The Brewdy Bawler

Fences

I realized just now as I reread through my previous blogs that I’ve been shifting from my original intent for this blog. It’s important to have a fence around my playground, lest I injure myself (or worse) by running in the street with my ideas.

So, I shall attempt to perform a self-correcting focus shift (nice sounding, eh?). Here goes:

My wife & I have just moved to Latvia a week ago. We’ve been staying in an upstairs bedroom of an old farmhouse recently remodeled by its Norwegian owner, Lars, a friend of ours whose on staff with us. He married a Latvian girl a few years ago. It’s no wonder, really, since, along with the 8 other languages, he speaks Latvian fluently… better than some Latvians! Actually, I can say the same for his English.

So, Lars (pronounced close to “losh”) remodeled his old farmhouse in what I can only assume to be in classic Norwegian farmhouse style with the welcoming earth tones and lots of exposed, old wood. One thing that I liked that he did was “whitewash” the wood on all the walls, ceiling & floor with chalk, so it gives it this lovely pale grey shade to the wood grains.

Even still, as much as I like it, we still can’t stay there forever, so on goes the hunt for the “right” place, whether apartment or house for rent or for sale, in this incredibly overdemanded, undersupplied housing market.

And yet “the Son of Man ha[d] no place to lay his head.” So, I don’t complain all that much.

Cheers,
~t

MEPIS Linux!

When you’ve got nothing but old hardware (meaning pre-2001), MEPIS Linux is the best to work with. It’s super easy to install &, before you commit to installation, you can preview it as a LiveCD (bootable CD). Since I’m here in Latvia working for a non-profit org. with like no money & only old computers abounding within their non-existent IT budget, this version of Linux makes computing life quite happy.

Cheers!
~t

Buena Vista Social Club

A must see of documentaries about a select group of amazing Cuban musicians from the 30′s who used to frequeunt a night club by the name of the Buena Vista Social Club. To a vulgar ear these artisans may sound like whining roosters (OK, maybe the bit about the doctor working on the singer’s wife’s heartache trouble & the singer commenting, “I didn’t know her heart was so low” isn’t necessarily whining… a little humourous?). What I am struck by is the incredibly rich musical tradition that exists in Cuba, and, thanks to my English friend who introduced me to this film, I am now continuing my journey of influential stylistic saturation.

~t

French Jazz…

I find myself struggling within me. Generally, I’ve had a real issue with anything French, what with the tensions that exist between my country & France. I really shouldn’t harbour any kind of malice toward any people group, really. I’m a missionary for God’s sake. And, in being so, I should have a tendency towards unbridled cultural tolerance rarely found in the fibre of an American (I’m confident God wove that into my fabric). But as I sit here writing, the dulcet themes of composer Erik Satie bring such a gentle joy to my heart as the Jacques Loussier Trio jazz on. Only recently I discovered Jacques and his buddies on the Classic Arts Showcase, an all-arts-all-the-time channel on satellite. They were performing a piece by Debussy jazz-style, which, for me was such a sensational combination. So, off to the library I went. I was only able to find the Satie disc, but it’s been a wonderful time listening.

So, once again, God, in His amazing yet tenable mercy and grace, works on my mind to change it. It needs a lot of work, but when I hear art like the Loussier Trio, I believe He can do quite the job!

~t