Turning a page...

... or a corner, or a new leaf.  Something like that.  Whatever it is I am turning, it will be happening in a week.

Two days ago I turned in my last research paper... for my last class... before my last commencement ceremony.  The last one, at least, in which I'll be doing the commencing!  Perhaps I'll participate in more of them as a helper or encourager of sorts - you know, up on the dais, or seated as a decorated spectator, like the veterans at Memorial Day gatherings.  Only my decorations won't be ribbons on the chest of a uniform, but a robe, a mortarboard, honor cords and a colorful Master's hood.  Blue and yellow for Bethel Seminary, crimson for Theology.  (or as one wag of a friend said to me recently ... dressed for a football game between Michigan & Alabama.)

Then, after the ceremony, the reception, and a little soirée at a pizza parlor with a few well-wishers, we will head West to visit one of the last two states in the lower 48 to which I've not yet been.  The other is Delaware, but who's counting?  

Finally, after two weeks of traveling, celebrating, exploring and discussing, it will be back home to a new life of some sort - one without evenings and weekends spent communing with Biblical commentaries and word processing software.

Whatever shall I do with myself?

The Biltmore of the Heartland

My fair city has a hidden gem from the 1920s, a grand mansion built by a makeup mogul (yes, makeup.  He was a native Iowan who was pursuing some girl, and when she went to college abroad, he wound up in Paris and figured out how to blend face powder with cold cream.  Voila'! - instant foundation.)  So with some clever marketing, he wound up with a few exce$$ million$ on his hands and built this:

Pretty stunning on the inside, too. Not on the scale of The Biltmore, but grand just the same. This stop was part of a little Mother's Day outing, including a stop at a drugstore soda fountain and a walk through the rose garden of the local art museum. It was a little early for many of the roses, but there was some interesting sculpture, there, too.

Parts of the sculpture looked remarkably contemporary and lifelike. :)

morning

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robins hunting worms
trees dripping a reminder
an overnight rain


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GRO and GC @ Wooly's

So about a month ago a new music venue opened here in the very trendy East Village:  Wooly's.

What kind of a name is Wooly's?  (hint: 140 years ago or something the building used to be a Woolworth store.  It's still visible in the ancient tile separating the entryway from the sidewalk.  W-O-O-L-  Oh.  Ha.)

Strange start time to the show: doors at 5PM, show at 6. Huh? Well, it was a Monday night (a school night), and an all-ages show, so.. yeah. Still, it seemed funny to go out to the street after the opening act and find it still completely light out.

The merch table was pretty understated, and the rep there pretty mellow. The opening act was Graham Colton, a performer I learned about from Noisetrade, a great little website started (I think) by Derek Webb among others, where artists allow free downloads of their music in exchange for your email address. So, I went for the swap, and when I saw from his email updates that he was on tour here, I grabbed my steady date and went! She approved. :)

He did an acoustic version of his songs, which I think really suits him best anyway. The place was not very full at first, so we latched on to a support pole and stood close. The headliner was Green River Ordinance, a sort of cross-over-y band that rocked with a country sensibility reminiscent of the Eagles. By that time of the night, the concert turned quite electric and we retreated to the back of the hall.

Anyway, a pretty nice night. Enough to drive away a persistent headache and replace it with some subtle "date night style" close proximity movement on a crowded floor, that I'm sure would befit a seasoned couple like us. :)