Gratulerer med Dagen, Pappa!

It was my Dad's birthday on Thursday, so we drove to the farm today to spend some time with him and bring him some cake! Both he and Beverly have had recent stints in the hospital and continue to travel to doctor appointments here and there, so we brought food, too, to make the meals and let Beverly rest. We arrived midmorning and visited while the girls played outside and wore out Bandy, the dog. Before noon Susan made a huge lettuce salad tossed with fresh vegetables and served it with bagels and lox: "everything" bagels (rolled by the baker in a mixture of seeds, dried onion and garlic, and salt and pepper) sliced and smeared with cream cheese and then topped with slices of cold-smoked salmon, sliced red onion, and lots of capers. The girls (and Susan and I) love bagels and lox, and we thought it would be something out of the ordinary for Dad and Beverly. They liked it, too.

Knowing that we were coming, Beverly had arranged for her son, Dennis, and his wife, Julie, to come out for supper. She ordered broasted chicken, pasta salad, and buns (baked from scratch) from The Drive In in Tioga and had Dennis and Julie deliver the food when they arrived. Julie brought also a tray of tomatoes from her garden. Dad's sister Penny joined us for supper, too (after having spent the previous day helping Dad and Beverly clean the house). Beverly had ordered a birthday cake from the Wollas, two sisters well known in northwest ND for the tasty cakes they bake and decorate for weddings, graduations, church confirmations, and birthdays. She had also made a whipped Jell-O/Cool Whip salad. I chopped up some fresh fruit that we brought to make a fruit salad, and Susan made scalloped potatoes.

For dessert we set aside the Wollas' cake in order to cut into the cake that Susan had made: a yellow sheet cake frosted with the homemade dulce de leche frosting that our family swooned over on my own birthday. It earned new fans amongst the crowd at Dad and Beverly's, too!

It was a good day of visiting and eating and seeing family members whom we don't see all that often. Julie even brought Halloween treats for the girls: miniature metal lunch boxes stuffed with candy! That was so sweet (pun intended). Before we got there, the girls were looking forward to playing outside, which they love doing on the farm, but it was a might too chilly and windy for extended periods outdoors. Still they kept themselves busy playing in the garage and the living room while we visited in the dining room and kitchen. We tuckered out Bandy with all the attention and walks/runs outside. We may have tuckered out Dad and Beverly, too! But we left early enough in the evening to let them get to bed at a reasonable hour . . . and to enjoy the unpredictable danger of driving the curvy, hilly roads through deer country on the way home. Always fun.

Happy birthday, Dad! (Gratulerer med dagen, Pappa!)

Dad poses with the beautifully decorated cake from the Wollas.

Dad and his granddaughters (Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary) pose with the decadently delicious cake that Susan made.

Dad poses with his favorite (and only) son.

Jazzed About Jazz

We have paid for a family membership to the Dickinson Area Concert Association yearly since moving here, and we have greatly enjoyed the concerts and plays that have been part of each season. Tonight was no exception. The opening event of this season was a concert by Chris Brubeck's Triple Play. Chris Brubeck's father is the legendary American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, some of whose music includes "Take Five," "Unsquare Dance" (in 7/4 time), and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (in 9/8 time).

Well, Chris certainly has inherited his father's musical talents--and developed some of his own, too. He and two fellow members of the ensemble came out on stage in pretty casual clothes and played a variety of funk and jazz. Chris himself alternated between bass trombone, piano, and fretless electric bass guitar. Joel stuck with guitar, and "Madcat" played a kind of hi-hat cymbal and a variety of harmonicas and jaw harps. They all took turns singing, too.

Their enjoyment over playing together was contagious. They laughed and exchanged one-liners and played without looking at music sheets and improvised and interacted with the audience and paused to tell stories or explain interesting aspects of upcoming songs and switched instruments and thoroughly impressed those of us in the audience for whom jazz isn't a first choice when selecting music to listen to.

For a play date after school today, Hillary had her friend Lexi over, whose parents were planning to go to the concert, too. So Lexi stayed for supper, and we brought her along to the concert, where we sat beside her parents and her toddler sister. Her dad (a colleague in my department at work, by the way) is a jazz aficionado, so he was lovin' every minute of it. Lexi even got invited onstage to help Madcat play one song. He had a container of all sorts of noise makers: toys and party favors that one winds up, blows through, shakes, or taps in order to make sound. He told her that he was going to start the song and occasionally reach out his hand, and she was to place into it anything at all from the box. Each time she did that, he kept the song going on the harmonica and added to the rhythm whatever she handed him. At one point he was even playing two harmonicas with his mouth and a third with his nose!

We had to tell Hillary all about it, though, because she slept through that song! The night just got a wee bit too long for her, and she nodded off toward the end. But we all had a great time.

97 Years Young

Susan's grandpa turned 97 today! This afternoon several of us gathered for a birthday party at the nursing home where Susan's grandparents live. There were E.J. and Laura (Susan's grandparents), of course, but also three of their children: Patty (and her husband Buddy and their daughter Kathy), Jackie, and Roger (and his daughter Susan, her husband Kevin, and their daughters Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary). Cake, cookies, birthday gifts, puzzles, games, visiting, photos . . . we did it all.

Here are some pics of E.J. (the birthday boy), Laura, Roger, and Susan. Do they look related?