Happy Birthday, Nikolai

Today, I’ve been told, is the birthday of Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. But I think I’ll call him "Nick".

Nick may have been one of the first to use a hyphenated last name. He was a Russian musician who lived through the turn of the 20th century. He died just short of 102 years ago.

A passionate and accomplished pianist, Nick became an active composer and was a contemporary of Tchaikovsky. They were “cautious comrades,” however, each proud of, and protective of, his own work.

One of his more well known pieces is Flight of the Bumblebee which closes act III of his opera, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899-1900.

The reason I noticed Nick’s birthday is due to a very creative application of his last name. If you’ve ever been to Portland Oregon’s funky east side, you may have come across the Rimsky-Korsakoffee House, a very popular eatery, coffee gathering place and music bistro. Click here to reach their blog.

My wife and I enjoyed some outstading chamber music there back in the 90’s. Apparently, it’s still going strong.

So, Happy Birthday, Nick. Thanks for your music contribution to our lives!

Some Music Fun

You can't beat this for music improvisation! It was sent to me by my old California friend, "Boof." Click on the arrow below for some great music on video. First grab your guitar/uke/banjo so you can strum along...

Fishing May Take a Back Seat For a While

Life in general, for this retiree, is getting busier rather than calmer. And I couldn’t be more jazzed about it.

Once you’ve been retired for a period of time, daily routines become less than challenging and efficiencies begin to erode. But it’s really only during the last six months or so that I’ve become more aware of the slide toward inadvertent time squandering.

As a result of an incredibly fortuitous set of circumstances, I now have a part time work assignment that I not only am most happy with but also that provides me with an ideal resolution for time malaise. On top of that, the southern California hi-tech company providing this opportunity operates using cutting-edge technology in its field and grants the opportunity for this older guy to stay on top of things.

The only factor for which I’ll now have to incorporate some creative efficiency is the fact that I’ll have less overall time for my favorite recreational enterprise: salmon, steelhead and trout fishing. Somehow, though, I’ve got a feeling I’ll still be able to work it in from time to time.

Btw, the pic is of the largest trout I’ve ever caught. It was a 17-pound Brown Trout that I hooked in Lake Michigan near Sturgeon Bay, WI three years ago this April. I still can appreciate it everyday because it's mounted on my office wall. (Sorry about the shirt dishevelment in the photo; I wasn't exactly focused on attire.)

Finding the “Right” Church Is a Challenging Experience

Since we moved to the Eastside (actually the NorthEastside) of the Seattle metro area just over four months ago, my wife and I have been “church hunting” on most Sundays. We’ve been to many churches once but we have visited two churches several times at least.

Today, after a wonderful worship experience at St. Andrews Lutheran in Bellevue (above pic), Kay Lynne and I agreed that we may not have to look much more. It’s a good feeling to be finally zeroing-in on what could become our church “home.” We very much miss the wonderful experiences we had at First Lutheran Church in Poulsbo when we lived in Kitsap County.

As an overview, St Andrews maintains a traditional, orthodox, liturgical worship service (which fits our particular needs at this point in life) with an inclusive, broad-based membership that crosses apparently all socio-economic categories as well as a fairly balanced age distribution from the very young to the very aged (thankfully :). Holy communion is celebrated each Sunday.

The primary preaching minister (and senior Pastor) is the Rev. James McEachran (right), a learned Bible scholar and superb communicator. He’s been at the church since 1983 and appears to be loved and esteemed by the congregation.

One of the things most attractive to us at St Andrews is the incredible variety of Bible studies and opportunities for growth and learning. It looks like there’s no excuse here for relaxing into complacency regarding one’s faith journey.

I won’t be so bold as to say our “church search” is over, but I think we both agree that we’re going to give St Andrews every opportunity to become our church home. Thanks be to God.

It’s “Almost” Spring…

We got outside for a walk and then some play time on the patio today, as the days are getting longer and warmer, though it was hard to tell in the cool back yard shade this afternoon.

Our grandson NJ is simply happy anytime he can go outside, even if he has to bundle up. Today Kay Lynne caught this pic of him sitting in his own “big boy” patio chair.

Of course he’s not a charmer, or anything like that…

About Time I Posted Something

I got a phone call today from my former business partner and California fishing buddy, Ed Wall, pictured above this past Christmas with his lovely wife, Darlene.

“How long are we going to have to look at that five- or six-inch long fish?” he asked, referring to a photo in the last post.

“FIVE OR SIX INCHES,” I responded. “It’s at least 15” long.”

“Can’t be if those are ‘two-by-fours’ it’s laying on,” he retorted.

“Ah, but they are two by eights,” I pointed out.

Turns out, he was bored silly and was looking for fresh reading material. Admittedly my last post was two full weeks old.

Well, now it isn’t.

At least Ed has something to read tonight. They were planning to fly out at midnight to visit their son’s family in Maine, but the east coast snow storm cancelled their flight.

Flowing Lake Yields Nice Rainbow on First Trip

When I stuck my head out the door at 6:30 yesterday morning to check the weather for possible fishing, it felt very cold and it was raining steadily. A perfect reason to head back in for a few more winks.

But by noon the rain had stopped, and the sun, trying to peek through here and there, had warmed the temp a bit. I decided that an afternoon trip to Flowing Lake (see Jan 21 post) might be in the cards.

Finally got there around 3 p.m. only to find the “free” dock loaded with more fishermen than it was designed to hold. So I went back around the lake to the State Park at the north end where I had to pay a small fee to park and fish.

But I was then the only one on the dock.

The top pic, taken with my cell phone cam, shows how beautiful and peaceful it was from that vantage point. I was actually fishing by 3:30 and enjoyed a very quiet 30 minutes with nothing but an occasional dog bark in the distance.

I decided to move the bait a few feet along the bottom (a technique used to sometimes arouse a fish’s interest), and it wasn’t five minutes till the pole tip was twitching furiously.

The fish felt good, so I loosened the drag a bit and let him make several tiring runs. I was then able to ease him out of the water onto the dock to get a closer look at what I had caught. Not spectacular, but it was a very nice 15” rainbow trout (yes, I measured it – 15-1/4” actually – see photo above). He was what we call a “pounder” (weighs about a pound).

I left him in the water on the stringer to swim around until I gutted him just before leaving for home. That kept the fish nice and fresh in case we want to cook him up in a day or so. All in all, it was one of the best “first-time-at-a-lake” experiences I think I’ve ever had.

Underwater Excitement at Seattle Aquarium

Yesterday Kay Lynne and I had a chance to meet up with our son and grandson at the Seattle Aquarium, right on the waterfront. I snapped the above pic with my cell phone just before we entered.

We had a great time trying to keep up with our grandson as he wanted to see everything and is getting really fast on two feet. He loves to watch any living thing, and fish are among his favorite things to observe.

In one section of the aquarium a large, underwater dome lets you view just about every fish and sea creature said to swim in Puget Sound. Seeing the underside of a large sturgeon provided the biggest surprise (for me, at least); it almost seems as if they have four “legs” on their belly (I think they’re actually stabilizers). Hmmm.. wonder if they once walked around the area. They are said to be prehistoric, you know.

Anyway, we had a great time. I think the boy did too. He was asleep quickly once in the car on the way home.

Fishing Bug Causes Me To Check Out Nearby Lakes

The fishing bug has been annoying me a lot lately, and it usually takes a catch or two to assuage it.

Rather than actually going fishing today (I did throw the pole in the car, however) I visited three lakes within a 30-mile radius of home for the purpose of doing some reconnaissance work. On my leisurely drive, I stopped at Lake Stevens, east of Everett, Flowing Lake, north of Monroe, and Blackmans Lake right smack dab in the city of Snohomish.

The first stop was at Wyatt Park on the west side of Lake Stevens. There is a beautiful fishing dock there alongside the boat launch but the wind was kicking up quite a bit and I found no one fishing. The largest of the three, Lake Stevens may offer some good trouting later on toward spring.

I then went to Flowing Lake, a beautiful spot tucked into the back roads on the north side of Monroe (on US Hwy 2 about 20 miles east of Everett). There are both a State Park (fee based) and a free public boat launch that have nice docks for fishing. At the free dock I met a very interesting, 80-year-old retired Chicago chef (top pic), who told me that he fishes “eight days a week,” mostly here at Flowing Lake or at nearby Tye Lake. My kind of guy, this man named McCann.

During our conversation I discovered that we had a lot in common. We’re both retired, both lived in Chicago, both spent a lot of time fishing in Wisconsin and Michigan and we both are writers of sorts.

But the astronomical-odds occurrence was that he went to high school some 65 years ago in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with a brother of my late Aunt Beatrice who grew up on a farm near Eau Claire that was actually closer to the little town of Mondovi.

My cousin Linda (Beatrice and Bill’s daughter) and Linda’s daughter Kelly and son Erik all live nearby in the greater Seattle area. I can’t wait to let them know of this wild coincidence to see if there’s any name recognition with the man I met today. (I guess they might see it here first. :)

Final stop was at Blackmans Lake (above), a watershed basin within the city of Snohomish. Three guys were fishing on the dock, and I saw a very nice 13” rainbow reeled in while I was there.

I’ve made this conclusion: all are good lakes for trout fishing from a dock (which is what I was looking for), and I plan to return to all of them. All are good for trout fishing with a boat, if a person has one (I’ve long since sold my last boat but one of my sons does have a beauty). Flowing will have the best tasting fish (from what my new friend said), Blackmans likely has the largest fish but it’s a shallower lake and the fish quality can deteriorate in the summer, and I’m sort of in the dark about the quality of fish at Lake Stevens.

Independents Gaining Influential Political Strength

Republican Scott Brown (above) captured the hearts and minds of Independent voters in Massachusetts and last night won the late Ted Kennedy’s – er, the PEOPLE’S – Senate seat.

In watching post-election TV wags of all varieties, it became apparent that, right now, if you win over Independents, you’ve got a shot at winning an election.

Massachusetts has more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans but the overall plurality goes to registered Independents. Brown won them over and won the election.

Apparently, that’s been going on for a long time in the Cape Cod State – rather unnoticed, I might add. It does explain how an electorate can at the same time vote Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney into two of the top three political positions in the state some years ago.

Barack Obama won the Presidency by getting overwhelming support from Independents in ’08, and many Democrats were swept into power at the same time with the same formula.

I guess now the question is going to be whether or not Democrats in the elections this Fall can continue to do what they did in the last election year or whether enough Republicans can win over enough Independents to change the balance of power in Congress?
We better stay tuned.

Figuring Things Out at Grandma's & Grandpa's

All three of our granddaughters and now our grandson have had fun with the “Push-Popper” that we’ve had for almost 15 years. It’s part of the toy menagerie we keep at hand for when our grandkids visit.

Today our grandson discovered the popper and put things together real fast. By the time I snapped the bottom pic he was already right in the groove – navigating it around a strange house (and sometimes putting it on the floor :-).


"Hmmm… how does this thing work?"

"It’s a “Push-Popper!”

"Wow, I can do it!"

My All-Time Favorite Pie

My mom’s apple and cherry pies were pretty much unsurpassed. Many times in my youth when folks came over for dinner I heard, “That’s the best pie I’ve ever had.” If mom had been business-wise, she could have made money with her pies like Marie Callendar’s does.

But last night, I guess as a New Year treat, my wife made a pie which beats anything mom ever made, in my estimation. It’s coconut custard pie, which has become my all-time favorite over time. It was especially good because it’s been a long time since we’ve had any.

The photo above is a pretty good representation of Kay Lynne’s version (though it is not hers), but at that it doesn’t quite convey the melt-in-your-mouth, toasty goodness of the piece I had last night after dinner. My wife cuts the sugar content quite a bit, and so it is a bit healthier than most recipes.

I couldn’t think of a better treat with which to kick-off the New Year.

A New Decade

Family Time

Earlier tonight we enjoyed Christmas together with one son’s family who've been in Oregon for a week or so. We’ll look forward to a celebration with the other son’s family when they get back home to Oregon from California where they are enjoying the holidays.

Pictured is grandson NJ, looking dapper and a little "preppy" in a new outfit. He zoomed around our condo pushing his portable, interactive “gadget pack” that has music, toys and a phone – a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa. The boy is a gadget-lover to be sure, and now he can “take them with him”. Click on the pic for a larger image; his eyes reveal the fun he's having.

Nothing like Christmas time with family for this grandpa who’s still full from dinner and grandma’s incredible home-made apple pie.

A Very Merry Christmas To You

Merry Christmas!

Raphael's "Nativity" gives us the real story of Christmas -- the Incarnation.

Budding Photographer?

The photo above was taken yesterday by grandson NJ. It's his view of the family Christmas tree from his vantage point on my lap.

As I've mentioned before, he loves anything electronic, and our camera falls perfectly into that category. He watched Kay Lynne and I taking pictures and wanted to try it out himself. He's 15 months old. Not bad, I'd say. He may be a natural.

After the camera fun, he climbed back onto my lap to check out my computer case (which he's tightly holding under his arm in the pic at left). He was hoping there'd be something more of the "blinking lights and push button" variety in there. O, btw, he also gave Grandma his "cute" pose for the pic.

Hayley’s Christmas School Band Concert

Oregon’s Chehalem Valley Middle School music students took on a big challenge by playing some difficult musical pieces Tuesday evening, but they came through with flying colors in a magnificent performance.

We drove down during the day so we could see the concert and our seventh-grade granddaughter, Hayley, (above) who is first-chair clarinet in the Advanced Band. The concert also included performances by the combined Intermediate Bands (Chehalem and Mountain View Middle School), the CVMS Choir and the combined Intermediate and Advanced Strings.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this school district has one of the strongest music programs at the Middle School level in the entire Pacific Northwest. The bands are directed by David Sanders, and the Strings and Choir are directed by Gwen Gilbertson. Very difficult renditions included Leroy Anderson’s arrangement of Sleigh Ride by the Advanced Band and Robert W. Smith’s The Children’s Carols by the Combined Strings.

Above is the Advanced Band during its performance. Hayley is in the front row, second from left. Thanks to our son, Gregg, for the nice photos.

A Life of Thanksgiving Rather Than Just a Day

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever.”

Those well known words of King David were expressed in a Psalm and described in I Chronicles, as the ancient Israelites placed the Ark of the Covenant – containing God’s glory – in a tent that David had made expressly for that purpose. The people were asked to thank and praise the Lord God regularly and to do so as well with harps, cymbals and trumpets.

Today, in our culture, we set aside a day to be with family where possible and to thank our God for our blessings. Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Kay Lynne and I today wish you a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

There is one word in the chapter mentioned above that stood out to me as I read the passage. The word is “regularly.” It’s wonderful that we give thanks on this day, but how much better it would be if we gave thanks regularly and not just on one day.

I continue to be troubled by the fact that we in America have so much, and people in other areas of the world have little or nothing. As my wife often muses, “why should we be so blessed simply as the result of an accident of where we were born, when others are born in poverty?”

It’s a sobering question for a mostly happy day. We may never have an adequate answer, but we can at least do a little bit to help alleviate the pain in our world. And we can start right here in our neighborhood.

I’ve often seen ministers at this time of year use the sermon title, “Thanksgiving is Thanks Living.” It seems to me that “thanks living” must at least be about helping someone who needs it when we have so much.

A Child of Multifaceted Interests

Our grandson loves a variety of things: handheld electronic gadgets of all kinds, music, especially with a little beat, a computer screen that’s got some action, blocks and toys, and food, especially fruit puffs that he can eat by himself.

The photo above was taken earlier today when he was occupying himself with two gadgets but suddenly heard a noise near Grandma who was across the room. The little guy is amazing. He can handle three things at once – kinda like a mom who can see around corners and behind things, including behind her own back.

Or should we just consider him a child with multifaceted interests? I like that.

Talli’s Finish in the State H.S. X-C Meet

Well, our high school sophomore granddaughter, Talli, has accomplished something in our family that I don’t believe anyone else has. She competed in a State meet and performed very well.

The sport happened to be Cross-Country, and the meet was held this afternoon at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. Talli’s time was 20:25, a fine accomplishment for a STATE meet that was held on a cold, windy and wet day. She was just two seconds behind her friend and teammate, Emily, a senior.

Excellent run, Talli. You’ve had a remarkable season!