Dateline: Edmonton Alberta, June 19 2025
I'm sitting in a booth at Mike's Famous on Whyte between a trio rehearsal at a colleague's place and a quartet coaching at an amateur’s, grabbing a little lunch and killing time until I need to get moving to not be late to my own coaching. Never been here before, had the salmon burger. I approve!👍
It's been a while since my last post; it's been a while since I've updated anything about this website. But I have a moment, and Barry let on recently at work that he's discovered my blog and encouraged me to keep writing. So… what do I have to say right now?
Well, I began by going over all the old posts I took down at some point in the last couple of years, removed photos of my family who didn't want to be showcased so much, made a few edits, and re-published everything. So go on and burn through your data hunting for gems and morsels in old writings. I dare ya!
But here we are at the beginning of another summer vacation. ESO finished last weekend and starts again mid-August. My mother-in-law has been visiting with us for nearly 2 months and it's been totally pleasant and even helpful having her around while our daughter finished up high school and we've been navigating an ever complicated calendar of work and events. Our son flies home next week from grad school to stay with us for a month, we're all looking forward to seeing him in person for the first time since last August. Mom in-law leaves on the first of July, same day I fly to California for a week-long stint coaching and playing at Festival Napa Valley. While I'm gone my sister-in-law will come out to Edmonton with her two kinds to visit for a week out so, overlapping with my return by just about a day before heading back home herself. After that my family (including parents, kids, dog and even cat, this time!) heads south to the annual family meetup with my mom in Wyoming and, this year, a side trip to Denver where the CSNK2A1 Foundation is holding their conference for impacted families and research scientists this year. Meanwhile the garden back home will grow and when we get back we'll have lots to harvest. (We're already busy harvesting stuff like endless lettuce, strawberries, cabbage, hascaps…)
In early August my string trio will run out Summer Chamber Music Workshop out of the Winspear Centre for the week before the ESO summer session gets going, complete with free runout concerts in communities throughout the region, the annual Symphony Under the Sky festival, and what seems to have become an annual giant cover l free concert in the square in downtown Edmonton featuring magical music from all your favorite Disney animated movies. Last year we played for something like 30000 people over two days. Great fireworks cap each night. Tons of fun! Then another break for a few weeks in September before the 25-26 season gets officially underway.
I'll be spending one weekend during that break coaching amateurs in the Wye Strings Chamber Music Workshop (or whatever the official title is) with a few colleagues but otherwise it's going to be a much needed break for our whole family; our daughter done with high school but without plans for further schooling or work yet, it's going to be an interesting time for all of us as we navigate the beginning of this new normal together.
Alrighty that is all for now. Have fun browsing the old stuff. I'm embarrassed by some of it but deciding to leave it up just to see what happens, if anybody's actually paying attention. Have a great summer and I'll see you here again soon… maybe…
Oh - and Here's me the other day trying on my backpackified inflatable kayak I have owned for a year but not yet tried to use because of injured finger last summer plus long YEG winter plus busy work schedule plus inconvenient but longed-for rainy weather on rare free days. One is these days the stars will align and I'll be sighted floating down the North Saskatchewan through downtown…
A guy can dream…
