| SUMMER
TRAVELS AND PERFORMING - posted in chunks from latest to
oldest, Aug. 2007
The
Killer Gourd From Outer Space. When you’ve
been away from home for more than a month, it’s hard
to know what you’ll find. Will the grass be brown or
green? Will the cats be there, or will it take them a while
to figure out that we’re back? Will another family
have moved in and taken up residence in our house? That
would be weird. But, I digress. Last fall, Morgan got a
gourd plant from somewhere or other. He wanted to plant
the seeds, and at that time it was cold and we didn’t
think anything of having him toss them into the front flower
beds at our house. I was thinking that it was cold, the
seeds would likely die and all would be forgotten. But,
they did actually take root and begin to grow. Before we
left they were a few inches long with some nice leaves forming.
“That’s nice,” I thought. “Morgan can
see that his gourd plants have grown.” But we get very
little direct sun, so I figured they would die before we
returned,
Well. When we came down the driveway after being away for
five weeks, the first thing we noticed was the huge amount
of green foliage that has completely overtaken a large portion
of the front of the house! It didn’t just grow. It
exploded! I couldn’t believe my eyes! It completely
filled the flower bed, grew across the step leading to the
porch and across to the next flower bed. AND it climbed
up and over our bedroom window!
It’s at this point I find myself wishing that a gourd
was a useful vegetable. Can you eat it? Is it good for anything
but decoration? If so, I’m not aware of it. But there
it is. We’ve decided to let it run its course. Little
gourds are forming. We’ll have autumn decorative bliss.
And Morgan will want to sell them, no doubt. He’s quite
the little entrepreneur these days. He sells bookmarks he’s
made at my concerts now, and people actually buy them.
You can’t really see this from the photos, but the
gourd plant has large yellow flowers all over it where the
gourds are forming or will be forming. Very attractive flowers,
too. You could say that they are gourd-geous.
The ‘Eyes Have It. You’ve heard
about life imitating art. Here’s a case where life
imitates tee shirt. Sheri’s mom, Betty Lou, bought
Morgan a shirt that has a cartoon of two fish. There’s
a large fish with the caption “my fish,” and a
much smaller one with the caption, “my dad’s fish.”
Ha ha. Well, on one of our last evenings in Canada, Sheri
and I decided to take the boys fishing. They have been eager
to fish this summer like starved dogs who smell fresh steaks.
Sheri’s dad, Ed, has been the one to take them. He
is an avid fisherman, and an avid granddad. Perfect guy
to have small fishin’ buddies. But we thought maybe
we should take them to show that we’re interested in
their newfound love for fishing. We are interested in what
they love, but not fishing on its own merits.
So we drove our boat into this little bay where we figured
we’ll find some little perch or sunnies to catch. We
finally got situated with bait and rods and the whole thing,
including getting two little boys situated where they won’t
hook each other’s scalps or anything. After a while
I got a bite. I reeled in a 15” walleye. Not huge,
but good enough to keep. Now, mind you, there should NOT
have been a walleye in this little bay. Not really deep
enough, and not the terrain where you’d expect to find
one. “What are you doing here, little fella?”
So another couple minutes went by, and Carter, holding his
Lightning McQueen rod and reel said, “I think I got
a fish.” He handed off the half toy, half real fishing
rod to Sheri who reeled it in. And what was on the hook,
you ask? An 18” walleye! A very impressive fish, caught
by a three year old, where it should not have been, on a
rod straight out of Toys R Us!
And that’s why I hate fishing.
Skinny Atlas. On our way home we stopped
in Syracuse to play at the Westvale SDA Church. We had a
beautiful time playing and camping in the parking lot. More
people took CDs at this church than at any other church
I’ve ever played. I was thrilled. We also met Fred
and Beth Burghart, who invited us to join them on a trip
to Skaneateles Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. We thought
it would be nice to go along and be outdoors on a really
pretty day. What we found was an absolutely gorgeous place!
It really was a little slice of heaven. The lake is jaw
droppingly beautiful. Clear, blue water, surrounded by green
trees, punctuated by lovely houses. Sailboats darting across
the water. Kids swimming happily. Seagulls. We were told
at least twice that Skaneateles is the most beautiful of
the Finger Lakes. I’ll let the residents of Upstate
New York battle that one out, but it really was amazing.
And now we know how to say Skaneateles. We’ve driven
past it so many years, seen it on maps, puzzled over it
on road signs. I always guessed it was skin-AT-uh-leez.
But we learned that it’s skinny atlas. A thin book
of maps. It’s not a fat almanac, it’s a Skaneateles.
Good to know. And I really have to recommend going there.
Really cute town there at the base of the lake, and the
lake itself is just amazing. It was an amazing day we will
always remember. Oh, and Fred, Beth, and their family were
super nice to us and welcoming in letting us crash their
party. You should really look them up, too!
7-23-07
We’re training our kids to be rock stars. Not on purpose.
We just get into this incredibly late schedule when we’re
on vacation like this. As I write at 10:00 am, Carter is
still asleep. That could be because we didn’t get the
kids to bed until 11:00 last night! Clearly not a normal
kids’ schedule! This happens all the time. Every day
we say, “we should try to get these kids to bed at
a decent hour,” and then every night comes, and it’s
more fun to sit by the fire and talk with all the relatives.
The people who go out fishing in the evening don’t
usually even get back until 9:30. I know, I know. Put your
kids to bed early, and then go back out to visit. It’s
too late now. Carter’s a rock star. Morgan is usually
up at 9:00 or so. Maybe he’s a soundman. I could use
a soundman in the family!
After two full weeks of rainy weather and temps in the low
60s, summer has come to Crotch Lake. Warm, sunny, and 80
degrees. That’s Fahrenheit, of course. Up here it’s
in metric. But 24 doesn’t help me much, as I was raised
on Fahrenheit. The weatherman reports, “sunny with
highs around 26,” and I’m thinking, “uh…is
that warm?” Driving is the same way. You cross the
border and you can drive 100! Yee haw! Until you realize
that it’s 100 kilometers per hour. That’s about
60 mph. Not so exciting after all!
So what do I do up here to keep working? It’s hard
to put life on hold for a whole month, of course. Well,
one thing is that I’m working on music to get ready
for the next CD. It is tentatively entitled How Do I Explain?
We’ll have to see if that sticks. The other thing is
that I’m working on the finishing touches of Susquehannock
High School’s marching band show. Some of you know
that I have been involved with marching bands during my
life, and while I don’t have the time to direct one
or even serve on staff, I do enjoy arranging the music for
them to play. Susquehannock is marching a Japanese-themed
show this year, which includes Impressions Of Japan, a concert
band piece by James Barnes, and also some things that I
have composed to fit the mood and the theme. I’m excited
to see how it all shapes up and comes to life on the football
field.
7-26-07
The Art of the Lake Bath.
For those of you who may be thinking, “Wow, camping
for a month…These Sandstroms must be pretty rugged,”
I submit the following. Our camper has the following.
• Heat
• Running water
• A water heater
• A microwave
• Cook stove with oven (mostly we keep things in the
oven)
• A bathroom with a toilet that flushes and a shower.
Rugged? Maybe not.
But there is one roughing it thing we sometimes do because
it’s cool. Lake baths. We take our soap, shampoo, and
towels out and bathe in the lake. It’s a unique experience,
performed while wearing a bathing suit. Sheri’s grandmother
had a way of describing the proper technique. She said,”First
you wash down as far as possible, then you wash up as far
as possible, and then you wash possible.” Enough said.
Maybe too much!
7-30-07
We were at a family campfire last night, and Sheri’s
cousin, Kristin, demonstrated a critical difference between
men and women. She brought Sheri something and said, “Sheri,
smell this.” It was an herbal tea, I believe. Cinnamon
Apple Harvest. Okay, I made that up. And I thought, here’s
another difference between the sexes. When a woman brings
another woman something to smell, it’s probably going
to be a pleasant experience. But when a guy approaches you
and says, “Dude, smell this!” you might want to
run the other way! And no sooner had we finished laughing
about this, than Sheri’s dad came back from fishing.
The boys asked him how many and what kinds, and he said,
”One bass. Wanna smell?” and offered his hands
to my boys to smell. You see? Men and women are different,
and here’s just another proof.
7/1/2007
“So, you’re going to do two full concerts, back
to back?” Sheri asked.
“Uh…..yeah,” I nervously replied. It seemed
like such a good idea when I booked it! Suddenly I wasn’t
so sure!
Well, both the concerts went fine, and as it turns out I’m
glad I booked them both. But Sheri’s right, it was
a little ambitious. I should learn to run these things by
her once in a while! The voice held out but the fingers
got a little dizzy! Glad there wasn’t a third one after
the second!
We’re in Jeffersonville, NY as I write this. Sheri
and I sometimes say that if you’ve never heard of a
place, I’ve probably played there! Or I’m booked
there. I had never heard of Jeffersonville, NY, but I’ve
been here since Friday evening. I assure you, it exists.
And it’s a VERY nice place, to boot! Small town, USA
at its finest. People are friendly, ice cream stand gives
WAY too much ice cream per order, and someone booked Derek
Sandstrom to come play at the First Presbyterian Church.
That someone is Rev. Lee Andrews, who lives next to the
church with her husband, Dave. Both were extremely friendly
and helpful to us. Great folks from South Dakota. Dave makes
no bones about missing SD and that he would return there
in the blink of an eye! Lee says that everything is much
more exaggerated and severe when it comes to the weather
in SD. Rain and snow don’t fall, they fly past your
window at 40 miles per hour. But they are following God’s
leading, which has them in Jeffersonville, NY. I have to
respect that.
This morning I played at this church, and at the Reformed
Church in Youngsville, NY, which is the sister church to
this one. Rev. Lee is the pastor at both. She says that
pastoring two churches of different denominations is no
problem since the two are virtually the same anyway. One
thing I’ve discovered by playing at a lot of different
churches is that, while denominations can have radically
different creeds, and that those are important, we still
have more in common than we have in dispute. Don’t
get me wrong. I know each church has separated from the
others for a reason, and I believe in my church’s mission
100%. But I have learned by experience that God is alive
and well at churches with a variety of labels on the doors,
and that’s good to know.
I forgot to mention that Jeffersonville is one of the few
places I’ve been to lately that does not have cell
phone service. It also has a creek that runs through town
that tends to flood. Dave said that they’ve been here
three years and have had three floods that filled up their
basement. Wow! That doesn’t sound like much fun to
me. Dave agrees.
The people at the churches were very kind and appreciative.
It’s always nice to play for an appreciative crowd.
Duh! And this one was.
Before we made it here, we left Etters on Friday morning.
It was classic Sandstrom. We had the kids in the truck,
ready to pull out at about 10:45. Then we went back inside
to make sure the cats were both out. Then we stopped at
Rite Aid to pick up something. Then we stopped for gas at
BP. Then we hit some traffic around Harrisburg, and then
it was 11:30. Harrisburg is usually 10 minutes north of
us. We joked, “is it time to stop for lunch?”
But as we considered the options and the decided lack of
options on the road, we decided to actually stop in Harrisburg
for lunch. We said, “we CANNOT tell anyone we stopped
in Harrisburg for lunch!” And here I am announcing
it to the world. But it was too funny not to share. So we
finished up at Panera Bread, got back into the truck and
got on the highway about 12:30. Leave Etters at 11:00, get
past Harrisburg by 12:30. Pathetic! But once we hit nap
time it was smoooooooth sailing! All part of the plan…
More of our adventures coming up as we head north to a Lake
called Crotch! Check back often.
7/2/2007
What a difference a day makes! Just yesterday Morgan was
feeling full of vim and vigor as he rode this homemade scooter
at Rev. Lee and Dave’s house…
…and today he was sick as a dog. He threw up at least
six times, and the first one wound up costing us an outfit,
a carseat, and 30 minutes of time on the side of the road
cleaning up. Thank God for Walmart, as non-PC as it may
be to say so, where we found a new carseat. He was miserable.
We all felt so bad for him. So we decide to stay in the
USA for another couple days, We’re at a campground
near Watertown, NY. We figure that if Carter catches this,
with his MCAD we want to be ready for a nice, American hospital
stay where we sort of know what to expect and where insurance
may cover us. So Canada will have to wait for a couple more
days. For now we pray that Morgan will feel better and that
Carter will not come down with this.
For all situations that happen against our wishes, we are
challenged to ask, “what spiritual lesson is God trying
to teach us through this tangible event?” We’re
still looking for the lesson here, but I am certain that
there is one. God is too kind to let us go through a day
like this without a lesson to bring away!
More from the road to come…
7/5/2007
So we made it to Canada, ready for more fun at a Lake called
Crotch. For my explanation of Crotch Lake, see my news update
from last summer. I go into it in depth. So we arrived,
and it was cold and gray. Today we woke up to another cold,
gray day. Fun. And then it started raining. Rain on vacation
is never fun. Rain on vacation camping…well, that’s
REALLY not fun! For those who don’t camp – and
maybe this is why – rain on a camping trip is miserable.
Being in the camper doesn’t allow much time before
cabin fever sets in. Going out is cold and wet, so you come
back inside, dragging wet, sandy mud with you as you come.
So now your camper is covered with dirt for you to look
at while you sit with cabin fever.
But my boys are not dissuaded. They caught a frog today
and are launching a pontoon boat with their granddad and
playing with grandma in their camper. They say it takes
a village to raise a child, and fortunately we brought one.
In our camper we have Morgan, Carter, Sheri, and me. Next
door, we have Sheri’s brother, Curtis, and his wife,
Kim. Across the campground we have Sheri’s parents.
So Sheri and I are actually catching a moment of quiet as
the boys are out in the “village.”
One bright spot, literally and figuratively, to our trip
so far (aside from all the vomit, of course) was a little
fireworks moment we had last evening. I bought some fireworks
at a convenience store. They worked, and we managed to keep
all of our digits and other limbs intact. Morgan said, more
than once, “those fireworks were cool!” If he
said it more than once, he must have meant it. I think they
were cool, too.
7/8/07
So, 7/7/07 passed without much fanfare at Crotch. Of course,
we don’t have access to news, so I hope I haven’t
said anything incredibly insensitive. We went into a town
called Perth, which is about 45 minutes from the lake, for
church. There’s a small church there, which is sort
of like our church away from church. As I thought might
happen, they asked if I would play for the service in two
weeks. So I will.
Here at the lake it was forecast to be sunny and high of
92 today, and feeling hotter. They were close…..It’s
rainy and low 60s. (!)
Sheri’s dad, Ed, bought a pontoon boat and brought
it up here. Yesterday we rode around on the lake, which
was my first trip out on the water since we got here. It
was gray, but still beautiful.
Remind me not to write songs with Sheri. I had a song started
on the computer and I invited her to fill in the next line.
It’s one of those serious, introspective songs, with
each line being a question about some major heart issue.
We were trying to rhyme the word “day,” I think.
Her line was “how many eggs can one chicken lay?”
If I can’t come up with anything better, I may have
to use it!
7/11/07
What could be more boring than to read about the weather
on someone’s vacation? But I have to comment. We finally
got a break from the damp and chilly weather, with one day
of hot and humid. Today it started out that way, but we
had some spectacular thunderstorms. I was sitting on the
camper floor (okay, I was hiding under the table) and the
whole thing vibrated with each of the 7324 claps of thunder
that went by. It was amazing! And then, it abruptly ended
and the sun came out. Now the kids are fishing. One minute
the world seems to be ending, the next, we’re fishing!
Here
is a shot of our home on wheels and a pretty sunset over
the lake.
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