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
Above: Henry Johnston, Xavier Jara, Luke Banchy and Austin Wahl
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). 
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.
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.
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.
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.
Christmas morning from the living room window
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. 
