Ricks boys

Hi, here are my boys. (Sorry about the annoying rosy tint to the picture--my camera is dying a slow and pink death.)

salutations

Gwendolyn, Casper, and Linus

We thought it might be worthwhile to ask everyone to post a recent picture of their families (particularly the children), so that the cousins can be reminded of their friends and given a sense of who to expect at the reunion. This would be really useful for my bunch, anyway, who have been talking about the games they played with their cousins last year (without being able to remember exactly who they were).

victuals

Laura brought up the question of whether we could plan more meals together during the reunion. Like her, I thought that our dinners last year were a highlight. I enjoyed sharing recipes and styles of eating; I guess I'm a believer in the ritual of sharing food. I suppose that we will be occupied on Friday, but see no reason that we couldn't arrange formal meals (certainly lunch and dinner) on Saturday and Sunday (how late will you be staying in Boise, Laura?) -- as long as most of us can congregate at the rental house.

What does everyone else think? Should I try to make a schedule? Andrea, you mentioned being willing to help with a meal on Saturday -- would you prefer to continue our collaboration, or would you rather take the lead at a later time? Again, I think that we will try to keep things informal and quick -- but those are often the kinds of recipes that are most in demand in our house.

LCB

Most of you know that the Samuelson Ladies (by name and by blood) have been doing a Long- Distance Craft Bonanza. We have decided to do an exchange at this years reunion. Maybe we could incorporate this exchange into the auction.
For those who haven't made/bought their items yet could make/buy an extra one for sale at the auction.

reunion logistics

When I called Dad last night, he and Mom wanted to discuss some of their thoughts about the reunion. I want to nominate our collaborative blog, Ginormous Turnip (tm Jeff), as a discussion space. I think that the easiest way to share our ideas and preferences about the weekend will be to make individual posts for specific questions and topics, then each of us can respond to those issues in the comments, or raise new issues by writing new posts.

Mom and Dad realize that with everything involved in Steve and Shawna’s wedding, and with the difficulties attendant upon each of our families living out of suitcases for the weekend, we are going to have to be more flexible than at last year’s reunion. Keeping our plans minimal and our expectations limber will help to ensure that we all enjoy our time together. Anyway, we’ll be best able to preserve time for talk and play if we keep things informal.

That said, Dad feels really strongly that we keep some continuity from last year’s reunion. What is important to you to see in this year's reunion?

auction

The auction seems to be the central thing that Dad, in particular, would like to see us attempt. I’m sure that it will be less ambitious than before, but I’d like to suggest that we approach it more or less the same way, though on a smaller scale. We should take some time to talk about logistics: the only practical time for both auctions seems to be the afternoon of July 4, but that’s open to debate.

Should we plan on an auction in which we lower our expectations, but still try to share what we can? Andrea just sent me the suggestion that we take some time to traipse around Boise, going to thrift shops and trying to find auction items. This sounds like great fun, if a little risky (at least with my family’s schedule, I’m not sure that we’re going to be able to fit thrifting into the time we’ll have), but there’s no reason to insist that all (or even most) of the items in the auction be homemade. We understand that there are other obligations which will take precedence this year (you know, moving, having babies, getting married, buying houses), and I suggest that we should just try to have a few fun things to give, wherever they come from. I’ll bring the money, Dad will bring the paddles, and I hope that Steve will bring his auctioneer’s patter.

children's auction

(Not an auction of children)

The kids’ “auction” was a real hit, I thought, and I’d like to repeat it. If you find any interesting candies or little toys that you can bring for the bags, please do; we’ll probably have to search Boise, land of dollar stores, for the majority of the stuff. Since we won’t have the luxury of putting kids to sleep before we have the adult auction, one possible fringe benefit of having the kids enjoying their bags is that it may work to buy time for us to have the adult auction. (As I see it, since we will probably have to hold the auctions at the rental house for reasons of space and timing, we’ll need to find something for the young ones to do while we wheel and deal.) If they are looking through their bags, it may provide us at least some beginning time for our auction.

I had another thought, actually. A week ago, Jeffrey sent me this fun link . It describes a family’s efforts at making trading/playing cards which depict monsters or other invented creatures. After the members of the family draw pictures of beasts on their cards (and name them), they shuffle, pick, and exchange them. I thought that it might be fun to have the kids involved with something like this – if we have them draw the cards on Friday or Saturday before the auction, we could put cards in the bags and then allow the children to look at and swap them while we are auctioning. I wonder whether someone whose boys are already into trading cards (Jill and Will, do I understand that this may apply to your family?) could weigh in on the possibilities here – and the things that might raise interest in such a project. Let me know what you think; if there is approval for this idea, I could cut some paper for the cards before we come.

favor

Well, Shawna and Stephen asked me to make announcements for their wedding, and I found it a real pleasure to work on them. And although I can't exactly say that I met their deadline, they tell me that they've received the package with 150 cards, each including an image of hydrangeas (printed from a hand-cut wood engraving), type set with the invitation text, and my calligraphic presentation of their names. I don't think that it's really possible to see enough of the announcement to make this photo a spoiler, but I thought you might find it interesting to see part of the project drying in my pressroom.

Laura's Easter Favorites

Crepes:

(makes 8)
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar

Super crepe sauce:
Sour cream
Brown Sugar.
2:1 ratio respectively

Open-faced egg sandwiches:
(for four people)

Eight or nine eggs, hard boiled and cut up into chunks.
About a half cup mayonnaise.
About two tablespoons mustard.
About a half cup ham chunks
About a half cup grated or diced mild cheddar cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste.

I say about, because everything is really to taste. Mix everything together in a bowl, and then spoon onto halves of potato or dinner rolls. Broil on middle shelf for a few minutes. Keep an eye on it, because as soon as they start browning, they go fast and can burn easily.

Easter Sunday Meal

We don't really have any foods that we eat specifically around Easter. I love ham but we decided to go non-traditional (and cheap) for our Easter meal.We tried a chicken fajita marinade from Our Best Bites. It was really tasty. Also, as a special treat I made Brazillian Lemonade from the same site. I have been wanting to try this, because I have heard a lot of good things. It was delicious!
I made muffins for breakfast. I had ripped this recipe out of Wondertime magazine years ago and never made them. I substituted canned pumpkin for the yams and craisins for the cranberry sauce. They were really tasty. In fact, I made them again today with the leftover pumpkin.
I also found this recipe for Easter Rolls that looks so fun. You bake a marshmellow in the center of a roll and when you bake them the marshmellow melts. When you open the roll it is empty (like the tomb). I thought it would be a really fun recipe to make with the kids!

Gwennie's "Lovey-Pop People"

I think I invented lollipop puppets when I made a person lollipop. I just wanted to have a head. I wanted to eat the lollipop, but I saved it under my pillow, I think.

The first one was a really silly one, with the dress going around her. I should have done it the other way -- where you put the dress straight on her, and tape it on the back and front and bottom and top.

Big sister and kitty

Ingredients:
a piece of paper
wire
a lollipop (that's the importantest)
tape

Tools:
wire cutters
pencils
scissors

Little sister and brother

First, you need to cut out a square. Then you color on the square. Then you tape the square onto a lollipop. The square is for the dress.

Then, you cut out two even pieces of paper, then you measure it, see how long the pieces of paper are, then you tape the wire onto one piece of paper and tape the other piece of paper on top of the wire. That's the arms. So, you just get some more tape, and tape the arms on. If you want to do a boy, you can do a shirt. The girls just have skirts with arms. The boys? No, they don't have any arms -- they just have shirts, shirt sleeves or long sleeves.

Baby and candy purse

And then -- it might be the hardest -- put some tape if you want eyes on the face, then draw eyes. If you want to do the hair, you have to collect it from when your brothers or sisters -- or you! -- have haircuts. Then tape it on. Or you can cut it out and color it, or just have them have white hair. But if it's a different color piece of paper, just leave it, or color it differently. If you want legs, do it the same as arms, but two of them, and shorter.

To make a bag or a purse, whatever you want, you cut out walls and a bottom and then do an opening that can open and close, and tape it together. And if you wanted a handle, cut out a skinny, long piece of paper, and tape it on the top as well. And then you can put small little things in there, and candy, that's what I did.

(Instructions by Gwendolyn.)

what I listened to in 2008

For the third successive year, I've succumbed to the temptation to rank my favorite new songs. If nothing else, it's a way of charting a significant part of my life during the past months – but it could also serve as a prompt for conversation and debate.

The ground rules? Only one song per band (side projects excluded). The song should have been released during the calendar year, though I've bent the rules where some self-published or import albums from last year are concerned. I'd love to see some other lists popping up on here. Steez? Jeffrey? BJ? Melissa? Buzz? Andrea? Mom?

My 75 in descending order:

1 Grizzly Bear – While You Wait for the Others (Live on KCRW)

2 Fleet Foxes – Mykonos

3 Wolf Parade – The Grey Estates

4 Love Is All – Give It Back

5 Bottomless Pit – Fish Eyes

6 Department of Eagles – Waves of Rye

7 Beach House – Home Again

8 Bon Iver – Skinny Love

9 Horse Feathers – Curs in the Weeds

10 Sera Cahoone – Only as the Day is Long

11 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Buriedfed

12 Blitzen Trapper – Furr

13 Land of Talk – Corner Phone

14 Deerhoof – Chandelier Searchlight

15 White Denim – Sitting

16 Man Man – Harpoon Fever (Queequeg’s Playhouse)

17 Frightened Rabbit – Good Arms vs Bad Arms

18 Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook

19 The Walkmen – In the New Year

20 Andrew Bird – Oh No

21 Thao – Yes, So On and So On

22 Mirah – Don’t

23 The Dodos – Fools

24 TV on the Radio – Love Dog

25 Cat Power – New York

26 Giant Sand – Belly Full of Fire

27 Scout Niblett (f. Will Oldham) – Kiss

28 Richard Swift – Would You?

29 Karl Blau – Mockingbird Diet

30 Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron – Voice in Headphones

31 Chad VanGaalen – Willow Tree

32 Sun Kil Moon – Tonight the Sky

33 Women – Group Transport Hall

34 Marnie Stern – The Package is Wrapped

35 Jay Reatard – Night of Broken Glass

36 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – Paranoia (Never Enough)

37 Destroyer – Leopard of Honor

38 Dungen – Det Tar Did

39 Bound Stems – Happens to Us All Otherwise

40 Crooked Fingers – Cannibals

41 Port O’Brien – I Woke Up Today

42 The Shaky Hands – Show Me Your Life

43 Fanfarlo – Harold T. Wilkins

44 King Khan and the Shrines – Welfare Bread

45 She & Him – I Was Made for You

46 Sunset – When Perfect Flames Expire

47 The Magnetic Fields – Old Fools

48 Grouper – Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping

49 Marissa Nadler – Colorado Girl

50 Grand Archives – Orange Juice

51 Soltero – Out at the Wall

52 White Rabbits – Beehive State

53 The Fiery Furnaces – Duplexes of the Dead

54 Gnarls Barkley – Run

55 of Montreal – Id Engager

56 MGMT – Electric Feel

57 Dosh – If You Want To, You Have To

58 Ratatat – Falcon Jab

59 Q-Tip – Move

60 The Roots – Rising Down

61 Chairlift – Bruises

62 Vivian Girls – Never See Me Again

63 Tape – Beams

64 Laura Gibson – Freight Train

65 Rocketship Park – Run Away

66 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Glue Girls

67 The Raveonettes – Dead Sound

68 No Age – Things I Did When I Was Dead

69 The Rosebuds – Life Like

70 Shearwater – The Hunter’s Star

71 Calexico – Two Silver Trees

72 Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Cold Son

73 Spoon – All I Got Is Me

74 Tapes ‘n Tapes – Hang Them All

75 Islands – The Arm

It's a little strange to see the songs lined up like this; it shows me that I've been listening to a preponderance of pop and folk and less of the noise stuff that benefits from live performance. Maybe this is what happens when you live in a city with no music venues.

Anyway, if there is interest, I'll continue posting mp3s. And if anyone wants to e-mail or text me their list, I'll post it, and will add the music where I have it.