Motorcycle Babe

This week we were lucky to be visited by our newly-Holden departed friend Rachel Carter, who is about to become a biker-babe extaordinaire when she sets off across the country on her newly-purchased BMW motorcycle. This week it was parked outside our palace in Ballard on a large trailer. She looks good on it no?



Tonight was another Holden reunion ... several of us met at a local resuraunt for Beers and Pizza. It was great to be back in the presence of so many who know what many of us have been through. Here we all are, including Michael and Jack who we have been looking forward to reconnecting with for a while now.


This weekend is memorial day weekend, and I'm playing more soccer (which is what I like to do almost every weekend!) Wish me luck, maybe I'll post some photos.

Time Warps

Tonight we were transported back in time ... to a couple of different eras. First, we were lucky enough to hear a concert by Seattle Pro Musica of Rachmaninov's choral work, the All Night Vigil. This was a stunning concert, and it felt like I was listening to the revival of ancient Russian chant in one of the cathedrals of the late Tsars. In fact, it was St. James Cathedral in Seattle, not a shabby stand-in. The choir is that of our Holden friend Liz Langeland.



After the concert we visited the anachronistic lobby of Seattle's Sorento hotel. A fabulous 1920s band was playing and the warm wood of the turn of the century lobby made me feel like a gangster. Here's Matt, looking like a member of la cosa nostra.



The whole evening was very pleasant ... and we thought of Daniel, the other half of Holden's staff coordination team, and how he would have liked the Sorento.

Home Sweet Ballard

We are back in Seattle now, doing things like getting cars repaired, going to job interviews and business meetings. Life has changed yet again. This summer we will be house-sitting/renting in a couple of different places in Seattle. Matt P (me) will be working from home. Matt L will be starting back working in the hospital, probably Harborview, before long. We like the place we are living in Ballard.

Speaking just for myself, this is not going to be easy. In the past two years, we've had a series of amazing adventures ... from the year and a half at Holden to South America to ... it's been one thing after another. My life has been connected to the seasons of the year and to the seasons of the spiritual year. I have been surrounded by amazing friends and blessed with the time to make new friends all of the time. This kind of intensity is not easily recreatable in a large city, nor do I want it to be. But it is still such a change, and I am only beginning to feel it.

If you want to know what I'm working on this summer, you can visit the Holden Audio Archives website.

-MP

Holden Again

Well, I (MattP) am back at Holden, enjoying a great reunion with so many friends here. Getting off the van in the village yesterday was great. So many friends and dear people ... it was like a wall of familiar faces when I got out and greeted people.

So far I've been relaxing, playing bridge with friends and just generally easing into the slowness of this place, which was home for us for one and a half years.

People come and go from Holden with such regularity. A few of those familiar to us are now gone, and even more will leave in the coming months. Marv and Nancy (below) are in their last weeks. Another friend is getting ready to buy a motorcycle and tour around the country.

There's been a little bit of sadness being here too. I've been going nonstop for the last few months, as has Matt L, and little regrets creep in which can only be felt fully when there's time to stop. But overall it is great to be back here for a week.



Matt L joins me here on Tuesday, and then we have a few more days of visiting. The general plan is then that I start a contracting job for Holden over the summer, working on their digital audio project.

Matt L is in Indiana still, visiting family for a little longer. So if you are reading this, hi Matt!

MP