First Bite!

Grandpa says it best...

The Grandparents Visit!

So, it seems that being a doctoral student and a father has ended up causing me to be pretty busy these days. However, that is no excuse to stop writing. I think the reason I haven't posted lately is that I am now past the initial excitement of the move and the new school, and I am smack dab in the middle of finding my footing. Not the most glamorous thing to write about. School is going well, but I am definitely feeling the effects of having been out of school for 7 years. I am reading some excellent books, and impressed by the way some people can write with such profundity while coming across in a personal and clear way. I am also impressed with the other composers here, and my professors, and intimidated (but motivated). I am working hard to keep improving my composition skills. There are so many resources available at the school that it is inevitable that I miss some opportunity every day. Kind of like New York in that way I guess.

Ok, enough excuses. Things are good! I must back up -

My Mom was here last week. We went to Sedona on Sunday and met with a cousin of hers (ours) whom I had never met. His mother was the younger sister of my grandfather's (Harold's) mother. He was amazingly nice, and told us all about the family. He even told me that I reminded him of Red, which was a the nicest thing he could have said to me. We spend the day there, and he and his wife showed us around the town, where they have lived for 7 years since moving from Lawrence, Kansas. He is a retired professor of communication studies at Kansas University.

My mom taught Dylan "buddum, buddum, butz", where they bang their heads together on the "butz". Dylan definitely got the hang of it, would move her head forward at the right time.

(PS, My mom had a big birthday this past week. I won't say which one, but whatever age it is she definitely doesn't look it!)

We stopped in Jerome on the way home. It was dark already, so we didn't get a chance to really see it, but let me just say that it is a famous "ghost town" which now has 400 people living there year round. It is pretty high up the side of a hill/mountain, and the drive up and down was a bit harrowing in the dark. We can't wait to go back during the day.

Nicole is still taking lots of photographs, here are a couple she took last week:

This past weekend my dad came to visit. Dylan had a nice time reading and hanging out with Grandpa.

 We went to the zoo on Sunday. It was a zoo! I mean, it was crowded! I think the most interesting animals were the giraffes, the galapagos tortoises, and all of the tiny homo-sapiens running around. I have never seen so many kids! Crying, laughing, yelling, you name it.

Oh, and Dylan had her first batch of "solid" food on Sunday night. Rice cereal! As expected most of it ended up adorning her bib, but she seemed to like the process despite being a bit confused by the "swallowing" part.

Until next time!

Dylan Laughing

Dylan Laughing

Love Songs

Here is the recording of the piece I performed at the composers concert. The text of the poems is pasted below.
Love Songs by Elliot Sneider

Poems by James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916), Indiana USA
“The Hoosier Poet”

A Life-Lesson

There! little girl; don't cry!
They have broken your doll, I know;
And your tea-set blue,
And your play-house, too,
Are things of the long ago;
But childish troubles will soon pass by. --
There! little girl; don't cry!

There! little girl; don't cry!
They have broken your slate, I know;
And the glad, wild ways
Of your schoolgirl days
Are things of the long ago;
But life and love will soon come by. --
There! little girl; don't cry!

There! little girl; don't cry!
They have broken your heart I know;
And the rainbow gleams
Of your youthful dreams
Are things of the long ago;
But Heaven holds all for which you sigh. --
There! little girl; don't cry!

A Very Youthful Affair       
I'm bin a-visitun 'bout a week
To my little Cousin's at Nameless Creek,
An' I'm got the hives an' a new straw hat,
An' I'm come back home where my beau lives at.  

He and I
Just drifting on together--
He and I--
As through the balmy weather
Of July
Drift two thistle-tufts imbedded
Each in each--by zephyrs wedded--
Touring upward, giddy-headed,
For the sky.

And, veering up and onward,
Do we seem
Forever drifting dawnward
In a dream,
Where we meet song-birds that know us,
And the winds their kisses blow us,
While the years flow far below us
Like a stream.

And we are happy--very--
He and I--
Aye, even glad and merry
Though on high
The heavens are sometimes shrouded
By the midnight storm, and clouded
Till the pallid moon is crowded
From the sky.

My spirit ne'er expresses
Any choice
But to clothe him with caresses
And rejoice;
And as he laughs, it is in
Such a tone the moonbeams glisten
And the stars come out to listen
To his voice.

And so, whate'er the weather,
He and I,--
With our lives linked thus together,
Float and fly
As two thistle-tufts imbedded
Each in each--by zephyrs wedded--
Touring upward, giddy-headed,
For the sky.