Macumber Macblog

The Saturday before Easter – Melissa, Dad, me and the kids decorated the eggs for this year. Stella was really too young last year to be able to do any eggs, but she was all over it this year. Dad helped Stella while James, Sharon and Kayleigh created their usual assortment of macabre Easter masterpieces. We had a pretty good egg hunt Sunday afternoon after it warmed up a little outside. Afterward we all ate Easter ham and watched the NCAA tournament (I think I managed a nap or two in there as well). On Monday, Dad and I put some shelves up in James’ room and we caught-up on the episodes of “John Adams” that I hadn’t yet been able to watch. Everyone was bummed to see Grandpa fly home but we had a great weekend with just enough to do. Pictures from the weekend, the egg hunt and the decorating are here.

written by mark

Dad flew in on Good Friday and stayed with us over Easter weekend. Mom couldn’t make it because she had planned on doing some seasonal work back in KC. I managed to get tickets to the Bruce Springsteen show in Cincinnati the Saturday night before Easter. Dad and I went up to Cincy and ate dinner on the Ohio River at the Montgomery Inn. After a long wait for a table (we watched the NCAA Tournament up in the lounge) we demolished our barbeque and headed down the street to the show.

So some reviews of the show complained that it was over too quick and that Bruce seemed like he was in a rush. The show was well over two hours (maybe 2hr 25m?) and Bruce even came out after the house lights went on and said “it’s too early to stop” and they played “Kitty’s Back”. The two things that stuck out most to me were 1) the setlist was great 2) the improv, soloing and musical detours were awesome. I thought Nils, Bruce and Steven jammed harder than any of the best “guitar bands” I have ever seen. In fact, Bruce and Nils laid down some licks that were metal-fast on a couple of occasions. It was the hardest edged I have ever heard him play. Dad and I both loved the performance of “American Land” during the encore. I had not known it came out on a re-release of the Pete Seeger sessions and will be picking up that album soon.

I was glad they played “Gypsy Rider” from the new “Magic” LP. It’s probably my favorite song on the new album. “Prove It All Night” and “Badlands” were also highlights for me. I had hoped he would play a song or two from “Nebraska” and “The River” but the man is to the point that his repertoire is so vast that he can’t possibly hit all his best in one show. He’s still the Boss as far as I’m concerned.

written by mark

James and Kayleigh had more fun in the snow the second day. Sharon went to a friend’s house but James and Kayleigh managed to get a lot accomplished. They built a snowman with Melissa. They scraped out a couple of snow angels. They went sledding up and down the hill in Dick Downing’s back yard all afternoon. On Sunday the temperatures were starting to rise and the snow gradually began to melt off.

written by mark

Over the last two days we have had over a foot of snow. This is the most I can remember us getting at one time since we have lived in Kentucky. When we lived in Cleveland we regularly got hit hard, but then everything is setup in Cleveland to handle heavy snow. Not so down here. Luckily it all started on Friday and is supposed to start melting off on Monday. The kids had fun in it. Stella ate snow and Kayleigh tried it too. James went down the street and played with one of his buddies. The girls played outside for awhile and then Sharon went sledding with some neighbors out on one of the hills on the golf course. All the pictures are here.

written by mark