Monday Morning Coffee - The King's Singers

My husband and I have recently formed an a cappella vocal group. We are just starting to learn some Christmas carols (traditional and jazz arrangements) and are also looking at a Renaissance piece by William Byrd - The Mass for 5 Voices. We are far from our first appearance at Carnegie Hall but it's fun to sing with friends even if you never appear outside of the living room.

So, for Morning Coffee today, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite a cappella vocal groups, The King's Singers, performing one of my favorite Christmas songs... Enjoy :)

Morning Coffee - Just a little bit of Spring before the big freeze...

While cleaning out image files on my ol' hard drive, I found these lovely shots of cherry blossoms that I took in April. I love Fall - time to bundle up in wool sweaters and turtlenecks, drink hot chocolate and cuddle on the couch watching chick flicks - but as I look at these pictures, I can almost feel the warm air and sweet fragrance of Spring...

 

 

Spring = Mushrooms

A morel mushroom in it's natural habitat - photo by Cindy Caraway

"Spring = Mushrooms" around these parts and we love to go huntin' 'shrooms - especially the morel mushroom! It's a tasty, and sometimes elusive, delicacy. We went mushrooming on Mother's Day with my husband's parents and we found oodles! Yum...

The day's haul - lots of morels and some Dryad's saddles - also good eatin'!

Morning Coffee TED talk - Guerilla Gardening

I love this guy! As Ron Finley would say, "Let's plant some shit!"

An Unexpected Visitor

We have been enjoying watching Hummingbird Moths (also called Sphinx Moths) feeding on the hostas blooming outside our kitchen window. Tonight, as my husband's guitar students were leaving, one decided to come in for a short visit, probably attracted by the lights in the living room.

White-lined Sphinx Moth - photo by Cindy Caraway

They are really quite impressive measuring around 2" in length and resemble hummingbirds when they feed on flowers. Their wings move in the same way and they are experts at hovering.

He (or she) was gently captured and released into the night.

Out on the Mississippi

We decided that we would make a date to go fishing one day each week. We went yesterday - the fishing was pretty terrible but the weather was perfect! Here are some pics from our trip - Enjoy :)

Baby Bunnies in our Yard

This morning, while going outside to enjoy what little bit of cool air we were going to get all day, my hubby nearly stepped on a tiny, baby bunny. He was so cute and looked so helpless... I went in and did a Google search on "tiny baby rabbit in yard what to do" and found out that rabbits leave the care of their mother and protection of the nest in as few as 7-10 days and are on their own from there. As long as their eyes are open, they are mature enough to care for themselves. Amazing!

The first one we found, I relocated to the raspberry bushes because it was out in the middle of the yard and I was afraid for it. The next one we found was next to the nest, which held 2 other youngsters that hadn't yet ventured out. We decided to let nature take it's course and let them be (but keep a close eye on our footfalls for a while!).

Here's some shots of one of the little cuties from today. Enjoy :)

Wish him luck - he's taking his first steps into the world!

Two more in the nest

Jubeck New World Brewery (aka. My Hubby the Businessman!)

My husband and his good friend Jay have a lot in common: they are both pilots, like to bake bread, smoke pipes, play guitar, both play in the fabulous rockabilly band "The Fast Clydes", both are married to fantastic women (I just had to throw that one in!)... and they love to brew beer.

Dan and Jay with their new landlord, Ken, at the lease-signing

Long story short: an idea that germinated for a long time resulted in a successful Kickstarter campaign (over $37,000.00 raised!) and after lots of work, research, meetings with lawyers/inspectors/you name it, they have a lease signed! Jubeck New World Brewery is going to be located at 115 W. 11th St in Dubuque, IA! Good luck, guys! What an adventure this is going to be!

Here's their Kickstarter video:

Yummy Lunch

My favorite lunches consist of what I call "the perfect plate" - a little bit of this, a little bit of that... Sometimes I'm so in love with these lunches that I simply need to take a photo of them. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while have most likely seen these types of pics in the past. It's probably silly, but... oh well!

This perfect plate consisted of smoked catfish from the neighborhood deli, Green Doc tomatoes from our garden, Wisconsin sharp cheddar cheese, Kalamata olives, a handful of walnuts and wheat Ritz crackers (not my first choice in crackers but it's what we had on hand!). Combine that with 1/2 a bottle of my hubby's homebrew and it's the finest lunch around! Yum.

The Dubuque Guitar School

My hubby has just started on a new adventure by creating The Dubuque Guitar School! It's been sort of a whirlwind trying to get everything up and running: building a website, designing print materials, trying to figure out how to advertise... We are, of course, hoping for great success! You can help us by visiting our new website at www.dubuqueguitarschool.com and looking around. Let us know if links don't go where they're supposed to or if you find any of the content confusing - we'd REALLY appreciate it! Thank you, thank you, in advance :)

What I Did Today!

I went to see the President speak today! He made a stop in Dubuque * and - as an added bonus - we also got to see Michelle Obama! I'm not sure which I was more excited about. I'd love to wax philosophical on the wonderful things he said but, really, today wasn't about that for me. I love the guy and he's got my vote... period. I wanted to go today because there are some truly great men and women in our world and it's something to see them and hear them speak about the things they hold dear. Today I got to see two of those people - Barack Obama is a great man and Michelle Obama is a great woman.

We went early, of course. The line was literally a mile long! The appearance was in an outdoor amphitheater along the Mississippi River and it was a beautiful day. We saw Air Force One fly over on it's way to the airport and then watched for the cavalcade to come down the hill into town. I found it all very exciting (I wish I had another word for it!). Another wish for the day is that I had taken the camera... ooops... I had it ready to go in my purse and then found out that no bags were being permitted (although cameras were!) and left the purse - with the camera tucked in a side pocket - safe at home. dang.

Well, I have my ticket and my memories. I lifted a couple of photos from the AP news site for my own personal scrapbook and that's enough for me!

*If you click here - you might be able to see me waaayyyy up in the top left corner of the crowd - get out your magnifying glass! :)

Catch of the Day!

We have a little putt-putt fishing boat that we enjoy taking out on the Mighty Mississippi. Some of you may already know that I love to fish! The hot weather and hectic schedule has kept us off the river lately but we finally went out early Monday morning. Lots of fish were caught but ultimately we brought home 3 freshwater drum, 2 catfish and a bluegill. What a tasty dinner we had that night! Here is a shot of me with the catch of the day - my monster freshwater drum, measuring in at 23" long!