Bread

I, like many people, having been making a lot of bread. Here are some pictures:

The flavors in order: Harissa, Carrot / Cumin x 2, Parmesan / Black Pepper, Za’atar, Grilled Cheese : )

COFFEE

I’ve been meaning to give a big old thank you to all the folks who chipped in on the coffee maker that was my Christmas present. Its this wonderfully cute little robot guy:

It makes delicious espresso, and its been fun (and also sometimes frustrating) getting to know all the different variables that influence a good cup of coffee (or espresso). The flip side of this is how delicious bad espresso can be with a bit of milk / sugar / ice / vanilla or other such adulterations. Another fun aspect of making coffee at home has been ordering large bags of beans from our favorite coffee place in Michigan: Hyperion - located in Ypsilanti, Fran’s home town and Ann Arbor’s next door neighbor.

Fran-duation

Fran graduated! A friend took cool pictures! More to come!

Bass News

I’m not sure who among you know, and how much you know, but over the past 5 years I’ve felt varying levels of discontent with the instrument I ordered in 2015. This was made all the more complicated by its initial price and many of your generous donations in meeting that price. After trying many avenues to push that instrument towards my liking I decided it was a bit of a lost cause; its not a bad instrument, it will just be happier in a classical music setting. So I've been casually on the hunt for a new instrument over the past year, and last October I found one!

It’s an old German bass with an unclear history. It has a repair label from 1936, but when I had the instrument appraised before buying it, the luthier suggested that it was most likely made around the turn of the last century — kinda cool :) Its very well set up and maintained, easy to play with a big clear sound. My biggest issue with the old bass was a lack of return of energy, I never felt like I was working with an equal partner, and I came close to hurting myself a couple times. With the new bass I feel like I’m driving a sports car … or something——- I’m very happy.

Early on I decided that this bass would be dedicated to Sophie, though I’m still not sure whether that means the bass’ name is Sophie or what. I was very touched by how invested and engaged she was with my interest in music, it felt like it opened up a new avenue of communication with her that I’m very thankful for.

New bass (which is old) on the left, old bass (which is new) on the right.

Here is a simple recording of new bass:

Update: This is a recording of the last gig before shelter-in-place, featuring new bass.

FAMBLY TREES

Following a conversation with Frances about family history that highlighted a nagging feeling that I didn’t know enough about us, I signed up for Ancestry.com and did some research. Shockingly this was about 4 weeks before shelter-in-place orders so I kinda blew the timing on that one. I know these are impossible to read on here, so they’re for download here.

FUN THINGS

I made another page of fun quarantine things Fran and I have been doing if you’d like to check that out here.