Mass Recording and Visit from Home

This past weekend we were honored to be surrounded by my parents and by great friends.

On Friday night we held the second session to record the my setting of the mass that I’ve composed over the past two years.  The Mass of St. Edward is based on a Lamb of God setting that I wrote while at Notre Dame, after spending hours in the St. Edward’s Hall chapel. While getting it published is a tall order (a tall, very humble request, perhaps), it has been a great experience to write and work under the guidance of noted composers and liturgists, and especially with Aimee (my live-in guinea piglet) and our talented friends who helped record it.

Below is a complete recording of the mass.  Special thanks to our wonderful friends for their help:  Megan, Emily, Katie, Laura, Tim, Michael, John, and Brad. 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, my parents came to Chicago to stay at Hotel Scozzafave for two nights.  It was a relaxing time together but we managed to get a lot in.  We went to India House in River North for what was essentially my parent’s first experience with Indian food.  Aimee and I love it there.  They “could see how someone would get to like it”.  They were good sports and really did genuinely enjoy it.  Both that night, and a little bit the next day.

Other food stops included two trips to Intelligensia coffee for their amazing lattes and breakfast sandwiches at Hannah’s Bretzel on Adams.

Sunday was the third installment of our “Sing Sh*t” night – a relaxing opportunity to cook and share amazing food, and get practice singing a wide variety of music.  For me, I get to drink wine and work on my sight reading.  For my parents, they got to eat, drink, and be quite entertained!

The Griswold Family Summer Vacation

aka  Summer Vacation in Michigan with the Scozzafave Clan 2012

For the first time in a long time, we gathered with family to spend an entire week in a house on Elk Lake (near Traverse City, MI).  It was filled with all that a summer vacation should be:  swimming, boating, eating, drinking, golfing, sunburns, heat exhaustion, trivia domination, and rodent control.

My mom and dad graciously and generously helped find this retreat and make it happen for the family.  We are all most grateful for that, as we recognized the importance of family togetherness.  Below is a rough day by day account of our time together. 

We arrived and unloaded a months worth of food rations, clothes, books, and toys into the the house for the week.  After getting the boat, we had homemade lasagna and probably lots of wine – what better way to kick start our time.

 

Tubing behind our pontoon boat, piloted by Mikey (and eventually others) was the definitive sport of the week.  The kids were most enthralled, but every single person, whether gingerly or with unguarded abandon, boarded the tube, and enjoyed a ride behind the boat.

 

   

Having worked up an appetite and inspired by the natural surrounding beauty, we prepared the most natural of meals:  combine 4 containers of Crisco oil to produce 3 scorching hot vats of frying vessels, meticulously julienne potatoes and zucchini, slice up some onions, mix up a homemade batter, and fry everything.  Oh, and some freshly caught Lake Michigan trout prepared on the grill.  It was a very delicious dinner.

   

On Monday evening to readied ourselves for a family photo shoot!  Pictures below.  After that, we de-homogenized our wardrobe and drove down to Travino Grille in Traverse City.  It was decent, but not phenomenal.  Sommelier skills and creating insect-free salads would not be considered strengths.  But it was fun.

 

On Tuesday, we managed to emerge from the cottage by 8:30am! – in time to make our tee times at the Elk Rapids Golf Club. 

 

My Uncle Rich and Aunt Debbie just closed on a lovely home on Suttons Bay, which is on the opposite side of Grand Traverse Bay.  We went to the Village Inn for pizza and we arrived just a little too late to hit the start of live trivia competition in the restaurant.  No matter – we submitted our late-joiner team name of The Griswold’s, and having missed the first round entirely, marched to victory as we stole away with a $25 gift card.  (Did you know that Jerry Seinfeld is older than Jason Alexander?  We did.)

 

“Mom”, says Katelyn, “I just saw a critter run under the stove”.  And so it began.  The women jumped and the men instantly transformed into testosterone-induced exterminators.  We determined that it was a mole (based on Aimee’s description and consequent impression of the mole archetype). Eventually, when excessive force didn’t work, we were able to remove the mole.  Side note, after looking at a picture of this fella, I think I see where we got the critter-nym “mole” from…

We also did some fishing.  In a rare twist of fate, I was actually able to help reel one in before the sun set.  He was delicious!

  

Dinner came (fish tacos, more Mexican) and dessert followed.  The fifth day.

 

Thursday was the obligatory rain day.  The weather was nasty; every time I looked up, I saw Shades of Grey.   Anyway, we took the opportunity to visit one of our favorite wine regions – the oenophile’s delight: Old Mission Peninsula.  A brief editorialized summary of each:

• Two Lads:  best wine tasting experience, second best views, least desirable wines (everything tasted very young)
• Chateau Chantal:  least expensive tastes, best views, they were crowded but reasonably staffed, creative wines, unpretentious yet one of the more “refined” places.
• Bower’s Harbor:  very authentic, tasting area was small but they featured additional drinks (ciders and fruit wines).  Bonus point for the dog that roam and are featured on some of the bottles.
• Black Star Farms: poorly staffed, least informative and flexible for tasting experience, best wines!

   

We rejoined the group at the North Peak Brewery for a beverage and then went back to the ranch.

Friday began with coffee and a morning boat ride and then Aimee and I went to pick up a jet ski which we rented for the day.  We used Sunset Water Sports and they were great for our Yamaha VX 110S personal watercraft rental.

 

After packing up, Aimee and I headed out on our own towards Lake Michigan.  We started with breakfast at an amazing little café deeper into TC called Patisserie Amie.  A petite French Press and Café Vanille provided us with caffeine for the morning while enjoying a french omelette and pain perdue with bananas. 

Beginning our trip home, we ventured into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and Lakeshore for some hiking and sightseeing.  This is just a beautiful place in Michigan that we love visiting, along with Glen Arbor and other small towns along the way.

   

Thanks for reading!  We love our family and our time together with them.  I hope this did our trip justice; the memories certainly do.

Many Happy Returns!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife and caring friend; loving companion, warm-spirited, smart, hard working and very often selfless:  I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone else and had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday this weekend.  As the Indian girls I work with say:  Many Happy Returns of the Day!!

On Friday night, I made a taco fiesta dinner at our place for us and Sara, Adam, and Kristen.  Shredded fajita chicken and tasty steak filled our tacos, accompanied by homemade guacamole and strawberry daiquiris to fill our tummies.  

I did some shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this year but also at Ballyea Jewelry Designs (for fine Irish inspired rings, pendants, etc).  It’s run by Bernadette Moore from OSP and is nestled in on the 6th floor in Jewelers Row in the loop. I got Aimee a Trinity Knot pendant (see above) and a toaster oven (see below).  Yet another appliance added to our kitchen means a need for increased counter space so I got and installed a knife rack as well!

On Saturday night we made plans to celebrate Aimee’s birthday again and to re-visit a new great Italian Restaurant:  Salatino’s on Racine near Taylor.  Katie very graciously drove in to be with Aimee and me for dinner (which meant a lot… thank you!).  We had an unexpected bottle of wine delivered to our table courtesy of the Castillo’s quite needless generosity.  Of course, we walked back over to their house afterwards for more wine!  We are blessed with such great friends here who we are happy to call family.

Sunday was a very full day too.  I did my weekly accessibility mass with Laura and then rushed home to have brunch with MB and BB at Meli on Grand. 

Quick review:  great space and much larger than the one in Greektown so easier to get in.  The service was extremely inattentive but, other than consistently empty coffee cups, accurate.  My Count Chocula French Toast was delicious but two more mainstay breakfast items at our table (benedicts) contained dreadfully poached eggs which is tough to get past.

Then before mass, I stood awkwardly and humbly before a group who had gathered in the church hall to sing through my mass setting.  I am so grateful to have that chance to hear the music in person.  It has already spurred some new thinking which I’ll continue to work through. 

After mass we celebrated the birthdays of Aimee and Elena, and the great camaraderie of our 5 o’clock music group with a potluck in the rectory.

   

So it’s Halloween here in Austin and it is about what you’d expect on Halloween: a random mix of people collectively realizing that they need to step up their normal efforts to stand out.  It’s been fun to see all the different costumes though!  Looking forward to this weekend already:  an evening with Jenny, Keara and Michael’s wedding reception, running (and maybe even finishing) the Hot Chocolate 15k, and I’m sure more to come!