The Neubauer family seems to obsessed with perfectionism. Everyone wants everything to be perfect...unfortunatley, life is NOT perfect. This past weekend, I have been driving a classic car. This is one of several cars that Nils and I bought during our almost 20 years together. Nils never had many opportunities to drive his classic cars--yes, he had fun searching the internet for the 'perfect' car, had fun traveling to see the cars, and had fun when they arrived, or when we went and got them ourselves. He never got to enjoy driving them very much, because he was caught in the 'perfect' trap; waiting for the 'perfect' occasion/time/event--whatever to go out in the car(s). Because of Sam's age, he didn't want Sam in the car(s) much, so when we DID take a car out, we would have two vehicles, the classic car, and the "chaser"--with me driving the chaser. The boys and I had fun this weekend, doing our errands in the Chevelle--we weren't looking for the 'perfect' anything..just looking for pure enjoyment.

A few years ago, we were getting ready for a major family event. We spent months getting our house ready--PERFECT--for the influx of relatives, only to have some relatives not able to come at all, or, choosing to spend the time at a hotel, instead of spending additional time with the family.

Having lost Nils at an early age, hopefully we can all learn not to strive so much for 'perfect' but to strive for togetherness, fun and love. Nils liked his cars, but he loved his family---and lord only knows, we are NOT perfect!!!

Once my daily driver gets out of the shop, the Chevelle will go back into resting mode, until I have a day off and we decide to 'have some fun' not waiting for the 'perfect' occasion, day, event, etc.

Where will our travels take us????

Latest concert experience

So, Father's Day was yesterday..not much to celebrate at my place now, so what to do with the boyz...Ahh, found cheap tickets to a Phil Collins concert at the Electric Factory--Brett has been listening to Genesis and likes that, so maybe give him a chance to see Phil Collins in person. Okay, so the concert isn't Genesis, but Collins doing stuff from the 60s and Motown--things Nils & I would listen to, and by being in the same vehicle, the boyz too...

Well, we go, Brett and I. I had warned him that it is a standing venue--no seats, so he was somewhat prepared for that. HOWEVER, as we were exiting afterwards, I aksed him what he thought--he said "Never again" "I can't hear out of my left ear" then twenty minutes later "I still can't hear out of my left ear" Now mind you, I have had worse concert experiences with sound that this one...

So something that used to be an enjoyable experience for me, and then Nils and myself, goes back to being just me--my boyz don't want any part of it!!!

I really missed Nils last night though. I know that years ago, he would have enjoyed this concert (although maybe not, since he also liked Phil Collins' music with Genesis and on his own--he may have had an issue with Collins 'redoing' some of the classic hits). More recently, he would NOT have opted for a standing venue--even had problems sitting through movies at the theatres occasionally. It would hae been nice to have someone to share the experience with that would have enjoyed it as much as I did. Nils' knowledge of music was outstanding--he could match artist and song; would search for a CD with a certain song; before a road trip, he would have me create CDs of sppropriate songs. We both loved oldies; he really liked Jethro Tull, which I had never really heard of before; he allowed me my Barry Manilow fixes--we even went to one last concert hen I was expecting Brett. Nils' singing is notorius amongst his friends--his first car, an ex-police car, didn't have a radio, so he would sing--until we started to bring a boom-box along for the car..How I would love to hear Nils' 'The Gambler' again now...

Ah, well, time marches on. So any concert I would like to attend in the future will be solo--as Brett so lovingly pointed out last night on the way to the truck--'it'll save money!'

I may have to hold off on the concerts--it almost too much torture to be there without Nils to enjoy it with....

Rock Bottom Remainders Concert

I hadn't planned on going, but the more I heard about it from patrons, the more I wanted to go, but the cost wasn't in my budget. Then Thursday morning, an email came out offering free tickets to the first five who responded, and I decided--why not? And I got a ticket!!!

This is a great show!!! You don't primarily go for the music, you go to see the authors. Some of the music is better than others, but the authors are having a good time, and it shows. Amy Tan can't sing very well, but her "These Boots are Made for Walking" is hilarious, and her Blondie is also great. Mitch Albom and his wife did a great duet. Roy Blount, Jr. kept wondering what they were trying to FREE the library from (our name is The Free Library of Philadelphia) Roy and Dave Barry had on FLP t-shirts. Scott Turow is crazy--he started off wearing a Chicago Cubs shirt, but we were kind and didn't boo him...Dave Barry's original song was a hoot, and they had Philly's own Jennifer Wiener sing back-up. Billy Collins, who had been at the Parkway Central Library for about 400 teens in the afternoon, and then in the evening for a ticketed author event finally made it and added more comedic antics.

I really missed Nils' encyclopedic mind, as I was wondering, "Ok, who did that song originally?" and "Is that a real song, or did they change it up?" I think Nils would have liked it, once he understood that no, they are not true musicians, they do this for fun and to help various non-profit organizations, like the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Here's a blurb from their website:
By day, they’re authors.
Really famous authors.

But once a year they shed their pen-and-pencil clutching personas and become rock stars, complete with roadies, groupies and a wicked cool tour bus.

The Rock Bottom Remainders is a band that includes some of today’s most shining literary lights. Between them, they’ve published more than 150 titles, sold more than 150 million books, and been translated into more than 25 languages.

But for one week a year, they’re rock stars--artist-access-only, laminate-wearing, security-escorted rock stars with roadies and groupies. Four ringers help them out: drummer Josh Kelly, Erasmo Paolo on saxophone, Sam Barry on harmonica and Janine Sabino on vocals.

The Remainders were founded toward the end of the last century by Kathi Kamen Goldmark.

"In the fine rock & roll tradition, the Rock Bottom Remainders were conceived in a car,” says Kathy. “As a semi-pro musician with a day job in book publicity, I spend a lot of time driving touring authors around San Francisco…I decided to form a band of authors!"

The group burst upon the world at the 1992 American Booksellers Association convention in Anaheim. A write-up in the Washington Post described it as “the most heavily promoted musical debut since the Monkees.”

Hailed by critics as having “one of the world’s highest ratios of noise to talent,” the Remainders have no music videos, no record contract, no Grammy® nominations—but do have over 159,000 hits on Google.

My mom had this pair of slippers that went with us on vacation, or to visit relatives. They were knitted, and I would have liked to have a pair, but I only crocheted. Finally, this winter, I found a pattern, yarn and got my knitting needles and spent a snowy weekend making a pair of slippers for me. In the photo above, the top pair is my mom's (with the pom-pom)the darker ones on the bottom are the ones I made (and have been wearing since, and without the pom-pom. So, this is one of the reasons I wanted to learn to knit. You can also make better looking clothes items knitting than crocheting, although I have only made one sweater, which by the time I finished it was too small for Brett to wear...