Ready. Set. Go!

Ready. Set. Go!
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Suitcases packed. Car checked out. Housesitters on standby. We are ready for our road trip! Where will it take us? Follow this blog from day to day and find out!

Marie Digby, Golden Gate Park

Marie Digby, Golden Gate Park
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

After two days of scorching heat, the fog rolled back into San Francisco, cooling things off. It's clockwork for the Bay Area, like breathing in, breathing out for the ecosystem we call San Francisco Bay. Trouble is, when the fog comes in and you are in it, it is REALLY cold.

Unfortunately, it was in these conditions we attended the Alice Summerthing concert in Golden Gate Park. We also made the mistake of taking public transportation. Mistake in the fiscal and convenience sense: it cost us $40 and dropped us off about a mile from the venue. I guess from a green perspective, it wasn't a mistake (grr). Though there was plenty of parking had we chose to drive and we certainly would not have used $40 worth of gas.

We got there just in time to see Marie; she was fantastic as expected, but they gave her a very short set and it didn't appear she would be signing any autographs. For that matter, we couldn't even figure out where they were selling her t-shirts. After shivering for another 30 minutes in the cold, we decided it might be best to pack it up and go home (which was going to take us an hour and a half anyway due to the hike out and the weekend public transportation schedules).

Brooke Fraser in Concert

Brooke Fraser
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

In 1988, I saw Aztec Camera in concert at a little venue in San Francisco. Don’t ask me where it was, but of the little I can remember of those years of my life, that concert stands out as something I’ll cherish. The intimacy of a small stage, a dynamic musician and a crowd really invested in having a great time is magic.

The same could be said of the Brooke Fraser concert. Her opener, William Fitzsimmons, really set the tone by drawing the audience in, allowing us to participate, joke around, and he didn’t take himself too seriously. His music was fantastic too, so that didn’t hurt.

Brooke’s music lends itself to the intimacy of small crowds. Her openness about her spirituality, and the compelling story of how a trip to Rwanda and an unplanned meeting with an orphan girl named Albertine - it felt like an after dinner conversation in the living room.

I realized how I missed attending concerts - not so much the huge crushing ones like U2 and The Cure (which left me deaf for days afterwards), but the little ones with artists who are truly interested in connecting with people.

Albertine
By Brooke Fraser

I am sitting still
I think of Angelique
her mothers voice over me
And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent
And on a thousandth hill, I think of Albertine
there in her eyes what I don’t see with my own
Rwanda…

now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are

I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
and the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet
Rwanda…

I will tell the world, I will tell them where I’ve been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine

I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me
I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine

 Related Links:

My photos of Brooke’s Concert (Facebook) 

Wikipaedia - Rwandan Genocide 

World Vision - AIDS Experience 

If Summer Never Comes

I Am Not Alone
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

On May 31st, it feels like it might snow. We're huddled under blankets, sipping hot cocoa to stay warm. I turned the heater off before the four day heat wave a few weeks ago that now feels a world away, and I refuse to turn it back on again. We're three weeks away from summer, I tell myself. How can I possibly turn the heater back on?

God forgive us for screwing up the only job You ever gave us: taking care of this world.

Another Birthday?!

The Mulligan
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Jeremy had his 8th birthday this past weekend and took a bunch of his friends to play mini-golf (no that isn't Jeremy in the picture; that's the son of his teacher).. Eight years old already...where does the time go? When I was in high school, it seemed like 5th period lasted forever. Today, I turn my back for a moment and my son is blowing out eight candles.

I'm reminded of a sad story. We were meeting with our financial planner last month (no wait, it gets sadder), and we were talking about college. And he reminded us Jeremy would be going off to college in 10 years, 9 if he skipped a grade. Our jaws nearly hit the floor hearing that news. Halfway to college already? What happened to our baby boy?

This need not be a lament about how age creeps up on you. It should be a reminder about how you spend the time you are given here on earth. Are you well invested for eternity? The things of this world are passing away at this very moment, but the spiritual things last forever.