The Germans Call it Schnee

So, I began this weekend by leaving my apartment on Friday just before God gets up, and walking to the subway, which I took to the bus, which I took to the Newark Airport, where I got a pilot to take me to Chicago, where I met a nice guy who drove me out to a parking lot, where I got in the van and drove it to the Quad Cities where I picked up Michael and we drove to Marion, IA. You know, just a little commute to work.



An interesting thing about Iowa is, the crop of snow they planted in the spring is just starting to come up, as you can see in that photo. I guess it's that time of year. Another interesting thing about Iowa is that they change their motto on occasion. (Wait, I guess it's the slogan they change; the motto is much more threatening sounding.) So the slogan used to be, "Iowa: You Make Me Smile." But I think they were concerned that the last word sounded too close to "laugh." So they had a contest, and people could make suggestions for Iowa's motto. They ended up choosing, "Fields of Opportunity." But I think they should have chosen, "Embrace The Corn." Because, if you think about it, from an evolutionary perspective, corn has done very well for itself. Corn has thousands of people working for its survival. People who spend all day, every day, thinking about corn. You cannot beat corn; so you might as well embrace it.

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, Iowa (Embrace The Corn). So, we played in Marion, (ETC), which made for a fine concert in a really nice room. Oh the weather outside was frightful, but the concert was so . . . uh, fine, thanks. When we were done, we had to race on off into the dark of Iowa (ETC) because we needed to stay in Decorah in order to get all set up for the morning at Luther College, which--not surprisingly--is a Lutheran College, in Iowa (ETC).

As you can see by the picture, my school's mascot is really rubbing off on me. Some people swear that I am starting to really look like a penguin. Perhaps I should've gone to Virginia after all.



We had a great time at Luther. Played several times throughout the day, and did a couple of workshops where we talked about our bike trip. In the evening we played a concert, and folks from around Iowa (ETC) came over. However, one of the obvious highlights for us was meeting Miss Waseca, of Minnesota.



In the morning, we played some songs at worship, and then raced across Iowa (ETC) to barely make it in time to play in Sioux City. However, our time in Sioux City was awesome as can be, and they gave us gift bags with great snacks to help us make it through the night. Though we would have loved to hang around for the afterglow, we had to race back across Iowa (ETC) to get to Minneapolis in order to check into a hotel. With a 7am flight, I decided sleeping was pointless, but it sure was nice to sit in a hotel room for three hours.

So, I flew home, and Michael flew home, and that was pretty much what happened this weekend. And in closing, just thought you'd like to see the kind of thing that happens when you think of the piano as a percussion instrument, which I was always told it was.