Richard&Stowe Family: Recent Episodes
Richard Sprague
After acquiring a brand new, high quality Blue Yeti USB microphone, it's time to go back into the studio to record a new podcast and here it is:
Episode 1: We Haven't Decided On a Name Yet
The last major composition by the Englishman Edward Elgar, this cello concerto was written after the end of World War I, when the Victorian world of his childhood had been forever replaced by a war-torn hell. The contemplative, somewhat somber tone of this piece didn't go over well with audiences and was forgotten until the 1960s.
Here you can enjoy a new recording by Martha Sprague, accompanied by pianist Kevin Johnson, performed in Spring 2018 at the University of Washington.
http://richardsprague.com/podcasts/MarthaElgarCello.mp3
Here's the iTunes version of our Christmas greetings:
http://richardsprague.com/podcasts/SpragueChristmas.mp3
This is an exciting podcast because today we have a special guest. Can you guess who?
http://richardsprague.com/podcasts/RichardEpisode2.mp3
You can subscribe in iTunes, then download the first test episode here:
http://richardsprague.com/podcasts/RichardInnauguralEpisode.mp3
This is what Beijing looks like today, with fireworks sellers lined up all over the city, selling last-minute supplies for people who will light up the city for the next ten days in honor of the Chinese New Year.
Is it good to have public, online view of my family? I try hard to keep this URL private: it's not searchable from Google, it's a relatively obscure name, it's not linked from anywhere else, and I only give it to people I know. Note too that I never post last names and I even avoid posting first names too. If you don't know these people, then you won't be interested.
But some people are nervous about such an open display of our lives. Sure, I can track this site to tell how many people are visiting, their geographical location, and more, but is that enough protection if somebody, somewhere decided to stalk us? The risk is super-low, and arguably lower online than offline thanks to the ability to track, but I'm not going to do something that makes people nervous.
Anyway, we have plenty of news and you can get a good sense of what's happening by simply reading my blogs, either personal or work.
If you want to see videos, we regularly post tons of videos here too:
http://soapbox.msn.com/?user=4049526045870138919
Many of these are viewable on Youtube as well: if you search for "Mercer Island", you'll see my username and can quickly find all my posts. I also have a private, family account on Youtube which I'm happy to share with you if you email me.
You saw them enjoy sledding down our driveway last year. Well, this year we did it again:
Video: Snow Day 2007
Mercer Island has been without power since a Thursday night storm left us with downed trees and powerlines.
This collection of trees fell like dominos, landing just inches from a neighbor's front window.
Our own backyard was not spared. A tree crashed through our fence in the middle of the night, leaving a mess but fortunately no damage to our house.
You're probably wondering: "where's the video?" Please be patient. Our DSL works, but only on a backup battery supply that we're trying hard to conserve. Hopefully the electricity will be back by early in the week and we can have a normal Christmas. Until then it's heavy sweaters, hats, and mittens -- and early bedtimes (daylight is from 8am to 4pm this time of year).
Icy roads, snow, and brrrrr cold are good reasons to cancel school, but doesn't stop the kids from playing outside.
Watch the 1-min video here:
Mercer Island Snow Day
If you want to know what we did this weekend in Portland, watch the 9-min video:
First we ate our Thanksgiving meal at Jake's, a famous restaurant here. The kids ate turkey, we ate fish. We watched the Portland Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in the rain, though a nearby hotel was kind enough to offer us front-row seats. Then we did Christmas shopping, followed by an amphibious tour of the city on the disappointing Portland Duck. We also enjoyed daily dips in our hotel pool: watch how Martha is now close to swimming without her floatation jacket!
Conclusion: we love Portland, but wish it would stop raining.
It's our first day in Portland, a rainy, rainy day, but the Chinese Garden is only a few blocks from our hotel so we braved the weather to see a beautiful place in the middle of the city. Click here for a short video:
Chinese Garden
Here's a 7-minute video clip of the highlights of our ride in a hot air balloon over Albuquerque, New Mexico in October 2006.
Video: Hot Air Over New Mexico