Jay with Sue Orfield Band

I have become good friends with a great tenor saxophone player in town who spent some time in Seattle, but she moved back to the Chippewa Valley the same time I moved out here. We play in the Chippewa Valley Jazz Orchestra together and want to start a composer's collective. She has a great blues band and hired my horn section to play with her. A great night, and I hope more to come. Check us out on youtube:

Terry's Cloth: http://youtu.be/dNqIdFarkbQ
Little Something Like This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzCZhSitU3Y&feature=related
Fight The Good Fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmxmUYU6YDI&feature=related
Huffin and Puffin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P48Di-kyi4&feature=related
Ya Ya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxm4e32qmVA&feature=related
Why Me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPC2Nek8AiA&feature=related
T Bone Shuffle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqAiuQWk59Y&feature=related
Hang On: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbJw0peeMOI&feature=related

August 18

Hops harvest!


Owain and Tom


Give Owain the camera!

August 16 redux

The pictures are out of chronology due to a need for tidiness - a great need in the midst of the chaos upstairs.



Our man Tom!

August 17

Three new windows and a giant bedroom. If I were a rich man living in a giant bedroom, la la la la la la la la la la. Plus we celebrated Owain's birthday: Boompa, Gaga, Kevin, Mimi, Talula and Don (Joni had to work) - all Owain's choice (plus of course Ellis and gang).

Let the upstairs begin

The upstairs is starting! Charis and I are chilling in the middle room - like the old days with the mattress on the ground. I tried to get her to share the same tooth brush again, but she would not go for that. Plus we enjoyed a nice visit from our good friend Charles: revs the creativity and helps us to enjoy the farm.

Owain is 5!

Owain Atticus Nordlund Collins (August 14, 2011)

Creative
Imaginative
Joyful
Dramatic
Performer
A monkey in the apple tree
Loves Alice, Dorothy, Wendy and Pippi
Love all the ladies really, especially if you are young (8 to 14) and cute
Fascinated with Tornadoes
Knows where to find L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Astrid Lundgren, C.S. Lewis and J.M Barrie in the library
Not out to be or do better than anyone
Wanted to go to the library for his birthday
Writes a story a day
Does not get full
Monkey bar olympian
Will sit down and talk to anyone
Swimmer
No fear of any task physical
Sweet guy who sees the best in everything and everyone

-Not a person I am more proud of for who he is and all he gets into. What on earth will year 5 bring? The best part of my life.

Papa