Blog du Wren

Food Preservation

The Northwest provides a bounty of wonderful food during the summer and fall. Come winter, I always say to myself, "Dang! I wish I would have put up some of those lovely berries or whatever.*" Well, with a little help and encouragement, this year, I'm doing it!

First up, cherries! Cherries, when in season, are ridiculously cheap and awesomely delicious. I'm currently babysitting Della's food dehydrator so I figured I'd give a try. Success! It is amazing how small the amount of dried cherries one gets from a giant bag of fresh cherries. But dang they are good.

Up second, blueberry jam! This was an all out effort by . We , took a lesson from Ma in canning*, and ended up with a bunch of awesome jam! It's good too.

What's next? Maybe blackberry jam? Hopefully some dried plums. Perhaps some frozen sweet corn. Here's to the wonderful northwest bounty!

Monday July 30 2012

File under: food

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Chautauqua 2012 in Pictures

Being so busy and having so much fun is kind of a mixed blessing. It is wonderful in the moment, but afterwards, I find myself wishing I had taken more pictures and perhaps submitted a blog post or two more. Such was the case with Chautauqua tour 2012. I did wrangle a few photos and post them here for your viewing pleasure (and my archival pleasure too!) Be sure to check out the captions for context

Thursday July 26 2012

File under: circus, pics

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30 Club 12 Nipples

What happens when you take a whole mess of good jugglers and send them on the road but with limited juggling opportunities because eastern Oregon is so dang hot? Well, late night juggling sessions in warehouses tend to arise. This was at about 1:00am the night before our John Day show. Good good times!

This session inspired an act for the Ben Show (our for-our-eyes-only self satire show) that involved more clubs, more nipples, and burlesque moves! I'll have to look around to see if video from that survived.

(To see a larger size video, click here)

Thursday July 19 2012

File under: circus, juggling

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Chautauqua Goes to Jail

It's not often that I get to go to jail*. Well, chalk up another life experience to running away with the circus!

On Chautauqua tour, we do a combination of big shows in local theaters and smaller shows in community spaces (assisted living facilities, children's groups, and jails). My first three tours, we never made it to a jail show, for whatever reason. This year, however, we have 2! Let me tell you, they are awesome!

At the first [minimum security] facility, we had no stage, no lights, and no microphones. The audience sat in the grass or stood. Backstage was behind a tree. But despite all that, it was easily the best show I've been involved in. The inmates really really appreciated it. They clapped, hooted, and laughed when appropriate and were nothing but the best audience one could hope for. The audience participation bits were even more hilarious than usual because everyone knew everyone else. So much of a show is in the enthusiasm of the audience. This enthusiasm was off the charts.

While the scene and stage was very different at the second [medium/maximum] facility (we performed indoor in the chapel with the audience neatly seated in chairs], the enthusiasm, behavior, and appreciation of the audience was just the same. There was a lot of laughing, smiling, and cheering going on. Afterwards, we all formed a line to accept their hearty handshakes, joke about the show, and mingle. It was great.

Yeah, going to jail is pretty awesome. Here's hoping it becomes a part of every Chautauqua tour!

(To read more about this year's Chautauqua's tour, check out our official blog here)

Monday July 2 2012

File under: circus, travel

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Chautauqua Tour 2012

It's that time again, time for the New Old Time Chautauqua's summer tour! This year, we are headed to Eastern Oregon, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I recently cruised through there and it is gorgeous countryside with lots of good people (not to mention all the good people we'll be traveling and juggling(!) with)!

This year I've turned in my chef's hat for a clipboard and will be doing some logistics work. I've spent the last 4 or so months helping to plan an awesome tour and it will be great see it all come together. If you have any friends or acquaintances in Eastern Oregon, send them our way! The schedule is below. Any questions you can send my way. Otherwise, follow tour on NOTC's blog (hopefully with the occasional post here on BdW!)

Baker City - Saturday, June 23
noon: Parade from Main Street to Geiser Pollman Park
1:00-3:00 Free Workshops in Geiser Pollman Park
7:30 Vaudeville Show at Baker City High School
***
Enterprise - Thursday, June 28
4:00: Parade to Farmer's Market
7:30: Vaudeville showat the OK Theater
Friday, June 29th
noon-3:00: Free workshops & band performance at Watershed Festival at Wallowa County Fairgrounds
***
Pendleton - Saturday, June 30
noon: Parade down Main Street
1:00: Free Workshops at SW 4th and Court Avenue
7:30 Vaudeville show at the Vert Auditorium
***
John Day - Tuesday, July 3
Noon: parade down Main Street
1:00: Workshops at Grant County Fairgrounds
7:30 Vaudeville Show at the Grant County Fairgronds
***
Bend - Friday, July 6
1:00 Workshops at Bend Circus Center
6:00 Parade from Wall Street to Mirror Pond Plaza
Saturday, July 7
7:30pm Vaudeville show at the Tower Theater
*****

Tuesday June 19 2012

File under: circus

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FC 168 - Fritter Pillow

To those comic artists/creators who create comics every day, I'm in total awe. I used to struggle to get one per week, and now I can't even churn out one every other week. This week, I had to go to the archives and co-opt this comic from a birthday card I created a while back. My apologies to the original recipient.

I'm taking the next couple weeks off from comics while I'm on Chautauqua tour. Perhaps I will come back refreshed, read to step back up the comic schedule. Or perhaps not. Anyhoo, I'm off to eat a donut and go to bed.

Friday June 15 2012

File under: comic

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10-Year College Reunion

I had originally hoped, when composing a blog post about my 10-year college reunion, to be writing about how comforting it is to see those with whom I've shared a significant experiences (like college) and be reminded of how friendship can effortlessly pick right back up, to relive old stories and perhaps even create a few new ones. Unfortunately, however, I can't. Not because it was discomforting to see old friends or because my ideal of friendship was disproved but because all my friends chose to skip out due to complexities of life, travel, and memories. While a bit of a bummer to not get to catch up with folks who I seem to see less and less, it turned out to be a fun weekend nonetheless.

is down right beautiful. Bates goes all out spiffing up the place and putting on a show for the attendees. And to frolic about a place I used to live after having been away for so long was a wonderful dose of nostalgia*. And while none of my '02 friends made the trek north, I ran into an old juggling buddy with whom I spent a fair number of pleasant practice hours*. So the weekend was not without the requisite "where are you what are you doing?" conversations.

We mostly spent the reunion simply just enjoying the place. We wandered around, being so kind to let me tell her stories. We took a few , in the new dining hall*, and noticed around campus. I ate a * and we toured a friend's brewery.

No, my 10-year college reunion wasn't I was hoping. I imagine my 20-year won't be either. But however it goes down, I'm sure it will be great, just like this one.

Wednesday June 13 2012

File under: travel

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Swing Tour Oregon 2012

I now feel like I know what it would be like to be a traveling salesman. I just spent 2 days on the road from dawn til dusk, covering 900 miles and meeting with 10+ people in 5 town in Eastern Oregon in preparation for this year's Chautauqua tour. From navigating in new places to eating fast food on the go to living out of a rental car, I felt the experience was just a motel away from the epitome of traveling salesman*.

The upshots: seeing beautiful countryside*, meeting with our partners in great communities, getting back on the road*, and feeling more prepared for tour this year.

The downsides: go go and then go some more, way too much time in a car, not any time to keep up on normal life, and, well, the loneliness.

All in all, a great trip and super helpful to the cause. But next time, I'm taking someone with me and going about half as fast!

Wednesday June 6 2012

File under: travel, USA

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FC 167 - Zombies Need Jobs Too

First off, let me apologize for letting my comic deadline slip*. I've been trying to keep up with the every other Friday schedule but let a week slide this last time. It won't happen again (until it does...)

But more importantly, this week's Friday Comic has a real treat in store. Like's been done a time or two in the past, this week I've invited a guest artist to provide a different style on the same idea. We take one of my comic ideas and both do our own thing with it. Then I post 'em both here to BdW and you, the reader, get to benefit. Two for the price of one.

I don't even need to tell you who did which comic. I did one and the amazingly talented Stef (who blogs over at StefCo) did the ridiculously awesome other. Did I mention it's incredibly freaking awesome? Good good fun. I'm thinking we might need to convince Stef to do another here in the near future.

Anyway, a big thanks to Stef for the awesome comic and a big thanks to all you readers* for, well, reading. Happy Friday!

Friday June 1 2012

File under: comic

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Beardamation

It has been a long time since I've done a true beard post*. In fact, it's been a long time since I've shaved. According to my records, it's been 7.5 months(!) since last semi-respectable Wren graced the world with his presence. Well, to go with my fancy hair cut*, I decided it was time. And since an opportunity like this can't be passed up, we had some fun.

Artistic director Della took control of the camera and the razor. I did the fancy* computer work afterwards to stitch it all together (my first animated .gif, believe it or not.) Anyway, I think it is pretty darn fun. Hope you get a kick out of it too.

Wednesday May 30 2012

File under: beard

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