Forever with us

I hope to post the Alma Mater of Inver Hills Community College here soon;  I wrote it and am working on a band/orchestra arrangement.
My son is home from college now and busily applying for graduate schools in physics.  He tells me a little about what he's doing but I know the explanation is "dumbed-down" for his dear old dad. :-)
My daughter comes home for the holidays in about 10 days; 'Twill be nice to have her home too!

My great Aunt Violet passed away not too long ago; she was mother to my second cousin, Kim, who is now a principal at a school in Fargo.  He and I would play together as kids mostly on the farm near Fargo (though he did visit me in Vermillion SD as well).  This is in my aunt's honor:

Forever With Us
"Dark,
the days turn dark
when loss looms large.
"When?"
"Where? How?  ...Why?"
Children challenge the charge.

Life
with lots of laughs, well lived,
compassionate and caring.
Look,
that knowing smile...
The memories we'll be sharing.

Laugh
at times gone by --
what we remember well;
Loves,
all deep and strong;
Forever with us dwell."
                              ...Webb

Hello,  I know it has been a very l--o--n--g time since last post; but I'm back now.
This will be a short "housekeeping news" post and then more later. 
     I am looking for a book that my mother and dad used to read to me as a kid;  I don't know the name of the book or the author.  All I recall is a repeated phrase:  "Stuck, said little Bill?" The book had something to do with rowing a boat on a Louisiana bayou.  That's all I know.
     I won the "Alma Mater Song Contest" at Inver Hills Community College; They sang it at the 40th anniversary of the school!  :-)

OK, I promise a more regular blog...

April is National Poetry Month

There is a lot on which I must comment; but not a lot of time right now. So I'll just leave you with this:

The lawn is soft;
the grass is green
and playing children
can be seen;
...aah, Spring!

...Webb

Blogs and Passings

I promised my son's blog url; here it is:
http://bdcinberlin.blogspot.com
I hope you enjoy it. For those interested in the highlands of Scotland, my daughter's boyfriend is also blogging while at graduate school in Sterling, Scotland.
Here is the link to his blog: http://scotlandsirishguest.blogspot.com
Here is the url of my son's girlfriend's blog: http://cmbudapest.blogspot.com/ (She is studying in Budapest, Hungary for this term.)
I love the names of these blogs. Ben's link is "BDC in Berlin" and Kevin's is "Scotland's Irish Guest". The actual name of Kevin's blog is "Living in the land of haggis and Wallace" and Ben's is "Bier, Berlin, Begeisterung." Claire's blog is titled "More than Math." enjoy...

I just heard that Mary Travis (of Peter, Paul & Mary) passed away day before yesterday. I was really saddened by the news; I am an old "folky" who loves to sing and play all kinds of folk music. I am enheartened that she remained an activist right up until her death.

May we all sing our own songs with dignity, compassion and authenticity.

More Transitions... oofda!

Hey all: Nice to have you visit!
Here in St. Paul my wife and I are getting our son off to Berlin, Germany for his off-campus study abroad term. He's a junior in college this year and I can't really believe it! Why do kids have to grow up so fast? Anyway, I know things will go well for him and we are really excited for him. He will blog while he's there and I'll reference that as soon as I get it.
My wife starts back with students tomorrow (9/8); and after Ben flies out tomorrow afternoon it will be "life back to 'normal' here" I guess. Keep reading...

Transitions

Hey all: Lauren has a blog about her adventures in Hawaii! Here is the url: http://mahalodaddy-o.blogspot.com/
Please enjoy her blog as well.

Liz is going to Haiti flying out on the day of the Vermillion All-School reunion. :-( ...soooo I'll be going by myself. Pray that Liz's trip to Lougou, Haiti goes well and that all stay healthy.

This August we have to paint the downstairs apartment and make sure it is ready for our new (September) renters.

July is ending; August and the rest of 2009 await. Can you feel the excitement? ...keep reading...

Update for all:

Greetings from St. Paul! Here's a quick update for anyone still reading: I am a part-time CAREGiver seeing 4 elderly men through the course of the week: 1 inventor (medical field), 1 lawyer, 1 man who knows where Vermillion SD is, and 1 flea market wholesaler. Great guys, all! I am also still on-call with Carver county Library. My biggest news is that the flute instructor at Carleton College in Northfield, MN just programmed the world premier of a flute trio I wrote! Lauren played 1st part, Britta S. played 2nd part, and Sarah B. played 3rd part. It was a real shot-in-the-arm for my composing/arranging psyche and re-excited the desire to write and publish. Thanks and Kudos to Martha J. at Carleton College and to the three performers for their beautiful rendition. It was even better sounding live than I had imagined!
Lauren graduates on June 13, flies to Dublin for 3 weeks, then flies to Hawaii until mid-December to study and work at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory. For the summer, Ben works in Northfield at the Carleton College Physics Dept. as an assistant researcher and then flies off to Berlin, Germany for his Off-Campus Study fall term. We'll visit him at the end of November and then fly back with him. Liz is teaching summer school with SPPS with the possibility of giving a teaching workshop in Lougou, Haiti in August. (Our renters, the Johnson's, are moving on July 31 to a new house they purchased and so we'll be painting, etc. in August) The Vermillion High School All-School Reunion is August 9 and we're planning on that, as well.
Now that we're all up-to-date, I need to mail the Graduation Announcements out. It is hard to believe that my little girl is graduating from college! ...off-da! Keep reading...