SEMPER BUFO FARM

Happiness is...

2011-04-14T07:47:00.002-05:00

...escaping the barnyard and getting in to the pasture to browse on green shoots and dead leaves! I was working on building my compost pile when I realized that most of the goats had gotten through an opening in the fence (that only they could find!) The new goats stayed in the barnyard but Althea, the cow, was mooing like crazy because she wants to get out there too!

2011-03-02T23:36:00.001-06:00

Master Class with the Paris Duo

2011-02-16T20:00:00.003-06:00

Xavier Jara & Chris Garwood perform Scarlatti for the Paris Guitar Duo (Jeremy Jouve & Judicael Perroy).

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:02:00.004-06:00

Selena

Xavi, Selena and I made the annual trek up to Mom's house for New Year's Eve. We've made a tradition of spending the evening with our dear friend, Laura, and have recently added my mom to it. I love holidays where you are not required to buy gifts or send cards (what a grouch I am) and you can enjoy each other's company and eat a lot of good food! All of the other stuff has become too commercialized and I hate it. Anyway, for that reason I am a big fan of Thanksgiving and the New Year's holiday. This year, as in many occasions, Laura told some great stories about growing up in Florida with her Polish grandmother, and mom also told us some stories about farm life in a Norwegian community.

Laura Giefer

Mom --Alice bishop

Dickens Village

Mom's village

Above: Mom's Dickens village had grown every year until there was no more room for anything else.
Below: What a cutie! I wish there was more video of our conversation.

Cee-Cee, our Pygmy goat

2010-12-30T23:03:00.000-06:00

It's only the beginning of winter in Minnesota and we've already had 34 inches of snow in December. This video shows nothing of the snow we've had but Cee-Cee was out already complaining about it and how cold it was for her. She's our Pygmy doe and we are hoping that she will have a kid or two coming in February.

2010 Barnyard additions

2010-12-26T12:58:00.110-06:00

No sooner was Christmas over when we had to prepare ourselves for the arrival of our newest additions to the farm. My dear friends Jen and Chuck had to leave their homestead (Duskwind Farm) and asked me to take their Scottish Highlander cows and the sheep (8 ewes, 1 ram). In the above photo is the cow, Althea, and one of the ewes. Below is her 6 month old heifer calf, Gini (Virginia). Interestingly enough, Althea was a calf when I visited Jen and Chuck's farm back in 2008 (Althea, when a calf).

In December Althea was bred (AI) with Scottish Highlander. The Highlander is listed on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy as a breed that is recovering but is still being watched in order to improve its genetic integrity. As the name elicits, the breed evolved through natural selection surviving in the highlands of Scotland and it best known for its "hardiness, maternal abilities, reproductive efficiency, and longevity. Highland cattle thrive on rough forage and in cold, wet climates"(ALBC). It is a meat breed that is especially popular in the northern states where they're going do alright with the snow and cold.

Gini

The sheep ran off of the trailer in single file and out to the barnyard and stopped in their tracks at the end of the yard. They stood, quite dazed and confused, for at least a half hour trying to get a grasp of the new surroundings. Once there was hay available they were enticed to come closer to the barn. Some of these sheep are Suffolks and North Country Cheviots. I still dream about producing sheep milk and cheese so I've got it in the back of my mind to have them (or some of them) bred next year with a dairy ram through AI. Dream, dream, dream...

And meanwhile CeeCee (our Pygmy doe) let me know, quite furiously, that she was unsure about the new animals that had arrived and "camped out" next door in the adjoining pasture. The goats and the new animals are sharing the barn but are separated from each other by fencing and gates. It's interesting, though that the goats are now sleeping next to the bedding area where the cows and sheep sleep during the night. They prefer their company rather than staying in their goat stall where they slept before.

Althea and Gini, summer 2010
Duskwind Farm

Gini is a very curious cow and is interested in the other animals in the barn including the goats and cats. It's interesting that Gini and Tomás seem especially curious about each other, and they both came from the same farm. Below is a video of Gini in the barn with Tomás.

¡Feliz Navidad!

2010-12-25T13:47:00.002-06:00

Esto es realmente divertido y adecuado dado que aquí ya hemos tenido tanta nieve este invierno!

A Former Student Remembers René

2010-12-10T17:33:00.008-06:00

For Professor René Jara, who knew that books were about life, by Anya Achtenberg (Department of Spanish and Portuguese)

A former student remembers our colleague René Jara

When I first began taking courses with Professor Jara, I was going through another round of undergraduate work, having discovered that I loved the Spanish language and its literature, and needed to know more of the cultures and struggles of Latin Americans. I did not actually know then that I was part Sephardic; I had not had the experience of meeting "cousins" in New Mexico who were descended from Sephardic Jews also expelled from Spain hundreds of years ago, nor had I had the experience of the caretaker of a synagogue in Istanbul taking one look at me and speaking to me in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language the Sephardim took with them into diaspora.

But I was indeed in love with Spanish, and a bit terrified of returning to school after a rough coming of age in New York, and plenty of blows telling me I simply was not good enough to learn much of anything. In secret I had been reading the poems of Neruda and Lorca, Vallejo and Hernandez, out loud, and struggling from page to page to decipher them. After moving to Minnesota from the east coast, I pushed past fear to return to school, and suddenly I was in René's class. And I kept taking René's classes, semester after semester.

This man could drink coffee, and indeed did. Way too much. I doubted he slept at all; indeed, who could, having read as much as he did? And loving every word, clearly. I wrote down as much of what he said as I could, and I know that he found those notebooks quite, let's say, complete. I don't doubt that writing out what he said in class has contributed to what I do know of the Spanish language. There are still moments, after years of having dropped the work to concentrate on the English language in my own writing of poetry and fiction, that my tongue is freed and my Spanish moves well.

What I found in studying with René was enormous intellectual stimulation; an infinite passion for language, for the complexities of texts and the mysteries they hold; a way for a fierce sense of justice to be incorporated into the hard good work of university teaching; and an embrace of all of his students, me included. What I found that was absolutely irreplaceable for me was a brilliant and passionate scholar and a master teacher who somehow managed to convey to me that I was, indeed, quite smart myself. This may not mean a great deal for some people, but with my origins, this was life-changing, and it is something I have worked to do and continue doing in my own teaching: to convey my true belief in the gifts of the people with whom I work.

I always connected to the things he told me about his life growing up in Chile, most especially that his mother was illiterate. (Perhaps my memory is wrong; perhaps his mother was college-educated, a teacher, but my memory holds this conversation.) I always sensed that he was speaking for more than himself, and his hunger for reading and learning was something I could understand from my own experience, my own background.

I cannot recall his support of the best in me, of that synthesis of the very cerebral and the very compassionate, without a deep sense of grief at the loss of René, too early, nor without knowing that this very thing, this support, is something he was able to give many more than me. He was excited about my work, or seemed so. He trusted me to translate a paper of his for a presentation at the MLA, although I was much more of a beginner than not. And he praised the results. He read my first book of poetry, published shortly after I received my degree from the University of Minnesota, and praised it as well, likely beyond what it deserved, perhaps because he knew that it was an opening to more, a synthesis of hard knocks and whatever gift of language lived within me. He wrote me letters of recommendation that were more complete and specific than I have ever seen anyone else do, even for their best students. I tend to write letters like these, I realize.

I left Minnesota, but every few years or so got in touch with René, and never worried that he would not remember me or would not welcome me. I occasionally visited, breathing in deeply the air of his office, and knowing it was food for someone hungry to go home to language and literature in this disciplined and joyful way. I brought him my next book of poetry. He saw the growth. He never failed me, ever. Neither in being a wonder to talk with, nor an ally in a profound sense.

I was so happy as he made a family, put on a few pounds. I remember those days when his diet of coffee and (I think I recall) many cigarettes kept him thin. The last time I saw him was before his surgery, and I was so happy to hear from him afterward, and imagine him reading as much and whatever he pleased, and spending time with family and friends.

My memory can locate in those piles of notebooks from René's classes a phrase of his lecture--perhaps his own; perhaps a quote (and if this is a known phrase and you have the source, please inform me!)--that poetry is: words searching for other words; palabras buscando palabras.

This phrase reminds me that René's words seemed always to be searching for other words on this poetic road, and that he searched for the poetry in his students. For many of us, his search was so skillful, so loving and knowledgeable, that it yielded up the poetry in our hearts and minds, in a language we had not known we possessed.

Anya Achtenberg
www.anyaachtenberg.com

Thanksgiving with the Overbys

2010-11-26T22:40:00.043-06:00

Even though we were in the middle of a huge snowstorm we decided to travel to Kenyon for a Thanksgiving day celebration with the Overbys. Charlie was here from Alaska as well as his kids Jason, Alyssa and Rachel, who all live in Minneapolis now. It was a lovely time together! Selena and Xavier got to know their cousins a little better and they also played some music together. After eating some good food --thanks, Rosie-- we played a game of Cranium. Then we took a family photo together pretending that it was a 19th century photo shoot, "everybody be serious!" We all look kind of awful and it doesn't represent the mood of the day at all.

"Don't smile!"
From left: Alice Bishop, Xavier Jara, Ahna Bishop-Jara, Charlie Overby, Selena Jara, Rachel Overby, Jason Overby, Alyssa Overby, Rosella Strandemo

Xavier's audition for From the Top's "Big Break" contest

2010-11-15T10:47:00.003-06:00

Etude #8 by Giulio Regondi. Recorded in Antonello Hall at the MacPhail Center for Music. Filmed by Dan Huiting. Guitar made by Stephen Kakos.
Recorded for the Big Break contest for From the Top

Marianna's Surprise Birthday Party

2010-10-27T20:35:00.008-05:00

Marianna Lee

My cousin Rose pulled off the biggest surprise on her mother, Marianna, for her 60th birthday. All of her friends and family gathered at Buca di Beppo and waited for her to arrive. When she came in the room she had no idea what was happening and it took a full 30 seconds of complete befuddlement before it dawned on her what was going on. Well, it was a wonderful evening for all of us and I wanted to mark the occasion with these photos, that I stole from Rose, and to honor a really wonderful woman on her birthday!

Marianna and Alan

Duane Lee

Ahna, Xavier and Selena

Debby and Ryan Lee

Delaware hen and her chick

2010-10-15T10:46:00.002-05:00

A Surprise in the Barn

2010-09-15T11:02:00.074-05:00

Delaware hen and her 15 chicks

The hay loft in the barn has been full of hay since the second cutting of the pasture in August. We've only had to climb up there to retrieve hay for the goats so I hadn't noticed that there was a hen laying on a nest. One morning last week I went in the barn and heard a distinct cheeping sound coming from the loft. At first I thought it was from the bats that have colonized the rafters of the loft. I climbed up the ladder and saw lovely sight: one of the Delaware hens was moving around the barn pointing out things to eat to her brood of chicks.

I ran immediately into the house and shouted, "There be chicks in the barn!" The kids came out with me, we grabbed some chicken scratch, and we sat up in the hayloft watching the hen and chicks running around for at least a half hour. None of us had ever seen this before because most of our chickens up until now have not had the inclination nor the space to brood their own chicks. Having the hen raise her own chicks certainly makes more sense than humans doing it!

Two weeks after the chicks were discovered we decided to move them out to "The Chick House", which is a small henhouse not big enough for our 35 laying hens. We put a fence around an area where they can forage bugs and plants but not be bothered by the other chickens and turkeys. Below is a video that I took of them outside with their mother.

Selena and Lena, the goat

2010-09-14T14:06:00.015-05:00

Lena and Inés are our Nubian dairy goats. In the video Selena is hanging out with the goats, turkeys (Bourbon Reds) and chickens (Delawares). In the background you can see how green the garden was this year.

Homemade Yogurt

2010-09-03T20:48:00.001-05:00

When people hear that I'm going to get milk from my goats they usually ask me what I'm going to do with all of the extra milk. Well, I have to admit that I am always a bit surprised by this question because to me it is too obvious that one would drink it and make yogurt and cheese with the rest of it. We've been buying raw milk from various sources for the last 4-5 years and I always buy extra for making yogurt and kefir. The best yogurt that we've had this summer has been the blueberry yogurt with honey added for sweetener. It's really not that complicated and you don't have to buy anything complicated or fancy. I use an old cooler and a heating pad to keep the yogurt warm. And then I use a small thermometer to keep it around 95-100 degrees.

I usually use at least a gallon of milk for making yogurt; might as well make a large batch because it gets eaten very quickly! I always use raw milk (unpasteurized, nonhomogenized) from a clean dairy that I trust and from a healthy, grass-fed cow or goat (maybe some day I'll milk some sheep!)

So, to make yogurt, gently heat the milk to 180º F using a candy thermometer. Don't let the milk boil or curdle on top. It might take awhile for the milk to get to this temperature so put on some relaxing music or have a conversation with your kids! Once it has reached 180º take the pot off of the heat and bring the milk down to 110º F. Sometimes I have put it outside if the temperature is cooler than indoors for a couple minutes but don't let it get too cool. Stir and check, and recheck the temperature of the milk which may take quite a while. Don't rush it. I look at slow cooking like a good friend that is telling me to slow down and enjoy the smells and textures of food. Hey, this is another opportunity to hang out with the people you love!

Stainless steel or glass container

When the milk has reached 110ºF stir in the plain yogurt. For every quart of milk add a tablespoon of full fat, plain yogurt (either a good product from the store or some yogurt from the previous batch).

Once you have stirred in all of the yogurt and it looks like it has dissolved in the milk pour it into quart or half sized mason jars. You can use any glass containers but I prefer mason jars. Don't use any kind of plastic because you will be heating up the containers to close to 100º for quite a few hours and there is crap in the plastic that will seep into your yogurt. And, yuck... food in plastic tastes like plastic! I avoid plastic all the time anyway.

Pour the milk/yogurt mix into mason jars

Cover the mason jars with a lid with place them in a warm place at 95º-100ºF for about 8 hours, or overnight. Like I said, I find that the easiest way to keep the yogurt at a constant temperature is using a cooler with a heating pad. The first hour or so I monitor the temperature to make sure it is neither too hot or cold then I leave it.

Cultured milk: yogurt

After 8 hours check it to see if it's "set". The smell texture of cultured yogurt is unmistakeable! It's lovely. Although, on a side note, my son gets nauseated by the smell so I guess it doesn't affect all people in the same way.

Cultured milk produces whey which is the whitish, filmy liquid that collects on top of the yogurt. If you don't mind runny yogurt then do nothing more. Whey is very nutritious so there's no problem eating your yogurt without draining the whey ª. But whey can also be used to aid in the fermentation of vegetables and grains. My family likes a thick yogurt so I usually drain the whey and use it for other things in the kitchen. Below is one method to drain the whey, especially if you want a thick curd. Get cheese cloth and hang the yogurt curd in it for a couple hours.

Of course, put a large bowl beneath it to catch the dripping yogurt.

Yogurt curd in cheese cloth

You might only want to drain it slightly and get a runny yogurt. Once you have the consistency and taste that you like, eat it the way it is or add fruit and/or a sweetener like honey or stevia. I've tried both and prefer honey as a sweetener. If you like the taste of stevia it is certainly healthier that sugar. We love blueberries and it adds a lovely bluish tint to the yogurt.

"The Good Stuff"
@
The Good Farm

ªWhey is high in minerals and has been used for therapeutic purposes going back to the ancient Greeks. It has been "used to cure dyspepsia, uremia, arthritis, gout, liver diseases, anemia and even TB ingesting up to 1500 grams of whey per day" (Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions) according to, Whey Beverages by V. H. Holsinger.

With Grandpa

2010-08-31T11:01:00.002-05:00

Xavier must have been 2 or 3 years old when I caught him and grandpa sitting together outside on the porch at our Ham Lake house. I wish the photos were of better quality because I love these photos. For me it captures the comfortable and quiet way that my dad could just "hang out" with the kids. Note: in the background of the 2nd photo is his famous red truck!

Here is another one of my favorite photos of Selena with her grandpa. This was in 1992 at a vacation resort in Perham, MN.

Jacques & Tomás, Barn Kittens

2010-06-16T08:27:00.091-05:00

I've read that barn cats are the canaries of the farm. If you have healthy cats you have a healthy environment for the rest of the animals, and for the humans as well. I don't know how true this is but I do watch the kitties to get a sense of how healthy it is in the barn. Anyway, in late spring we got some very young kittens from Duskwind farm and both Selena and Xavier take care of all of the cats on a daily basis. They are very sweet, lovable cats and are well socialized, which goes to show that barn cats do not have to be wild and skittish. In March I plan on neutering them with Camp Companion that will do the operation for barn cats for a very low price. I don't want them reproducing any more unneeded cats in the vicinity. Having them neutered will also keep them closer to home and they will be safer if they are not roaming around looking for action!

Jacques

Tomás

"Gray cat" is a stray that arrived here, from who knows where, late last spring. At first he wouldn't let us come within 25 feet of him, but after leaving food out for him he slowly warmed up to us. Now he is a very friendly cat who has taken up an interesting friendship with Karl, our Pygmy buck. Gray likes to lay underneath Karl or right by him. Karl even shares his food with the cat.

Poor Mathias is the original barn cat who lived here before we moved to the farm. He's a very nice cat but he is pissed off that so many other animals have moved into his space.

Jacques, enjoying the winter sun

The MacPhail Guitar Quartet's Radio Debut

2010-06-08T10:12:00.007-05:00

Above: Henry Johnston, Xavier Jara, Luke Banchy and Austin Wahl

This week Xavier's quartet is featured on the program "String Theory" with Kevin Barnes on Jazz 88 FM. It airs again on Saturday, June 10 at 2:00 p.m. but can be listened to online at: Jazz 88 KBEM

The Program:

Quartet Live In Studio- Allan Johnston Director

Ensemble Performances Scottish Fantasy by David Crittenden
Bach Brandenburg Concerto 6 Movement 3 Allegro- J.S.Bach
Solo Performances-
Luke Banchy- Mazurca Choro by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Xavier Jara- La Joia by Vincente Asencio
Henry Johnston-Chanson From Sonata 3 by Manuel Ponce
Austin Wahl-Schnee In Istanbul by Carlo Domeniconi
Brouwer Cuban Landscape

Austin Wahl

The quartet with Kevin Barnes (on the left) in KBEM studios at North High School in Minneapolis

The Gentle Executioner

2010-05-30T17:32:00.153-05:00

A gentle executioner, that's me! If I want to butcher the animals that I raise for meat then I want to do it as humanely as humanly possible. I want to be the executioner that my chickens would request to do the job if they had the option to choose. My friends laughed when I said that my goal was to be the gentle executioner, they thought I was joking. But no, there are good ways and bad ways to do it and I did my research on the various modes of operation. There is the chopping block (removing the head with an axe) hanging the chicken upside down from the feet (with wings flapping and chicken squawking fearfully) wringing its neck and, the method I preferred in the end, the use of the killing cone.

A cooling tank with thermometer and a stainless steel cutting area with sink

Death can't be easy for any one creature on this earth but I want to be skilled at bringing it on as quickly and painlessly possible as well as minimize fear and trauma. Wringing its neck is instantaneous death as long as you are skilled in doing so. The other drawback to this method is that the chicken is not bled out (the blood isn't drained from the carcass). The same goes for chopping off the head; you will have too much blood in the meat. So, it seems that the most humane and practical way to butcher a chicken is by using a killing cone. It snugly holds the the bird's body in an upside down position so that the chicken remains calm and still. Because the bird immobilized within the cone it does not flap around and injure its wings, which can result in bruise spots on the meat.

Killing cones attached to building, propane tank for scalding and chair for plucking
AND
a cat looking for chicken morsels!

Cones can be purchased for about 45 dollars each or you can make them yourself from traffic cones as I did. Here's what I did:

Things you'll need:

traffic cones
Sharpie magic marker
screws and screwdriver
Heavy duty scissors
(optional) Two 5'-8' posts
(optional) “Support board”: 8 feet long 2X4 plywood
(optional) rope

*Purchase plastic traffic cones at Home Depot or Menards. These cones are usually bright orange made in a soft and pliable plastic. You want your birds to be comfortable and calm till the very end so, in this sense, plastic is better than the steel cones . Also, determine the number of cones you'll need according to the rule of “pluckin' & coolin'”; the number of birds that are ready for cooling down in ice water in one hour equals the number of cones you'll need.

*Cut 2”-3” off of the narrow end of a cone. Determine if this is the right width for your birds by placing one in the cone and gently pulling its head down through the opening. Make sure that its neck (the jugular area) is accessible. If the cone is still too narrow at the bottom make more cuts off of the cone until the opening is the right width for your chickens.

*Cut the remaining cones at the same width by drawing a line around each with the Sharpie marker. Are all of your birds the same size? If not, make some of your cones wider for the whopper sized birds. To butcher turkeys you might have to cut down the cone by half.

*Mount the cones on a support board with screws attached through the upper part of the inside of the cone. To make things easier pre-drill a hole through the support board. Make sure that the screw is long enough to go through both the cone and the board. In the photo above I attached the cones to the side of an old lean-to. The height of the support board is ideal at 4' off the ground. There is enough room under the cones to place a large bucket to catch the draining blood from the chickens.

* Now, I suppose, the next step is to prepare for butchering. I spent quite a lot of time watching Youtube videos and reading books on cutting the jugular vein in the right place. Here is a good site to visit to butcher a chicken.

This year we butchered only 12 chickens but hopefully by next year we'll have a chicken plucker and some more experience under our belts.

Selena, the chick whisperer

2010-03-24T07:23:00.006-05:00

The chicks are 4 weeks old today and up until yesterday they had been living in our laundry room in large cardboard boxes with heat lamps running from the ceiling. We had to change bedding (newspaper), water and food 2-3 times a day so it got to be quite a mess. (By the way, I would not use newspaper next time as it flattened out the surface and was therefore hard on the chick's feet. i.e. better to provide an uneven surface, like wood chips).

I decided to order chicks at the earliest possible arrival date so that we would have eggs in July and meat in the freezer or on the table by June. We have 50 chicks; 25 Delawares for eggs and 25 red broilers for meat. The Delawares are the friendly birds, especially with Selena who has a calming affect on them.
The light colored chicks are the Delawares. This photo shows them at 2 1/2 weeks. The Delaware is a heritage dual purpose breed. Because of industrial farming these breeds and their genetic hardiness and diversity are in danger of dying out. (See Amercan Livestock Breeds Conservancy ) The turkey poults, Bourbon Reds, that will arrive in April are also considered a heritage breed.
Last week I moved the adult chickens out of the hen house and into a silo lean-to. We only have 8 egg laying hens and one rooster (Cow) left from my Ham Lake flock but they are still providing us with enough eggs. So, yesterday the chicks were removed from the laundry room and put out in the henhouse. Now they have enough space to run and jump around and are already trying to hop up to the roost. Chickens have a natural tendency to try to get up above the ground and roost. I am looking forward to warmer weather when we can let them go outside and run around. There's no better relaxing entertainment.

Xavi's concert debut at Salon Se Léve

2010-03-12T09:53:00.007-06:00

As the 2009 Schubert Club winner in guitar Xavier was invited to perform a program for Salon Se Léve; a local group that supports young musicians by providing them the opportunity to perform professionally. Xavier has been working on his program of 6 pieces since last summer when he was first approached for the gig. So, in other words, this wasn't just another typical recital but the mini-version of a professional concert where he had the opportunity to "pull his own weight" and take center stage for a half hour program (for which he was paid :)

The concert took place in the art gallery of the United Methodist church on Hennepin Avenue. We had to arrive an hour before the performance (who knows why) so we tried out the stage and I took these photos. (It kind of looked like he had matched his shirt to go with the chairs and rug in the hall.) The hall was filled with paintings. Paul Wirth, a local pianist and Salon organizer, pointed out that there was a 16th century painting with the first appearance in western art of a "new world" turkey in it. This was really interesting since the turkey depicted in the painting does not look like a wild turkey but more like the domesticated breeds that I assume came later. This is puzzling to me and deserves some fun research at a later date. In fact, that particular painting is located above Xavier's right shoulder in the photo above.

Below: a copy of the concert program.

Xavier played the "Frog Galliard" piece well but showing some nervousness. By the time he started the Regondi, (my favorite) I was happy to hear that the nerves were calm and he was making music. Boy, I love that piece and his phrasing is excellent. Right now he's still working on finding the right mix, especially for the coming GFA competition in June, but all in all, it went really well for him. The Bach "Prelude" was beauuutiful and the "Allegro" was a bit too fast, but not as fast as you hear in some recordings. So, the program was finished, Xavier took his bow and the audience rose for a standing ovation! Yikes, Xavier was NOT prepared for this possibility at all. All of his time had been invested in preparing the program without considering that a encore piece might be required. I wish I had a photo of the look on his face as he was trying to figure out what the heck he was going to play for an encore! Finally he sat down and played half of "Blue Shift" but had some trouble remembering it. "Sorry, I can't remember it", he said, and the audience laughed and stood up again. This time he bowed and made a quick exit.

After the concert there was a reception for the artists so he chatted with folks for awhile. We were SO glad to see our friends Jane and Geza Simon at the concert, and even more so to celebrate together afterwards at the restaurant Monte Carlo. You can see in the photo below how happy I was; good times with good friends!

Above: Geza, Xavier and Jane

Below: the Salon Se Léve billboard for 2009/2010 season

Christmas 2009 in Arlington

2010-01-05T11:59:00.012-06:00

Season's Greetings and Peace to all! We enjoyed a quiet Christmas together in our new home. Even though we are still dealing with unpacking boxes we managed to get a beautiful tree in Arlington. Selena did most of the decorating and she baked a lone batch of Christmas cookies. As part of our Christmas Eve tradition we each picked out a piece (of any kind) to perform or present. Here is the poem that I performed. I prefaced it by saying that one had to imagine that I was about 5 years old with pigtails wearing overalls.

"The Moo Cow Moo"

My papa held me up to the Moo Cow Moo

So close I could almost touch,

And I fed him a couple of times or so,

And I wasn't a fraid-cat, much.

But if papa goes in the house,

And my mama she goes in too,

I keep still like a little mouse

For the Moo Cow Moo might moo.

The Moo Cow's tail is a piece of rope

All raveled out where it grows,

And it's just like feeling a piece of soap

All over the Moo Cow's nose.

And the Moo Cow Moo has lots of fun

Just switching his tail about,

But if he opens his mouth, why then I run,

For that's where the Moo comes out.

The Moo Cow Moo has deers on his head,

And his eyes stick out of their place,

And the nose of the Moo Cow Moo is spread

All over the Moo Cow's face.

And his feet are nothing but fingernails,

And his mama don't keep them cut,

And he gives folks milk in water pails,

When he don't keep his handles shut.

But if you or I pull his handles, why

The Moo Cow Moo says it hurts,

but the hired man sits down close by

And squirts, and squirts, and squirts.

-Edmund Vance Cooke

When it was Xavier's turn he brought down his guitar, of course, and played a beautiful version of "O Holy Night". Loved it! Too bad I didn't get it on tape.

Selena presented a somber but beautiful poem by Wang Ping, a poet that she read and met in a class last spring:

"Tsunami Chant"

I'm not a singer, but please

let me sing of the peacemakers

on the streets and internet, your candles

in this darkest moment of night,

your bodies on the steps of government buildings,

your voices from the roots of grasses and trees,

from your pit of conscience.

I'm not a prayer, but please,

please give my voice to the children

in baghdad, Basra, Afghanistan,

and every other bombed-out place on earth,

your crying out in pain and fear;

please give my hands to the mothers

raking through rubble for food, bodies;

my sight to the cities and fields in smoke;

my tears to the men and women who are brought

home in bags; and please give my ears

to those who refuse to hear the explosions,

who tune only to censored news, official words.

I'm not a citizen, but please

count my vote against the belief

the that the american way is the only way,

count it against the blasphemy of freedom,

against a gang of thugs who donned crowns

on their own heads, who live for power,

and power only, whose only route is

to deceive and loot, whose mouths move

only to crus, whose hands close

only into a grave.

I'm not a worshiper, but please

accept my faith in those

who refuse to believe in painted lies,

refuse to join this chorus of supreme hypocrisy,

refuse to sell out, to let their conscience sleep,

wither, die. Please accept my faith

in those who cross the bridge for peace,

only to be cursed and spat upon, but keep crossing

anyway, every Wednesday, in rain and snow,

and my faith in those who camp out night after night,

your blood thawing the frozen ground,

your tents flowers of hope in this bleak age.

I don't posses a bomb, don't know

how to shoot or thrust a sword.

All I have is a broken voice,

a heart immense with sorrow.

But please, please take them,

let them be part of this tsunami

of chanting, this chant of awakening.

-Wang Ping

For dinner I pulled out a roast from the freezer. This summer I bought a whole beef from a woman in Pine City. She has goats and raises the calves on goat's milk! Well, the meat is superb and the broth is also very tasty. Anyway, our Christmas dinner was pulled together from things we had around the kitchen and the pantry. The down side to living out here is that you can't buy any good food in the supermarket!!! Uff-da! It's all Kemps, Gold'nPlump and Nabisco!

Keeping with Rodde tradition, Xavier and Selena gave a double ration of food to Mathias, the barn cat. The chickens also got extra greens and beef fat tonight. In the dead of winter chickens are always very happy to get anything! The dogs didn't get anything unusual because they are ALWAYS fed like princes anyway. I suppose I would give them some tripe if I had it. That would send them into ecstasy.

Well, we'll top this off with some photos of the evening.

Christmas morning from the living room window

On the farm

2009-12-06T08:46:00.009-06:00

The past couple months have been a whirlwind of selling the house and buying our farm. The only word that comes to mind at the moment to describe that whole process is 'nightmare', but within the realm of possible realities everything went rather well. Ah, oh, except for the discovery of the crack in the chimney in our Ham lake home 2 days before closing, or the detection of carbon monoxide at the farm (from the old water softener) and some other annoyances. I could go on, but considering that the deal could have fallen through altogether we are just happy to be settled in our new home.We have a cozy little 1600 sq ft farm house (1925) with three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The beauty of these 30 acres is the proximity of all of the outbuildings to the house and the number of buildings in excellent condition. The hoop barn has a new roof, has electricity and running water, and is big enough for a small homesteader such as myself. The pasture is set up with electric fencing and the 10 acres of woods is a short walk from the pasture. I'll be able to harvest wood for heating the house during the winter. The house has a dual heating system, one being the wood boiler and the other propane.

We live 7 minutes from Arlington and 4 minutes from Gaylord. Ironically, we are now closer to town living here in the country than we were to shopping areas in suburban Ham Lake where it would take us 10-15 minutes to get anywhere!

The above photo shows our farm from a distance. It looks rather bleak but we are tucked away in our wooded wind block. Our driveway is a quarter of a mile long (below) and I will have to plow this during the winter! I've already named the plow truck "ball and chain" and will undoubtably write some blogs on the subject in the near future.

We've had a recent snow covering but so far I haven't had to get out the Ball'nChain. When I bought the farm I purchased the owner's 1974 Ford truck with a snow plow on the front. It has chains on the tires and doesn't have any heat but it starts and runs good enough to push snow off of the driveway all winter.

Below is a photo of the chicken house which is located right next to the "tool shed". The chickens are already making themselves at home here and enjoying unhindered access to the pasture and grass.

The lights and heating lamps are all ready to go. My friend Jennifer gave me one of her young laying hens so I'll have some eggs this winter. The other old girls are not in the mood for producing eggs anymore. Hmmm... anyone for chicken soup!

We have become well acquainted with the resident barn cat, Mathias. He has access to the milk room from a small opening in the wall. He is very friendly and we are trying to figure out how to make him a house cat without making Jota a raving, lunatic beast! All we need for that is for Mathias to give him a clawed mouthful and I think our Dane will turn into a wimp.

"Anduvimos Como Los Hijos Que Perdieron signo y Palabra" (La generación de 1973) (*) por Soledad Bianchi

2009-09-11T09:54:00.001-05:00

"Last week of freedom for 17 years. Santiago, Chile, Sept 73" by Marcelo Montecino**

I go through René's papers and things a little bit at a time. Two years after his death I am still reading old papers and finding things that I was unaware of when he was alive. Last night I read this article written by one of René's students when he was still a professor in Chile. Soledad Bianchi wrote this article in 1989. She is also a poet. My apologies to those of you who can't read Spanish and would like to read this article. It is about an idealistic generation of Chileans that hoped for so much with the election of Salvador Allende and the aftermath Pinochet's coup in 1973. It is the 36th anniversary of the coup.

En el mismo centro de la década del sesenta, en 1965, yo ingresaba a la universidad. Venía de un colegio particular, católico, de clase media acomodada, pero para continuar mis estudios de Profesora de Castellano había elegido la laica Universidad de Chile y su facultad más combativa y atrayente, el Pedagógico. Hacía sólo un año se había iniciado el gobierno de Eduardo Frei. Desde el Padagógico, la rebeldía, la protesta, la ampliación de mundo, la corrida de barreras mentales, más confianza en el porvenir, los paseos por sus jardines, el estudio, la reforma universitaria, la taza de té de Nicanor Parra con la señora Nixon, la guerra de Vietnam, la muerte del Ché, la Nueva Canción Chilena... Todavía allí, en el mismo Pedagógico, ahora como docente, participé en la elección del Presidente Allende en 1970. Me cuesta pensarme sola en esa época de proyectos colectivos, prolongada hasta que desde esos mismos patios miraríamos desolado el bombardeo de La Moneda, oyendo, impotentes, los rumores más feroces del golpe de estado.

Fin de una etapa y no sólo para mí, brutal cierre de un ciclo para nosotros, ciertos chilenos, algunos chilenos, muchos chilenos, que vivimos nuestra juventud impresa por la marca de la esperanza, del optimismo, de la creencia en un futuro mejor que estaba en nuestras manos variar. Rasgo propio de la juventud, podría pensarse, y tal vez lo sea, así como nuestra generosidad y entrega: queríamos, estábamos seguros y convencidos que lo mejor sería para todos, luchábamos -junto a otros- para que los cambios favorecieran a las mayorías, mucho más allá de nosotros. Quizá esta certeza absoluta era la base de la alegría, la confianza podría verse como el cimiento de cantos, de consignas gritadas a todo pulmón, de desfiles y marchas, de banderas. ¿Irresponsabilidad?, tal vez, pero preñada de amor, humor, desdén, y, ¡ay!, una buena dosis de sectarismo. Y, rápido, mucho color y sol nublándose ese martes 11 de septiembre 1973 cuando quedamos sujetándonos apenas con las uñas de las potentes rocas que nos habíamos negado a percibir en nuestras cercanías, apenas afirmados de ese terreno que se dezlizaba bajo nuestros pies.

Entre la fe ciega, la derrota y la añoranza, asi quedamos situados en un nuevo espacio, ahora ajeno y de otros, aun que obligadamente nuestro, también, a pesar de nuestra diferencia: jóvenes-viejos, ahora: aterrados, derrotados, vencidos y con el desconcierto del corte brutal, del fin abrupto, desconcertados ante este nuevo mundo donde hasta el lenguaje había variado. Obligados a simular indiferencia, constreñidos a olvidar con rapidez, a fingirnos otros sin pasado, con la intención de no olvidar proyectarnos, ¿a dónde, cómo, con qué, con quiénes?

Quince años más tarde, el viernes 7 de octubre de 1988, en medio de la alegría y el bullicio de grupos, entre multitudes, una mujer hierática no sigue la muchedumbre que ingresa al Parque O'Higgins. En sus manos, un cartel: "Humberto F., detenido-desaparecido, saluda el triunfo del NO": ¿cómo no identificarse con ella si cualquiera de nosotros podría haberla reemplazado como mujer, madre, hermana, pariente o amiga de detenido-desaparecido, cómo no reconocerse en ella si una mínima circunstancia podría haber variado el nombre del ausente por alguno de los nuestros? Sobrevivientes, débiles y fuertes, enteros y vacilantes, eso fuimos, eso somos, los que hablaron y los de silencio poderoso, ni héroes ni traidores ni monumentos sino mujeres y hombres rodeados de muertes, violencia, injusticia, exilio, cesantía, resentimiento, sospecha, censuras, desconfianza... y solidaridad. Ahora, más realista, quizá demasiado pragmáticos, no tan creyentes, menos militantes y ojalá menos sectarios, con la amargura de un mundo ido que como todo trayecto vital es imposible de recuperar, con afanes desmitificadores, pero sin olvidar. Y con el desgarro de esa mujer que festejaba el plebiscito desde su dolor, mirar hacia adelante y construir nuevas oportunidades sin negar ni negarnos, nosotros los veteranos del 73.

-Soledad Bianchi

Octubre de 1989

(*) Versos del poema "Cordillera" de Gabriela Mistral

Photograph from

1973, Chile Before and After the Military Coup

Xavier's performance online

2009-07-17T12:39:00.005-05:00

As a winner of the Thursday Musical competition Xavier was invited to tape the Villa-Lobos piece for Baby Blue Arts. If you want to see it online go to http://www.babybluearts.com/ and click on "search artists", then "alphabetical", then type in: Jara, Xavier. His is the Villa-Lobos, "Choros". The Baby Blue Arts site is really cool as it features local artists of all kinds.

Also, I've heard from several friends who didn't get a chance to hear him on the radio when he performed as a the Schubert Club for MPR. You can hear that here: Schubert Club holds annual student competition.

A Day with (Great) Aunt Aldora

2009-07-12T20:40:00.007-05:00

On Friday the kids and I took a short trip with my parents to visit my aunt Aldora in Wisconsin. (No doubt from the photos you'll be able to guess that she is my mother's sister.)
Byron, Alice, Xavier, Selena and Aldora Lee.

Xavier and Aldora. Xavier brought his guitar and played his repertoire for us. We had a unexpected surprise when Debby Lee came by and visited with us.

Aldora's room. You might recognize her room from the familiar objects we all remembered from her homes in Rake and Osceola. There were several incredibly beautiful quilts that she made.

I couldn't help put take a couple shots of the photos! The kids were thoroughly embarassed...
Brian and Hanna.
We went to coffee hour and sang some old tunes. Selena and Xavier had never heard of many of these songs that probably dated back to the 20's and 30's. Mom and Aldora spent some time chatting instead of singing.

Camping near Chicago

2009-06-13T20:08:00.001-05:00

We are on our way to Ithaca, NY for the annual GFA (Guitar Foundation of America) convention. We found a campsite near Chicago where we set up the tent. Xavi and I can get this done in less than 10 minutes. I watched a neighbor RV contraption set up their camp and it took them twice as long! Next stop: Caryn and Al's place in Dayton, OH.

Selena finishes another year at ARCC

2009-05-17T09:41:00.009-05:00

For Selena, Friday marked the end of another semester at Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC) and the last year with the PSEO program (Post Secondary Education Option). She has been taking classes for the last 2 years at ARCC and plans to finish her A.A. next year. After that, only she will know... She's had some interest in transferring to a college in Washington called Evergreen because they have an approach more suited to her unschooling background, but also because of the various programs in environmental studies. Please let me know if you are acquainted with other colleges or universities that are more "unschooly".

Some weeks ago I asked her if she was looking forward to the end of the semester and she replied that, "no, not really". This surprised me a LOT since my own experience as both student and teacher has shown the exact opposite. Most people are happy to get outta-there. Anyway, we've talked some about this and, in general, it's the stimulation of getting out and going to class that she likes and will miss during the summer. There are some things that she really enjoys about taking classes (listening to interesting lectures, reading some of the books and writing papers that she's interested in), and then there are other things that she won't miss (doing small group activities, reading textbooks, and doing book reports on online articles). These categories align with the kind of learner that she has always been; listen, read and write.

Well, school is out but learning continues. Selena has a summer reading list that includes "Don Quijote", "Love in the Time of Cholera (Garcia Marquez), and "House of the Spirits" (Isabel Allende). We'll also be starting Spanish on a daily basis, so maybe she'll be able to read these novels in Spanish someday. (When I was a student in Spain my initial goal was to be able to read "Cien Años de Soledad" in the language that it was written.) Also, she'll be studying for her driver's permit, which she can get without a blue card when she's 18, in August.

Well, that's my Selena! She doesn't always offer things that I can blog (brag!) about so I'm grateful that she allowed me to do so this morning and take her picture.

Selena enjoys a good book with Skippy Lu.

Who are those cuties?

2009-05-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Becky, for sharing this photo on your facebook! Yes, it's Jimmy and Xavier (my nephew Jim) when they were about 4 years old. It must have been Thanksgiving, 1997.

"A Scottish Fantasy" by MacPhail Guitar Quartet

2009-05-11T04:11:00.007-05:00

Xavier is in a wonderful quartet at MacPhail and they have performed this piece several times now. I love this and am capable of listening to it another 100 times.
Xavier put this video on Youtube with the following commentary:

MacPhail Guitar Quartet plays Scottish Fantasy by David Crittenden. Players from left to right: Henry Johnston (12), Xavier Jara (15), Luke Banchy (15), Austin Wahl (16). Coached by Alan Johnston. Taped in Antonello Hall at MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN.

A Scottish Fantasy, is based on several Scottish folk melodies. Some include: Skye boat song, Neil Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife, and more. This was our first performance of the piece. Sorry about the camera quality. I hope you enjoy it.

David Crittenden has a Youtube page were he performs many of his other great compositions. Heres the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/rootandsky

Xavier's MPR interview for the Schubert Club

2009-04-30T12:30:00.006-05:00

Last week Xavier was interviewed by Steve Staruch at KJIN (the classical public radio station). He was invited as the Schubert Club winner in guitar and had an opportunity to play all of his competition pieces : Villa Lobos, "Choro" and a Bach Prelude and Allegro. Below is the radio broadcast of the interview, or you can go to: Schubert Club holds annual student competition
at MPR for the online article.

2009 Schubert Club Winner! Congrats Xavi!!

2009-04-20T10:08:00.006-05:00

Xavier won the Schubert Club competition! Words do not suffice; I am SO thrilled. And Xavi was smiling all day and continues to beam. We are really happy too that Austin Wahl got 2nd place. (above, Xavier making a call to Alan Johnston with the good news)
Above: David Tramm, Xavier, Nicholas Goluses (finals judge from Eastman), Austin Wahl and Christopher Garwood. All these young guys were finalists and students of Alan Johnston at McPhail.

2009-04-10T07:57:00.001-05:00

March and April have been full of competitions and recitals for Xavier. I'm just tired watching him, not to mention the driving that we are doing. Anyway, we are SO thrilled that Xavier made it into the finals of the Schubert Club! Congrats also to the other finalists Christopher, Austin and David Tramm! All of Alan Johnston's students that competed made it into the finals, so this no doubt attests to what a great teacher Alan is.

Thursday Musical Concert

2009-03-27T08:52:00.005-05:00

Last night at the winners concert was not my finest hour as a photographer, but it was a little like trying to herd cats. All of the first place winners in violin, piano, voice, clarinet, cello and guitar performed. Some of these high school kids are really incredible! It was a really a high caliber concert.
Xavi and Austin Wahl (fellow classical guitar player and friend).

Christopher Garwood and Xavi are the two high school guitar winners.

Congratulations, Xavier!

2009-03-16T09:10:00.003-05:00

On Saturday morning Xavier competed in the Thursday Musical competition. I thought that we had plenty of time to get to the St. Thomas campus, so we got into a conversation in the car about the real estate profession (and other more independent means of making a living). Then we started talking about whether or not he wants to go to college, and before we knew it we were running late. A little note to self: if I talk while I'm driving I tend to slow down. Can't seem to multi-task very well anymore! Anyway, bare knuckle moments trying to find the right building! You would think that it would not be a great way to go into a competition but it worked alright for Xavier. After the "audition" Xavier came out with only one comment, "Exquisite! I did it exquisitely!" He was so happy that he performed a near perfect piece, now he is ruminating over how he got in that sweet spot to begin with. To make a sweet story even better he won 1st place! Congratulations, Xavier! And also congratulations to our friend Christopher Garwood who got the 2nd place.

"Let the right one in"

2009-03-15T08:49:00.002-05:00

Do you like vampires? ...enjoy the subtleties of foreign or indie films? ... tolerate blood but not a lot of gore? Last night we saw this new Swedish film now out on Netflix. We loved it! Here's the trailer:

Two Coon Hounds Meet; before and now.

2009-03-13T06:41:00.001-05:00

The biggest news around here lately is that Tara has left us! She has found her permanent home with a family with kids and a dog. Interestingly enough, that dog is ALSO a Treeing Walker Coon Hound and a female. Tara wasn't too thrilled on the night of her adoption (pictured above on the left) so I hope she is getting along with her new family.

UPDATE: Tara has fit right in with her new family. They sent me some pictures of her (below)

Goodbye Ducks!

2009-02-27T09:06:00.006-06:00

We now remember René's office the way it used to be. It had a border ring of white geese around the top of the walls along the ceiling. I HATED those "ducks" and talked incessantly about "getting rid of the ducks" and repainting the room. Well, it never happened because René actually liked "the ducks" (they're actually geese, but this was the pre-homesteading era before I actually knew the difference between the two!) I couldn't stand working in that room because everytime I looked up (busy thinking...) I was distracted by those damn ducks!
Well, I'm feeling sentimental about them but they had to go. The room has to be painted so they are gone now. Before I scraped them off the wall I called the kids in to say "goodbye". They were a little sad about it and I felt some guilt so I took the pictures of the memorable "ducks". Oh, I might mention that I did not put the ducks there in the first place. The room was a children's play room before we bought the house. Once René moved in there with his desks and books there was NO getting him out of there to repaint the room. It is still kind of fascinating that he LIKED them...
Goodbye ducks...

Remembering Rene Jara

2009-02-11T10:49:00.014-06:00

(from College of Liberal Arts blog):

On November 28, 2007 we honored the life and work of Dr. Rene Jara as a professor, a mentor, a scholar, and a citizen of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Minnesota for 28 years. After battling a serious illness, Rene passed away at his home on November 19.

At the memorial, colleagues and students were invited to share their memories of Rene, which were collected and presented to his family. Resounding themes in the remembrances were Rene's insatiable thirst for knowledge, his textual erudition, his scholarship, and his intellectual energy.

Professor Nicholas Spadaccini referred to Rene as "the best read person in our department." That sentiment, along with others, was repeated several times throughout the memorial service. His extraordinary knowledge of all areas of Hispanic literatures assisted him in his undergraduate teaching, graduate student advising, and academic publications. Colleagues stated that, regardless of the topic of conversation, Rene always managed to direct the group toward literature.

In addition to his consummate scholarship, Rene was beloved by his students and colleagues. His passion for poetry was contagious. As former colleague Antonio Ramos Gascon stated, "With a Nerudian passion for people and things, Rene connected with life--family members, friends, texts, writing, objects--by way of poetry." Perhaps it is fitting that Jenaro Talens summed up his feelings for Rene through a poem titled "Recapitulaciones."

Quedate a solas con la luz.
Mirala arder como un volar inmovil.
Hoy el mar esta lejos; dentro, incluso, de ti
Y un sol liquido esparce la neblina
Mientras tus pies te llevan a la noche
Con la belleza absorta del ocaso
Alumbrando el camino,
Esta otra forma de la muerte en flor.

Professor Jara's presence in our department and the University community will be hard to forget. Rene's memory will persist through our colleagues' anecdotes, his students' passion for literature, and his dedication to teaching.

The AMAZING Sarah Jones

2009-01-30T10:35:00.010-06:00

I have always been particularly fascinated with impersonators, but Sarah Jones is the BEST I have ever seen! Selena and I got such a kick out of listening to her when she was at the Aspen Ideas Festival. **Note: to hear Sarah Jones turn off music player at bottom of page.

Sarah Jones - jarax001Incredible!
(see her on Studio 360 and her website: Sarah Jones)

Foster dogs before and after

2009-01-16T08:13:00.014-06:00

Over the holidays we received several emails and Christmas cards from the families of some of our former foster dogs. Thank you, thank you, thank you for thinking of us! Now, this is the BEST part of this whole business! When they come here the dogs are homeless discards that nobody wants. When they leave they have a new life and home. Here are three puppies that lived with us for awhile:

Franklin was born in animal control in Isanti county. He arrived at our house with his mother, Salem, and 7 brothers and sisters when he was just an hour old. He was still wet from birthing. We called these puppies "Salem's lot" . Franklin and his littermates were all black puppies and it was relatively easy to place them in new homes. But, Franklin was a challenge. He was dominant, aggressive, loud and "ENERGETIC" but very lovable! The name Marley comes to mind, if you've read the book "Marley and Me". Franklin was with us long after his littermates were adopted and we wondered if he would grow to adulthood before he was adopted. But then a young couple, looking for their first dog, came along and fell in love with Franklin. Now, they inform me, Franklin has been to obedience school and "more or less" passed his tests. He is still a bundle of energy with lots of entertaining antics: below, chasing a ball through the snow.
In late summer we took in Tara (the Coon Hound that is still with us) and her 6 puppies. One of those puppies was Prissy, whose personality did not fit her name. She was a spitfire with big personality! This is the dog that I considered keeping for myself (only for a minute, though). In the description that I provided for Petfinder.com I wrote that she was fearless with our Great Dane, and it turned out that her new home would also have a Dane. Fortunately, the young couple that adopted her would also change her name from Prissy to Izzy. They inform me that the two dogs are best friends and at play constantly.

We also received photos from a former foster puppy named Jordi, who was only with us for a couple weeks. This puppy was a German Shepherd, Rottweiller mix and he created some problems because there were too many people that wanted to adopt him at once! We had to go through the somewhat painful process of choosing the right home and we're glad to find out that we made the right decision. He is well loved and thriving!

Christmas Eve at Home

2009-01-07T08:59:00.012-06:00

Selena and Grandma shared a moment talking about "Christmas past" at home in Kenyon, MN. On the farm "they used to clean the whole house and wash all of the floors before Christmas Eve". Also, they set up the Christmas tree and decorated it on Christmas Eve. My grandmother Rodde was so tired that she used to fall asleep at dinnertime! My cousin Sarah wrote to say: "Mom [my aunt, Rosella] tells the same stories. She also tells how they would take down the curtains beforehand and wash everything, and then on Christmas Eve they would put everything up again, so the whole house was clean and fresh. And their mother would put on a clean tablecloth, too, I think."Xavier shares his ipod with his cousin Jeffrey.
Kyle, my nephew

Grandpa Bishop and Kyle.

Making lefse with Grandma

2009-01-03T17:16:00.018-06:00

Grandma and Granddaughter, aren't they beautiful!!With Christmas every year comes our tradition of lefse making with Grandma (my mother, Alice). Fortunately Selena has become very skilled at it and I don't have to worry about doing it myself; I've never been very patient for it.
Working together we made about 100 lefse. Oh, in case you didn't know, lefse is a norwegian flat bread. René used to say that it was kind of like sweet tortillas (not really!)
Selena mixes the lefse dough. This is the part where I usually get impatient and I'm glad that Selena volunteered to do it.

"Lefse dog", Skippy Lu
My Dad and Xavier were goofing around while we were working!

Skippy Lu LOVES grandpa! Do you wonder why?

Grandpa also really enjoys Xavi's music (as do the rest of us.)

Preparing for X-mas at home: Selena gets a kiss from our foster dog, Tara.
Merry dog, Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas story on "The Story"

2008-12-19T19:35:00.006-06:00

Xavier and I were featured in a radio program, "The Story" (North Carolina Public Radio)! And it aired on my birthday, no less! Of course I have sent out this news to every living person that I ever knew because it was really a moment of fame for the two of us. However, if you haven't heard the Santa Story and would like to hear it, click below for the audio. It aired last Monday, but then there were some listener responses to the story so they talked a bit more about it on Wednesday (which I added to the end of the audio, below).

In order to do the interview we had to go to the MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) studio in St. Paul where they could send the audio signal back and forth between North Carolina and Minnesota. We were asked to go to one of the music studios so that they could record Xavier playing the guitar. The sound engineer set us up in head phones, each in front of a giant microphone the size of your head. We were all alone in the room with the engineer on the other side of a glass window, but we could hear Dick Gordon (of "The Story") as if he were sitting right there. Well, the interview went really well and we had a fabulous experience. After we were finished the sound guy recorded Xavier playing 2 of his guitar pieces and burned it onto a CD (I'm sure I'll get around to putting it on this blog pretty darn soon). Then, he took us a tour of the MPR building. Hey! I got to sit in Keri Miller's chair!

René, Ahna and Xavier 1998

Selena learns to iron... and it snowed, por fin!

2008-12-07T16:01:00.001-06:00

This morning Selena requested that she learn to iron clothes. My jaw dropped down to the floor and flew up again! I love how my kids continue to surprise me and alter whatever it was that I knew about them. This is the child who used to throw clothes all over the floor of her bedroom and wear them in whatever condition. She used to wear different colored socks to school and refused to wear jeans until she was 14. Now she is becoming neat like her father and "doesn't like wrinkles" in her clothes. Well, no better time like a Sunday to start ironing clothes. I haven't really done it in years but I'm still pretty good at it. I have a repertoire of pitfalls to avoid; like not using starch on dark colored pants, or leaving the iron to cool on the ironing table so that a dog would go by and knock it over right onto the wood floor. So, we set out to iron some shirts and pants. All went very well. We

We have been wondering if we will get a white Christmas this year. Wonder no more, it has come! I still love it! December is the honeymoon period and by February you want a divorce from it, but snow is uplifting after the drabness of November. Incidentally, the photo above is of the chicken house. Our flock has dwindled since the invasion of the weasel. We lost half of the ducks and about 3 chickens in one night (their necks were eaten!) Anyway, winter is hard for them, no doubt about it.

As soon as Xavier saw the snow he was out the door with the dogs. Below: Xavier and Jota.
Xavier made some angels in the snow. Skippy Lu was certainly curious about what he was up to.
On another note, we still have our foster dog, Tara (Mom of the coon house puppies). She has come a long way since we got her; not as timid and afraid. She loves my bed and sleeps with me and Skippy Lu at night. We need to find someone that will allow her to cuddle; she's good at that!

Xavier's guitar quartet- as yet unnamed

2008-12-01T07:40:00.001-06:00

This summer Xavier started taking lessons with Alan Johnston and is going to McPhail Center for Music . Alan invited him to join their quartet (or what was then a trio) and they have been working together since September. This Sunday we had everyone out to Ham Lake for breakfast and a practice session. What handsome boys! Henry, Luke, Xavier and Austin (and Alan's knee).

Have you tried KOMBUCHA?

2008-11-30T11:22:00.008-06:00

Kombucha tea is a fermented drink that is easily produced and may have many health benefits. Selena and I have been drinking it for a couple years now. The #1 health benefit for us is that we don't drink Diet Coke anymore. I could also say that it has eliminated former cravings for "soft drinks", candy and other high fructose corn syrup products, but that may also be due to other dietary changes we've made (switching to a whole foods diet). For me it's been a great aid for digestion and a great thirst quencher when I've been working outside in the garden. Some claim the following health benefits:

Relief of "arthritis pains, intestinal problems, digestive disorders, kidney stones, high cholesterol, chronic fatigue, asthma, bronchitis, migraine, eczema, headaches, constipation, diabetes, rheumatism, anxiety, dizziness and insomnia. Problems associated with advancing years, such as high blood pressure, poor eye sight, arteriosclerosis and gout may also be helped by Kombucha's anti-aging properties." (http://www.gokombucha.com/health_benefits.html)

I've noticed that the tea is sold in many Food Coops but it is expensive, especially when you can make it at home for the cost of tea bags and sugar. If you don't appreciate the fizzy taste of kombucha you can add fruit juice. A kombucha/juice combination makes it taste something like High-C, or one of the other "fructosed" drinks that is successfully marketed to children. But usually we just add raw ginger to the finished kombucha and let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple days. That's quite a punch!

If you'd like to try making it the process is incredibly simple. However, you need a kombucha mushroom (a mother culture) and preferably some starter tea to get you going. (Contact me and I'll get you some!)
Below: A group of mushrooms; lovely little creatures! With every batch of kombucha they grow and reproduce themselves.

KOMBUCHA RECIPE:

The simple version first:

1.Boil the water.
2. Remove from stove. Dissolve organic sugar in water. Add tea bags and cover. Let the tea steep for half an hour.
3. Remove tea bags and pour into one gallon glass jar (pickle jar). Let cool until water 90 degrees or cooler. I usually do this in the evening so that I can let it cool overnight.
4. Add one mushroom and about 1/2 cup starter .
5. Cover the jar with a coffee filter and rubber band. Basically you want ample air for the fermentation but don't want dust and bugs in the drink.
6. Let it ferment for a week or two. In the summer it will only take a week, in the winter (in Minnesota!) about 2 weeks. **Keep the jar in a dark place. The cupboard is a good place.
7. How do you know it's done? Take a taste test. If it still tastes like black tea then it's not done. If it's fizzy and vinegary, it's done.
8. If it's ready, take out the mushroom and store it in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Make sure and save a cup of starter for the next batch.

Below: A gallon jar of tea. The kombucha mushroom is floating on top.
This is one of my jars of kombucha mushrooms that I keep in the refrigerator. My friends and relatives have generously accepted these mushrooms, or "scobys" in their homes.

A view from the top!
My collection of fermenting kombucha.

This batch is ready for consumption. For a real ZIP add raw ginger. I've also added strawberry pieces or other fruit which ends up tasting a little like sangria. (kinda...)

Concert of Sharon Isbin with Minnesota Orchestra

2008-11-07T14:13:00.005-06:00

In September Xavier and I went to a concert of Sharon Isbin (classical guitarist) and the Minnesota Orchestra. My personal favorite is Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (which you are no doubt hearing right now.) We had 3rd row seats and could see the expressions on the faces of the performers. Occasionally Xavier plays the guitar part of this piece and I chime in as the part of the violins (not a very good sound but I love it!) I could listen to this over and over again, so I figured out how to put in on the blog, I hope it doesn't annoy anyone!

I know, I promised...

2008-10-12T10:25:00.009-05:00

I have been telling everyone I know that I won't be fostering any more dogs until I sell the house. The constant attention required to tend to a foster dog takes a lot of time away from doing some things that need to be done to prepare the house for potential buyers. My own dogs are pretty civilized and behave themselves most of the time (oh, except for Jota digging in the yard and occasionally peeing on the otoman) but rescue dogs, in most cases, have been through the ringer of street life, and come with a lot of unpredictable behavior. Anyway, that may seem obvious but you don't always remember that aspect when you look into their eyes. Ok, I kept on telling everyone that I was going to be good and work on the house, and I was telling everyone that because I needed to convince myself that that is what I was going to do. (I do that a lot, I realize.) Well, as you can see, I've taken in another litter of puppies and their mom. But, there is a caveat, it's only for a couple weeks and they'll be ready for new homes. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the fun of 6 week old puppies (the BEST time of puppyhood!) There are 6 of them (2 boys, 4 girls) and they look like little cows with their black spots.
The mom's name is Tara (following the Gone With the Wind theme, I'm told) and she is a Treeing Walker Coon Hound**. She's very sweet and came with an orange hunting collar. She was very thin and exhausted when she was picked up in Ramsey and no one claimed her at animal control.

Miss Pittypat

Rhett, above Prissy, right.

***According to AKC standards, the Treeing Walker Coonhound is described by the following:
Qualitative Characteristics
Energetic, intelligent, active, courteous, composed, confident, fearless, kind, graceful in pose and while active. Super abundance of sense, endurance, trailing, hunting and treeing instinct and ability.

Ilana and Jota

2008-10-05T12:17:00.003-05:00

Jennifer's baby Ilana visited us some months ago. Here are two videos of Ilana and Jota, as well as a short clip with the puppies that we were fostering at the time.

Ilana and Salem's puppies

Let the kids play!!

2008-09-08T12:48:00.003-05:00

I'm stealing another fellow unschooler's blog idea! I came across this video on Kelli's unschooling blog and felt compelled to share it here. Here's a brindis to getting our kids out of a lot of these structured activities and letting them explore the world through play! Heck, while we're at it, we adults need more playtime, too. The highway would be a happier place if people were enjoying the ride.

Every 1st Wednesday of the month...

2008-09-04T10:15:00.004-05:00

Every Wednesday Selena and Xavier deliver papers for their routes. Selena uses the money to care for her ferrets. Xavier is paying back a loan from Grandma and Grandpa for his classical guitar. In the case of the paper routes, I am the driver. Generally, the routes take a couple hours each and we pass the time by listening to podcasts from public radio. Well, this is a roundabout way of explaining why I'm never at home on Wednesdays, but by chance, I was at home this month when the civil service sirens went off. We are only within 1/4 of a mile from the Ham Lake siren and the dogs really respond to the blare. Well, yesterday I got Jota's reaction on video for posterity!

Recent Pleasures

2008-09-03T17:44:00.008-05:00

Selena and I are in the middle of enjoying the Masterpiece Theater series, "Cranford". For some reasons, which I don't feel like revealing here, we both LOVE these English period pieces. Xavier does not get too enthusiastic about them but he did stick with this one through the first two hours, but then he got tired of it and went back to his guitar and video game. But Selena and I were giggling and sighing through the first half of it. We were having SO much fun last night that we didn't get to bed until midnight. Selena had a full day of classes but had a hard time stopping the VCR and saving the rest for tonight!

Anyway, Cranford is based on three novels of Elizabeth Gaskell. It takes place during a period of intense change in England in the 1840's. Cranford is a small town with a set of interesting, funny and endearing characters. And we LOVE Judi Dench! I'll watch anything in which she appears. Recently we saw Masterpiece Theater's production of Oliver Twist, which was really good, and Xavier really liked it, too.

On a different note, I might add that I am asked at times about how my kids are acquiring knowledge of certain subjects. Well, it's easy to see in this case what kinds of things we are learning by enjoying a film like this and freely talking about it (as opposed to, for example, doing homework for a class on English literature or history, or economics, or, let's see, sociology etc..) If I had forced Selena and Xavier to watch these films and given them follow up questions afterward I'm sure that we wouldn't be enjoying the experience, and thus, learning as many things. The beautiful thing is that I can see it happening right in front of me. This life can be great indeed.

Northern Pine Float

2008-08-16T22:45:00.004-05:00

Every year Lino Lakes has a parade and for the past couple years Northern Pine Studios has presented a float. Although Xavier is studying anymore at Northern Pine he was invited to play the banjo on the float. They pretty much stick to Bluegrass so there were banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle players.
Our friend Laura joined us for the day. We walked behind the float and passed out candy and brochures about the studio. Although Laura is undergoing kemotherapy she was determined to walk with us this year (last year we were rained out.)

The band is ready to go. Rick Taube (owner of northern Pine) set up a loudspeaker so he could sing as well as project the music out to the crowd.Laura Giefer and Selena. On the 18th (Monday) Selena turns 17 years old!!

Andy Troska, Rick and Xavier are warming up.

Five Dogs in the Kitchen

2008-08-16T22:21:00.000-05:00

Tonight our city Ham Lake celebrates the end of the summer with fireworks and a party in the local park. We live only a half mile from said park and can sit outside and watch the fireworks and listen to the music. This evening we decided to stay in and watch the Olympics. For some of you that own dogs you know what I am talking about when I say that fireworks instill terror and drooling in our dogs. Xavier took this photo of me trying to prepare shrimp scampi for supper with a kitchen full of scared dogs. Jota, our Great Dane, poor creature, is terrified of the noise and lights! Apparently he feels much better if he can lean against me or at least touch me. A little rum always helps a little!

And kitty makes nine...

2008-08-03T10:11:00.004-05:00

It's been a couple years since we had a healthy, family cat. We've had foster cats but never a cat that decided that we were family. Recently I met "Jack" at a pet adoption day and we hit it off right away. I decided to foster him for awhile to make sure that he would get along with the dogs and (except for Jota, the Dane) they have all done well together. We are still working on convincing Jota that the cat is not a play thing but we are very optimistic that we will be able to work things out between them.

"Jack" has been renamed William or "Billy Bob." He is fearless with the dogs (which is exactly what we needed in a cat) and he is cuddly and affectionate. He is also overweight from sitting in a crate since last November. Unfortunately, this is the fate of many unwanted cats and dogs; they sit in a tiny space waiting for a home. Many times a home never appears and they are euthanized. Not for William.

Crazy for Butterfly Weed...

2008-07-15T12:50:00.006-05:00

I LOVE bufferfly weed! I look out across the back yard and I can see 4 or 5 splashes of orange. For the butterfly our suburban lawns are like deserts so I feel really happy to offer this little respite in a sea of scarcity. I tried to smell them but couldn't catch even a tiny scent out of them.
Everything is running late this year. I remember that last 4th of July we already had blooms from the butterfly weed.
Milkweed is very common and will come uninvited. I have a huge stand of it in the back of the yard. I saw 4 chunky Monarch caterpillars a couple days ago but they have already left for the next stage. My photos aren't that great, but, here you have it!

*****Utube Homeschooling Video

2008-07-11T19:04:00.004-05:00

Whether you homeschool or unschool you'll be able to relate to this short video. On a daily basis we confront these weird attitudes and assumptions that have nothing to do with the reality of our lives. This video turns that around by harpooning conventional beliefs about education. I kind of "stole" this video from Alex, a fellow unschooler's blog (Thanks! Alex.)

A Day at Duskwind Farm

2008-07-08T07:22:00.016-05:00

Yesterday I went up to Pine City to spend the day with my friend Jennifer Peterson on her homestead Duskwind Farm. She and her husband, Chuck, and their daughter Ilana have been living on their new homestead since the end of May. They are in a trailer right now but are building a small house due to be built by November.
Everything has been late this year including the lambs. I was hoping that I'd get to seeing a birth while I was there because two of the sheep were in labor.
Jen and Chuck have a Scottish Highlander cow who calved in early summer. She's quite an impressive cow! She kind of pushes the other cows around, no one wants to be at the other end of those horns. When she wants something (from the other cows) she gets it!

Jennifer and I visited with the sheep and enjoyed watching the lambs. Here Jen is giving a massage to one of the mothers in labor. Jen carries Ilana around in a front carrier.
Lulu is a Jersey mix heifer and is the future family milk cow. She is grass fed and her milk will be consumed raw!

This morning in the library...

2008-07-06T10:41:00.011-05:00

It's a lazy Sunday morning and we are all half asleep, enjoying our coffee and watching the dogs lounge around. Skippy Lu seems to be aware of the camera when we pull it out. She almost seems to pose as if she knows she needs to keep still. She and our foster puppy, Franklin (Frankie) are quite fond of each other.
Here is "baby Franklin." He's only 4 months old but is an established member of the pack. His paws are big and he has a lot of loose fur; we're guessing that he'll get to be close to 90 pounds.
A baby profile!!
Skippy Lu and Franklin snuggle on the dog bed.

Happy 80th Birthday, Grandma!

2008-06-27T07:41:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday my mother turned 80 years old. Alice Marie (Rodde) Bishop was born in a farmhouse in Kenyon, Minnesota. We celebrated her birthday by bringing food, dessert and ourselves to the house. I brought a chicken lentil dish and we stopped by the 50's diner and picked up a Key Lime pie.
One candle represented 80 years! We thought about putting 8 candles on the pie but didn't want anything to melt.
After dinner rest with Skippy Lu. Skippy Lu always enjoys a visit at Grandma and Grandpa's house because she is the only dog who gets to go and as a result she gets 100% of the attention. It was a very enjoyable evening!

Xavier performed at Woman's Club of Minneapolis

2008-06-26T08:11:00.008-05:00

This spring Xavier was a 2nd place scholarship winner in the Thursday Musical Young Artist competition (http://www.thursdaymusical.com/id13.html.) The scholarship money gave him the opportunity to work with local guitar masters Alan Johnston (MacPhail), Chris Kachian (St. Thomas University), and David Crittendon (Bethel College). It has also been a wonderful opportunity to perform. Earlier this summer he performed for the American Association of University Women and on Tuesday he was invited to perform at the Women's Club. He played Villa Lobos, "Prélude Guitare no. 1." We were both invited to the luncheon and we got to sit at the head table and talk to some of the other young artists (including Argentine celloist, Ramiro Alvarez) and the leaders of the club. All of these women are very supportive of all of the young artists in our community.
Xavier received star treatment at the club; he had his own parking space!! It was so much fun to find this parking space after coming into the parking lot expecting to spend some time looking for a spot. What a GREAT day!

Ferrets take a peek at our world...

2008-06-20T10:06:00.002-05:00

Selena has four ferrets that rarely venture out of her room. We have three dogs plus 3 foster dogs, so it's a bit precarious for them out here. Although her ferrets are curious and fearless the dogs and ferrets aren't used to each other, so we keep them segregated. When I visit Selena in her room I get a chance to spend some time with them, but otherwise this is how we make contact... under the door!

Minnesota Native Flower??

2008-06-19T09:02:00.005-05:00

What is this??? Is this a native plant to this area? To Minnesota? If you know, please let me know.

About 5 years ago I put down native prairie grass and flower seeds in my "back yard." The back portion of my property is almost 2 acres. Every year I see new flowers and plants. I assume that some of these are from seeds that were part of the native seeds that I left there years ago. It's always fun to see something new spring up. For example, we started seeing Butterfly Weed about 3 years ago and now there are 3 separate plants.

Happy Birthday, Paulina!!!

2008-06-09T14:14:00.003-05:00

Hugs and Kisses
from
Selena, Xavier and Ahna

The LONG push home!! (Day 11)

2008-05-29T08:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we traversed the entire state of Montana! Uff da! We drove till midnight and found a decently priced hotel on the eastern side. I don't even remember what town it was. Selena was suddenly homesick and Xavier was ready for us to return. And... I've had enough of driving in the mountains! I have to admit it was quite nice to see the flat lands of North Dakota. Again, we drove most of the day and arrived home fairly early, about 6 p.m. Now it's time to clean out everything but it's always nice to return home!

Leaving Glacier National Park (Day 10)

2008-05-28T08:25:00.011-05:00

Last night we built a nice fire and had leftover spaghetti for supper. There were no bugs (yet) but it got cold. We were fairly warm in our sleeping bags but our feet were cold. This morning I made oatmeal and 2 local chipmunks decided that they wanted to eat some with us. One scampered up my pant leg and sat on my knee. I was shocked and didn't know what to do! All of the signs around here say, "All of the animals are wild and dangerous, don't feed."
Our campsite was right by the river and there were at least 4 other tents. It was no nice not to have to see or listen to RV's or campers. Everyone was so quiet that we almost felt like whispering!

We broke camp and headed toward the east side of the park. Before leaving we wanted to see what the other side looked like. The roads were closed inside the park so we had to go around it on the south side.
The east side is of higher elevation and one gets the sense of scarcer trees and more peaks and snow.
Selena liked the west side better. I have vague memories of coming here when I was a kid.
The air is very cool still but there are signs of summer coming.

Hiking in Glacier Park

2008-05-27T22:00:00.009-05:00

There are many trails in Glacier National Park and we hiked in ALL of the ones that were open this early in the year. We guess that this hollow in this tree would be a good hiding place for hide and seek. Of course, I had to get inside right away. Selena wasn't so anxious to do so. She's always much more cautious than me!
This trail followed the river. The water is so incredibly clean that you can see right to the bottom. It makes you realize how much we have polluted this planet. None of the lakes that we visit in Minnesota are this clean by any measure.

We took advantage of our "bear fear" to talk about anything that came into our heads, even the most meaningless chatter. I was chattering away and another hiker came up behind me and scared me to death. She said, "I'm not a bear!" I said, "No, I didn't think you were dressed in that yellow outfit."

Some of these trees are at least 500 years old. This is one of the oldest tree stands in the park. Most have been burned or flooded, as is the natural progression of things.
More hiking and enjoying the park.

Towards Glacier National Park (Day 9)

2008-05-27T19:26:00.007-05:00

Again we crossed Idaho and headed north to Glacier National Park which is on the northwest side of the huge state of Montana. We entered the park from the west side.Many of the roads campsites up into the mountains are still closed but we were fortunate to find camping in one of two campsites.
We were warned right away (as anyone entering the park) that we are in Grizzly country and there are no guarantees about safety. Yikes! Whenever hiking we must make noise (especially when coming around corners or approaching a hidden area) and let any animals know that we are present. Bears will usually stay away unless surprised or threatened.
It's definitely worth the extra drive, what a beautiful place!
We might stay two nights but haven't decided for sure one way or the other.

KOA in Spokane, WA (Day 8)

2008-05-26T23:26:00.010-05:00

Selena is so tired of me taking pictures of her that she can hardly stand it!! She's a good sport (most of the time) and she's so lovely I can't help it. This photo was taken this morning before we left Mt. Rainier. I boiled a half bag of potatoes and we had mashed potatoes and butter. It was a good breakfast.
We took the road north towards the east side of the park to see if we could see the Mount. Unfortunately, the roads were closed after about 6 miles and we had to turn around! White knuckle time for Ahna, until I started to get my "mountain driving legs" back again. I'm O.k. if there are guard rails along the road, but this road had no railings, the road was skinny with hardly any shoulder on it! Whew! Anyway, it was beautiful even if it did make me a little nervous!
Notice any bugs on the windshield?? Some were quite juicy.

Later this evening we arrived in Spokane, WA and found a KOA campground. We're hoping to get some more sleep tonight and depending on the fact that it's going to be warmer than up in the mountains.

Supper is leftover potatoes fried with onions, tomatoes (from the Farmer's Market in Vancouver) and garlic. It was pretty good. Now that's a camping supper! Everything tastes better cooked outside.

A shot of our campground for the night. It's quite typical; lots of RV's, some campers and hardly any tents. Tomorrow it's on to Idaho.

A Day at Mt. Rainier (Day 7)

2008-05-25T23:07:00.000-05:00

The conference ended on Sunday afternoon. It was a terrific experience and we were certainly re-energized by being with great people and seeing all the calm and happy kids. The talent show on Saturday night was absolutely terrific; everyone was free to perform ANYTHING that they wanted to share. There were 5 year old supermen , tiny tots performing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and a great Hawaian dance by a "Mom". It was great! Oh, yeah, there was also a tribute to bald men! Anyway, we left in the afternoon and arrived t Mt. Rainier in time to set up the tent and go on a short hike along the river (?) We had a campsite right by the river and it was really the most beautiful site that we have had so far. The river had falls and rapids, so it was also a very noisy place. The trees are gigantic and reach to the sky. It is a very rainy, moist place so there is moss and other lichens growing everything... on rocks, on trees... We also saw some adorable, gigantic slugs that we were fascinated with. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get a photo of any slugs.

It got really cold that night and neither one of us slept very well. In the morning we went on a 2 hour hike. At first we were a little alarmed to find out that there are mountain lions in this region, but we took the information and put the fear behind us. It was a very nice hike and the forest still had a lot of snow around. We also crossed more than a few bridges over the river. Now, it's on through Washington towards Glacier National Park.

Market Day in Portland and Sash the street performer... (Day 6)

2008-05-24T20:18:00.004-05:00

This morning we went to the Market Place in Portland, OR (just across the river) where they have artisans of all sorts selling their wares. Music, food and art. I ate an "authentic" Mexican taco, YUM, and we had some great coffee. The highlight of the morning was entertainment by street performer, Sash, who swallowed his knife while juggling and escaped from a strait-jacket entwined in chains all with a sardonic sense of humor (using an eastern european accent.)
"SASH" (I wonder if the accent was part of the act!)
After returning from the Portland market we walked to the Farmer's Market in Vancouver. The public park here is fantastically green. I'm enthralled by these huge pines! I know it rains a lot here but, geez, it's so wonderfully green and lush. Anyway, we enjoyed bought 5 pounds of tomatoes for the trip back. (We have to start thinking about that, now!) We've been enjoying the conference discussions, panels and lectures but now I think we're ready to head on to something different.

Life Is Good Conference (Day 4-5)

2008-05-23T20:13:00.002-05:00

We arrived in Vancouver, WA on Thursday morning after a full day and half of traveling through Montana, Idaho and Washington. What a relief it was to find the hotel and start to meet other unschoolers from the northwest and beyond. It's really nice to hang around with other like-minded people, but it is also reinvigorating to share experiences; one doesn't feel so alone.Selena spends some moments in our hotel room re-connecting on the internet.
This is the view from our hotel. Portland, Oregon is on the other side.
This evening Selena and I ate at the hotel restaurant. I had calamari and Selena had a salad. Tomorrow there are more presentations and panels so i won't have much time for blogs. I'll try to get more photos tomorrow of the goings-on around here.
p.s. last night we watched the movie, "Astronaut Farmer" with Billy Bob Thornton on HBO. It's 3 thumbs down from both of us. YuK! What a dumb movie and what a waste of time.

To Yellowstone Park (Day 2)

2008-05-20T22:27:00.001-05:00

Selena and I left our campsite in eastern Montana and made our way southwest and then south to Yellowstone Park. We decided to venture south into Wyoming to visit the park and see Old Faithful before going on towards our final destination: Vancouver, WA. One of the rest stops along the way was in the "Crazy Mountains" of Montana in Custer County.
The approach to a mountain range is always impressive and promises the feelings of awe and wonder. The mountains seem to rise out of nowhere. Here we were approaching the mountains of western and southern Montana. Driving in mountains always makes me a bit nervous and I DO suffer from some fear of heights.

Even though I'm a bit nervous I try to enjoy the feelings of awe and expectations of nature.

Photos fail to capture the beautiful sights. We had a GREAT time making our way down to see Old Faithful. Selena read out loud the most common myths about the Geyser. One myth is that it spews water at the same time everyday (actually, it averages a burst every 90 minutes).
We walked around the hot springs area and saw many mini-geysers.
These are incredible mineral deposits brought up from below the surface through the hot springs.
Of the wildlife we saw, here is an elk.
The buffalo had many calves. I don't have many good photos but the calves here were very curious about us whereas the adults were accustomed to human presence. The calves watched us and made little grunting noises as if asking their parents about us.
Like other babies, these calves ran around kicking their hooves in the air.
Not a good photo, but this buffalo was right next to our car on the passenger side, which made Selena a little nervous.
Finally we arrived at Old Faithful right before it spewed! There were hundreds of people waiting around for the event. It was REALLY awesome and a sight worth seeing. (See the webcam at: http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/OldFaithfulcam.htm
If you had been watching this website on Tuesday around 6 p.m. you would have seen us online!
What a spectacle! Afterward we took a hike around the area until it started to rain. At that point we decided to return to our campsite that we had set up in Yellowstone Park. Tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us through Montana, through Idaho and as far into Washington as we can get.

Our Trip to LIFE IS GOOD conference (Day 1)

2008-05-19T21:39:00.011-05:00

This morning at 4:30 a.m. Selena and I quietly did our last minute packing, drank our essential coffee and started out on our trip to Washington state. We are attending the northwest Life is Good conference for unschoolers. http://www.lifeisgoodconference.com/register.htm? We are so excited to meet other unschoolers as well as to see another slice of the country. Unfortunately Xavier had an important classical guitar masterclass the same weekend, so he stayed home to take care of the dogs and other animals.
Well, we rolled out of the driveway at 5:30 and traveled northwest until we got to Fargo, North Dakota where we had some coffee and a friendly chat with some people at the welcome center. Oh, no, I still have a hat on!! It was SO windy and cold but it warmed up as the day went on.
NORTH DAKOTA... need I say more.

In the car we listened to Podcasts, the music to "Wicked" and Selena read the book "Wicked". She's enjoying her free time now that classes are over. We had lunch at a Visitor Center in North Dakota. Selena made sandwiches last night so we ate them for lunch.

We finally made it to Montana and drove for a couple hours before finding a campsite in Miles City. We are right now sitting in front of a fire and thinking about getting in to our sleeping bags.

Hasta manana! Tomorrow we make our way across the HUGE state of Montana.

Selena studies for Logic

2008-05-10T19:28:00.007-05:00

Spring semester is winding down at Anoka Ramsey Community College (only finals week remains). Selena doesn't have much else to do for classes except to prepare for exams. On Friday evening we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the sun. I sat out there and ate crackers and cheese while Selena studied Logic. As you can see, she was greatly distracted by the puppies running around and jumping up on our legs and pulling at our pants.
Notice the BIG puppy belly! These puppies can eat SO much food then lay around like little whales digesting the mass. The puppies are now 9 weeks olds and ready to be spayed and neutered... and then on to adoptions.

Well, a dose of puppy love and we're on to studying logic!

Meanwhile, here's Emilia.
Here's Claire. We think that she must be part Pit Bull. She is a very sweet girl.
Emilia
This is Ellis. He is almost completely black.
This is Simon.
More puppies...

Troska Jara Duo

2008-05-05T08:48:00.004-05:00

This spring Xavier has been working with violinist Andy Troska (13) on the Paganini piece for guitar and violin, “Centone di Sonate for Violin and Guitar, Op. 64, No. 1". They competed and won a spot in the Youth Guitarathon and also played at the House of Mercy in St. Paul (recorded and shown below) and at the Open Stage (photo above). They performed great together!

Paganini, Part I

Paganini, Part II

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Saturday night, Sushi and Snow...

2008-04-26T23:15:00.001-05:00

I spent most of the day (11-5) at our animal rescue group's pet adoption day at Petsmart (http://www.rpaw.org). I came out of the store and there was SNOW on the ground and it was COLD!! Everyone is so disgusted, it's all we can seem to talk about. I won't linger too long on the fact that it's almost May and we're still dealing with this stuff, but when I finished the day I was cold and hungry. For the past week I've had a hankering for sushi and it hit me bad at that moment! So, I called up my favorite sushi chef, Xavier, and asked him if he would get out some salmon from the freezer and make it for supper. As we all know, "when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy", so he obliged and started the process while I was on my way home.
First, he prepared the sushi rice with rice vinegar and some other stuff (I think he adds sugar.) After some cooking and steaming he always asks me to "fluff" the rice. That's my job! (It's so nice to have a minor role in making dinner!) While the rice is being prepared we cut up the raw salmon, cucumbers, avocados, green peppers and ginger. Above, Xavier mixes the rice with a prepared sauce. The process I'm describing is what I have learned from Xavier. I have never actually prepared this myself.

Above, Xavier has prepared his sushi mat and cutting board. He also has 2 bowls with water to rinse off the knife and his hands. Sushi rice is really sticky and hard to work with if you don't have cold water.
Xavier has put down a sheet of Nori (seaweed) and a layer of rice.

The last layer in this roll is salmon and cucumber.

Xavier uses the mat to roll the sushi.

A finished roll ready to be cut.

The sushi chef!

Skippy Lu is always hopeful about getting a little tidbit.

Selena would rather give me this face than smile for the camera. Dinner is ready!

A plate of sushi and another plate with sliced ginger.

A beautiful sight!
After dinner we gave the leftover salmon to the dogs and the rice to the chickens. Sushi is not good as leftovers.

It was still SO cold in the house so I built a fire in the fireplace. I REFUSE to turn on the heat when it is almost May. So, once the room had warmed up by the fire we settled down to watch the Spanish movie, "The Orphanage". It was a really good suspense, horror film with an "aftertaste." I woke up in the middle of the night to let the dogs out and I started to rework the movie for awhile before I fell asleep again. It was THAT kind of film; things fall in to place after you watch it.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Orphanage/70077549?trkid=188469

Foster Puppies go outside!

2008-04-18T12:44:00.019-05:00

In March we brought home 8 puppies with their mother, Salem, and have been keeping them in our kitchen. The past couple days the weather has been nice for going outdoors. Today they went out for their 2nd time (and it gave me a chance to clean up their mess). Above is a photo of Franklin, the most vocal of all. Miraculously he sat still long enough to get this photo. (The puppies are a Black Lab mix and are about 6 weeks old).
Some of the puppies play with our dog Skippy Lu under the trampoline. Notice the trampoline above where Xavier was taking a nap.

Skippy Lu; acrobat and surrogate aunt. Salem, the mother, is inside the house eating her food.
Skippy Lu shows the puppies her stick.

Skippy Lu eats her stick while the puppies jump on top of her. I think they're expecting to nurse ... somewhere.
"hey, what are you guys doing?"

Xavier and Emilia on the trampoline. Yes, we're wearing caps today! When will the sun come?
Emilia captured and still for a moment...
Patrick is Selena's favorite, and he loves her more that anything. He spends the whole time in her lap cuddling.

Grateful to have family in Arizona

2008-04-09T20:02:00.018-05:00

During spring break we drove to Arizona to visit Selena and Xavier's half brother and sister, Alvaro and Maritza. We had a wonderful time and we're so happy that we can say that we have family in Arizona! The photo above is my favorite (thanks, Willy!) of Alvaro, Maritza, Xavier (his guitar) and Selena.

We had a great day at the Grand Canyon. Above, from left to right, is A.J. (Alvaro and Aurora's son), Christian and Paulina (Maritza and Guillermo's kids), Xavier and Selena.
Xavier, Christian, Paulina and Selena play video games in Christian's room.

My favorite picture of Paulina and Maritza.

Maritza, Paulina and Christian

Xavier, Selena and Maritza

Alvaro and A.J.

Christian and A.J.

Xavier, Selena and Maritza were chatting on her patio. We REALLY enjoyed the Arizona sun and blue skies! It was a treat to spend some time every morning on the patio.

Selena, Xavier and Christian at the Botanical Gardens near Phoenix.

At the Botanical Gardens: A.J., Paulina, Selena, Xavier, Ahna (me), Christian and Alvaro

...it was a huge disappointment when I realized that I didn't get any photos of Guillermo and Aurora! Well, they were working during the day, but still, I'm really sorry about that.

What a great time! Thank you all, Ahna, Selena and Xavier

****Coming soon!! Don't miss our video of famous Miss Fiona*******

Overachievers, Speechs, and a Fixtation on Letters

2007-11-15T09:14:00.000-06:00

Author: Selena
Has it been a long time since I wrote in this blog? I suposse it has since the blog seems longer and more drawn out than I remember it. Are you getting tired of us yet? I think I might be getting tired of myself. However, that's not the point I was trying to talk about was it. The title after all starts with "Overachievers" so, I'll get back to that...
At Anoka-Ramsey Community College there is a girl who is in my Reading class, is also PSEO, and if you were viewing her from the angle of academic would be labled "Overachiever". She fascinates me, and you will wonder why. She's obviously very intelligent, makes wonderful connections to the books that we're reading (Jack and Rochelle by Jack and Rochelle Sutin, Edited by Lawrence Sutin), she's outspoken and loud, and knows how to manage time.
In this class sometimes the teacher leads us to a computer center and sets us on a little diversion called "Ultimate Speed Reader" I love this teacher but do not care for this odd program which makes no sense to me (why would I want to read at 750 words a minute like I'm trying to give myself an adreniline rush when reading a book when I could pace through it and enjoy it?) The thing is, you get extra credit for doing these labs and giving yourself adreniline rushes. The girl I have told you about wants to know (quite adamently) how many points she gets for doing the labs. Even the teacher seemed puzzled as to why someone would want to do fill out all these labs and why someone would want to know precisely how many points you get for all of it.
When we did a presentation on the book Jack and Rochelle she wanted to know how many points you got if you volunteered to go on the first day (which I did do but merely for the porpose that I was ready and didn't want to terrify myself by thinking about it for two more days).
When we went into a "smart" room to do our presentations she said that she had a three hour English class on Wednesdays in the same room because that's the only time she could fit it in (three hours? Is is she sucididal?).
Now here's my point, the letter of her grade seems very important. Maybe two years ago this may have made sense to me but now? How can your intelligence which is so wide and vast be determined by one measly letter or number or a few short words the professor writes on your essay? Did Jack or Rochelle get a letter grade for surviving the Nazis and fighting as partisans or living like animals in a Polish forest?

Selena is accepted at Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC)

2007-06-21T07:32:00.002-05:00

Last week we were elated to receive an acceptance letter from ARCC for Selena to attend in the fall as a Post Secondary Education student. The Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO) is a Minnesota program for High School students to take college courses while they are still in High School. The meaty side of this option is that the state pays for all of the classes and books for a maximum of 2 years.

In order to gain acceptance to ARCC for the program as a homeschooler she had to score higher than 68th percentile on a standardized test, such as the CAT. Last year, as an 8th grader, she scored a 63. Also, in order to get into the program THIS YEAR she would have to jump a grade (to 10th grade). The program only involves students in 10th-12th grades. Also, she had to take a placement test for any core courses that she takes at ARCC.

It was late February when Selena decided that she wanted to try some college classes. We took a month to prepare for the placement tests. She had excellent scores for the verbal and reading sections. We were not surprised either that she did not do so well in Math. So, she would be able to take Freshman English but would have to improve in Math in order to take college classes.

The next step was to prepare for the 10th grade CAT (California Achievement Test) that she would take in mid-May. She worked hard during these months studying in all areas for the test. We listened to many podcasts from various Universities. Our favorites were the history and geography courses. Also, she worked incredibly hard on math. I ordered math lessons on DVD from Netflix.com and she continued working in her Saxon Math books.

Finally, she and Xavier took the CAT in May and we received her score a couple weeks later, just in time to send in her application to ARCC. Her score was 87 percentile. She improved 15 percentile points in Math since last year. We were SO happy, we were jumping up and down in the kitchen!

For 2 and a half years Selena has not been in school, she hasn't followed a curriculum nor studied any Math or grammar or anything else. Everything that she has learned she has done on her own and by following her own interests.
It's AWESOME!

Tina, the lovely foster dog

2007-02-06T17:14:00.002-06:00

Three weeks ago we brought home our newest of many foster dogs. Her name is Tina (Louise) and she is now about 7 months old. Fortunately, she joined our established dog pack without any problems, in fact the pack was very excited to have a new playmate. Whereas Skippy Lou, our pointer mix, "skips" along as she runs, we have noticed that Tina "hops" or "bounces" rather than "runs".

For the first few days that Tina was with us we sadly noted that she didn't play or show any curiosity about her new home. She seemed to be only interested in her food and in staying close to a human being. She was also really restless, in a constant state of agitation. To our delight, with in about 4 days she started to show the signs of being a real dog!! Tina finally discovered that she knew how to play and have fun with the other dogs. She also seemed to realized that she could go around the house, sniff and smell everything, and when she returned to the kitchen the food would still be there for her to eat. Also, it didn't take long for us to see an improved physical recooperation. After many long monthes of eating low grade food at the dog pound she adjusted quickly to eating quality raw food. We noticed that soon her ribs disappeared and muscles began to deveop in their place. She weighed 31.5 pounds when she came here, now she is 37 pounds! We're going to have to watch her weight from now on, she is looking very healthy and stocky as she should look!

I'll try to post some more on Tina in the near future. However, if you are interested in adopting her, please send an email to our rescue group at RPAW on the website: www.rpaw.org or call the phone number that is listed on their site. Also, she will be at the Pet Adoption Day this coming Saturday if you would like to meet her. She is trully a wonderful dog.
sincerely, Ahna, Selena and Xavier

Christmas Greetings!

2006-12-21T01:18:00.001-06:00

Greetings and Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family!! We hope that you are enjoying a special time with all of your loved ones. In recent years we have enjoyed making our own Christmas cards but this year we've tried this new venue! It's free and it's fun. Instead of spending money on the purchase of cards and postage we made a small business loan through KIVA. This is a nonprofit group that helps individuals and families (primarily in poorer countries) start their own businesses. These are generally people that would be ineligible for loans from banks. We're really excited to find out what our "Christmas Card money" can do!

If you are interested in finding out about the organization click on the icon below, in the right column on this page. If you would like to find out about the family that we sponsored you can read about them below and then also on the KIVA website. Remember, you didn't get a Christmas card in the mail this year but, in a round about way, you helped us give a great gift! We'll be posting updates on them in the future, if possible.

We send our warmest wishes and we hope for peace in the coming days.
Merry Christmas with love
from
René, Ahna, Selena and Xavier

A Thoroughly BISHOP Thanksgiving

2006-12-06T23:48:00.001-06:00

It was a quiet Thanksgiving day at the Bishop residence in my hometown Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. There was no extended family, no long extensive tables nor elbows in the stomach at "eat time." Grandma only opened the oven 2 times to look at the turkey. The food was excellent!!

Selena and her cousins Kathryn, Jeffrey and Kyle

Selena and Grandpa Bishop

(Kathryn's hand in motion) Grandpa, Jim and Grandma

After the food the desserts and the dishes, we settled down with the computers to create a FUN house (below). We laughed so hard at our images that we almost cried. Grandma thought it was one of the best recent inventions.

Here is one of the best photos of the day, it is of Jim. What a hair-do!
However, voted the very best photo of all in our FUN HOUSE is that of Alice Bishop.

Here is a great charicature of Grandpa. We call him "super-grandpa"! Ahna is in the background in her usual overalls!

Who can resist such a cute guy??
Here's super-grandma, again!

And now for a photo of Selena, Ahna and Kathryn. We felt like aliens but we laughed so hard!!

And now for some more photos from our Thanksgiving FUN house!!!

Kyle
Jeffrey
Kyle and Jeffrey
Selena and Kathryn
Kyle
Grandma and Grandpa
Selena and Kathryn
Kathryn
Jeffrey still has long eyelashes!
BYE!!!

"Houdini Ferret" by reporter Selena Jara

2006-12-03T12:57:00.000-06:00

For the last few months the Jara household has been waking up to the scratching and scrambling of a ferret as she knocks over everything she can possibly find. However, at night Selena Jara, the oldest child who keeps the ferrets in her room, has made sure that the door of the cage in locked and closed, but the ferret continues to get out.

In order to find out just exactly how the ferret is getting out I have launched an investigation to find out how. We started by going into Selena’s messy room. There are four ferrets that live in the big cage that takes up one whole wall of Selena’s room. Kit, Sky, Blackey, and Foxy are seemingly innocent pets that merely live in the cage all day long. However, the smallest and perhaps youngest ferret, Foxy, is the one who is escaping all these nights. First we looked around the cage for possible escape routes.

One choice of escape is the front door that we took from the other, smaller cage that we took apart when building the new one. It serves as two doors in one and swings out from the cage. Sometimes the door will shift out from the center and then go far to one side where the ferret would merely have to climb up the cage and slip through the opening to get out. Another way is through the back of the cage where the bars are very large and measure 4 mms wide and 4 mms long. Foxie’s head is at least five mms wide and 2 mms tall and with a lot of adjusting of her body she was able to escape through the back once in our presence but that proved a bad idea when her back half got stuck, so we eliminated that idea.

The way that Foxy gets out is still a mystery even now. Although the front door is still a very real possibility there is still no guarantee that this is so since we have yet to see her try to get out this way. I will keep surveying Foxy to see which way she actually gets out and report again next month.

Animals of the Jaras by Xavier

2006-11-15T09:05:00.000-06:00

Hi! I am Xavier if you are reading this you have probably read my sister's blog in which she says that we have a lot of animals. Let me introduce our 42 animals.

First there is Jota, our 150 pound Great Dane, but don't worry he's not a monster. The giant, lovable pooch is sweet, gentle and is afraid of just about everything. He loves you to chase him when he has a stick and you don't, he also loves to jump up and down if you are somewhere he can't get to (like if your on the other side of the fence) which is very intimidating because he is HUGE.

Second, there is Skippy Lu who is a small Pointer mix that was our foster dog last spring. When there was about to be a big adoption event we saw that Jota loved her so much that we had to adopt her. She is very sweet to humans but with other dogs she barks non stop. She plays with Jota rough and Jota loves the attention.

Then there is Zarco. He was our first dog. He is a pure breed Jerland German Shepherd. He is most bonded to my mom. If she leaves the house he will not eat and he will howl to my violin. He loves to be wherever my mom is and loves to be scratched on the back.

After that there is the 4 ferrets Foxy, Bandit, Sky, Bear. They live in Selena's room in a giant cage we made ourselves out of organizer squares. Every time I go in to the room the four of them all crowd my feet and constantly lick them and it tickles like crazy.

We also have two birds. One is a cockatial named Pepe and the other is a parakeet named Pepper. Pepper loves his bell that Selena gave to him a long time ago. Pepe is happy if you whistle the "Bridge over the River Kwai."

Then we have a cat named Emily. She has one eye, the other eye turned into a tumor looking thing and there is am interesting story behind that but we'll tell you about that later. She loves attention and is queen.

We have 25 chickens including 3 roosters. One is named Cow, he is black with a green tint, Pidge is Cow's son and he is kind of white. There is Junior who is also Cow's son and is completely black.

And we have seven ducks that are all very nice and loud.
3+4+2+1+25+7=42 I think?

Sincerely, Xavier Jara

Introduction by Selena

2006-11-04T08:18:00.001-06:00

Good Morning Lizards and Slugs, this is Selena, daughter of this cyberspace family that you have stumbled upon. While I fully wake up I am typing this, waiting for my maternal section of the parental unit to get me coffee which is why this post seems slightly, well.... insane.

So now I will introduce you to my world. Later on you will meet the maternal section of my family unit in which I mentioned earlier, presumably in later posts, she is the one that mixs together food to put in our darling little stomachs, cleans house to get us from wasting away in our own flith, and spoils all the little critters that live with us, to which I will introduce you later. But be not fooled! Mother Dearest can not only trounce you in a game of puzzles but she can wrestle a 150 pound Great Dane into submission (Jota, our dog).

Next we meet, René, paternal unit of the Jara household. René works very hard as a professor of Latin American Literature at the University of Minnesota. René deals with other professors all the time and is famously patient (at least with us) and sweet.

Then there is Xavier, my younger brother in the Jara Family, who enjoys a number of musical intruments (banjo, guitar, and violin) and loves to play a number of video games (of which I like to play "Kirby", a fluffy pink, floating ball). He is also the one that keeps our mangy mongrels consistently amused and tired most of the time.

Me? No... there's no way I could make an accurate character assesment of myself, I'll leave that up to whoever wishes to write about me.

Till next time Lizzies and Sluggies,
Selena