Notes in passing...

We had a wonderful Christmas, and thanks so much to those who have sent their greetings here and elsewhere.

It has been great having my brother and his family in from Virginia this week. We were hoping to get out and do some pistol-shooting this week, but its just a little to chilly for that to be much fun for long. It has been great, though, just to hang out with them, share Christmas, play games, etc.

I'm having a lot of fun with my new lap steel. It is a great-sounding instrument and I am really enjoying it. Not easy to play, by any means, but within my reach. I already speak the language, I just need to work on the dialect.

One of the many joys this time of year brings is some time in which to read. I just finished John Scalzi's Ghost Brigade, which I got for Christmas, and it was excellent. Scalzi creates a fascinating universe that is at once alien and bizarre, yet at the same time absorbing and believable. If you like sci-fi, you should check it out. I'm hoping for a 3rd book in a similar vein, although it seems he got distracted and wrote something new and unrelated. It is very likely to be good, too.

At church this weekend we are having a guest artist lead our worship services. Lee Behnken has been a friend of our church's for many years. He is a gifted writer and performer of considerable international renown and a great guy. I'll be backing him up on acoustic with his band, I think, which will be fun and different since I really am an electric guitarist primarily. But it is always fun to play new music with new people and learn new things.