A Hauta Weekend

Nolan and I had a full and adventurous weekend. On Friday we had our landlord, Larry, over for dinner. He inherited the apartment when his sister passed away and we are his first tenants here. It was fun getting to know him better. He's very passionate about fishery and has multiple aquariums full of native fish which he uses to help equalize the populations and study why they're increasing or decreasing.

On Saturday Nolan surprised me by taking me to an open house at the Temple of Eck. We talked to some people at an Apple Day booth about Eckankar, which I had never heard of. Turns out the headquarters of Eckankar are right next door in Chanhassen, Minnesota. We had a fun time talking to people about the practices of Eckankar. One of the great things about the complex are the miles of contemplation trails they maintain. It was a beautiful day for a hike!

The fun continued on Sunday when I attended Nolan's performance with the Minnetonka Concert Band which is a part of the Minnetonka Association of Music (MAM). The group was wonderful and the music was top notch. The theme was How "Suite" It Is. The Conductor selected movements from suites written for concert band. It was fun for me to hear a good variety of the best. Nolan was also a part of the premier of MAM's first ever jazz band. It was a great show. If you squint really hard you can make out Nolan's head in the back row. He's the handsome one.

Sunday night we stayed up to see the blood super moon eclipse. We made a batch of kettle corn and took a blanket to the park nearby. I only had my cell phone with me so this was the best picture I could get. Nolan reminisced about all the celestial phenomena he would watch with his parents in Cook, MN. You can see a lot of stars when you have as little light pollution as Cook!

Ariadne auf der Minnsota Opera Bühne

 Last night, as part of a social media preview night, I went to see the final dress rehearsal of Minneosta Opera's production of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss. Nolan has been gone a lot for rehearsals as a supernumerary in the opera and I was excited to see what he has been doing all that time! I dropped him off at the stage door of the Ordway Center for Performing Arts and I went in the front door.

While Nolan was getting in costume I listened to an Opera Insights presentation given by Rob Ainsley, the director of music at Minnesota Opera. He was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the opera and Strauss. One of the resident artists, Shannon Prickett, demonstrated some of the music for the attendees. It was a wonderful way to begin the evening and gain more appreciation for the opera before seeing it.

Ariadne auf Naxos is a piece of opera inception. In it we watch a group of people prepare for and then perform an opera. So, there's effectively an opera within an opera. And you're watching the opera within the opera being performed in the opera. Mind blown. The first act is the prologue. It's the behind the scenes time where all the characters are introduced. There's the excessively passionate composer, the self absorbed tenor, the proud prima donna, the rowdy comedy troupe, and more. During this time the two opposing parties (the comedy troupe and the serious opera players) are informed that they have been booked the same night and instead of having one work before or after the other they are to perform both works at the same time. I was able to capture this picture of Nolan preparing for the festivities by bringing the champagne while the distraught composer on the right bemoans the destruction of his precious opera. Nolan was appropriately oblivious to his suffering. Artists, geez.

In the second act the opera is performed. Here the comedy troupe is making their entrance on a grand piano while the nymphs sing of Ariadne's suffering on Naxos.

The singing was spectacular! The soprano leads, Ariadne and Zerbinetta, are notoriously difficult and were handled with beauty and grace. I was impressed, however, that Nolan didn't fall asleep at his party table during the second act. He has an obstruction from his seat and he doesn't get supertitles like I do!

Nolan didn't tell me that Bacchus rides in on his champagne ice boat in the end! He handles the vehicle of a star! Nolan is a star!

While we waited for Nolan to finish Tina and I headed to Pazza Luna for some pizza and a giant stuffed meatball. We shared with Nolan when he arrived. It was a beautiful night and a beautiful, well done production. If you're in the cities go see it! It opens this Saturday, September 26th.

Hopefully someday soon Nolan will spend the evening watching me on the big opera stage!

Bravo, Brio Brass!

Today Nolan and I took advantage of some of the free music that is all over the cities. You may wonder why the first three rows of the Brio Brass concert are not filled. It's because brass bands are VERY LOUD. If it were like Sea World they would have to label it a hearing loss zone. Nolan is a seasoned veteran, however, and we optimally positioned ourselves near the back. They had a great hour long program filled with a variety of music: Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Pennies from Heaven, Pirates of the Caribbean, Live and Let Die, and Jump Jive and Wail, to name a few. Seeing as we were in the back, Nolan and I jumped up occasionally to brush up on our dance skills we acquired while preparing for our wedding. One of the ways I know Nolan loves me is that he'll dance with me in public while everyone else is watching the show!

Apples in Excelsior

Nolan surprised me today by taking me to Apple Day in Excelsior, MN. It's probably the first of many apple festivals to come. Luckily it was an absolutely beautiful fall day. Excelsior is right on Lake Minnetonka which was even more beautiful.

We enjoyed walking the streets and looking at all the vendors. ICA Food Shelf had a booth there which fun for me because I started volunteering at their Hopkins location last Wednesday.They were giving away the entries from the baking competition in exchange for a donation. We're not sure what kind of apple treats we had but they were delicious!

We finished our Excelsior Apple Day experience with some apple pie tacos from Kracklin' Rosies. Kracklin' Rosies is a food truck that usually serves in Buffalo, MN. We were happy they traveled to Excelsior and really enjoyed their tasty tacos. There are a myriad of food trucks that roam the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Intermittently, during the summer, there are food truck festivals. I think we missed all the festivals but maybe we'll try to eat from some more trucks.

We came home and I said goodbye to Nolan on his way to opera rehearsal. Next week Ariande auf Naxos opens at Minnesota Opera. Nolan is a supernumerary (a non-speaking, non-singing role) and I'm looking forward to seeing him on the big stage!

Hauta Start a Blog

Nolan and I were so happy to say "I do." in Duluth, MN. This is the city where we met, started dating, fell in love. It's where we made friends and had adventures. It's where we both worked hard and completed our Master's. We started our lives in Duluth separately and we ended together. It was difficult to say goodbye.

Our wedding day was the most stressful and wonderful day of my life. It was so beautiful! I'm so grateful to our photographer, Nichole Vanvalkenburgh, for all of the wonderful pictures! I'm trying to sort through them but they are so beautiful I get sentimental and start crying. Then I'm useless for another 20 minutes. To see more of Nichole's art visit her website.
http://www.nicholev.com/

Among other fantastic summer activities, we moved to the cities. (To those unfamiliar with Minnesota talk, "the cities" refers to Minneapolis/St. Paul) Or rather, we moved to a little city right next to the big cities. Our city is Hopkins. Hopkins is a nice area which used to be 800 acres worth of raspberry farms before the Great Depression. Raspberries weren't a popular Depression crop so all of the land was eventually sold and developed. I look forward attending Hopkins' annual raspberry festival next year!

We've continued our fast-paced life here in Hopkins by finding an apartment, selling Nolan's car, and buying Nolan a new car. Nolan also started his new job teaching 5th and 6th grade band in Eden Prairie. It's been a busy couple of months. We've only been married for 3 1/2!

As mentioned, we said goodbye to Nolan's old car: a 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix with over 160,000 miles on it! It served him well but it was time to bid farewell. Oddly enough, the farewell was more tearful for me than for him even though I practically refused to drive his car and was with it for less than a year!

Say hello to Nolan's new car: a 2011 Nissan Versa! We're very excited to have it and hope it will serve us well for many years to come!