thus, we end the hiatus

The summer has been very busy at chez Shepard—as it has been for almost everyone. Believe me, my busy is no more important than your busy. We have had people coming and going, and I have had some technical difficulties with my computer, which has either been with Apple Care or unusable. All of these things have made it difficult to sit down for any amount of time to write, and I have sincerely missed blogging.

Some of the highlights of the past two months include the following:

Atlanta photo shoot
In late June, I accompanied our photographer to Georgia for a photo shoot of some houses built from our designs in the greater Atlanta area. For the most part, the homes were in the suburbs so I don't feel like I really got a sense of Atlanta. I'm not even sure I spied the downtown area of taller buildings, but since we are about all things residential, we stuck to the areas where people live. And, we did drive all the way up to the Appalachian foothills, which were beautiful. I'd like to write more about the trip later.

Simon
My oldest, and very independent, son took a two-week vacation with my parents in early July. They started in Watertown, SD, then drove to Winner, SD, where my father has a place and a lot of farm land. Simon got to help drive a tractor in Grandpa Ron's wheat fields. But, the pretext for Simon's extended stay was a trip to Big Sky, MT, where my mother was attending a conference. The conference had a kid's program ideal for 7 and up. So, Grandpa chaperoned the pasha as he made a jaunt to Yellowstone and Mammoth Spring, took a hike with a naturalist, and tried his hand at tying flies and fly-fishing.

Simon has plans to spend the rest of the summer writing a book and has already bound some watercolor paper inside cardboard covers.

Winston
My youngest son is having adventures of the more local variety. While I was in Atlanta, Winston lost his first tooth. I'm secretly please not to have been there, but he was excited enough to call me and share the news. To keep Winston amused and distracted while Simon was away, we took him to REI where he proceeded to climb the Pinnacle, a 55-foot climbing wall. When asked about his experience, he replied, "From the top, you looked like ants." Which is funny, little dude, because from the bottom you looked like an ant. More on this later, too.

John
My handsome husband is just a few hours from finishing his third RAGBRAI, and I am so proud of him. He is riding with his friend Steve. Neither of them are in good shape physically. Both have admitted that they would have had more fun if every day hadn't been a struggle with sore muscles and numbness in the extremities. These are just a few of the reasons why I opted out of the ride this year. A few weeks ago, I did an organized 35-mile bike ride and decided that was about all I could manage. RAGBRAI, cruel mistress, demands 70 miles a day (on average) for seven days. Plus, camping, which is fun but means sleeping on the ground. I miss John and can't wait for him to return.

Houseguests
John's brother Will and his little family--wife Helena, son Bjorn (5), and daughter Sophia (2)--are visiting from Sweden for a month and graciously gave us a week of their time. We had many wonderful meals together. I spent a day with Winston and our guests at the Minnesota Zoo. And, on Saturday morning we visited the St. Paul Farmers Market.

By this time tomorrow, my little family will be intact for the first time in over a month, and I can't wait to have some more summer with them.

They Rocked

That is, The Police--they rocked. Hard. Sure, each band member is over 50 and needs to conserve energy to get through a set (about 1.5 hours) and three encores, but I was not disappointed. The performance wasn't perfect--there were plenty of miscues and missed words, and it often seemed as if the band was holding back (again, conserving energy or reluctance to have too much fun). That said, watching Sting and Andy jam and Stewart wail on drums was worth every penny spent on tickets ($180 + processing fees), parking ($15), beer ($12 for two), and kidsitter ($40).

Most songs had been rearranged, which made it challenging to figure out which song the band was playing next. The reworked songs demonstrated how The Police were able to keep their music relevant after 24 years of not making music together, as well as helped them avoid the embarrassment of the "aging rock star trying to relive former glory" syndrome.

Here's the playlist:

1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking on the Moon
4. Voices in My Head/When the World Is Running Down… (unexpected and well done)
5. Don’t Stand So Close to Me (absolutely timeless--The Police could record this arrangement and it would be better than most single being released today)
6. Driven to Tears (bass-driven)
7. Truth Hits Everybody
8. Bed’s Too Big without You (amped up the reggae for this number)
9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
10. Wrapped around Your Finger
11. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
12. Invisible Sun (brilliant, even with the children-of-war slide show)
13. Walking in Your Footsteps (better than recorded)
14. Can’t Stand Losing You

First encore: Roxanne (again, better than recorded)
Then: King of Pain, So Lonely (my favorite of the songs played), Every Breath You Take (hard to sit through, even live)
One last song: Next to You (next favorite)

John and I had so much fun, and it was thrilling to be part of a sold-out show.

The Police

During the summer of 1983, when I wasn’t sunning at the pool or hacking a little white ball around the golf course, I listened to music every chance I had. The British music scene was especially appealing to me. On the soft side, I grooved to the New Romantic sounds of Duran Duran, Bow Wow Wow, Depeche Mode, Culture Club, Ultravox, ABC, Talk Talk, and The Human League to name just a few. On the edgier end of the musical spectrum, anything punk or glam was good. And somewhere in between, there was my all-time favorite band—The Police.

By the time my friends and I had driver’s licenses and permission to travel alone so that we could drive four hours to the Twin Cities for concerts, The Police had broken up. So my friends—Ann D. and Jenny E.—and I watched the concert videos, Around the World and Synchronicity, so often that it felt like we had seen the power trio play live.

Since the mid-eighties, I have had the good fortune to see Sting in concert (twice). And, I sat close enough to the stage that I could be hit by a bead of Stewart Copeland's sweat when he played the Fine Line with Animal Logic.

I even married a man who saw The Police when they played Dallas on the Synchronicity tour in 1984—and he never loved them half as much as I did.

But tonight—even though I despise the idea of watching old men strut around on a stage, trotting out their faded glory—I am going to see Sting, Stewart, and Andy play their reunion tour at the Xcel Center in St. Paul.

It is The Police after all.