Simultaneous Norske Obligations in Two Cities

Last summer I was asked to serve on the board of directors for Trollfjorden Language and Cultural Camp, the Norwegian camp that our family has attended the past two summers (see 2010 and 2009).  There are generally two board meetings between summertime camp sessions: one in the fall and another in the spring.  At the fall meeting (at a board member's home near Glenburn, ND), I was elected treasurer, so I have had some money-related duties to carry out since then.  The spring board meeting was today in Minot, ND, so I made a quick up-and-back trip today without the ladies.  They couldn't come because they had an important event of their own to attend:

Pride in Daughters and Other Local Entertainers

Our daughters' former piano teacher, Mrs. Vold, moved away last summer, and we were grateful to have found a new piano teacher: Mrs. Arneson, who also plays organ and piano at our church--and who volunteered to come to our house for weekly lessons, which makes our lives much easier (i.e., no more shuttling girls back and forth, one at a time, across town to the piano teacher's house while trying to tend to other appointments and to the making of supper).  There are differences, of course, in how each of those teachers gives lessons; but one thing in common is that both have their students participate in annual piano festivals sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs (the same group that oversaw the annual piano festivals in which my sisters and I performed throughout childhood).

The girls' piano festival was held today at the university, and the results are in:

Two Web Highlights

Check these out:

Culture Pulse -- A new Web site featuring information on all sorts of arts events in southwest ND: dance, theatre, music, visual art, museums, heritage events, festivals, special events, film showings, literary events, family- and kid-friendly events, classes and workshops . . . there's even a category called "sporting and outdoors"! As more and more regional arts groups become aware of Culture Pulse and start to add information about their own events, it will become a handy hub of information for those wondering, "What's there to do this weekend?"

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me -- This NPR weekly news quiz show is always hilarious, but today's episode features NBC news anchor Brian Williams as a guest engaging in especially amusing repartee with the show's host and panelists. He shares funny stories, comes up with witty rejoinders, and (spoiler alert) wins his game after sharing his hilarious reasoning for arriving at the correct answers. Follow the link above and, if you wish, listen only to the Brian Williams portion (about 15 minutes). If you have more time, listen to the entire episode. It's news/current events-based comedy for people with brains! (And that's you, Faithful Reader.)

Aune Family Reunion 2009: Day 2

Happy Independence Day! Yesterday as we drove, we listened to National Public Radio and enjoyed hearing what has become an annual feature on NPR this time of year: the reading of the Declaration of Independence by NPR's hosts, commentators, reporters, and newscasters. It was so stirring to hear the words read aloud with meaningful expression and with awesome music in the background. You can hear it yourself (as well as read along) here.

Okay, on to my reunion recap (recall Day 1 of this reunion?): The Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites of Eagan, MN serves the best complimentary breakfast of any hotel I've ever stayed at, so far as I can recall. This morning Susan, the girls, and I joined the hordes of other Aunes staying at the hotel in over-running the dining area just off the lobby for cheese omelets, waffles, English muffins, biscuits and gravy, doughnuts, fruits, cereal, juice, coffee, etc. It was delicious and another fine opportunity to visit with relatives. (Interesting tidbit: We also saw and visited with a family from our church in Dickinson! They're here for a little vacation this weekend and just happened to select the same hotel that we did. What are the odds?!)

Eagan is having its annual 4th of July Funfest this weekend, and we could have attended the parade this morning. However, that would have meant cutting short the visiting, so we skipped the parade. Bea's family had arranged several daytime options for the Aunes today: those interested in golfing did so early this morning; the female first cousins or wives of first cousins (that's my dad's generation) met in the hotel's Magnolia Room for a catered dinner at noon (this is a tradition carried over from past Aune reunions); and those interested in swimming met at noon at Cascade Bay Waterpark (not far from the park where last night's festivities were held) for splashing, sunburning, and dining on hot dogs, chips, and soda. Here are some highlights:

Susan and I elected not to swim, instead keeping a watchful eye on the children and manning the cameras (Susan had ours, and I took photos using the camera of my sister Sandy, who frolicked in the water with the others). I don't know what's going on in this photo, but isn't that a weird facial expression that I'm rockin'?

Here are my sisters Sandy and Cathy, chatting poolside between trips down the waterslides with their nieces.

Here are Suzanna (in the orange), Abigail (green), and Hillary (turquoise) shooting out one of the waterslides.

And here they are in a more serene moment, floating down the "lazy river."

Here's Sandy with some of the slides in the background. The next few pics are more shots of the waterpark's slides. It's a great facility, and the kids had a blast playing in the water this afternoon.

All the Aunes gathered back at Blackhawk Park again for tonight's supper: a pig roast catered by Divine Swine Catering. While we waited for the food to be set out, the girls led Susan and me on a short walk to Blackhawk Lake, which looked just lovely beneath the setting sun. (The lake is kinda swampy--less of a lake in which one might want to swim and more of a slough at which one might want to gaze from the safety of the bridge or the shore. But legitimately pretty nevertheless, tucked as it is amongst the trees.) A short while later, the caterers served tangy coleslaw and potato salad alongside both pork and turkey with a delicious barbecue sauce on the side, and we ate and drank and visited. Here are some highlights:

See? Isn't Blackhawk Lake pretty when one cannot see the algae up close? That bridge is picturesque, too. We stood in the middle of it awhile and watched fishes and frogs moving around in the lake, darting between fronds of underwater vegetation.

This swine tasted divine but looks a bit gruesome. Notice the apple lying on the aluminum foil near the pig's snout--nice touch!

For dessert, Bea's family served Norwegian baking, including these kransekaker ["wreath cakes"], also called Norwegian wedding cakes. They're made of ground almonds, powdered sugar, and egg whites. We may not have been home for me to cook for Scandinavian Saturday, but we got our Scandinavian cuisine just the same!

Hillary got a bit too much sun this afternoon and started feeling unwell at suppertime. Although last night we took the shuttle from the hotel to the park, this evening we drove ourselves; so I had a vehicle at the park and was able to take Hillary to a store to buy some children's pain reliever and a bottle of aloe vera gel. She and I returned to the hotel so that she could take the medicine and I could cover her face and shoulders in aloe vera. She grabbed her blankie and stuffed animal, and we got back in the vehicle. On the way back to the park, she asked if she could take a nap, so I purposely drove around Eagan to pass some time so that she could rest.

By the time we got back to the park, she was alert and feeling much better. However, we had totally missed tonight's program! People had been asked beforehand to provide entertainment, so those willing had signed up to sing and play musical instruments. Our family decided to do something a little different and planned to teach everybody some of the Norwegian folk dances that we learned at Camp Trollfjorden. Susan, Suzanna, and Abigail were able to do that without Hillary and me, and they said that it went well; and many people afterward reported that they'd had a blast learning and dancing those dances, so it seems to have been a hit. Here are some highlights from the entertainment (that Hillary and I missed):

My stepmom asked Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary to sing their a capella version of "Amazing Grace," which became a duet after I bolted with Hillary. I think Suzanna and Abigail got in on some more singing with my sisters, too.

Here are some Aunes doing one of the Norwegian folk dances that Susan, Suzanna, and Abigail taught them. We're all used to dancing at wedding dances, street dances, and similar events, so I'm not surprised that people were willing to get onto their feet and try out some new dances. In fact, my cousin's daughter, whose wedding is this upcoming weekend back in ND, asked us to bring the music to her wedding dance so that we can teach people there these dances!

Here is my dad (farthest left) playing accordion with his sister Rose's four children, who are great accordion players and who often treat us to performances at Moberg get-togethers (see this, this, and this). They were just putting away their instruments when Hillary and I returned, but I'm assuming they were all terrific, as usual.

My sister Sandy brought a tripod and used her camera's timer to capture a photo of the whole group. This looks like a bunch of people, but it's only those who were in attendance this weekend--there are still other Aunes who did not attend!

Bea's kids knew a location nearby from which one could view the fireworks displays of all the surrounding cities, but we five were amongst those who decided to skip it, avoiding a battle with traffic and mosquitoes by returning to the hotel instead. The hotel let us use the Magnolia Room as a gathering spot, and we packed ourselves in for more drinking, eating, and visiting. We couldn't ask for a better central meeting place than what our hotel has turned out to be. It was another great day!

Norwegian Camp, Day 1

Our whole family is at summer camp!

As relatively new members of the Sons of Norway, our family has spent the past many months getting to know the organization by participating in our local lodge's activities: lutefisk supper, monthly meetings, Syttende Mai celebration, and so forth. When we found out that the Sons of Norway sponsors summertime Norwegian language and cultural camps, we did some research to find out where the nearest camp is, thinking that we might send the girls. We found two about the same distance from Dickinson: outside Red Lodge, MT and outside Bottineau, ND on Lake Metigoshe. We brought up the topic at a monthly meeting, hoping to find out if other members knew about either camp and could recommend one or the other.

Well, it turns out that our lodge has sent children to Camp Trollfjorden ["the troll inlet"] at Lake Metigoshe in the past and even pays kids' camp fees! Furthermore, we found out that Sons of Norway camps are for people of all ages: littluns, teens, parents, grandparents--whoever wants to learn more about Norwegian culture. So, of course, we signed up to go together as a family.


View Larger Map

Because we had a bit of a drive ahead of us, we left early enough this morning to allow time for a stop in Minot for a restroom break, more fuel for the vehicle, and dinner (at the Captain's Cove, a ripoff of Long John Silver's). Just a couple hours later, we found the Metigoshe Ministries Lakeside Christian Center and checked in for camp.

Velkommen til Trollfjorden ["Welcome to Trollfjorden"] plus many little Norwegian flags placed strategically around the grounds greeted us when we arrived.

We were asked to select, from lists that they provided, Norwegian names for ourselves to use for the weekend. Then each of us told that Norwegian name to a man seated at another table, and he used a wood-burning tool to write the name on a thin disk cut from the trunk of a birch tree. He tied a string through pre-cut holes in the bark-fringed disk, added a laminated card containing the lyrics to the Norwegian national anthem, and voilà: a rustic name tag to be hung from around the neck. Here are our names for the weekend:

• Kevin = Karsten
• Susan = Hilde
• Suzanna = Signe
• Abigail = Sonja
• Hillary = Kaia

A woman showed us to our rooms, and then we hauled in our stuff from the vehicle. The girls are in the farthest-away-from-us wing with all the other girls here at camp. Signe og Sonja are roommates, and Kaia is in the room next to them with a roommate with whom she became fast friends within seconds of meeting her. There are bunkbeds in each small bedroom, and their rooms are on a floor above a game room with a kitchenette and restrooms with showers.

At the other end of the retreat center, the adult females are sharing a couple bedrooms separated from the adult males' bedroom by a room reserved for the boys here at camp this weekend (yes, there are more girls than boys). So Hilde and I don't get to share a room, but we're sleeping just across the hall from one another. There's nothing fancy about our sleeping rooms or the built-in bunk beds (we'll sleep in our sleeping bags atop the plastic mattresses); but there are modern restrooms with showers just outside our bedrooms, so we're definitely not "roughing it."

We took a tour of the grounds (complete with posing and photograph-taking) before joining the large group for kveldsmat ["supper"] in the spisestue ["dining room"]. Tonight's delicious meal included lapskaus ["stew," this one containing ham, summersausage, potatoes, carrots, and rutabaga], salat ["salad," with not only mixed salad greens but also peas, yellow peppers, fresh cauliflower, and other vegetable delights], boller ["buns"], flatbrød ["flatbread"], lefse [a soft potato flatbread], smør ["butter"], melk ["milk"], lemonade ["lemonade"], kaffe ["coffee"], and sitron kake ["lemon cake"].

Together we sang this table prayer before the meal ["O You, who feeds the little bird, bless our food, O God"].

And we sang this one after the meal ["For health, happiness, daily bread, we thank You, O God"].

Before each meal, the names of two adults and two children will be drawn for KP duty after the meal (and another adult and child to clean tables and vaccuum the spisestue). Guess who got KP duty after kveldsmat? Kaia! Yep, there was little Kaia in the kjøkken ["kitchen"] with the industrial dishwasher pushing out stacks of steaming-hot plates and flatware toward her! She was game to help out however she was told to, but I think they assigned her light tasks and kept her away from the dishwasher (whew!).

Kaia is in the kjøkken ready for KP duty!

Kveldsmat was followed by an introduction of the camp staff and an overview of the camp's schedule, activities, and procedures. Everybody will be taking Norwegian language classes the next couple days, so we signed up for the level of class that we felt reflected our abilities (all five of us are in the "beginner" class). We'll all be learning a craft, too, and there were several options from which to choose. To help us out, they gave us a tour of each craft so that we could see what would be involved in learning it before we made our decisions. Kaia and Sonja both signed up for "small crafts" (a hodge-podge of drawing and painting; because they're both younger than 10, their options were limited); Signe and Hilde both signed up for strikke ["knitting"]; and I signed up for karveskurd ["chip carving"].

Afterward we gathered outside for the nightly lowering of the Norwegian flag and sang Aftensolen ["The Evening Sun"] . . . which you can listen to if you click on "Segment 3" of this A Prairie Home Companion program. Then we gathered inside where we learned several Norwegian folk dances and danced off our little Norwegian-American rumper ["butts"] until bedtime, children and adults alike! Camp Trollfjorden is veldig moro ["very fun"] so far!

Can you spot Signe in the yellow pants and Hilde in the purple striped shirt, both with partners near the camera? This particular dance required regular changes of partners; at certain points (synchronized with the music), the partners inside the circle move backward to join whoever's on the outside of the circle behind them.

Enlightening Friday

Yesterday at the university, I had two out-of-the ordinary and edifying experiences:

• I attended a workshop on the topic of diversity. Dr. Aaron Thompson of Eastern KY University was on campus to facilitate discussions about the diversity at our university and the opportunities we have to capitalize on it: in our classes, in activities across campus, for our students' benefit, for our own development, etc. He set a pleasant, interactive tone and engaged us in so much getting-to-know-you conversation that we ran out of time to hear everything that he had prepared for the presentation itself. I hope that this will be the first in a series of such events and not just a one-time effort at "diversity training" to be checked off (e.g., "There, we covered diversity. Next issue?").
  
• I attended a discussion on John Steinbeck. It was the final event in a week-long series of Steinbeck-focused presentations and discussions as part of the 4th annual Albers Humanities Festival. Self-described "public humanities scholar" Clay Jenkinson led us in conversation spurred by his sharing a few examples of Steinbeck's writing (in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, in The Grapes of Wrath, and in Travels with Charley). I love Steinbeck and had hoped to attend several of this week's events, but I had too much work to complete until I finally decided to put it on hold for at least last night's session. I enjoy listening to Jenkinson's radio program The Thomas Jefferson Hour; on it and during other public presentations, he speaks so intelligently on a wide variety of topics, both historical and current, both political and literary. It was fun to hear him and others talk about Steinbeck's writing and to be reminded why I enjoy reading Steinbeck's work.

HAIRSPRAY: Trick or Treat? Both!

Over a year ago, our family saw the film Hairspray in the movie theater and acquired the CD of its soundtrack (remember this and this?). We had seen snippets of the musical itself on TV (thanks to the Tony Awards show, talk shows that would invite the Broadway cast to perform a number, and YouTube) and liked what we saw, so when we discovered in September that Hairspray would be coming to Bismarck tonight on tour, Susan and I decided to get tickets for the whole family . . . and then not to tell our daughters. I've written before about our penchant for turning things into delightful surprises for our daughters. Here's how it happened this time:

When the window for ticket sales opened, Susan went on-line and ordered us the best seats available. She printed out the tickets and stored them in our home office. So far, nothing for the girls to know or suspect. Susan and I waited eagerly for weeks. Finally tonight arrived.

Recently the girls joined the swim team, meaning tonight from 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. should have been a swimming practice for them. However, Dickinson's wintertime Parade of Lights was tonight at 5:30, and the girls' swim team planned to ride on a float in the parade. Our daughters wondered, then, why we shooed them out of the house at 4:15.

Q: "Why so early?"
A: "We like to be early for things." [Not a lie.]

Q: "Are we going out to eat first or something?"
A: "Tonight's Friday, and Mommy usually makes homemade pizza on Friday nights." [Also not a lie. There's the implication that pizza will be on the menu tonight and the implication, therefore, that we are not going out to eat--but no outright lie.]

The confused facial expressions continued as we had them take off their snowboots and put on regular street shoes. (Q: "Wouldn't we be warmer on the float with our snowboots?" A: "Hurry, everybody out to the van." [Still no lying.]) They wondered, in silence, why I turned right instead of left, driving us away from the parade and toward a gas station. They wondered, in silence, why I insisted on a full tank of gas before driving to the parade a mere couple of miles away. The silence broke, however, when I pulled onto the Interstate.

Susan and I were (purposely) engaged in conversation about our workdays, so the girls did not interrupt us; but we could hear Hillary and Suzanna whimpering and expressing concern that, wherever in the world we were going, we would be late for the parade . . . and they had told their friends that they would meet them on the float. Nay, more important still: they had promised their friends. Mommy and I were making them break their promise!

Still, they did not ask where we were going, and neither Susan nor I volunteered any information. Abigail was the most trusting, simply asking if we would pop in a CD to listen to as we drove. I had deliberately chosen some musical soundtracks to bring along for the drive, and guess which one Abigail spied and asked to hear? Hairspray. So over the sobs of Suzanna and Hillary, Susan and I joined Abigail in singing along loudly as we drove eastward, away from the parade and toward a destination unknown to the children.

The protests quieted down as children fell asleep for late-afternoon naps. Everyone was awake and refreshed as we reached Mandan and simultaneously got to the end of the Hairspray CD. They still asked no questions as I drove into Bismarck and pulled into the parking lot of Quizno's . . . directly adjacent to the Bismarck Civic Center, where Hairspray was being performed. Suzanna saw the "no parking" part of a sign that said "no parking here for Civic Center events," so I used that as an opportunity to nonsuspiciously move the vehicle across the street into the Civic Center parking lot, telling the girls that it was better to be safe in our parking spot selection. We then walked back to the restaurant and ate our sub sandwiches.

They thanked Susan and me for taking them out to eat but wondered why we had driven all the way to Bismarck to eat at a chain restaurant that we have in Dickinson, too. Would we be shopping afterward, too? No. Then why drive all this way for a sub sandwich? Well, that was a perfectly legitimate question, but it couldn't go answered and still maintain the surprise, so I went on the offensive: Don't you appreciate getting to go out to eat? Yes, of course; thank you, Mommy and Daddy. Surprise maintained.

Afterward we walked over toward the Civic Center, and the girls--seing the parking lot now full and swarms of people crossing the street to enter the building--wondered if we were going to a concert there or to see another show by Garrison Keillor. I suggested we go inside with everybody else just to see what was going on there tonight. There were no posters for Hairspray on the doors or walls, so the girls were still clueless. In fact, the only signs up were for a "clothing mega sale," so we let the girls conclude that we (and everybody else in their fixed-up hair and fancy clothes) were there to shop for clothes.

On the way in, we saw friends and one of my students, all of whom stopped to talk without mentioning the word Hairspray--so far, so good. We got through the ticket scanning and made it up the stairs before an usher offered Suzanna a program. As soon as she saw the logo for Hairspray on the cover, the secret was out! And the hugs began . . . and the tears (Hillary was so thankful that she cried and buried her head in Mommy's bosom) . . . and the thanks . . . and the apologies for not trusting us that, wherever we were going, we were headed off to something better than sitting on a float for a parade in December in ND!

It was an absolutely terrific show. And it was wonderful to watch the girls' reactions. Afterward they couldn't say enough compliments about it. They loved knowing all the music ahead of time and knowing what to expect plot-wise and seeing how the events that they knew from the movie were represented differently on stage. The cast was chock-full of great performers, too. One particularly fun moment was during the number "You're Timeless to Me," sung by Edna and Wilbur, the parents of the main character, Tracy. The actor playing Edna broke character and started giggling during a fermata toward the end of the song, and while he (yes, a man is always cast to play the role of Edna, true to the original film that inspired all subsequent versions--read more) tried to regain his composure during the hold in the song, the audience laughed along with him and clapped and loved the moment.

Among those in attendance, the girls saw many of the teachers from their school; I saw two students from my current classes; we saw a friend from our community theatre days in Grand Forks (now living in Bismarck) and her two daughters; and we saw two friends from our summer theatre days in Walhalla. Afterward we took the girls out for dessert at T.G.I. Friday's--where we saw a former DSU colleague and his wife (now living in Bismarck). They had been at the musical, too, and recognized so many people in the audience that he wondered if the city of Dickinson had chartered a bus!

Despite their initial misgivings, the girls ended up having a great night, and Susan and I enjoyed surprising them yet again!

15 Years . . . and We're Just Beginning!

Susan and I had something awesome to celebrate today: our 15th wedding anniversary! Faithful readers will recall that we surprised our children with a trip to Disney World last November (read this and then click the "Disney" label beneath it for follow-up posts with photos), so we reminded ourselves of that before running out and buying additional presents for one another this month. However, we didn't want to just sit around the house today, quietly sipping milk and fondly recalling our months-ago vacation; so when Susan noticed a special event scheduled for today, we decided not to pass up the opportunity. We got tickets to see Garrison Keillor in Bismarck!

Whenever we find ourselves driving somewhere on a weekend, we tune into public radio and hope that we're in the car whenever Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion comes on. We love the mix of music and skits and guest stars and the folksy, nostalgic, literate humor of his weekly updates on the goings-on in his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon. When Suzanna heard that we were taking them to see Garrison Keillor, she squealed and jumped up and down! (Our kids, however, were among precious few in their age bracket in attendance, as it turned out.)

The Bismarck Civic Center was one stop on The Rhubarb Tour: A Summer Evening in Lake Wobegon, so we got tickets a few weeks ago for the whole family. Suzanna has been taking band lessons last week and this week, so we waited for her to be done with those today and then left town at 2:45 P.M. (our time), arriving in Bismarck around 5:00 P.M. (their time) and heading straight for Red Lobster for supper (Abigail and I shared a healthy meal: salad with vinaigrette dressing, broiled cod, steamed broccoli, and a baked potato topped with pico de gallo). We had time afterward for a quick stop at Cold Stone Creamery for dessert (nothing healthy there: cake batter ice cream topped with Twix bars for me) before heading over to the Civic Center and finding our seats.

Suzanna snapped this pic of us waiting for our entrées to arrive at Red Lobster. Do we look as though we've been married 15 years? (Including our dating years, we've been together for 17-and-a-half.)

"Say wha-a-at?!" Here are the girlies enjoying ice cream at Cold Stone before the performance.

It was a drizzly-but-pleasant summer night: slightly cool with intermittent showers but just enough sunshine to keep things upbeat.

The Bismarck Civic Center

Our seats were so far up in the air and away from the stage for what we paid that I can't imagine what kind of short-term loans needed to be taken out by those with tickets to be seated right up front. Not to worry, though: the sound system was more than adequate for us to hear everything, and our digital camera's zoom lens served to give us a glimpse of the performers' facial features whenever the hankerin' arose. Garrison opened the evening by standing out in the house--smack dab in the middle of the audience--and singing. He wandered amongst the attendees and told stories and jokes between songs and then finally made his way up onto the stage.

Out amongst the audience . . .

. . . and on stage. He's got a face for radio!

The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, led by Richard Dworsky, is Keillor's regular band on the radio show, and they were phenomenal tonight--very gifted musically with incredible range and versatility, all of them. Keillor also had sound effects artist Fred Newman (from public television's program Between the Lions) as a guest. Keillor would tell a rambling story with elements in it related to sounds, and Newman would respond by making the sounds using his mouth (e.g., Keillor made up a story about Newman's going to a rodeo in his youth, and as Keillor told about this event or that animal, Newman came up with the corresponding sounds). Newman was terrific at making the sounds and very funny at adding facial expressions and body language to enhance the noises. It seemed that Keillor was making it all up as he went along so that Newman himself didn't know what to expect; if so, all the more impressive!

The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with Richard Dworsky on the piano.

Fred Newman

Newman responding with sounds to Keillor's apparently improvised tales!

Another terrific element of the night was Keillor's guest musician, country music singer Suzy Bogguss. I guess I've heard her on the radio before; I recognized "Outbound Plane" (which you can hear by clicking her name in the previous sentence) when she sang it tonight. However, I wasn't really familiar with her other than recognizing her name. Tonight she demonstrated great guitar-playing skill and a beautiful voice when singing both high and low. We'll definitely be adding her to our music library in the future!

Bogguss and Keillor doing a duet.

Midway through the night, Keillor announced an intermission and encouraged people to excuse themselves if they needed to use the restroom. However, he himself went nowhere. He called it "a standing intermission"; he asked us all to rise, and he spent about 15 minutes wandering the audience again, leading us all in a group sing-along of patriotic songs, hymns, and other common songs as we stood near our seats and stretched and got the blood flowing to our legs and buttocks again. How fun! (He wasn't even flustered when a stage hand came out and asked him to see if there was a doctor in attendance for a patron who had taken ill and was lying off to the side of the auditorium. He calmly asked for the doctor and then went on with his singing, keeping our attention away from the person on the floor. One would think that the paramedics could have helped out by actually removing the person from the auditorium.)

Keillor ended the night with a Lake Wobegon tale so convoluted and filled with Midwestern details that we were all in stitches, including the girls! He has a knack for starting one story and then going off on a tangent with another story and then doing it again until finally expertly bringing all the seemingly unrelated characters and plots together for one climactic event. Tonight's Lake Wobegon update featured the disastrous meeting of a balloonist and two rose-petal-scattering giant duck decoy pilots who weren't told about a wedding's cancellation; the surprise depantsing of an earnest grandson trying to scatter his randy granny's ashes via parasail; and the addition into this mix of an overloaded pontoon carrying 22 fatigued Lutheran ministers (and a smoking barbecue full of shrimp shish kabobs) so low on the lake that onlookers might have thought they were walking on the water (appropriately enough). It sounds utterly ridiculous when I type it, but it made perfect (and perfectly hilarious) sense when Keillor told it from the edge of the stage, never once looking at a note or a teleprompter for assistance. Impressive. It was a great way to end a very satisfying, eclectic, impressive three-hour performance.

The view from our nosebleed seats.

Before heading home, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a couple items that Susan can never seem to find in Dickinson's grocery stores. It was a sleepy drive home, both for the slumbering children in the back and for the heavy eye lidded driver (moi). But it was a great way for us to celebrate, as a family, today's milestone.

THE SPLENDID TABLE

For as much as Susan loves to cook, and for as much as we all love to eat whatever she cooks, you're probably not surprised to learn, Faithful Reader, that we are fans of The Splendid Table, a weekly radio program on all things culinary, hosted by the wonderful Lynne Rossetto Kasper. I guess we used to find ourselves in the car of a Sunday afternoon more often than we do now, because I recall catching The Splendid Table often while driving to or fro before we moved to southwest ND. It's still on Sunday afternoons on our local Prairie Public radio station, but we're not usually in the car with the radio on at that time, so it's been a while.

Well, something in our conversation over brunch today made us recollect the inviting voice of Rossetto Kasper and the unfathomable depths of her cookery knowledge. So I visited her on the Interwebs and thought I'd pass along the link so that you, too, can experience the divine wisdom and recipes of The Splendid Table!

From Start to Finnish

Are you willing to expand your musical horizons a bit? For the adventurous, I recommend the Finnish band Värttinä.

Years ago Susan and I received for a while the National Public Radio catalog in the mail (raise your hand if you're surprised--anyone?), and it had a section dedicated to international music. I ordered the Värttinä album Seleniko [sample select tracks from that album here], not a word of which I could understand (um, it's in Finnish) but all of which I loved. The album features some beautiful a capella numbers with close harmonies, some lively traditional folk tunes, lots of violent staccato enunciations of the consonants that seem to pile up in Finnish sentences, and overall an aura of weirdness (at least to the untrained non-Finnish ear). In short, it is wonderful for its uniqueness. It didn't seem to impress many of my friends for whom I played samples, but it wasn't off-putting to me.

I haven't listened to that album for a long time, but I was reminded of Värttinä when I recently read an interview of actor Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry in the Harry Potter movies) in which he talks about reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while listening to the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. I sampled some of that group's music on their MySpace page and thought of Värttinä. And guess what? Värttinä has a MySpace page, too! Now you can experience their music for yourself--if you're musically open-minded and curious enough to, that is. If you give them a try, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

P.S. Also loving at the moment? Much more mainstream (albeit indie) American artist Ingrid Michaelson, whose name sounds northern European but who hails from New York City. Even if you don't know the name, you might recognize "The Way I Am," which you can listen to here. Again, leave a comment below with your reactions.

P.P.S. Don't leave before listening to "Maamme," the Finnish national anthem, performed a capella by the all-male Polytech Choir. Lovely.

P.P.P.S. For those with a hardcore appetite for Finnish music:

• Philomela -- An a capella choir with gorgeous songs that will send a chill down your spine.
• Maija Vilkkumaa -- She sounds like an indie rock singer but can do harder stuff, too.
• Antti Tuisku -- Music with a dance beat but Finnish words. Still, in an American club, who would be alert enough to know while going nuts on the dance floor?
• The Rasmus -- The is the Euro club music that has made the group popular in Europe. You'll hear metal, garage band, and country music influences -- plus, the lyrics are in English.
• Kimmo Pohjonen -- Hard metal accordian? Give it a try. Start with "Keko," which isn't as metal as "Optikus" nor as Rosemary's Baby as "Mantis."
• Arto Järvelä -- Unusual melodies and harmonies on undeniably beautiful strings. Try the hauntingly beautiful "Over the Banks."
• Troka -- "Finnish chamber folk." Come on, people, live a little! All their tracks are truly beautiful.
• Johanna Juhola -- A little harder to categorize--tuba + accordian + electronica + Euro discothèque might make you feel as though you're listening to music of cafés from along the Venetian canals while lying in a nearby alley in a drug-induced stupor.
• Timo Alakotila -- Finland's answer to America's John Tesh or Lorie Line? But don't hold that against him (ha!); his music is gorgeous and serene and uplifting . . . not to be overlooked (overheard?).
• Maria Kalaniemi -- "Bellow poetry." More with the accordian! Listen to these sophisticated melodies--you've not heard anything like it before.
• Pekka Koponen -- "Ethnic" instruments and voice; it could be ambient music if it weren't so ear-catching in its singularity.
• Samuli Karjalainen -- From the MySpace page: "Samuli Karjalainen plays tin whistles, bamboo whistles and flutes, wooden whistles, guitar, vocals, bodhran, and fiddle." Don't you kinda have to check it out?
• Markus Asunta -- Didn't you think it was pretty much just a matter of time until someone melded the traditions of Irish wooden flute and Finnish folk music? Me, either. But here it is!
• Finski Folk -- Sounds like a cross between Lawrence Welk and Olive Garden! Ah, Finland, what a casserole of musical sounds!
• Rainer Angervo & Leijat -- The name sounds like a Saturday morning children's show (by way of eastern Europe), but the music sounds like a Croatian lounge act.
• At the End -- "Weaponized with pop and dark indie with distinct aftertaste of industrial metal and progressive rock" -- does that sound Finnish to you? Does their music? You be the judge.
• Apulanta -- The aggressive metal instrumentals of At the End with the addition of Finnish lyrics--music you neither enjoy listening to nor can comprehend!
• Ultra Bra Suomi -- Easier to listen to than Apulanta. Neo-punk and garage band influences (with a splash of '60s rock) underlie the Finnish lyrics and mainstream melodies.
• 22-Pistepirkko -- "Electronic country garage rock." But what does that even mean?
• Apocalyptica -- A cross between metal and classical! It sounds more inaccessible than it actually is.
• Bomfunk MC's -- Hip hop/funk? In Northern Europe?! I know, it sounds like a Vanilla Ice redux, but it doesn't sound any worse than the American groups whom they're imitating.
• JPP -- If you were to attend the wedding of a long-lost Finnish relative whose neighbors got out their instruments to play some jigs for the wedding dance, this is what you'd expect to hear.
• Scandinavian Music Group -- Isn't the name alone reason enough to sample? You could also listen for the musical banjo, the melodic vocals, and the full orchestrations.
• Finland's Eurovision songs from over the years -- Take a tour of the past few decades of Finnish music by sampling its entries in the annual Eurovision Song Contest (perennial underdog Finland finally placed first in 2006 with Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah," which may take you right back to the American music scene of the 1980s).

Who Will Protect the Word?

One aspect of my job is to promote writing across the curriculum at the university. Today I moderated a discussion featuring faculty from each department talking about their practices, theories, and concerns related to student writing in their discplines.

Later in the afternoon, I happened to hear a related essay read by Bruce Berg on Prairie Public Radio's program "Hear It Now." Listen to it by clicking on this link (it will launch Windows Media Player) and fast-forward to about the 42:35 mark. It lasts four minutes or so. See where you stand in regard to Berg's ideas about higher education's duty to preserve "the health of the written word."

Random (but Worthwhile) Thoughts

Random Thought #1

Who else agrees that an excellent idea for a costume party (perhaps at Halloween) would be to have guests dress up as someone else dressing up as someone else? One route would be to re-enact well known poseurs. One could arrive at the party dressed as Carol Burnett dressed as Scarlett O'Hara from The Carol Burnett Show's classic "Went with the Wind" sketch, or dressed as Robin Williams dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire from the movie of the same name.

Or, one could go the non sequitur route, creating unlikely pairings. One could dress as Spiderman dressed as Sherlock Holmes, or as Benjamin Franklin dressed as Starr Jones Reynolds. Everybody at the party would be required to guess who you are, squared! Extra points to those who correctly identify both your personae.

And cash prizes for those who make cultural or historical allusions through their choice of costumes (e.g., dressing as k.d. lang dressed as Roy Orbison, or dressing as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dressed as Martin Luther, or dressing as J. Edgar Hoover dressed as Rita Hayworth).

What strangely appropriate pairings can you think of for such a party?

Random Thought #2

Kristin Chenoweth is so cute and sings like a bird. Listen to her sing a quaint song, "Taylor the Latte Boy," on public radio's A Prairie Home Companion. Or, more fun yet, watch her sing it on The Late Late Show.

[For pleasant comparison, listen to Liz Callaway, too.]

I have no idea who this is, but she has a lovely voice and does a great job, too, with "Taylor the Latte Boy."

(And this performer? A fine job, too, but a whole new "take" on the song. Watch this one--or this one--last so as not to damage your psyche too soon.)