daniel & i are often amazed at the talent & creativity of our friends. we feel blessed to have our lives intertwined with so many artists-visual, painters, photographers, musicians, textile-who enrich our lives & inspire us to create.

one of these artists is our dear friend, mike. mike & i (amanda) were in the same kindergarten class in upstate new york & (even though my 5-year old self said mean things about a picture of his dad, which he has not yet forgotten) we have managed to remain friends ever since. it was a real treat for daniel & i to reconnect with mike & his wife, maren, while we lived in nyc.

recently, mike a.k.a. glass animal sent us his newly released album, patterns. the album was made during the month of February 2008 as part of the RPM challenge, an annual event based out of Portsmouth, NH that challenges people around the world to complete a full album - writing, recording, mixing, artwork - all in just one month.

i highly recommend you give it a listen (you can download it without guilt, because of the Creative Commons License). It can be found at glassanimalindex.com/patterns/

to tickle your listening fancy, i'll leave you with daniel's review of the album...


As far as quality music goes Patterns easily holds a place in my collection of strictly quality music. I think it does this, first, by clearing a couple of baseline hurtles. Here's the baseline test, on the first listen, nothing stood out as awkward and forgivable because I know the guy. It's clean all the way through. There are no little things that I think I would change but wouldn't tell Mike about because I don't want to hurt his feelings.

In addition to being something that is not unpleasant to listen to, it has a lot of of really good hooks. I know it's not a pop rock album and the thing is really more texture than melody. However, there is a dependable rhythm and feel to the texture of the album. This makes an excellent platform for the understated melodies. The beauty of which, in my opinion, is the suggestions they evoke, leaving the imagination free to interpret where the song is going rather than overstated melodies that patronizingly lead the listener by the hand. The sparse and simplistic lyrics have the same effect. This album really hits the nail on the head with the less is more approach.

This album really stands out as a piece of art. To the extent that I know Mike, he is an optimistic guy. One thing that I find quite rare in music, is optimism that can be taken seriously. Because our collective image of an artist is someone who is tortured and bears the weight of the misery of the universe all of which is being pushed through him like a meat grinder (his art being that tasty ground beef that makes up the radiohead and bright eyes burgers that we chow down alongside the sorrows we're drowning) nobody knows what to do with optimistic art.

In Patterns, I find an optimism that I don't need to blush at. It's a believable optimism, which perhaps is so believable because it is spoken through suggestion, not hyperbole.

twilight fades

as winter has slowly wound down & spring seems to have arrived (although with quite a temperamental attitude), here is a recap of our last few months.

our last weekend of skiing was absolutely beautiful, with full force sunshine & beautiful mountains abounding.


on days when the sun in shining & i can see clearly the mountains surrounding our little town, i am reminded of psalm 125:2...

as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

(our neice & i are at roughly the same skill level. this 3-year old rides up the chair lift!)

& in an attempt to harken back to the days of my youth....

...i got bangs....

....good friday river walk....

....i traveled to prince rupert, bc, on the coast, for some meetings for work & got to go whale watching on a zodiac, while wearing sweet full body survival suits!....

....the harbor was beautiful....


....we saw this barge that had tipped over!....

....we had the season's first wiener roast....

welcome, spring!

please don't shake me, no don't wake me....i'm only sleeping

things daniel has said recently in his sleep....

d: (after thrashing around in his sleep) "GET AWAY FROM ME! the excel spreadsheet is coming right at my head".

d: (after getting out of bed & frantically searching for something on our dresser) "where is the button on this cash register? if we don't get it out, that train is going to run over us. why are we sleeping on train tracks?"

Beatlemania! (by daniel)

One unique feature of the last few weeks has been the unusual level of Beatle-related events occurring in our lives. Perhaps it all started way back at funight when Ben Kerby made the totally unfounded remark that the Beatles are overrated & that Paul Simon is better.

Now, normally we wouldn't take this sort of slander seriously. However, last week, due to an unexpected illness, Amanda was granted three unanticipated days of nothing to do but lie in bed. Being the opportunist she is, she got to work doing serious research and pounded through a 600- page book all about the fab four. No small feat, but then again, it has been quite a while since the Beatles dominated the media landscape, and perhaps there was a lot of catching up to do.

Now, it just happened that the very same weekend, probably the biggest act to hit Terrace, BC in several years swung through; 'Twist and Shout' the Beatles tribute band, and my parents got us tickets to see it with them. I must say, it was altogether quite an enjoyable evening. (I challenge Ben Kirby to point out the last time a Paul Simon tribute band has ever put together a noteworthy showing).

For me (Daniel), the best part of seeing this tribute band was realizing that, like Elvis impersonators, there must be a whole world of Beatles cover acts out there. However, in this case, not only does the impersonator need to look, act, talk, and sing like their musical hero, but they also need to collaborate with three others who are equally committed to the same endeavor but with other Beatle personas. I can't help but imagine that somewhere in the world there is a Beatles impersonator convention going on, where people with these ambitions might meet like-minded impersonators to complete their quartet. Lets say you got a George, Paul and a John, where are you ever going to stumble upon a Ringo? It's got to be at the convention. And lets say there's a shortage of Ringo's (cause lets be honest, who wants to play the Starky), conflict is going to break out sooner or later. You would have different incomplete acts trading musicians like sports teams trying to put together their all-star line-up: "I'll give you two Harrisons for your top-rate McCartney" etc... Oh, and for the last night of the convention teams compete trying their best to whip out the most authentic Liverpool accent while mastering the most obscure Beatles songs. And everyone is blown away when the judges select the four best posers to comprise the Dreamteam of Beatles impersonators. All convention goers are reduced to their inner thirteen-year-old girls, and start crying and screaming as this Dreamteam, for one night, plays the most perfectly reproduced "when I'm 64".

Ok, back to reality. To finish off the story, after this concert, our good friend Levi came by for a week. In keeping with tradition, we decided to have art night (with less combine-able words than fun-night) where we painted over a cheesy poster (art night 2006 resulted in a beautiful reinterpretation of The Wedding Planner movie poster), and you'll never guess what we found at the thrift store...... a Beatles poster! We had a wonderful evening out at a cabin at the lake making art and listening to music. In art, as with getting by or high, its amazing what what will come out of a little help from ones friends.

Levi (with the crazy eyes) and Becky showing off our collaborative efforts.

well, with the weddings of two good friends in the seattle/vancouver area within a month & a work trip to victoria (on vancouver island), our last month has been full of travel.

thankfully, we're completely enamored with our community along the northwest I-5 corridor, so the trips served as a welcomed respite from our current "trying-to-make-new-friends-in-a-new-place" stage of life. its been a month of sleeping on floors & couches & enjoying the hospitality of friends.

trip #1
seattle for james + katherine's wedding

bellingham: highlights with christina & lopez included breakfast in a diamond-shaped diner, record store browsing, great success at the goodwill & the creation of a gift.

seattle:ramsdales: highlights included buying coffee in the most beautiful cup, playing with wren & lucas, a tasty dinner, & a viewing of the inspiring documentary, Heima.

seattle:zack & amber: we spent the rest of our visit hanging out with the rocks. highlights included a feisty discussion on the artistic merits of justin timberlake's album, zack crushing my sigur ros hopes & dreams by showing me this terrible interview, a sleepover with veronica, & the happystance of running into a former roommate in capital hill.

seattle: j & k wedding- a charming wedding/bird themed reception + a reunion of old friends

[last two photos by jonathan]

[daniel's valentine's day art]

can't stop thinking about....community

"God’s love sets me free to enter into community with other people—even when the community is a very limited one and is not the total communion that my heart desires. Only when I live in communion with God can I live in a community that is not perfect. Only then can I love the other person and create a space in which we might be quite distant or very close, but we can still allow something new to be born—a child, friendship, joy, community, a space where strangers and guests can be received."

-Henri Nouwen-Lecture at Scarritt-Bennett Center