A little Spanish flavored classical guitar

Continuing the video and music theme, a video of the second movement Adagio from the Rodrigo "Concierto de Aranjuez" - one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music ever written. The English horn solo at the beginning is very famous and it is also one of the most well know pieces of classical guitar literature.

Part 1:

Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez 02 Adagio 01
Uploaded by sandt5

Part 2:

Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez 02 Adagio 02
Uploaded by sandt5

A Little Horn Music

The long call (as we horn players refer to it - there is a shorter version elsewhere in the opera) from Richard Wagner's opera "Siegfried", one of the four operas that make up the "Ring of the Nibelung" - the inspiration of which was the Saga of the Volsung, which also inspired Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings".

This long and difficult solo is the theme music for the hero of the story, Siegfried. It doesn't get much more heroic than this.

Siegfried_Horn_Call
Uploaded by bigdpender

I don't know who the player is, but she is quite good and the room accoustics are great.

Hitchock never thought it would be like this...

Giant pigeon costume... now that's funny. I don't care who you are. :)

Backyard fruit

Yes, we have bananas...


And oranges... though they are more like "greens" right now...


not sure what type of orange tree it is, but it is very short and more spread out than growing up... maybe a dwarf variety of some sort... who knows... certainly not me... if it didn't have fruit and were any smaller I might run over it with the lawn mower and not think twice. It's in the yard. It's green. It gets mowed. Life is simple.

More of our unusual bugs...

And the parade of new and interesting (Erin would say disgusting) insects continues, this time with a fascinating green and gold beetle I saw in the backyard a few weekends ago. I've never seen one quite like it. The pictures don't do justice to how shiny it was - it almost looked like an emerald on top and golden amber on the bottom:

Stupid grass

Why does grass have to grow so fast? (Or is the weeds that grow fast? Probably mostly weeds.)

So I got up early on my day off to mow it - but at least our new lawn mower is fast and does a good job.

That's better.

But Lordy it was hot and humid even at 9 a.m. Makes me almost look forward to winter when the grass won't grow and I won't melt trying to mow it if it does.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

No, not Christmas... FOOTBALL SEASON!!! Woo-hoo!

I didn't take our camera tonight to the Jaguars practice, but here are some pictures from the first Monday night practice last week, where we had a better view because they were in the front field closest to the bleachers:

Here is Jaxon deVille being, well... Jaxon... stealing a player's helmet, which he then hid under his jersey and later tried to offer for sale to the fans:

Big John Henderson and Tony Pashos battling in the "Oklahoma" Drill (over 600 lbs of muscle facing off right there):

Team drills:

A sunset, a cool breeze, and football... welcome back football season - We missed you. :)

Personality DNA

It's been going around the family... so here is my Personality DNA test results. Very cool site.

about you

You are a Director

As a DIRECTOR, you combine an unusual openness and passion for beauty and style with confidence and a down-to-earth sensibility that allow you to realize your vision.
You are practical and pay attention to the details that others tend to miss.
By focusing on what is real and concrete, you achieve more than those who always have their heads in the clouds.
When it comes to what really matters in your life, you are confident in your ability to succeed.
Having beautiful things in your life gives you pleasure and satisfaction - you have a keen eye for style.
Even when problems present themselves, deep down you know you will overcome these challenges.
When routines get too familiar, you become bored and start looking for ways to spice things up.
You are open to new types of experiences – you are not afraid to take a risk on something new.
You have a highly developed sense of taste – you know what looks good on you, in your home, and in the world at large.
Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts
You are balanced in your approach to problem-solving, not letting your emotions hold you up.
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.
You do your own thing when it comes to clothing, guided more by practical concerns than by other people's notions of style.

If you want to be different:
Occasionally let yourself dream a little more, even if it doesn't seem practical or efficient.

how you relate to others

You are Considerate
You trust others, care about them, and are slow to judge them, making you CONSIDERATE.
You value your close relationships very much, and are more likely to spend time in small, tightly-knit groups of friends than in large crowds.
You enjoy exploring the world through observation, quietly watching others.
Relating to others so well, and understanding their emotions, leads you to trust people in general, even though you're somewhat shy and reserved at times.
Your belief that people are generally well-intentioned contributes to your sympathy regarding their problems.
Although you may not vocalize it often, you have an awareness of how society affects individuals, and you understand complex causes of people's behavior.
You like to look at all sides of a situation before making a judgment, particularly when that situation involves important things in other people's lives.
Your close friends know you as a good listener.

If you want to be different:
Because other people would benefit immensely from your understanding and insight, you should try to be more outgoing in social situations, even when they make you uncomfortable. Others will want to hear what you have to say!

And lastly, a photo for the day that came from somewhere on the net that I saved to the computer - what you don't want to see after a Chinese meal:

Fun with little people...

Nothing but good old fashioned forced perspective tomfoolery:

Not as impressive from the other side:

Trips to the Zoo are almost always amusing

Such as when one East African Bongo decides it would be fun to drink the pee (!?!?!?) of another East African Bongo... and then realizes that wasn't such a good idea:

Or when the Giant Anteater decides that the Capybara's ear is dirty and needs a thorough licking:

But then there are the always beautiful Jaguars. This time the black jaguar was sunning itself on the new fallen tree over the fish pond in their exhibit. You can see that the black ones have all the same spots as their golden relatives, they just don't show up if they are not in the sun:

And a Giraffe for good measure:

Time flies when you're...

...having one problem after another! :)


It has been brought to my attention that we have not updated our blog since March before the migration. Mea culpa. So here's the move...

There was an empty house...



Then we had to paint stuff...
And the cat had to help, of course...

Then we had to move in furniture...

And then there have been drainage problems with the washing machine drain pipe, a pipe bursting to flood the entire room pictured above and ruin much of the furniture and the wood panelling, etc. and we're still waiting on a contractor to rip everything out and repair it. So far our first home has been quite the little pain in the...