Back to School, Back to the Blog

I did not intend to take such a long absence from my blog. But the past seven weeks were so filled with activity, I had to move blogging way, way down the list of priorities.

Now that Louisa and Sebastian have both flown the nest for college, and Elias is settling in to his sophomore year of high school, I am hopeful that I can manage a more regular posting schedule — even if it is just once a month.

To bring you up to speed on what I did during my blogging absence, here are some highlights:

• July 28–31: the 2016 Vintage Band Festival attracts enthusiastic crowds and is an artistic and financial success.

Banda La Verdadera of Minneapolis makes its Northfield debut

• July 30: My presentation at the Northfield Historical Society, “Get Your Horns, Boys, We’re Starting a Band” attracts a receptive, standing-room-only crowd.

Photo courtesy of my uncle, Bill Lowell

• August 3: I watched Elias and his cousin Franny perform in another entertaining Northfield Arts Guild’s Young People’s Theater Workshop.

• August 31: Book chapters 16 and 17 are completed!

• Sept. 1: We enjoy dinner and a Saints game with my parents.

• Sept. 7: Sebastian goes to college!

Steve, Sebastian and me after the Kalamazoo College opening convocation

• Sept. 15: Louisa flies to the SCAD campus in Lacoste, France!

I have grand plans for the fall in regards to my book — I am aiming to complete the remaining seven chapters by mid-October. Then I will revise some of the earlier chapters, write a book proposal, and get the manuscript ready for submission to potential publishers. There is much work yet to do, but I am excited about how it is progressing, and I am eager to see where it all leads!