Celebrating Independence and Interdependence

First we celebrated independence by going to a lake in Wisconsin. We stayed at a cottage owned by gerg's relatives, Ken and Bev. However, "cottage" is deceptive as this place is pretty big, IMO. I would call it a "lakehouse". We did all sorts of lake activities including swimming, building bon fires, drinking from plastic cups, grilling meats, playing card games with 12 people, playing golf, and getting sunburned. Second, we celebrated interdependence by attending a wedding.

We celebrated my independence from being a human by attaching Dara's wakeboard to my head because I'm a boathead!! It's kind of like I'm a transformer, which is A-OK with me cuz Optimus Prime and I would be down, FOR REAL. I spent about 20 minutes trying to come up with a good Transformer name.


Lakota celebrated his independence from a fenced-in backyard in the city by jumping into the lake repeatedly, retrieving a water-logged 2x4.



gerg celebrated his independence by freeing his moon from his swimtrunks while he was wakeboarding past his parents as they sat on the pier.



After a bunch of margaritas, I took photos of the bonfire.



Eventually, we left the lake, cuz Goldie and Popsicle got married on 07-07-07. We threw candy at them. It got in their eyes.



During the ceremony, an accoustic band played "I was Made for Loving You" by Kiss. The melody was played on accordian.



No drinks cuz we had a 3-hour drive back to the cottage, and I needed to help gerg watch out for DEER.



We did, however, eat cake.

Missed Michael Pollan? Here's the Audio























According to Zimmern many, like me, missed out on Michael Pollan's "Where does your food come from?" speech at the Landscape Arboretum this spring.

The audio of the event is available online here.

Enjoy!

We'll be Held up by The Police

So normally, gerg and I would be heading to his uncle's cottage on Tuesday night for Independence Day (er, week).

Basically his whole fam-damily gets together for a week at the cottage to celebrate their independence from Great Britain. To do this, they sip old fashioneds, play with boats and other water-related toys, play ping pong, and visit other folks who live on the lake. Oh beautiful for spacious skies, and people who live on lakes!

However, this year, we're heading to the cottage a lil' later because we're hitting The Police show on Tuesday night at the Excel Center! HELL YES. My country tis of thee, sweet land of raggae and punk influenced rokk music, of thee I sing!

The Police Reunion Tour started in May in Vancouver. We saw them rokk on the Grammy Awards last year and decided then that we wanted to see the live show. There were no signs of Sting's strange jazz crap in the reunion show (not that I don't like jazz, cuz believe me, I do, but Sting's new-agey wierdness was GROSS).



















The Reunion Tour looks to be da BOMB (photo swiped from wikipedia).

Set list:

* Message in a Bottle
* Synchronicity II
* Spirits in the Material World (not played in Phoenix, Dallas or Houston)
* Voices Inside My Head/When The World Is Running Down
* Don't Stand So Close to Me
* Driven To Tears
* Walking on the Moon (moved earlier and replaced "Spirits" in Dallas & Houston)
* Truth Hits Everybody
* Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
* Wrapped Around Your Finger
* The Bed's Too Big Without You (moved earlier and played before "Truth" in Houston)
* Murder By Numbers (not played in Oakland, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas or Houston)
* De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
* Invisible Sun
* Walking In Your Footsteps
* Can't Stand Losing You/Reggatta De Blanc
* Roxanne

Encore I:

* King of Pain
* So Lonely
* Every Breath You Take

Encore II:

* Next To You

I have a hard time choosing a favorite Police song. I Can't Stand Losing is crucial, but I also dig Don't Stand So Close to Me, and Every Breath you Take . Oh say, does that Sting-spangled ROKK show yet ROKK o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

btw - I *heart* patriotic jams, as I was raised by members of a marching band who loved John Phillips Sousa more than beer.