goose update

Nature has dealt a cruel blow to the pair of geese that I've been obsessing about since the middle of May when I first saw their nest. They laid their eggs on a tiny island in the middle of a drainage pond and unfortunately the water level fluctuates quite a bit. The mother was apparently still in the midst of laying her eggs because she would occasionally leave the nest for short periods of time. It looks like there are two or three eggs in there. I read that once the goose lays all of her eggs she doesn't leave the nest until they've hatched. So hopefully she had a few more to go.

When we got all that rain last week the island was nearly completely under water. I took this picture around noon on Tuesday.

Later that evening the geese came back and they just stood there motionless while we looked at them. It was pretty sad. I don't think they had quite figured out what they should do next. I know how that feels. The water had subsided a little bit. I was sure that the nest had washed away and unfortunately freshly laid goose eggs don't float.

I checked again on Wednesday but they weren't there. I think they are probably gone for good. Maybe they found a new place to lay the rest of their eggs.

On Thursday I went back one last time. The water level was back where it had been the very first time I saw the nest. The twigs of the nest actually looked like they had survived the flooding, but the eggs are gone. So I guess I won't be seeing any one day old goslings swimming around in this pond anytime soon. I hope that she had a couple more eggs to drop and she found a safer place to build her new nest.

Life is so random sometimes. Since I became a freelancer I've learned that it's all just part of the package. You just deal with whatever comes your way, however good or bad or strange it happens to be. We lost our home four years ago and we're still rebuilding it. That disrupted a rather nice steady employment situation that I gratefully enjoyed for four years.

Then I was given a wonderful opportunity to finish my M.M. degree. On the very first day of school I got a call for a three month jazz trio gig in Dubai. That is exactly the kind of thing that I have always wanted to do but hadn't really pursued so that was very random. I was bummed that I couldn't do it and I saved that message on my phone for the entire school year. The year of school was wonderful though and well worth doing.

While I was at graduation I got a call to do a three month ship gig in the Mediterranean, which I can't do yet because I need to stay home and finish building my house. And exactly one week after getting a masters in jazz studies I suddenly and inexplicably find myself having a bunch of classical gigs, including a performance of the Mozart Requiem and a recording session for a new requiem by a local composer.

I guess I'll be thinking about those poor little unborn goslings while I play these pieces. I'll be thinking about other friends too. But now it's time to stop with all the philosophizing and go cut the damn grass which is super long once again.

2005, the year in review

This was a most bewildering year. It started off nicely enough, with a January vacation in Florida for Doug and me, and a 4 month ship gig with an awesome itinerary to look forward to. Then the fire happened, but I was still able to do 3 months on the ship. Things were up in the air with the insurance company for the longest time. Our credit cards were maxed out from all of the stuff we had to buy. There was weirdness on the fall tour. The lack of decisiveness about what we were going to do with our house was scary. Then I had a really nice December full of interesting gigs. But I have to say that over all 2005 has definitely been the strangest year of my life so far.

Cruising, May - July 2005

My cruise ship gig was delayed for a month because of the fire. I was actually prepared to cancel it completely but Doug convinced me that I should do the last three months of it. It was going to take that long for the insurance company to figure out our situation, apparently. He had to give up a month of touring as well.

What was really nice about this was that we’d both be there together for the first section of it. Way back in January before all of this craziness ensued, I had noticed that a certain big band was going to be performing for the ship’s big band theme cruise and I suggested to Doug that he ask his former student, who used to play with that band, if he could find out if they needed a sub for the cruise. He did and they did, so Doug was there playing in the big band for 10 days starting the same day that I began my 3 month contract as a show band musician. Isn’t that cool?

So we had what amounted to a working vacation together for the beginning of my contract. It was definitely a vacation after everything we’d been through. We were crossing the Atlantic from Fort Lauderdale to Lisbon, so we also had plenty of time to get together and work on house things. We got started on his clothing list and we made some initial drawings of potential floor plan changes that we could make to improve the house. It was great to have all of that time together in such a nice environment. I also had fun sitting in with Doug’s band after I finished my gig each night.

After Doug got off in Lisbon, the ship cruised in the Mediterranean for a month and the rest of the time we were in the British Isles and the Baltic Sea area, which included St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Oslo, the Norwegian Fjords, Stockholm, Tallin, and Gdynia. It was a fabulous itinerary.

I got off at every port and saw as much as I possibly could. I took a lot of pictures. But every spare minute I had while I was onboard was spent working on that g*%@&#% personal property inventory. By the time the three months were up I had all of the items listed that I could possibly think of or visualize in our house. Internet access at sea was very expensive so I had to wait until I got home to do the rest of the pricing research.

CRUISE PHOTOS: Guernsey

This is how it looks here when the tide is low at St. Peter Port on the beautiful island of Guernsey.

My contract ends tomorrow in Dover. I've had a blast, but I can't wait to get home to see Doug and Ted.

CRUISE PHOTOS: Edinburgh

Now that's what I've been missing!!! Only 5 more days!

We have one of these in Wheaton.

A view from Edinburgh Castle

A view of Edinburgh Castle

A view from the ship of the lumber yard in the shipyard at Rosyth

Exiting Edinburgh via the Firth of Forth

CRUISE PHOTOS: Belfast

notice the barbed wire

Now playing at the Opera House: The Jungle Book

Irish cheese is excellent!

Is this a statue or a photograph? Um....it's both.

Yum Yum Yum

CRUISE PHOTOS: Liverpool

CRUISE PHOTOS: Dublin

A Dublin Doorway

Dublin Castle

Sweet Molly Malone

CRUISE PHOTOS: Waterford

CRUISE PHOTOS: More Dover

The "Full English Breakfast"

The "White Cliffs of Dover"

CRUISE PHOTOS: Oslo Again

CRUISE PHOTOS: Bergen

CRUISE PHOTOS: Alesund

Alesund is where I nearly got stranded in the outer reaches of the Norwegian fiord country. The town of Alesund only took an hour to explore, and there was a bus stop with a schedule that clearly indicated I could take a public bus out to the end of a distant penisula and easily get back in time to catch the ship.

I trusted this schedule because Norwegians generally seem to be almost as punctual and organized as Germans are. Riding the public bus has always been a great way to have a "local" experience so I was psyched for this little adventure. And the scenery was stunning, as usual.

The bus driver seemed to know all of his passengers by name and I began to realize after a while that he was actually dropping people off at their houses and was not exactly sticking to the route or the schedule. He got to the final destination pretty late, and at some point I figured out, in spite of his lack of English, that he was planning to be finished for the day and had not intended to take the scheduled trip back to Alesund.

I had to do some serious explaining and showing him the schedule and begging before he agreed to take me back. So I was sort of freaking out about whether I'd make it back in time, but at the same time I was trying to play it cool so he wouldn't think I was being pushy or obnoxious. I needed to have him want to help me.

Fortunately getting back took half as long because he drove straight there. So it all worked out fine, but it would have been really bad news if he had refused to come back. I tried to give him a nice tip but he wouldn't accept it.
So that was my exciting little side trip! After all of that I still kind of enjoy the experience of not being able to speak the language of whatever country I'm in - it definitely keeps things interesting and it's fun (for me at least) trying to communicate with people by pointing at things and using facial expressions and only recognizing tiny bits of the language.

However, if I were anywhere for longer than a few days, I would definitely make an effort to learn at least a few useful phrases. So far I guess I've been lucky that this hasn't gotten me into more trouble. But if I had a more cautious attitude, I wouldn't be having nearly as much fun. So it's worth it.

CRUISE PHOTOS: The History of the North Cape

The North Cape was first discovered in 1907. The explorers brought along their wives and girlfriends.
It was a steep climb up from the sea.
The End

CRUISE PHOTOS: The Beauty of the North Cape

Here's the cute little port town of Honningvag. From there we took a tour to the North Cape where they have reindeer.
And scenery that is stark yet beautiful.