Nathan Gunn is a Grammy Award Winning Artist!

From the 52nd Grammy Award ceremony today:

Best Opera Recording
Award to the Conductor, Album Producer(s) and Principal Soloists.
Winner - Britten: Billy Budd
Daniel Harding, conductor; Ian Bostridge, Neal Davies, Nathan Gunn, Jonathan Lemalu, Matthew Rose & Gidon Saks; John Fraser, producer (London Symphony Orchestra; Gentlemen Of The London Symphony Chorus)
[Virgin Classics]

How cool is that?!

Trigger finger

Back in November I had surgery to correct what I was told was "trigger finger" on the long finger (read middle finger) of my right hand. Basically the finger was painful, couldn't make a fist, woke me up at night by going numb.

I've had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands (40 years of typing will do that to you) but this was new. I first thought it might have come back, it felt about the same.

The doctor told me this was caused by my carpal tunnel - that the same restriction on the tendons occur up the fingers, too. So I went ahead and had the surgery to release the tendon.

In the past two months the finger has actually started hurting worse than before. When I get up in the morning, it feels like the hand is the Hamburger Helper guy, big and puffy. I can't make a fist. As the day progresses, it gets better, but picking up things and doing anything to strain my hand really hurts.

So today I went back to the surgeon to say, more or less, WTF?! I thought this was cured! He told me that all I needed to do was pull the finger backward as far as I could and hold it till I could not stand it any longer, then curl it back into a fist and push down on the knuckle as hard as I can. Do this 100 times a day, he said, and it'll feel better soon.

For this advice, I'm sure it cost me about $110. Don't you think that maybe he should have mentioned that I'd need to do this after I had the surgery? Like when I came to get the stitches out?

I'm really, really hoping that this works. Because if it does, I'm going to take a picture of my extended long finger and send it to him.

Man, am I a bad blogger, or what?

I know, I know, forgive me for I have sinned, it's been like 6 months since my last blogging. I can't even believe that - the time has really flown.

Don't know if I should do catch up or start fresh. Hmm. Okay, quick recap from July to now.

On July 11, 2009 I drove from my home to Boonesboro, Maryland with a friend to go to an author signing at Nora Roberts' bookstore. It was incredible! We drove 11 hours to get there, stayed the night, went to the signing and came back the next afternoon, driving another 11 hours. It's the most spontaneous and crazy thing I've done for myself but I blame it on the cancer. I decided after going through that that if I wanted to do something, I was going to go do it NOW. Tomorrow might be too late.

So I got the pinnacle of autographs - LINDA HOWARD. She NEVER signs anywhere besides RWA conventions, and the only reason she was signing at Nora's bookstore was due to the RWA being held the next weekend in Washington, D.C. They are old friends and I'm sure she invited her up for the time before the conference. Whatever the reason, I got the one autograph I would have killed for! I spoke with her for quite a time (I am her number one fan) and she was funny and nice. I was pretty funny, too, and I know I made an impression because she mentioned me to an author friend at the conference the next week. Here's the pic of us together at the signing:


Love that chemo-curly hair. I lived with that crap till about November, when my hairdresser cut the last of it out.

Also got a signature from Nora Roberts, of course, but I already had hers from 2005 when she came to Champaign, IL for a signing. I went to dinner with her and others from our online community and bought her a couple of giant margaritas. She is so funny and smart, she is a delight to hang out with. But this trip was all about capturing the elusive Howard. Here is the Nora pic:


And lastly, got Stephanie Laurens as well. I love her work with one exception - I hated the book that she wrote about the Cynster parents. If you are a Cynster addict, you'll know that the father of the Cynster clan had cheated at one point and produced a son with another woman. I found it incredibly hard to read this "prequel" after reading all the children's stories. To read that they were so happy and so forth, but to find out later that he cheated on her...well, not quite a romance, IMHO. I wrote Stephanie after reading it, telling her my problems with the story and asking for an explanation. She gave a somewhat lame one, saying that who knows what motivates the characters and she had no control over them. It was total crap. But her overall body of work is great, and I do love everything but that one, so I was happy to get her signature and this picture:



Inbetween arriving at the bookstore and the actual signing, we went to see the Antietam Battlefield. I love history and I couldn't pass up this chance. (I did pass up Fort Necessity the day before when we drove by it, and I still regret that.) The battleground is impressive and you can't help but feel sad and introspective when you think of all the dead.



At the end of July my daughter, my grandkids and I went up to see my second daughter in northern Illinois. They hadn't seen her new house and we spent the weekend. Went to Galena, Illinois for some shopping, hung out and had a weiny roast in their backyard. On Sunday we went to the local swimming pool and really had a great time. For a small pool they had an incredible slide:


So July came and went. August brought my daughter's birthday and the Decatur Celebration. The granddaughter got a hug from a wandering pig and was thrilled:


Doug Wilson from Trading Spaces was the Grand Marshall of the parade. When he went by I yelled out for him to come and re-do my living room - he said, "I'll be right there!"


My grandson started football for the first time and was actually pretty good. I had a good time watching his practices and games.

The granddaughter started soccer and was a star at the practices...the actual games, however, were not her thing. I had to bribe her with promises of lunch out or whatever came to mind to get her out on the field in the wet and cold. Probably not going to do that sport again.

Went to the State Fair, as usual. I wanted to check on personnel that I had assigned to work the 911 Booth in the Fire Marshall's tent but that isn't why we went. I have been going every year since I was very young. It was one of my father's favorite things and everytime I walk through the gate, I think of him. I took the grandkids along and we milked the cow in honor of my vet son.


Most important event of August - we acquired a new doggie, a Golden Retriever that we call Riley. He is a sweetie and fills a place in the house I didn't even know was empty.


September brought the Farm Progress Show. We had the Mobile Command Post there and I went out to check that everything was working, walking around the show with a mobile and checking reception. Here's my new ride:



My son was Grandpa Joe in the local community college production of Willy Wonka. He did a great job and it kept him occupied although he was hospitalized for a couple of weeks in the middle of rehearsals. Just routine lung function issues, but still worrisome. I like it when he's engaged and involved, so this was perfect for him. He had a great time, too.

With school back in session, we went to school carnivals and open houses - both grandkids are at the same school and doing well, for which I am thankful.

I attended my annual conference in Oakbrook, Illinois in September as well and had an incredible time. We went to the movies at Yorktown Premium - a theater with dinner and drinks available. LOVE IT! Saw The Informant!, the Matt Damon movie that was filmed in my town over the last summer. I spent the entire movie attempting to locate the local sights. I'll have to watch it again just for the content.

On the Tuesday night of the conference, we did our usual Karaoke thing - Sal's Pizza has a young and fun crowd and they love it when I do my Eminem and Kid Rock songs. Hard for them to believe that I listen to that and know the words.

Martin and I sang together on our usual - Man of Constant Sorrow - from O Brother Where Art Thou?



October brought more events including the Washington Wizards appearance at my daughter's high school. The grandkids had a great time watching and I watched them as the daughter worked. Kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters Lite.

Halloween came and went - granddaughter as Snow White, grandson as a SWAT team member. My son wore this to his engineering job:



On the first of November I received another job. In addition to my current job, I'm now the manager of the Emergency Communications Center. Due to city cutbacks and early outs, my friend took advantage of the opportunity and left. So now I get to do two things and get paid for one. How great is that?! Sigh. On the other hand, November brought my 55th birthday, so I can now retire at any time with a pretty good pension. I'd like to stay for another 4 years, but if I can't take it anymore, I can leave at any time. It's a great feeling.

November also brought the Beatles Rock Band. OMG. I am having so much fun with it!! My kids play the instruments and I get to sing all the songs of my youth. So funny to know all the words to songs that I haven't heard in forever. We are playing it quite a bit on the weekends when everyone is around. Even the grandkids are getting into it - they know some songs from recent movies (the Bee Movie used Here Comes the Sun at the end) and from listening to songs on my iPod.


As part of my new 2nd job, I've expanded community activities. The personnel participated in the police Thanksgiving Basket event - giving baskets of food to deserving families in the area. We had an excellent time.

The next week we participated in the Salvation Army Tree event. We went to breakfast, then to Walmart to shop for our angel tree recipients. Last, we helped with Shop with A Cop and had a really rewarding experience.

On the home front, I took the grandkids to the Children's Museum in December to have breakfast with Santa and to make gingerbread houses.



The next day we had lunch with Santa on the train, and then went to a reindeer ranch nearby. Later in the month I took the grandkids to the annual police bowling party.


Christmas came and went - harried, hurried but satisfying. We held our usual family New Year's Eve party and had great fun playing games and waiting till midnight.

Last event of 2009? Bought a new car on the 30th. The deal was just too good to pass up, although I loved my "old" car and would have been happy to keep it. Sigh.

So now you're more or less up to date. I'll try to post regularly so these long run-on posts won't happen again. I said I'll try. No promises!

St. Louis Cardinal Game

For a long time I've been wanting to take my grandson to a St. Louis Cardinals game. I'm a life-long Cardinal fan and what with one thing or another I haven't been able to get him there. A few weeks ago I finally got to take the grandson, the granddaughter and the daughter to a game. We had a really good time.

It takes about 2 1/2-3 hours to get to St. Louis from my home. We left early enough so that we could be there when the gates opened, and to have time to roam around the new Busch Stadium. Once we parked and walked over to the stadium, we saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile parked on the side street. What a blast from the past! When I was a child it once came to my town, but this model is wayyy cooler than the old one I saw back in the day. Looked pretty much state of the art.



They were asking people to sign up to win a backyard barbeque for Labor Day. The Weinermobile could come to your house and feed a group of like 25 of your closest friends if you win. So we signed up. I noticed the young man who was with the Weinermobile had a sack full of Weiner Whistles. I remembered them and asked if the kids could have one. He said he only could give them to people who could sing the Oscar Mayer song. The kids looked at me and I belted it out, "Oh, I'd love to be an Oscar Mayer Weiner..." They looked totally amazed that good old g-ma knew it! Of course the kid wouldn't give me two - I had to sing the Oscar Mayer Bologna song for another. "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." Once again the grandkids looked at me as though I were a Goddess. Mission accomplished and weiner-whistles in hand, we walked the rest of the way to the stadium.

We were still early, so we waited in line. My son and his girlfriend were meeting us there, so they found us in line and we all waited about 10 minutes for the gates to open.

Once we got inside, we headed for the kid/family area. We were given a free red popsicle, courtesy of North Star. The kids posed with their mascot, the penquin.


From there we went into the family center. I signed up both the grandkids for the Kids Crew, a Cardinal club that gave them a truly cool bunch of stuff. They got a backpack, ball cap, bobblehead doll, baseball cards and other items. I would definitely recommend anyone to get it for their kids - it was more than worth the $20 fee. They also have coupons to get back into another game at half price.


After the family center, which the grandson enjoyed but the granddaughter not so much, it was her turn. We headed for the Build-A-Bear shop on the other side of the stadium. It's a mini-version of the full-sized shops you see in malls, but it was just as much fun. She decided she wanted to get a Fredbird, the official St. Louis Cardinal mascot.


Once Fredbird was ready, we made our way to our seats, way up in the rafters. It's all good, though - I love the rafters. They have shade and you can see the entire field.


The tickets we purchased included a hot dog and soda (worth $9.00) and after getting those, we sat down for the game.

My favorite part of the day was watching my grandson put it all together. He's played baseball for three years now and he is a pretty good hitter, but not much of a fielder. I watched him and his mom talk about why a player was doing this or that, and listen as she explained the double play. He was so into it, he didn't want to get up even to go potty.

The next week at his own baseball game, I watched the effect of this game. He FINALLY got it. He threw to the right bases, he paid more attention, he really did an excellent job in the field. So not only was this a fun day, he truly learned something. I love it when that happens.

Nathan Gunn Photos

I actually had someone other than my blog buddy write and tell me that she liked the blog, especially the Nathan Gunn photos.

I haven't posted any photos of Mr. Gunn for awhile, so here you go...

As Father Delaura in the 2008 Glyndebourne Festival Opera "Love and Other Demons"

As Pappageno in the 2009 Los Angeles Opera production of "The Magic Flute"

As Tarquinius in the 2009 Opera Company of Philadelphia production of "The Rape of Lucretia"

With Nikki Boxer from Aspen Public Radio July 2009

Baritone Nathan Gunn and wife Julie hold a master class with students from the Aspen Opera Theater Company July 2009

Julie and Nathan Gunn in their publicity shot from the 2009-2010 Krannert Center brochure

Good looking talented man - good looking talented wife.

Oregon, June 2009

I can't believe what a bad blogger I am. I thought I had posted this entry, but apparently I didn't hit that all important "publish post" icon. So I'm setting the way-back machine to June, Sherman, so you can see the mini-vacation I took with the daughter and grandkids. We went to see my veterinarian son who has made his home and large animal practice in the area around Portland. They hadn't been before, so we squeezed just about everything possible in the short 4 days we were there.

We arrived on a Thursday, mid-day. The flight was long - about 6 hours - with a change of plane in Salt Lake City. When we got to my son's house, he was still out doing a herd-health, so we ate lunch on him. We had to - he'd bought just about everything known to man for lunch and I would have felt bad if it had gone to waste. When he got home, he took us bowling. Here's my granddaughter jumping to make the pins fall:


Later we had dinner at the large mall nearby. I love that place - they have a P. F. Chang's and other fabulous places to eat. After that we went back to his house and crashed.

Next day he took us to the Portland Zoo. The zoo is huge. Really well done and lots of animals. The kids had to look at the farm exhibit, of course, since that is their uncle's specialty.


They had amazing water animals as well - here is a gigantic sea lion that swam up to the kids and then headed to the surface.


After the zoo, we had a picnic lunch nearby in the park. I felt so bad about all the money he had spent on the lunch stuff that I insisted that we take a lunch with us everywhere. It worked out well, though, and eventually we ate everything. He was incredibly thoughtful - only one of the reasons I love him.

Once lunch was done, I wanted to go to the Portland Rose Garden. They were having their annual show of roses. It is absolutely unbelieveable. There must be every variety and color of roses possible there. Here are a few examples:




After that, we headed back for dinner. I'm pretty sure it was something simple, but I honestly can't remember. Crash time for the kiddies, who were pretty tired considering the two hour time change.

On Saturday we headed for the coast. My son had arranged horse-back rides for the grandkids as my grandson wanted that more than anything.


Next we went to the beach in a nearby state park. We hiked up the hill to see the view - it was unreal.



We had to ferry the baby (my granddaughter) back down - she kept telling me, "Oh, Grandma. I'm so tired" over and over.


We counted the mileage after we got done and discovered the hike was about 6 miles total. So it was a miracle that either of them made it all the way through.

After yet another picnic lunch, we headed back to the beach in town to play.


The weather was chilly - I estimate the water temp was like 50 degrees. When it flowed over my feet while I stood on the beach I actually jumped it was so cold. That did not stop my grandson from immersing himself, though. He'd been waiting for months for the chance, and although it was against my better judgment, we let him.


We headed for Portland again after the beach to eat dinner at an artisan pizza place. I helped the kids occupy their time while waiting for dinner by coloring.


The coolest part of the restaurant is that the windows that made up the walls retracted and we were more or less outside with only the ceiling over us. It was truly neat.

On Sunday I took the kids to the latest Night at the Museum movie so that my daughter and son could go winery tasting. He lives in an area that is smack-dab in the middle of wine country and there are winerys everywhere.

Later in the day, we took the kids kite flying.



In the park where we flew the kites, this cell tower resided. I have never seen such an attempt to make a cell tower look like a tree before. They really didn't want to ruin the landscape!


We left on Monday and spent another lovely 6 hours on two planes to get to St. Louis, then a 3 hour drive from there to home. We were tired, but I think we can declare it a successful trip. I enjoyed it, anyway. And isn't that all that really matters? :)