Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Nate Berkus Likes My Brother's Pottery

Okay, so the name Nate Berkus didn't spring to my mind as a mover and shaker that I had heard of, but once I started the video I recognized him from some morning shows.  And LO!  He recently recognized my brother Jered's Pottery as a great source of some inexpensive, but finely crafted pieces.

And now I can say, "Nate likes it.  You might too!"  He's on Etsy, and 'he's also got his own site:  http://www.jeredspottery.com/.  It's beautiful stuff.  You'll like it too, and it makes great gifts.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Looking Forward to a Darn Tough Winter

Winter has come.  Snow has fallen, wind driven and cold, covering most of the leaves that never got raked, the wood that didn't get moved yet, the snowmobiles that have rested since spring came, the porch floor that didn't get painted.  So now some of those are hidden, temporarily, until spring comes round again.  Meanwhile, the wife and I are happily facing a short week, just one long day and one short one, then a Wednesday free from duties, then a Thursday for giving thanks.

One item on my thankful list is this dandy pair of Darn Tough socks, a gift from my daughter and her beau.  They're guaranteed to last as long as I hope their relationship does--meaning, for a lifetime.

I've been dogging on the blogging, but we have been busy, gone to Sioux Falls for a weekend getaway on Veterans Day, where we enjoyed a stay at the Holiday Inn, dinners at Parker's Bistro, Phillips Avenue Diner, and Bros Brasserie Americano.  All great places to eat.

In addition, we enjoyed an evening with the Carpe Diem String Quartet and picked up a copy of their Montana CD, which extends the enjoyment of the weekend.  It's awesome, tough and beautiful, like Montana itself and this fine Vermont pair of socks.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Sun-Dogging the Night Sky

The full moon isn't until Thursday, but it was shining bright tonight so that I had to try for a photo of what appeared to be moon-dogs around the moon so big and bold in the clear cool sky.  I had a little trouble finding a setting that would work; it turned out to be the "sunset" setting on my little Nikon Coolpix S3000.  The moon-dogs were fading as I struggled with the camera, but the result is pretty cool anyway, I think.  Don't you?

Monday, November 07, 2011

A Key, With Air Bags

You'd think the BMW had air bags enough, but apparently the new key we ordered needs the kind of protection you might expect for your own brain pan.  When I get a package like this from Amazon or some other place, protecting a thing like a key or some other tiny gizmo, I can't help imagining some worker in a warehouse.  In this case, he's got the little envelope in hand, wandering along looking for a box:  "Nope, too small, too small, too small . . . AHA, just right!  All I need now is a half-dozen pillows to protect this delicate key."  I'm sure there's a reason for such packaging, but don't these people know about padded envelopes?  

Sunrise, Sunset


Saturday morning I cruised up to Browns Valley, MN, where I used to live, sort of, and where some of the former in-laws live, for a funeral.  It was a beautiful daybreak and sunset, as you see here in the pictures, and it was a good visit with two of my kids, Mr. CO, and lots of people I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was time to say goodbye to Aloma, who had made herself comfortable with the folks at Sisseton Wahpeton College as their archivist.  She will be missed, but like the beautiful sunrise and sunset, we've all got a limited time before our light fades.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Early Holiday Present, Eskimo Style

Sure, it's a little early to be singing the Hallelujah Chorus, and you might not expect the folks young and old in a little Yupiq Eskimo village to be the internet sensation they seem to be, but there they are, putting on their version of George Frideric Handel's Messiah.  Enjoy.  Thanks, Nancy!

I've got to say I enjoyed it more than the cute little girls in pink singing to Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass."  Nicki singing it herself, that's another matter.  I hope the kids didn't learn the song by watching the video.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

A Call to the Courthouse

I've been called before, but never served.  Maybe this year they'll pick me from the crowd and have me judge, but I'll be fine either way.  Being called upon to serve my county, though, that's okay.  It's not the "good roads day" my dad had pictures of in Wyoming, when the good citizens turned out to tame the wild roads after a mucky spring, but it's a little thing we do besides pay taxes.  Interesting, though, as I'm reading papers that make arguments about the nature of justified killing, that I get the call, the juror summons.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Even Bavarians Make Mistakes

If you've got a junk yard, used car business, and a scrap metal business, it's no surprise if sometimes odd and wonderful things come across your line of vision, and you just have to divert the scrap from the scrap pile.  That's what happened to Mr. Lee Roy Hartung, who died in May and whose automobile, motorcycle, and bicycle collection will be sold off in bits and pieces.    The car here is one of those, a 1949 Veritas, with running gear by BMW and a body by Spohn, a German company.  Take a look at The New York Times article on Hartung here and a site called Bring a Trailer with lots of pictures of the old beast here.  Now I'm a big fan of some of the good work the Bavarian Motor Works has done, but this thing looks more like the whale that Captain Ahab was hunting than the spritely convertible the wife and I brought back from Seattle.