The Way We Get By (and other songs too)

We saw the band Spoon on Friday night at Northampton’s Pearl Street Club. A great show featuring songs from throughout the band’s catalog, including most of 2005’s Gimme Fiction and half of 2002’s Kill the Moonlight as well as a few new tunes from the forthcoming album due out in a few months. Britt Daniel and crew just started the current tour a few nights ago, so his voice was sharp and the band was flawless. Kept hoping to hear my favorite tune, “Jonathon Fisk”, and it was finally played - as the encore’s closer. So good.

- jbc

TGIS

The ‘s’ is for ‘sunny’.

This is notable because we haven’t seen that shiny happy ball of fusion in the sky for nearly two weeks, thanks to the mind-numbing swirl of rain/sleet/snow/wind which blessed our neck of the woods in recent days. Sheesh.

The little creek (er, brook) behind our house, normally 4-5 feet wide, stretched to nearly 30 feet wide in a few spots a few days ago, covering up nearly half of our landlords' blueberry patch as well as the foot bridge that crosses the water. (Fortunately, the brook lies down a hill and well back from the house, so no chance of flooding or house damage.)

- jbc

Fun in Philly!

I was in Philadelphia recently for an anthropology conference. I got the chance to meet up with some friends from Minnesota State. The weather was beautiful so we had a great time exploring the city between conference sessions.

Christ Church cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Philadelphia. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here. The grave in the middle that looks like a cradle is designed so that it can be planted with flowers.

This is Ben Franklin's grave. Our guide told us visitors often throw pennies on the grave for luck--"A penny saved is a penny earned". The church makes about $3000 a year from these pennies!

We walked everywhere, which really gave us a feel for the history of the city.

The home of Betsy Ross, which was staffed by costumed guides who feigned confusion when some in our group said they were from Minnesota.

-hbc

Happy Easter!

It is a beautiful sunny day here in western Massachusetts, but the temperature is still in the 30s and 40s, and it's windy, so it's not as pleasant to be outside as we would like.

We are going to pay a visit to our local candy store, Richardson's, to buy some Easter goodies. We are having brunch with some friends tomorrow, and while we aren't doing full-blown Easter baskets, it just wouldn't be the same without some chocolate bunnies!

And now the long-awaited pictures of our new nephew, Liam. By all accounts he is a happy little guy, inspiring many fights over who gets to hold him next.





In spite of Jay's fears, he did not break the baby. True to his word, however, he did not change any diapers.

















The proud (and sleep-deprived) parents!







Liam meets Jay's Grandma Rehnberg. They share a birthday (March 18th) but she had it for 90 years before he came along!

Happy Easter to all!