Art in the Park" event at Lightning Lake, so we booked a cabin and stayed a couple of nights. The music was great, in an epic setting. A highlight for me was hearing a new song I had composed this spring, played for the first time ever (apologies for mediocre audio and video quality):

The kids loved the pool at the resort of course, so we were in there enough to turn our skin to leather. Despite the "no diving" rule, both girls learned to dive with Grandma's expert instruction. Ella did her first flips. They loved their little room, crammed with bunkbeds, and we spent lots of time just lounging and reading.

As usual, we got curry at Sanderson's on the way and ran into our old friend Aimee there. We had a glorious (chilly!) swim at Bromley Rock. At Manning, I spent a few hours wandering in the sub-alpine meadows with my camera, taking advantage of the late-blooming wildflowers. Here's a slideshow of most of the shots, followed by a few favourites below.

Mike Harder

2011-08-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

I played a couple of years of minor hockey with a guy from St. Adolphe named Mike Harder. He was a ringer, imported across the Red River by team manager Stan Plett to help us dominate the Pee-Wee hockey scene in southern Manitoba. Great kid, super scoring skills and a good attitude. He invited me to my first junior high dance at his school -- I remember being terrified of all the cute French girls, thrilled by their accents and giggles, and later being mortified by my fashion choice of a pale yellow sweatshirt with grey faux-collar. But I digress...

Like Rosenort's equivalent Mike (Martens), he was the best player for miles around, and many people thought he was destined for the big league. That must create tons of pressure on a kid, and I've often wondered what became of him, in hockey or otherwise. Turns out he played for Colgate University, ending up as the school's all-time leading scorer with 214 points in 134 games -- enough to get him into their Hall of Honor. By 1997, he was one of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award (best U.S. college hockey player) along with some guys who went on to have excellent NHL careers: Martin St. Louis, Jason Blake, Chris Drury, John Madden, and Brendan Morrison. I thought this article about him was pretty fantastic, especially with the focus on his childhood: Harder, Better, Best.

It's fascinating to see his career stats, which mirror the career arc of the vast majority of guys who take a shot at making it to the NHL -- tours of duty in various minor leagues, and some successful European stints. I was most interested in the prime of his career over a couple of seasons in the AHL (farm teams for the NHL). Although he was undrafted, in 1998-99 he scored an impressive 79 points in 79 games for the Rochester Americans, a team that had Brian Campbell and Cory Sarich on defense, with Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron in net. It looks like most of his teammates got a cup of coffee in the NHL at some point in their careers, but he never got that call.

Somehow I doubt that he'd view his lack of NHL games as a failure. He got a degree from an excellent U.S. university, got paid for a dozen years to play a game he loves, and traveled all over the world. Bet he made great lifelong friends along the way too. I thought of him when reading (and re-reading) Essex County, with those intertwining themes of hockey, memory, choices, opportunity and family -- and wondered what his post-hockey transition might look like, since hockey players our age are now retiring or adopting the "grizzled veteran" label. Maybe I can track him down some day and ask him.

Strings the Thing

2011-07-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, our violin teacher contacted me to ask whether she and the other instructors at their annual strings camp would be able to play some of my Summerland Suite as part of their faculty concert. I've attended the faculty concert the last couple of years and it's always top notch -- high-end performances and an interesting, varied list of music -- so of course I was stoked.

As exciting as it was to be part of the quartet playing the songs at Red Rooster last year, this was an opportunity to simply listen to my music played by professionals. The first thrill was opening the program and seeing J.Hiebert sandwiched between J.S.Bach and L.Beethoven. The second was hearing March, October and May played for an appreciate audience at the Shatford Centre, six minutes of joy for me:

My reaction by song:

March -- Lightning fast! I love intensity of the increased pace, but it was hard for the group to stay in synch at that tempo. My hunch is that pulling it back slower maybe 10% would have great impact and better synchronization. That critique aside, I was euphoric hearing Calvin pour himself into this one.
October -- I wish I'd written a more interesting second-violin part for this, as John didn't have much to work with. This one was the most like our original rendition -- a straight-up version that I enjoyed very much. Nice bassline work with the cello.
May -- Another reinterpretation that turned a rollicking fiddle anthem into a lilting, melodic tune with a richer, mellower vibe than I had envisioned. Loved it!

Special thanks to Liz Lupton, Joel Stobbe, John Suderman, and Calvin Dyck for bringing the music to life!

Grasshead

2011-07-10T15:25:00.001-07:00

I know, I know...grass is not the most compelling photographic subject for normal people, but this set is really coming together. In mosaic form like this, the whole has more impact than the parts. As I found with ice, the more you look, the more you see...even the most mundane, everyday subject yields beauty and wonder. I feel like some of the things I've learned with each new subject are transferable to new subjects, which is really exciting from an artistic perspective. It makes me wonder what the next subject of choice might be.

Ivy the Greek

2011-07-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Despite a raging thunderstorm, apparently sent by an angry Zeus, Ivy's Greek-gods-themed party was a big hit. One minute of video evidence below:

Ten

2011-06-30T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is from five years ago, while celebrating Ivy's birthday on the beach in Penticton -- I love her little smile as she eyes her cake and listens to us sing. In retrospect, five-year-old Ivy provided plenty of clues about who she'd be at 10, but of course that's difficult to project into the future. Fun to check out past birthday posts with that in mind: nine, seven, five, and four.

Maybe high expectations come with the territory when you speak and read like someone much older. We often have to remind ourselves that she's not simply a miniature adult, especially when she's emotionally distraught about something we'd never worry about. I know the "gifted" label is problematic, but it shows up repeatedly in the literature on high-achieving kids that many have asynchronous development -- often with academic or creative skills far outstripping their ability to process emotional situations that we think they should be able to handle. That was certainly Ivy at five...and at ten. I love seeing her progress through the tough stuff; even more than seeing her thrive in the pursuits that are easy for her.

She goes through times when we frequently remind her to "take off the black hat", a reference to the critical, skeptical, analytical thinking processes from de Bono's six thinking hats. She comes by it honestly, as I occasionally wonder whether my own black hat is sewn onto my scalp. Perhaps we'll share the blessing/curse of the INTP personality type, prizing our mutual independence, creativity and problem-solving while trying to cope with the prickly traits in the package. I already find myself astounded at her personal creative outlets, leaps and projects, mostly hatched and incubated without any outside assistance -- when she gets an idea, she can be a real force of nature.

So now Ivy heads into her 11th year, with plans to keep learning at home -- so far it has not been easy to tempt her to try school again, which is not surprising. She's planned a small (but lavish and high concept) Greek-themed birthday party the week after her official big day. This week we'll celebrate with family, fish 'n chips and a favourite dessert. Last week Ivy finished up her violin season with a summer recital -- it's worth watching the video just to see her come flying in with her fiddle group about 30 seconds in, and then smile...

So we've got an incredible ten-year-old daughter and we're so proud her. What I wrote five years ago still applies perfectly:

"Like all of us, she also has her moments where it's not all good, and we're probably too hard on her sometimes, but overall it's an amazing honour to spend time with this precious creature. Happy Birthday, Ivy Jane."

Update: Birthday party video posted...

Ella Pearl

2011-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Marj used to pester me if it had been a while since I had made a blog post full of pictures of the kids. "Enough with the ice and weeds already! Where are your gorgeous children?" Not that those posts were only for her, but she was a big fan of the kids and reminded me often enough...as a result, I haven't had the heart to post them since November. Time to get back on the horse, and of course there's a treasure trove of photos of the kids since then -- I know she would have heartily approved. Many made it into the book I made for the grandparents for Christmas:

Untitled | Make Your Own Book

I wanted to start with Ella, our fascinating seven-year-old. It's hard to get a read on where she's at these days, as it seems like seven is a transitional year for her. Transition to what? We're not sure yet. On one hand she's still silly and fun-loving and carefree, but there's also been a darker, more intense edge to her personality. Not that's it's necessarily negative -- although it can include anxiety and melancholy, it also shows itself in ambition and focus, maybe even enhanced creativity.

I've been blown away by her drawing lately. Sometimes she draws out of books, but other times the characters are straight out of her head, and they're often hilarious, like this evil genius shown here. A few more:

Monster at the bed...no wonder she has trouble sleeping sometimes.
Two fun male characters from a cartooning book.
An angry old guy with a newspaper, probably a vision of my future.
A mean girl, complete with speech bubble accusing the cat of misdeeds.
Funky owl -- I believe this one was just made up, not out of a book.
Backpack girl, showing some serious flair.

It's been great for Ella to get back into gymnastics after a break. She's back to cartwheeling as transportation, and she seems stronger and more confident. She was flying on her skates this winter, and thrived as we switched to riding bikes. It's fun to see her so busy and confident -- will be great to get her back in the lake as things warm up a bit (my first swim is usually in May...this year, late June!).

Socially, it's been harder for her to plug in with friends. She spends a lot of time with her siblings, which is great, but we'll have to get her together with her buddies more often this summer. Oh, and she loves her new room too. A remarkable kid, this one...few more pics:

Life According to Facebook Part 2

2011-06-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

I tried this back in March, and I like having my own copy of all these little updates from Facebook -- even though they're mostly mundane, they include memory triggers and references I find interesting later. This batch is from about March 20-June 20, 2011, with decorative photos taken from the more recent shots in my Trees set, which I think is coming along quite nicely.

amazing father's day, lots of warmth and fun
Downhill action with bro Ryan...in way over our heads on the Gillard trails, and in the rain...fun like being 10 years old in the mud.
From Richard: "Congrats on winning the pool. I'll do the logistics after school tonight and send you the winnings."
‎6am trail work: best way to start my day
$1500 for one seat in the upper bowl? And the price keeps going up.

The only good news to come out of the Canucks' loss last night was winning a $40 ($80, actually!) gift card at Local Lounge...for predicting that Daniel Sedin would get the most points for Vancouver. I've picked him again for tomorrow, hopefully in a winning effort this time.
Only Myron Dueck can turn pizza night into a relay-sprint grudge match between families, with kids and dads pitted against each other in fierce laps around the house. So fun, and so sore...can't believe I didn't pull out a camera.
Amazing morning ride with Lorne Hildebrand and Andrew Vandersluys, exploring the incredible craftsmanship of the Smith Creek trail in Westbank.
Jeremy Hiebert attended the event Father's Day Mountain Bike Ride.

thumbs up for the new Penticton pool...top-notch
stellar day off with the kids, mellow and fun
Any Canon users out there looking for a good all-purpose lens?
has a blood-chocolate level of 72% cocoa
From Sara Heinrichs: "I was just checking out some pictures of your kids. I completely understand why my mom loved them and ate them up! They are gorgeous!"
five rides in eight days makes for a happy mountain biker (June 6)
Metallica Vs The Prodigy - Battery Thunder This remix rocks...Tannis found it a few weeks ago and I put it in every playlist.
sold his camera
thankful for two nights of hanging out with good guys
Beautiful, simple guide to the trails around Westbank...a good reminder that they're not far from here.

inexplicable morning anxiety/gloom
excellent new trails on Cartwright
beef-barley-lentil stew and peach cherry crisp
Ella's gymnastics performance
pink bitterroot and purple lupins blooming in meadows
Spy Porter
failed photo outing yesterday
has been enjoying Ted Logie's account of growing up on Jones Flat Road a hundred years ago...hilarious and fascinating. (May 28)
didn't expect to have lunch with the pastors of the Summerland Baptist Church
Ivy's fiddle group recorded their first CD last night...pretty cool experience.
For the girls' home-learning program, we make some effort to document their "active living", as if it was something they wouldn't be doing if it wasn't part of the curriculum. I put together these clips from the last few months.

rainy and cool
I just finished Essex County for the second time. Masterpiece of Canadiana!
steve plett in the house
Two firsts for Ezra today: riding his bike on singletrack and helping me build trail.
took the day off
It would have made a better story if the nude hikers I encountered on the trail this morning hadn't been old fat guys.
Metallica at the height of their powers in 1989...credit to cousin Jason for convincing me to go see them on this tour. Tonight's soundtrack.
Pretty amazing to be able to translate easily between dozens of languages...audio pronunciation, entire pages translated, alternate translations...we take it for granted, but this is Star Trek tricorder tech...Google translate
Irma Voth
My kids' favourite musical artist: Weird Al.
pulled the first spinach and chives out of the garden for sauce (May 14)

Fridays after work should always be this nice: a ride up and down Conkle Mountain, supper at Local Lounge (w/Backhand of God Stout) with two special girls, an hour of bed-time reading...
Anyone out there have daughters between six and 12? I highly recommend the Penderwicks series as read-alouds. Classic stuff, warm and wonderful.
accurately predicted the final four in the NHL playoffs...we'll see about my call for a Vancouver-Boston SCF
Ezra goes hard on his bike for a three-year-old. Now I'm pondering upgrades to the bike track to keep up with his desire to do more. We've already put him on a bigger bike since this video was taken, and that's apparently sped him up even more. It's only a matter of time until our first hospital visit.

From Tannis: "Jeremy Hiebert is a bit shy about it but if all goes well, his "Seasons" quartet is going to be played in Manning Park in August, at "Art In The Park", an event to celebrate BC Park's 100th anniversary.(May 10)
Serious bike shuffle for summer...Ezra got Ella's, Ella got Ivy's, and Ivy got a new (to her) blue BMX that she pronounced "the ultimate bike colour". After breakfast I got them all adjusted and set up for their new riders.
Skipped watching the game, but glad to see the Canucks advance. I'm thinking it should be San Jose up next, a team they played well against this year (especially the Sedins; 11 points in 4 games)(May 9)
This event looks fantastic. Tannis Hiebert and Kim Lawrick rode the course on the weekend and loved it. Some generous trail gnomes have been hard at work on Cartwright Mountain connecting and crafting a very fun loop -- almost all singletrack, and nearly 10km. Looks like the race is a worthy cause too -- they're welcoming donations and pledges. Test of Humanity

arrowleaf balsamroot, purple shooting star, sagebrush buttercup...the meadows are alive with colour again
has satisfying calluses from the hoe handle this weekend...first on the Conkle Mountain trails, and then in the garden.
Listening to the new Beasties album; pretty kick-ass.
This week's Focus Friday on Awesome Okanagan -- a few of Andrew's shots from our outing to the observatory south of Penticton.
checked out the BMX racing in Penticton...Ezra was itching to get out there
Any party in power will resist change to our voting system, making change nearly impossible...but awarding seats on the basis of the popular vote would seem to make more sense.
Usually we get bland editorials that appear to be focused entirely on not offending anyone. I wish they let Wolf write more of them...

so thankful for pub nights
My vote for the most awesome invention of the last couple of centuries: the bicycle. So amazing to pedal away from home, ride to the top of Conkle Mountain several kilometers away, fly down on trails through the forest, and then zoom back home; all in 90 mintues after work.
didn't barf during Harper's nauseating victory speech...my tiny personal victory on a frustrating night
This film looks excellent -- can't believe it's playing in Summerland next week. I guess the filmmakers' dad (John Topham) is a local resident.
Why the surge of support for the NDP? I think their platform is pretty smart, covering most of the things I care about most in a way that makes sense. Please vote today, as long as you're not considering a PC vote, in which case I hope you forget to go -- really, we've had enough lies, embarrassing foreign policy, corporate handouts, eroding democracy and the dismantling of our environmental regulations.
Great Saturday: cruising all over Conkle Mountain scouting and buffing trail, sushi from Just Delicious Cafe, hanging with the kids, and now a Canucks game.

couldn't believe the bargains on good microbrew in Penticton...$8 for a six of Spy Porter, $16 for an assorted Phillips 12-pack, and even less for a Tree 12-mix. Stocked up for summer... April 28
needs to spend more time on Conkle Mountain
Oh no. Not sure I can handle the stress of a Game 7. April 24
delectable early easter feaster last night with the Hieberts...thai wraps with peanut sauce (my request), homemade chocolate eclairs (Ryan's request) and good things to sip.
great date with Ivy at Theo's Restaurant before our violin lesson. Liz and I tried out my newest composition, a viola duet to play at a recital in June...exciting to hear it coming alive. April 18
I got this documentary from the library and really enjoyed it this week...didn't realize that I could have just watched it online. RIP! A remix manifesto

Yes, I've had too much time on my hands with the family in Manitoba. Instead of just cleaning up the rink, I did a time-lapse of the process, then decided to turn it into a kids' bike park. April 14
Another month, another photo feature for Awesome Okanagan. This time around I focused on Jason Drury, a local student with an interesting approach. Definitely worth a look (and a Like, if you do).
‎Andrew Vandersluys and I saw this guy a couple of months ago, and he really was fantastic. The next night, they recorded his show in Kelowna -- it sounds great (listen free, download $10) and I'm thinking we may have to go see him again when he rolls through next week. Pat LePoidevin
thanks to Lorne Hildebrand for the bike ride and supper feast
won my hockey pool
Maudite

Sure, the playoffs will be tougher for the Canucks, but no matter what happens, this was a great season to be a fan of the team. President's trophy with 117 points, most goals for, fewest goals against. And Daniel Sedin wins the Art Ross Trophy for scoring the most points. A moment of celebration, and tomorrow we'll see who they face in the first round.
started and finished Swing Low by Miriam Toews last night...a devastating read
Wonderful author, one of my favourites...who also happens to live in Summerland.
pizza and ping-pong extravaganza with Jim Friesen and Myron Dueck
Is this a good photo? No, it is not. But it was a great night, zooming to Kelowna with Myron and hanging out with old school friend Jim.
‎Lorne Hildebrand and I biked over to see the mountain goats this afternoon

Taking a few days off last week got me composing music again. This viola duet was the result, and I'm hoping to talk Liz Lupton into trying it with me. Could be fun to perform at the adult recital in June. (The link goes to the online sheet music, which does let you listen when you hit play, but the sounds are like a crappy old organ...still, enough to get the idea)
What's on my mind? My grandma's not doing so good. March 30
So many amazing things on this planet...this makes me want to take the next few years off to wander.
listening to the new Alela Diane album...more folk/country than my usual tastes, but I think her voice is magic
feels recharged after five days off
thrilled to be out on the trails again with eagles and deer
is happier when he spins pedals
Great night out with Bill, Lorne Hildebrand and Andrew Vandersluys...frosty pints of Crannog's Backhand of God contributed to the joy.
a good strong coffee made in the french press often makes me miss Angelo Eidse
Enjoyed the excellent photo exhibit of black and white portraits by Rick Gray at the Summerland Art Gallery (show runs through April) March 22
Mexican feast with Bill (March 21)

reading watching listening

2011-06-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this is the fate of my blog -- to record my consumption of media five times a year. Better than nothing, I suppose. As usual, decoration provided by some of my recent photos.

Reading

Essex County -- I put it on hold shortly after I finished it the first time, during the later rounds of Canada Reads. Still awesome...a masterpiece of Canadiana, and the best graphic novel I've read.

Irma Voth -- I probably wanted to like this book too much. There was much about it that I loved, and I laughed out loud several times...but unfortunately I just didn't "buy" the voice of the main character. To me it felt like Miriam Toews tried shoehorning her own world-wise, middle-aged, brilliant self (along with her entire vocabulary) into a the shell of a naive, messed up, deprived 19-year-old Mexican Mennonite girl. She continually says (and thinks) things that didn't fit, and it constantly got in the way of my enjoyment. The story itself seemed silly to me at times too, with characters making bizarre decisions I couldn't go along with somehow. I was probably cursed by my adoration for A Complicated Kindness and Swing Low.
Closer -- as with the entire Tunnels series, this is total escapist fluff; a literary guilty pleasure that I very much enjoyed. My expectations for this were very low, and they were wildly exceeded.

Ted Tells (Okanagan) Tales had me howling over and over. Hilarious stories of growing up in Summerland in the early 1900s, and it really couldn't get more local for us, as the author grew up almost exactly where we live right now. This book is a real treasure. I also read Summerland: In Celebration of 100 Years, which was much more of a straight-ahead community history, but also interesting enough.
What the Dog Saw -- I had ignored this book of Gladwell's despite enjoying all his other writing, at least partly because the title and cover was so uninviting. However, it's one of those books that really got its hooks into me, and I keep thinking about the stories. It's a wide-ranging collection of essays previously published in the New Yorker -- very high quality.

Savvy and Scumble -- Excellent bedtime reading with the girls over several weeks. I hadn't read the second book, and although it was entertaining enough, it couldn't really compete with the wonderful first one.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians -- We're not too far into the first book yet, but I'm really enjoying it. Ella had requested it, and Ivy consented to listening, even though she's read the entire series several times already. Should keep us busy well into the summer.

The Pink Refrigerator -- We've had dozens of good picture books for Ezra of the last few months, but I keep taking this out again and again. A simple story of a guy who needs to get off his ass and engage in life, especially creative pursuits.
Some of the best writing about hockey this season came from legendary NHL referee Kerry Fraser, in a regular column on TSN. Fascinating glimpses behind the scenes. Reminded me that reffing hockey was one of the most difficult things I ever attempted...

Watching

Not many people are going to watch an hour-long university lecture about mental illness, but I thought it had terrific impact: Stanford's Sapolsky On Depression. He weaves together the two main threads of brain chemistry and psychology in a way that made sense to me -- one of the most fascinating examples of the interplay of nature/nurture that I've encountered, and with a focus on stress. Thanks to Rob for the pointer.
Liberia '77 -- It was pretty cool to have this documentary screened in Summerland -- the filmmakers grew up here, or we'd never get a chance to see it locally. Very well done; lots of food for thought.

Iron Giant -- Ezra picked this one again, and I ended up getting hooked (yet again). So good.
NHL playoffs -- Despite the loss and the stupid riot, it was a great year to be a Canucks fan. Much of the hockey was incredibly entertaining, especially in the series against the Sharks. Kudos to the Bruins, who totally deserved the cup -- we watched Game 7 at Myron and Tracey's, and the loss didn't ruin a great evening. I managed to correctly predict the final four teams, which gave me the win in cousin Richard's playoff pool. I should probably retire after this season of hockey pool domination.

Listening

David Comes to Life by F***ed Up -- I've shunned this band because of their ridiculous name, but this album just sounds too fantastic to ignore them any longer. They released four songs for free, and I like them all. Thumbs up for rollicking Canadian rock 'n roll.
Lament in the Trampled Garden by Marjan Mozetich -- my fave Canadian composer, and this disc is amazing. I'm especially fond of Angels in Flight...all three songs, but the last one blows me away.

Conkle Mountain Trail

2011-06-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Tannis and I don't get to ride our bikes together very often, but my folks took the kids last weekend and sent us out. I got to show Tannis the trail on Conkle Mountain that I've been working on this spring, and the balsamroot was still blooming in the meadows up high. Tannis shot this little video of me in my happy place:

It's good for my soul to get up there, and I've probably put in 20-30 hours with the clippers and hoe. The trail work I've been doing isn't really building as much as it is way-finding, connecting, fixing and marking existing deer paths and old trails, which already cover the mountain. It's been really exciting for me to hook up one good route from top to bottom. With another 10 hours of "work", I think it could be an excellent route, with a challenging 45-minute climb, an incredible ridge-line section with 360-degree views at the top, and some really fun, swooping singletrack through the forests and grasslands on the way down. Tannis's smile is a good sign:

Speaking of smiles, the forecast for this weekend has me smiling. We've had so little of this kind of weather so far this spring:

Catch-up

2011-05-04T15:47:00.001-07:00

Also in the category of stuff that happened last year that I never posted about, I've had a draft post about our trip to Vancouver to see The National concert sitting here for about eight months and finally hit "publish" this week: The National in Vancouver.

Tracey's Birthday (Last Year)

2011-05-04T10:22:00.001-07:00

This week Tannis took Tracey out for her birthday -- girls' night out in Kelowna with a nice Mexican feast and then the Sarah McLachlan concert that nobody seemed to have heard about. Sounds like it was excellent. It reminded me that I had never posted about her giant birthday bash LAST year -- a milestone 40th with surprise guests, a live band, and an incredible spread of food and drinks. I'm not a big party guy, but it was pretty fantastic and I had planned to post a few photos at least.

We're so thankful to have old friends like the Duecks here in Summerland -- people who don't require additional explanation when we can throw out old Rosenort references to explain some facet of human nature.

Welcome Warmth

2011-05-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here's something we haven't seen too much of through April. It's been a long, cool, slow spring this year, with little hints of warmth that seem to disappear as quickly as they arrive. Not that it's been rotten weather, just lacking those days in early April where shoots up over 20 and we go sit at the beach imagining song summer days. I guess I shouldn't complain, as it's been perfect riding weather and the trails are in prime shape. I tromped all over Conkle Mountain scouting and buffing trails yesterday -- stoked that it's coming together as a legit riding area close to town.

In other news, I've been experimenting with photo manipulation, taking my pictures and mirroring sections of them to create interesting patterns and illusions. It's been fun, but I doubt it's something I'll stick with for long...although there may be potential, the set is growing.

A Case of Consumption

2011-04-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently it is time for my the every-coupla-months update on what I'm filling my head with. Lots of artsy-fartsy photos to decorate the place with too, and there should be more of those as the land comes alive once again.

Watching:

Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore. As always, I'm a year or two behind the buzz on these things, despite being a big fan of his documentaries. I thought this one was a bit of a mess, which is what I expected given the scope of the topic he tackled...but with lots of poignant moments and his signature touches that mostly still resonate.
Rip: A Remix Manifesto -- Really sharp documentary about intellectual property, mostly focused on music, which suited me fine. Free to watch in HD on the NFB site, although I got my copy at the library.
Mary and Max. I love claymation, and although this was visually compelling, the story was a disaster -- one of those movies with no identity, just a random assortment of scenes cobbled together. I was truly mystified by generally positive reviews and found myself agreeing with the one from the Globe and Mail: "...mixture of artistic sophistication and emotional crudeness cancel each other out...."
NHL Playoffs, which have been pretty exciting so far. We don't have cable, so it's online streaming for me...CBCs feeds have been good. Helps that the Canucks are winning. My predictions (from before the start) for the first round: Vancouver over Chicago in 6, San Jose over LA in 5, Detroit over Phoenix in 5, Anaheim over Nashville in 6 (although I like Nashville, and am enjoying seeing them beat the Ducks). In the East, I'm likely going to be getting slammed for picking upsets in all the wrong ones: NYR over Washington in 7, Boston over Montreal in 5, Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh in 7, Buffalo over Philadelphia in 6.

Reading:

Heaps and piles of picture books with Ezra, cycling through about 20 a week from the library, many times each. It's been fun to get back into picture books.
After our multi-month The Mysterious Benedict Society bedtime-reading marathon (three monster-thick books), we took a break with the rather silly Willoughbys, and have now dug into
The Penderwicks. There are three already written, and they've got a wonderful sense of warmth and innocence -- old-fashioned stories.
My mom has recommended Swing Low by Miriam Toews for years already, and I finally got to it last week, starting after supper and finishing late that same night. I found the father-daughter stuff so poignant, and the dichotomies and tensions between how he felt (trapped in his own head), and how he lived -- so differently at home and at work. Lots of stuff to stew on there from my own past and present. I felt convicted at times, which is good, reflecting on incidents when I feel warmly toward my kids, yet say something critical instead (or saying nothing, more often). I was also reframing my own constructs about what mental health really means in my own life...recognizing ups and downs and coping mechanisms, especially coming through this winter. Lots of good conversations have come out of it already.
This is going back a month or two already, but I got totally into Mennonites Don't Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack. Andrew and I went to see her do a reading in Penticton, so I crammed the night before -- need to go back to read the favourite stories again. I bought a copy for my mom, which she reviewed, and that led to a fascinating response from the author (who happens to live in Kelowna).
To complete the trifecta on this theme, I've been enjoying The Mennonites by Larry Towell again -- my third time taking it out of the library. Amazing photography...masterful, even.
Earth, a very silly book by Jon Stewart that had me laughing to the point of tears.

Listening To:

Pat Lepoidevin's live album from his last show at the Streaming Cafe...looking forward to seeing him again there this week.
New album from Alela Diane, which I'm lukewarm on so far.
My Canadiana indie-rock playlist, assembled on the amazing CBC Radio 3 site
Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich -- the OSO played his excellent Postcards From the Sky in their last show, and I've been really into Lament in the Trampled Garden as well.