Michael's band played out at a local bar tonight for the first time since February 2006.

He's rockin' it on bass guitar!  ; )  I'll never be a rock concert photographer, but I went down and took a few photos.  I smell like an ashtray, but it was worth it to see him play.

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My brother had a long recovery from a terrible car accident at the end of February 2006, so this is huge.  We wondered — he wondered — for a while whether he'd ever play out with the band again… whether there'd even be a band.  Very cool.  I blogged quite a bit of it to keep my sanity – just click on the big "Michael" over on the right under "Categories" if you care to read the long rollercoaster back story.

Breaking blog silence…

That’s my brother Michael — and me watching over him.  He’ll be 46 on St. Patrick’s Day; almost didn’t see 44.  "We are lucky to have him," as my sister wrote me the other day.

Indeed.  Two years ago today there was a traffic accident and his ordeal began; emergency brain surgery, several weeks in a coma, surgery to fuse vertebra, many more weeks wearing a body brace and undergoing rehab, both in the hospital and at home.  So much uncertainty, so many days of ups and downs, ins and outs, worry.  There are still restrictions in place, and likely always will be, regulating how much weight he lift and how many hours he can work.

The annual comin’ around of this day combined with my uncle having lost his wife (the love of his life) last Valentine’s Day are a couple of nonweather related reasons why February is not my favorite month, and contribute to my funk.  And this year, there’s an extra day!

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Blog silence shall resume, as I’m leaving tomorrow for my weekend visit in Minneapolis.  I am so excited!  Blog friends always help with the funk — they most certainly did two years ago, and they most certainly will now.  Check with Deb, my weekend hostess extraordinaire (no doubt), regarding the probability of a Saturday afternoon outing involving yarn and probably food.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and, more importantly in these parts, my brother’s birthday.  It’s kind of a big deal for our family this year.  We’re all getting together for corned beef & cabbage and birthday cake. My sisters and Mom and I are giving him this (Julia’s brother-in-law’s cool, cool book):  Recording The Beatles.

I was a little worried that it wouldn’t arrive in time, my fault since I only ordered it on Sunday, but it arrived on my kitchen table with a real nice thud yesterday!  (It weighs in at 11 pounds, so I’m not kidding about the thud.)  Way before he was a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, my brother was a Wings fan; and way before he was a Wings fan, my brother was a Beatles fan — I wrote about it a year ago.

He is going to FREAK OUT when he gets this!

I will admit that I peeked and flipped through the book a little and it is beautiful.  This comment at Bedazzled about the almost-pornographic photos… of recording equipment… hits the nail on the head.  I don’t even care about microphones, amplifiers and mixing boards, but this book makes me want to care!  Someday, I’m going to have to borrow it back.

I’m working on a card to accompany the book, and this is the image I’ve come up with so far.  I’ll change that to "The Something Else’s" and "We Love You," and I’ve got to work Mom in somehow… maybe on the inside… maybe she can be George Martin or Billy Preston or one of the other Fifth Beatles.

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Knitting-wise, with Katie taking possession of yet another sweater the other day, Madeleine let me know, in no uncertain terms, that she is still awaiting (and still wanting) a sweater that she picked out a few years ago.  The one Katie is wearing in the previous post, by the way, is the cover sweater from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2003.  Maddy desires one from the Spring/Summer 2004 issue (#2, if you’re interested) and it’s a great sweater, but it’s knit in Berroco Suede — 15 balls in the smallest size, and we’d need more like medium (17-19, hell let’s just call it 20 balls) and at $10 a ball, well, I don’t usually spend upwards of half that on yarn for my own sweaters…  I’m afraid Lion Suede would be too bulky and/or involve way too much math to make work.  Any thoughts on what would make a good, still suede-ish, reasonably-priced alternative for a 16-year-old’s sweater?

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!!  Don’t forget about the contest — you can read all about it and enter here.  Deadline is Sunday.

ROASTED (often found within these pages in close proximity to the word "delicious")!

On the left, Susie Middleton's Smashed Roasted Potatoes (updated to update link, Aug 2009), from Grace Howaniec's (now defunct) column, "Grace Before Dinner."  I haven't been steered wrong by Grace yet and these were no exception.  Admittedly, I'm a huge potato lover — Potato Soup (with leeks or bacon or ham or anything — or without), Potato Pancakes, Mashed Potatoes, Smashed, Baked, Fried, French, American, German, Salad, Scalloped, Au Gratin… you get the picture.  I've even had lefse, thanks to my Norwegian (not wicked) stepmother — and love it (however, not so the accompanying lutefisk — that was rather wicked)!  I think my potatoes were a tiny bit big and I forgot to flip them half-way through the cooking time, so they were a little less crispy but absolutely delicious! I will definitely make these again (possibly with a little less and/or a lighter oil, possibly not).

On the right, one of several batches of Peace and Sereknitty's Roasted Tomato Sauce that I made late last summer.  (It's a very pretty scroll down on that last link, almost to the bottom, for the recipe.)  I'd used it freshly roasted a couple of times, but put up most of it in the freezer.  On Monday, I used some in place of the usual store-bought can of tomatoes for lasagna and it was dee-licious!  I don't think I'll ever be able to use canned again.

This weekend I plan to make Carole's Roast Beef Soup, which not only looks delicious (and has been bookmarked on Bloglines since that day, so it's the first thing I drool over see every day when I check her new posts), it also comes highly recommended by Ann — no culinary slouch, either, that one.  Meanwhile, Carole has also recently posted about Cream Puffs and now a recipe for Artichokes French!  I have been twice to Rhinebeck, twice in the line for Artichokes French (shared them once with Carole herself) — they are absolutely delicious and now I can't wait to make THAT recipe, too.  ; )

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For those of you interested in the knitting:  I am working on the bottom part of Williamsro.  That's my official UFO project for February; St. Brigid's new cuffs are second runner-up.

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I cannot let this day pass without mentioning my brother, Michael.  I've been extra emotional this week — Michael on my mind more than I realized, I guess, my aunt's memorial celebration coming up this weekend, the death of my best friend's mother on Monday, some other things…  It was one year ago this morning that I spotted the emergency medical transport helicopter in the sky on my way to work — unbeknownst to me, it was on the way to the scene of an accident that my brother was so very lucky to have survived.  Brain surgery that day, back surgery on his birthday/St. Patrick's Day, and several weeks in a coma later… well, he will never be pain-free, will never feel exactly the same, but… he is so amazingly here and with it, walking and talking, alive and well.  And tonight, I hope he will be feeling NO PAIN, rocking out and celebrating life with THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!  Rock on, bro!

Bob Woodward's "To Iraq and Back" on ABC last night struck some chords.  Wow.  I can't find a direct link, but it's available to watch online.

The love and support that I felt from the blogging community at that time was indescribable and indispensable.  I later printed out all the posts and comments from that time to share that with Michael and his wife.  And I was honored to wrap him in the knit-blogger blanket of love, all those heartfelt squares so beautifully sewn up by Christine.  "Thank you" never did (and never will) seem like enough for any of it.

And yet, before I end up in tears… Thank you, again.  Yay Michael.

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Birdsong and her family could use some of that indescribable support right now.

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I'm a happy recruit in McHale's Navy Norma's Army in the battle against rudeness — first spotted at Cara's, recently at Stephanie's.  I'm wearing garlic, myself, and hoping that the March lion blows in bearing manners in abundance.  Yes?

Thank you for reading, I think I'm finished now.  Whatever will I blog about tomorrow…

May 12, 2006

Well, I must say, I’ve never written to a blogging community before so this is a first for me. To start with, I’d like to thank you all for the knitblogger blanket of love as I will need something to keep my broken body warm. It really isn’t that bad. It all was very serious, but besides my neck, back and shoulder, I am doing just fine. I do believe lots of prayers got me to where I am today and I thank all of you for that. It was hard, though, reading of Barbie’s breast reduction and the superglue fun I had.  My sister sure didn’t forget much, and she is a great sister.  I must say, I’m lucky to be her brother.

I do like fishing and hope to get out this year, but may put it off until next year, I don’t know if my body is going to be ready for sitting for hours or dealing with waves in the boat. We’ll have to wait and see.  I play in a band and hope to continue in the next few months.  I want to thank all of you for the support you gave to Vicki and for the knitblogger blanket of love.

Mike

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My SIL took the pictures — I don’t think she could tell whether things were in focus because her eyes were filled with tears.

Thank you friends.