kayray.org

Dan baked a whole batch of Rosenmunnar yesterday! (jam thumbprint cookies) This is all that’s left. Don’t you wish you were here?

Chloe and I got a bunch more scanning done on Friday and Sunday. On Friday we finished up the last of the Grandpa slides. His thousands of obsessively organized and labeled color slides gave us pictures of our family from 1942 to the beginning of 1964. (See them here: http://dubsol.smugmug.com/Family/Jacobs)

Then we got a start on one of the many boxes of actual photographs and family documents. Here’s a photo that we *think* is our Great Great Grandfather Franz Christian Max Roege, but it’s unlabeled so we’re not sure.

Max was born in 1854. The photo was taken in Schleswig in Germany. Does anyone out there in Internet Land know what kind of a uniform that is, and if it could have been worn around, say, 1874?

Another wonderful family treasure is little notebook filled with handwritten recipes that belonged to our Great Great Aunt Irma, Max’s eldest daughter, born in 1876. Irma wrote out the recipes in 1896. She died in 1916 of the flu. Her niece, our Grandma Jean, was born in 1922 so never met Irma, but was always interested in her and saved some of her things all these years — the recipe book, an autograph album, a book of German poetry, and a large portrait.

Here’s a page of Irma’s cookbook:

Already a friend who loves old cookbooks has begun transcribing it for us! And here is lovely Irma herself:

This portrait has been in a pile of family stuff for years. It’s a miracle the convex glass never broke. Dan took the frame apart, cleaned the glass inside and out, and hung Irma on the wall for us. He also used his good camera and tripod to take digital photos of the stuff that was too large for the scanner — Irma, and several other big old photos.

We thought we had come to the end of the slides, but then Chloe discovered that several wheels full of slides that we *thought* were just scenery actually had family photos in them from the late 60s and early 70s! We made a good start on those on Sunday. We found photos that none of us had ever seen before — Uncle Scott’s 10th birthday, Susan’s wedding day, newborn Jon! Very exciting.

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

42 Buddha and Confucius – 17:07

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

41 The Great Discoveries – 7:03

Elli and I are thinking about recording “Alice’s Abentuer im Wunderland” as a duet for Librivox. (That’s Alice in Wonderland, translated into German. Elli happens to be German, and she says she likes my recording of Der Struwwelpeter!)

Before I officially commit to reading half the book (we’ll each do every other chapter), I recorded just the first chapter and sent it to Elli for approval. I think most of the time I did a pretty good job. I know I mispronounced a few words (maybe more than a few) but Elli will tell me what’s bad enough to need fixing, or if the whole thing is a trainwreck :)

I had a lot of fun recording the chapter, even though it was a ton of work. The unedited file was 35 minutes long, but the finished file is only 17, heheh. I had to read a lot of sentences three or four times to get them right! But I know the story well enough that I could almost always understand what was going on.

(What good are blog posts without pictures and conversations?)

(Here’s a link to the recording: http://drop.io/alicech1#)

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

40 The Age of Expression – 9:04

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

39 The Renaissance – 27:27

Harper Collins has recently re-published the High School books from the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, hooray! I have adored these books since I was a little girl, and I still re-read them every year or so.

Maud based all the books on her own childhood and high school experiences in the early 20th century. Nearly every character in her books has a real-life counterpart (Betsy is real-life Maud, Betsy’s best friend, Tacy, is real-life Bick, etc.) Maud had a very happy childhood and a loving, supportive family so the books are very warm and cozy, though never sticky-sweet, and Betsy certainly does have problems of her own. Hair that won’t curl on its own and teeth parted in the middle. Being asked to the school dance by the wrong boy. Oh, that herbarium! And wretched Gaston and the rosy apple blossoms! And why won’t Joe Willard join their Crowd??

In an attempt to recruit some new readers and help these lovely new editions sell well, the publisher sent free copies of the first book, the combined “Heaven to Betsy” and “Betsy in Spite of Herself”, to members of a Betsy-Tacy fan email list of which I am a member. We’re divided into two societies, just as the kids in Betsy’s high school are — the Philomathians and the Zetamathians. (I was randomly assigned to be a Philo – go Philos! We have all the cutest boys and sweetest girls!) We’re competing to see which team can recruit the most new readers. The winning team gets an inscribed paving stone outside Betsy’s (Maud’s) childhood home!

I sent my copy to a young friend in England. She’s 11, just the right age for the High School books, though I hope she’ll read the earlier books someday, too. I thought it would be fun for her to see a bit of our cultural history through Betsy’s eyes and get to be friends with Betsy, Tacy, Tib, Tony, Cab, Julia, Margaret, Mr. and Mrs. Ray, Anna, and everyone in Deep Valley. Her book arrived and she’s already reading it, and likes it! Hooray!

Here she is with her new book:

Hope you’re still enjoying it, my Scrabble-friend :) I’d love to discuss it with you!

These new editions are very fine. There is even extra material in the back taken from Sharla Whalen’s wonderful Betsy-Tacy Companion — biographical info and photos of Betsy/Maud’s family and friends, houses, schools, etc. Lots of fun! All three new books are on my Christmas list for sure.

Philo, Philo, Philomathains for the win!!

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

38 Mediaeval Trade – 12:02

A couple of months ago a representative from Ignatius Press posted on the LibriVox forum, asking if there were any readers who’d like to audition to narrate books for them. So I read their little audition piece and in late August they hired me to narrate “A Postcard from the Volcano”, by Lucy Beckett. It was a fantastic book! I enjoyed every minute of the story, even when I felt a little bit stressed about doing a good enough job (and pronouncing all the Polish place-names correctly) and getting done on time (they had a very short deadline for this one). You can get the audiobook here:

http://www.ignatius.com: A Postcard from the Volcano

Beginning in 1914 and ending on the eve of World War II, this epic story follows the coming of age and early manhood of the Prussian aristocrat, Max von Hofmannswaldau. From the idyllic surroundings of his ancestral home to the streets of cosmopolitan Breslau menaced by the Nazi SS, Hofmannswaldau uncovers the truth about his own identity and confronts the modern ideologies that threaten the annihilation of millions of people.

It’s a well-written book and an extraordinarily moving story. There are a few places where the characters discuss philosophy at great length and it gets a little bit slow, but on the whole it’s a wonderful book. The story takes place in Germany so there’s a ton of German, of course, and some Latin, but I studied both languages in college so I feel relatively comfortable with them. A LibriVox friend helped me with the one French phrase I encountered.

I hope you will read this book and tell me what you think of it. If you’re not into audiobooks, you can buy a paperback or an e-text instead. It’s on Amazon as well, and they offer a Kindle version. My audiobook version will be on Amazon eventually.

edit: (Oct 8, 2009) Forgot to mention that music (especially my all-time favorite composer, Bach) is a very important part of the story.

Now I’m narrating another book for Ignatius, a history of the Templars, which is interesting too. I’m so delighted that I can earn a bit of extra money doing something I really enjoy!

Oops, forgot to post on Monday, so here are the next two chapters for you:

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

36 Mediaeval Self-Government – 9:29
37 The Mediaeval World – 15:03

You can buy a lovely thick reprint of the original book, with dozens of lively illustrations, from http://mainlesson.com.

Impatient? Get the entire free audio book here: http://librivox.org/the-story-of-mankind-by-hendrik-van-loon/

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

35 The Mediaeval City – 19:25

You can buy a lovely thick reprint of the original book, with dozens of lively illustrations, from http://mainlesson.com.

Impatient? Get the entire free audio book here: http://librivox.org/the-story-of-mankind-by-hendrik-van-loon/

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

34 The Crusades – 8:54

You can buy a lovely thick reprint of the original book, with dozens of lively illustrations, from http://mainlesson.com.

Impatient? Get the entire free audio book here: http://librivox.org/the-story-of-mankind-by-hendrik-van-loon/

Beatles Rock Band is such a cool game. We’ve been having a ton of fun with it. We bought an extra mic (tried our own USB mics, but they didn’t work) so we can do two-part harmonies, and Henry’s got a Rock Band mic at his dad’s house that he’ll bring over so we can do three-part too.

The other day Bob and Chloe came over and we played through the entire story in about 4 hours. Chloe drummed, Dan played guitar, Bob sang lead, and I did bass and vocal harmony. It was hilarious and awesome and amazingly fun! And we got the Day Tripper accomplishment.

The game is really well-designed. It’s very simple to just jump in and start playing, and you have access to all but one song from the very start, so you don’t have to worry about unlocking your favorite songs if you don’t care to play through the story mode. Each player can adjust his own difficulty setting before every song, and the various parts have a difficulty gauge so you can see what you’re getting into. You can choose songs one at a time, or make a set list, or let the game choose a random songs for you. I like that mode. Difficulty levels are very reasonable. I can play any instrument on “easy” fairly well, and I can usually manage “easy” bass plus vocals, or “medium” bass if I’m not singing. The more skillful players in the family can handle “hard”, though I’m not sure anyone is entirely comfortable with “expert” yet. Something to work towards.

I’m extremely impressed by the way the game developers translated the music into button-presses. Even on “easy”, the button-presses relate to the music in a very realistic way. As I’m following the symbols my ear picks out the parts and I notice so much that I never heard before! On “easy” Paul is playing a lot more than I am, but I’m still hitting the main notes. On “medium” I follow along with the real music even more closely.

After we beat the story with Bob and Chloe, we took a look (for the first time) at some of the pictures and videos and other extras that we’d unlocked. Tons of photos I’d never seen before, each with a interesting caption. So now we are inspired to go back through yet again and get more 5-star scores so we can unlock the rest of the photos and goodies.

There are endless combinations of instrumentation and difficulty levels so the game will stay challenging and fun for a long time. And we’re really looking forward to the downloadable content that’s coming up. We can get the entire Abbey Road album on October 20th, according to wikipedia. It’s an excellent marketing strategy. We already own Abbey Road on vinyl and CD but we won’t think twice about coughing up another $16 to buy it for our game.

Thank you, everyone at Harmonix, MTV, EA, and of course Paul, Ringo, Yoko, Olivia, and especially Dhani Harrison, who had the idea in the first place!

James Lileks has just scanned and posted a beautiful set of 1930s “Dream Kitchens”. No kidding, these are just marvelous — cheerful, bright, well-planned. (Well, mostly… those space-saving chairs are daffy.)

Your Dream Kitchen

There are lots of glass-block walls. Why don’t I have any glass-block walls? One even extends behind the kitchen sink, brightening up the nasty under-sink cabinet. There’s a fantastic red-and-cream sewing/laundry room with tons of built-ins and another glass-block wall. So bright and cheery! Want.

My dad was born in 1930. I wonder if his mom flipped through the Armstrong leaflet and daydreamed about a new modern kitchen with an easy-care linoleum floor and glass-block walls.

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

33 Pope vs. Emperor – 12:07

You can buy a lovely thick reprint of the original book, with dozens of lively illustrations, from http://mainlesson.com.

Impatient? Get the entire free audio book here: http://librivox.org/the-story-of-mankind-by-hendrik-van-loon/

I knitted Henry a top hat for his birthday. He loves it!

(Ravelry project page)

Pattern: Hatopia (buy it at http://www.darktwist.com/ or Ravelry)
Yarn: Lion Wool, three skeins
Needles: Harmony circular size 9

Here’s what it looked like pre-blocking:

I knit the hat sides to 11 inches before blocking, instead of the 8 called for in the pattern. Tip: cast off very very very loosely! The hatband is a thrift store belt.

The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik van Loon, read by Kara and Michelle.

32 Chivalry – 5:01

You can buy a lovely thick reprint of the original book, with dozens of lively illustrations, from http://mainlesson.com.

Impatient? Get the entire free audio book here: http://librivox.org/the-story-of-mankind-by-hendrik-van-loon/

One of my twitter friends pointed me to this story about an amazing discovery of Anglo-Saxon treasure!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm

Leslie Webster, former keeper at the British Museum’s Department of Prehistory and Europe, said: “This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England as radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries.

“(It is) absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells.”

WOW! I can’t wait for photos. I’m jealous of everyone who lives close enough to see the treasure in person.

Update: Chris Hughes sent me a link to a photo set: Treasure Photos

Dan bought this little “Patio Caddie” propane grill for us back in June (I think). I’ve used it almost every day since then. It’s so nice to be able to cook all the meat outdoors — tastes good and keeps the house cooler and the kitchen cleaner! I even fire it up just to grill hot dogs for the guys for lunch. After months of use the propane tank finally ran dry yesterday while I was grilling a batch of onions to take to the homeschooler park day picnic yesterday. Dan is going to refill it tonight, but I need to plan a dinner that isn’t grilled! Oh my!

It works well, by the way. Yes, it’s small, and if we have Bob and Chloe over for dinner it takes a while to cook everything, but that’s ok, we all just hang around and talk. It also heats a bit unevenly, but I’m used to it and just move the food around accordingly. Dan and Henry are particularly fond of my grilled chicken (marinated in a mixture of canola oil, orange juice, soy sauce, salt, and pepper) and onions (sweet onions cut crossways in slabs and brushed with oil/vinegar/salt/pepper). Sometimes I grill tofu for Chloe and Celia (Trader Joe’s teriyaki sauce adds flavor). I’m fond of Trader Joe’s bratwurst.

O little grill, I love you so!