Bye bye Liz

We were really sorry to see another good friend move away last week. We've known Liz since we arrived in Charlottesville in 2005. Troy and I got to know Liz well when we lived in the apartment above hers for a couple of years. We threw some really memorable joint parties.

Liz is a beautiful, stylish, funny and incredibly smart woman, not to mention a kind and considerate friend. We will miss her dearly.

We were lucky to be able to host Liz at our house in her last week here. We made her a special, farewell dinner of beef stew cooked in Belgian beer (stoofvlees/stoverij) and homemade Belgian frieten with mayonnaise.

The musgrad community also got together to throw a terrific party for Liz. There was a delicious potluck of "hot dishes," including my first attempt at a tater tot casserole. There was also an improvisational, avant-garde "good-bye" performance and a ukulele sing-a-long. What will we do without Liz and her ukulele?

Still giving thanks

I guess you could say that I've been busy. It's nearly Christmas and I'm finally getting around to posting Thanksgiving pics.

But we had such a lovely celebration with friends in Charlottesville this year that it had to at least be mentioned. And Troy smoked the turkey on the grill. It was delicious!

We had all the traditional trimmings. And our guests did more than their fair share of the cooking, which was nice. Some standouts: Liz's sweet potatoes, Aurie's cornbread/chestnut stuffing and Lyn-Dell's cranberry-mango relish.

Troy, Liz and I topped of the evening with a ukulele sing-a-long! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for a reason: good people, good food and good times.

Pierre & Pippi

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, despite the fact that my mom always hated having to help come up with costume ideas for us. As a child, I was a clown, a gypsy or a hobo for many years in a row because those were easy costumes.

I really enjoy the creativity that goes into coming up with new costumes each year. It's not very often that adults get permission to channel such creativity and enthusiasm. It's so much fun to see kids and adults dressed up. It's such a playful holiday.

I like that Troy shares my enthusiasm for dressing up for Halloween. Unfortunately, he always has to pick costumes that are elaborate. And he puts them together at the last minute. He usually arrives to the Halloween party several hours late because he's putting on the finishing touches (this year that involved soldering some LED lights into a mask). But he always makes a dramatic entrance!

This year, I went as Pippi Longstocking (no wig needed!) and Troy went as Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur of Two Harbors, MN.

The statue of Pierre was recently renovated and moved to the Earthwood Bar, Grill and Motel (where BradFest takes place). Pierre is a really strange roadside attraction. Nobody seems to know why he's not wearing any pants. His head turns very slowly (so slowly that you wonder if you are imagining it). Future renovations will enable Pierre to talk and I think he'll be getting a new paddle for his outstretched hand. Oh, and he has these blue, LED lights in his eyes that are incredibly creepy at night. Check out Troy's rendition, he's got the creepy factor down. ;)

A picture of Pierre during BradFest.

Piearchy

Last weekend we had some surprise visitors--some friends from Minnesota's Iron Range. Kevin and Sela were taking a road trip (which we discovered via Facebook) and just happened to be traveling through, so we invited them to stay with us on Saturday night. 

It just so happens that Troy had entered the Charlottesville pie contest (also a benefit for a homeless shelter). He had to turn the pie in on Sunday morning, which ended up being kind of a challenge since Saturday with our visitors was a really fun but late night. He didn't actually start making the raspberry chocolate chiffon pie until around 7 am...

Sela is a singer/songwriter who must require little sleep. She got up and played guitar and sang for Troy in the kitchen--surely inspiring the process and then later assisting with the mad pie preparation. When I woke up, the kitchen was chaotic and they were both delirious. It was complete piearchy--that's for sure.

But the results were still beautiful and tasty.

The contest pie!

Contest and test (tasting) pie!

Ready to hit the road after a pie breakfast and packing some Robot Roast Coffee.

Unfortunately, Troy's pie didn't win. He received some serious criticism from one of the judges (who we found to be a little pretentious). We were told we could go down to the basement to sample some of the competition. Since the judges only took a small taste of each one, there was a lot of leftover pie! Interestingly though, by the time we went downstairs, Troy's pie was nowhere to be found (though there were many others left). Troy's pie had already been eaten, which proves to me that despite the judge's ample criticism, it was still a spectacular pie.

Festy Fun

A former student of Troy's called him a couple of week ago to say that he had tickets for a big music festival in the nearby mountains but wasn't able to attend. He didn't want to sell his tickets, he wanted to give them away. He thought Troy might enjoy the festival.

Troy and I had already been thinking about going to the Festy but really couldn't afford the tickets ($100+/piece for 3 days of music and camping). We were thrilled to receive this incredibly generous gift, and determined to make good use of the tickets! We scrambled to prepare and then the next day set out on this little mini-adventure.

The Festy is curated by the Infamous Stringdusters, a bluegrass band that really impressed us. This was the festival's second year and it featured a wide variety of music, workshops, yoga and more. It's a really well organized, incredible event and gave us some good ideas for BradFest.

Troy with some of the many wonderful food vendors in the background--everything from pig on a spit to "Hippie wings"

Sarah White and the Pearls (with our friend on bass--Michael Bishop)

The String Dusters with members of one of our favorite bands from the fest, Rubblebucket

Rubblebucket, a great band that puts on an incredible show. Check them out!

One of the coolest camping set ups

I hadn't been to a music festival in a number of years. We lucked out and got a nice camping spot beneath some trees. It was interesting to see all the different folks who came out for the fest. We were camped between some kids who were just barely 21 and some older gentlemen who brought their instruments (including a mandolin and upright bass) and jammed out all afternoon on Saturday. People came from near and far, we met people from VA, MD, NC and NJ.

The overall environment was really friendly and people were obviously just there to have a good time. We feel really fortunate to have had this experience. We hope to make it back next year, and to convince some friends to come too!

Back in the Blue Ridge again

One thing we love about Charlottesville is its proximity to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Over the past couple of weeks, we have ventured to the mountains twice (making last-minute plans both times). We feel lucky to be this close--within half an hour we can be in Shenandoah National Park.

Last weekend we went to Turk Mountain, one of our all-time favorite hikes. It's fairly short, but with the climb you get some good exercise--and it's a great view.

Turk Mountain view

Troy and Steve taking a breather at the top of Turk Mtn

One of these kids is not like the others.

Full moon over the brewery

This weekend has been a bit crazy as we have been prepping for a potential grant application for BradFest. We made a last-minute plan today to get out of the house for a few hours. It turned out to be a perfect fall day.

Oops! Can't see the scenery behind our big melons.

New favorite spot: Blackrock Summit. It's a scramble to the top but a pretty easy hike.

 Nature always helps me to relax and feel like a human again.

Over a month of Minnesota

Obviously, I've been terrible about keeping up with the blog. So many things have happened in the last month and more!

Our time in Minnesota was incredibly busy--mostly with good things. It was challenging to balance our work, BradFest organizing and visiting, but we worked hard at it.

BradFest was rained on both days but we still managed to raise some money and had a great time. Our efforts were recognized this year by the Two Harbors mayor, which was very exciting.

The mayor of Two Harbors with the BradFest organizers and Brad's parents.

 After BradFest, Troy brought the robots down to Minneapolis. Our friend Aaron designed EMMI's new logo. In exchange, he was promised a private robot concert. Aaron organized a nice, intimate gathering of his friends (and ours). It was nice to see so many music robot enthusiasts. Troy's composition professor, Scott Miller, showed up to jam with the robots, as did an old friend, Jeff Vigness.

We got to visit with many old friends and later went out on the town. Minneapolis is really a great city. I realize that more and more each time I return. One very unfortunate thing happened that night though. My camera was stolen (along with my cell phone). As you know, I love taking photos. And I loved my camera. I'm a bit heartbroken but found what I think will be a suitable replacement finally this week on Craigslist. I'm anxious to play around with it.

Some of the other major MN events:

I spent some time with my mom, aunt and cousins at my grandpa's cabin. My sister came up one day with the girls too. We realized we had 6 sets of sisters there at once! Pretty special.

Maddie, Barb, Val, mom and me

 I helped to throw a small baby shower for my sister. 

Suzi with Taylor, Marty, Heather, Laura, me and mom

Laura and Taylor

Nieces Ria and Amelia

Laura, Ria, me and mom

Troy's mom retired from teaching nursing. We were happy to be there for her surprise party. Unfortunately, I have no pics of that since my camera was gone at that point. :(

We had a fun game night at the Rogers with our friend Steve (who drove up all the way from Charlottesville for BradFest). I never realized how good Troy's mom was at beanbags! And has anyone ever heard of moose balls? It sounds weird but it's a pretty fun game!

My brother and sister both came home for a nice family dinner. It's a rare opportunity for all of us to be together.

Patrick and Jackson (his girlfriend's son, a sweetheart, who I met for the first time)

Family

Ria eating her favorite food. She went through 3 half cobs and was demanding more.  She didn't want to eat anything else!

Chowing down on the deck.

Towards the end of our stay, Troy and I were thrilled to get one night away to ourselves in nature. We went camping at Fenske Lake again. It was an incredible 24 hours. We had perfect weather. We went canoeing and swimming. We cooked delicious steaks over an open fire. We fell asleep listening to loons and wolves. It was just what we needed. I borrowed my mom's camera to take some shots, but it's hard to do this beautiful MN scenery justice.

I love my nieces to pieces!

We're back in Minnesota for a month or so to organize BradFest again. It's been a terribly busy time since I'm not really able to take time off, but I did find a bit of time this weekend for visiting. I finally got a chance to meet my niece Taylor. She's unbelievably tiny and sweet!

 

 And I had a blast with Ria, who is now 19 months old. She's got an incredible vocabulary already and my heart just melts every time I hear her say "Auntie!"

Picking raspberries

Eating raspberries with "Papa"

Peekaboo!

Open Workspace

I obviously haven't gotten around to posting in quite a while. Summers always seem to fly by, but this one has been particularly busy. A few weeks ago Ear Duo (the duo that EMMI recently collaborated and toured with) was in town. It was the perfect opportunity for EMMI to host an open house at their Belmont workspace.

Beer was on tap and Troy's hand-roasted coffee was brewed for the occasion

Loads of friends and supporters came to check out the space and find out about the recent tour. The robot builders were on hand to explain and demo their recent creations and to show a movie that chronicled the tour.

EMMI & Ear Duo outside the workspace