Almost two years ago now, some strange goings on started happening around here. My brother emailed! This may not seem strange to anyone with normal communication skills but for me, it was. For years prior to this email, my brother had sort of dropped off the face of the earth, so to speak, and it appeared that was were he was happy to stay. After lots of ignored emails or very brief responses and flat-out refusals to answer very basic questions, we all just assumed this was our new normal. Then, almost out of nowhere, he emailed. And he didn’t stop with one email. The emails and phone calls kept coming! We were all quite surprised! After all, he was like a unicorn to our kids because they had HEARD of him but wasn’t quite sure he existed as they had only seen pictures of him! Unicorn Uncle was alive and establishing contact! I wrote this song very shortly after the first few emails and the idea of having a brother again was settling in. However sad, it is a part of our family history now but the joy comes in knowing that there is a future. Vincent, this ones for you.
Family Members: Ephrem
Goodbyes and Bridges
I wrote this song while I was washing the dishes. Ok, well, I stopped washing to write and returned to cold, flat, dirty dishwater but it was worth it. This one came about when I was thinking about saying hello to family that were going to visit and the joy that comes in seeing familiar and friendly faces. On the flip side, I also started thinking about all the goodbyes. There have been so many. So while this is a sad song, kind of, it is also one filled with reminders on how we stay connected. I hope you like it and thanks for listening.
Roots
I recently watched a short promo from Hans Zimmer (famous movie score composer) and was motivated to do this post. At one point, he says anyone can do a score. All you need is a microphone and a computer or maybe even just a phone. Well, I have a computer AND a phone so, I’m without excuse! As a sidebar, I’ve not taken this class but I’m pretty sure he’s a genius and does happen to know A LOT about music so below is the link to part of what I read and saw from Hans Zimmer. https://www.masterclass.com/classes/hans-zimmer-teaches-film-scoring
Along with listening to this promo and really thinking about it and our purpose for this website, I decided to do something I’ve never done before. Record myself and post it on the internet. Welcome, Patrice, to the 21st century! I had no idea it involved so many tabs and clicks.
We decided to start this site to record, in a more lasting way, our life for our kids and the future. The side bonus is that we get to also share this with friends and family. A few years ago, I wrote this song for our family so it just stands to be an appropriate first-song post. Hope you like it. It’s called “Roots”.
Fireside Barbecue
One of our favorite dinners in the winter is to have barbecue cooked around the wood burning stove in our living room.
What is your favorite part of the barbecue and favorite thing to eat?
Jada: “The lotus root and the warmth.”
Hosanna: “MEAT! It’s special because it’s barbecuing on a fire”
Ephrem: “I especially like the meat, the lotus root, and the warmth of the fire. My favorite part is that it is barbecued.”
Jubilee: “I like meat. It’s special because we’re barbecuing on the fire.”
Patrice: “My favorite part is the slow cook and the waiting in between. I especially like eating food so hot it burns my mouth.”
Nathan: “My favorite part is hanging around with everyone and seeing the kids enjoy the food.”
Trash Disposal
We new there would be some adjustments of daily life and necessities. In town the concept of trash disposal is simple, the trash truck plays music announcing it’s arrival. When you’re not used to it, one often mistakes it for either a Disney ride because it plays “It’s a Small World”. If not that, then you expect to run out and find an ice cream truck due to the upbeat dingle of a song.
You would think such a set up would be simple, but way too many times were we left chasing the trash truck down the road or receiving a solid scolding from the driver to not leave the trash on the curb for them to pick up themselves.
In the village, it may not have the allure of convience, but a ride in the back of the jeep down to the village incinerator followed by a roaring fire and a melting pile of goo actually seems to give everyone involved an entertaining way to dispose of our unusable refuse.
