Another weekend full of stuff.

Friday, M. and I went to the quiet burg of Scotts Valley to witness some Swedes, collectively called Vasen, play their instruments. They played in a community center that used to be a Lutheran church. They played viola, nyckelharpa, and guitar. The audience, most of whom seemed to be there not because they were familiar with Vasen, but because they were Swedish and were hungering for a bit of culture from the homeland. We were there because we liked the band, which placed us in the minority. Of course, by the end of the evening everybody liked the band. They were quite likeable, and even told bad jokes between songs in a deadpan Swedish sort of way. Another great thing is that, according to the little program we were handed, it's a Scandinavian tradition to give away free coffee wherever people congregate. This is good, and yet one more reason to consider moving to Scandinavia.
I overheard a guy behind me say that if Vasen weren't musicians, they'd probably be math professors because it takes some "serious brainpower" to play music like they do. The viola player seems to have a good head for obscure historical information relating to the songs (some composed centuries ago) they were playing.
Also, due to the deficiencies of my American keyboard, I have done them the insult of calling them "vase". Their name actually means something like, "essence", or "spirit", but without the proper punctuation (a little dot) over the "a", the meaning changes. Also, due to the deficiencies of my American education, I don't even know what that little dot over the "a" is called.
Another guy, who looked to be somewhere in his eighth or ninth decade, stood up after the concert and pointed out that it was the 14th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. I still remember that little event like it was yesterday. Apparently a lot of other people do too.

Oh, in case you don't know what a nyckelharpa is, here's a picture:



Sunday, Lexy had his party at the ice skating rink in Cupertino. The last time I ice skated was at that rink, when I was not much older than Lexy. I actually managed to make my way around the rink with a bit of speed (if very little grace), although I did fall on my butt a couple of times. About half of the kids attending the party also seemed to know the rudiments of ice skating. The other half clutched the walls or parent's hands. Nate, who has never before been on the ice, actually managed to do a little bit of unassisted skating. He also did plenty of assisted skating (my arms are still sore from holding him up, as I'm sure Uncle Jay's and Stacy's are as well) Willow, bundled up against the cold, watched from the sidelines. The Dickens stayed home with Granny. Two year olds and ice skating rinks don't make a good combination.

Later on, back at home, The Dickens made up a new game that involved making frog noises and peeking up over the side of the bed at Willow. This made Willow laugh so hard that she got hiccups. Ribbit! Ribbit! hahahaha*hic* Ribbit! Ribbit! hahahaha*hic* over and over and over again.

And, as if that weren't enough, one of our pets had babies! We're willing to adopt them out to good homes, so if you're reading this and you would like your very own Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, let me know. At the moment they're quite small. Indeed, I spent a lot of time locating them all and removing them from the cage they were born in - a cage that they could easily escape from, since they're about the size of small sowbugs at the moment. As adults, they will be around two inches long, and have the ability to hiss quite loudly when irritated. It'll be fun to watch the babies grow. Nate looked in at them and said, "they're cuter than Willow!" I disagreed with him, and then discovered that his criteria for cuteness is based on size. The smaller something is, the cuter it is.

cds I listened to while having no idea I'd ramble on this long: Daniel Littleton & Tara Jane O'neil "Music for a Meteor Shower", Circle "Sunrise", Fred Frith "Rivers and Tides { working with time" (soundtrack for the Andy Goldsworthy documentary of the same name - see it if you can), J.M.K.E "Gringode Kultuur", CMX "Musiikin Ystavalliset Kasvot + 5", and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum "Live"