Four Part Harmony

I recently finished up this mandolin project that I’ve had in the works for close to 2 years (!).

We had a beautiful couple of days this past weekend, so I took the chance to get a few photos out in the spring sunshine.

I really had fun working through this one. It was far more challenging than either of the guitars so far, and I learned quite a bit along the way.

I’ve been playing it quite a bit these past couple of weeks, trying to get my mandolin chops back in order after several years of neglect. It is sounding and playing great so far, which is a great motivator. The kids are liking it too, as it’s closer to their size so they can get their arms around it easier than the guitars.

It’s always a little bittersweet to finish up an instrument after having it on the bench for so long. I’ve got a couple new projects tumbling around in my mind, but only time will tell what the next creation to come up from out of the basement might be.

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Well, I guess it’s been a while since I got around to posting any pictures around here. Sorry about that, I just haven’t been too motivated to sit down and write up a proper post…one has to wait for inspiration to strike you know, and sometimes the inspiration it just takes it’s sweet time and meanwhile the photos pile up and the worse the photos pile up, the harder it gets to write up a post… So without making too many excuses, this will probably end up being a bunch of photos with not too much commentary.

I think these photos are from early February at the rhododendron garden. We had a very mild February, lots of nice warm days and not much rain at all (which isn’t really a great thing, but in the moment, it’s pretty nice).

We spent a fun day sledding with Anna’s school at the Mazama Lodge up on Mt. Hood.

Nicki and the kids took a trip to Cincinnati, and Anna and Milo had a bunch of fun with their cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles. Milo and Nicki ended up getting some bad 24 hour stomach bugs, which kind of put a damper on the trip, but it sounded like all in all the kids had fun.

One Saturday morning after Anna’s swimming lesson we realized we had nothing really going on, so we decided to head out the coast for the day. We drove out to Lincoln City and just spent the day kicking around town and building sand castles on the beach. I discovered this kind of nifty “film grain”-esque setting on our camera and got some pretty nice photos.

There’s a little carousel in town and the kids really liked it.

Nicki has been pretty busy with futsal and outdoor soccer, and both teams have been doing really well. The futsal field is in the neighborhood, and the kids have had fun when we’ve been able to make it down to watch her play.

It’s always nice to get out for some early spring hikes to see the first leaves and flowers breaking out of their buds. These photos are from down in Tryon Creek State Park. The trilliums had already started blooming, and this was early March!

More spring hiking. Elowah Falls in the gorge.

I guess I’ll close it out on this note. I thought these were just too good to not post. Milo definitely appreciates a good laugh.

Hope you all enjoyed the photos…will do my best to keep posting a little more frequently, but with the springtime rapidly approaching I guess I can’t make any guarantees. Hope all is well with you wherever you might be.

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